Chemicals

"Michigan environmental regulators said Thursday that they reached a long-sought deal with Dow Chemical Co. to clean up to 1,400 residential properties in Midland, home of its corporate headquarters and a plant that polluted the area with dioxin for much of the past century."

"Is there arsenic in your rice? Probably. That's the news behind a study that found surprisingly high levels of arsenic in rice-based organic toddler formula and energy bars."

"The U.S. health regulator on Thursday declined a request by orange juice producers to allow a higher tolerance of a banned fungicide in juice imports, a decision that will force Brazil to stop exporting concentrated orange juice to the United States."

As Bhopal proved, chemical plants can be weapons of mass destruction. During the Bush administration, Republicans urged on by the chemical industry, took authority over chemical plant security away from EPA and gave it to the Department of Homeland Security -- which they argued was more competent. Now a GOP-led House investigative panel reveals that DHS has proved incompetent and done nothing in five years.

"Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gives the green light for a score of agricultural chemicals to come to market. But the chemicals the EPA registers for use have little connection with the frequently more toxic substances sold by the millions of pounds to unsuspecting American consumers."

"A recent federal analysis showing that 400 shades of popular lipstick contained trace amounts of lead has exacerbated an ongoing dispute between regulators and consumer activists over how much lead is safe in cosmetics."

"With dozens of area farm workers looking on -- many wearing headphones to hear a Spanish translation of the proceedings -- the Monterey County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday urged Gov. Jerry Brown to take another look at a controversial, highly toxic agricultural fumigant."

"A long road for environmental groups appears to have ended Tuesday when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released final rules on regulating pollution from plants producing polyvinyl chloride."

Residents of Oregon's Triangle Lake area complain that aerial spraying of herbicides, which drift onto adjacent properties, is causing harm to their health and plants. The herbicides involved are atrazine and 2,4-D. For years, state regulators dismissed the complaints, but now neighbors have banded together and hired labs to do their own testing.