Chemicals

"OTTAWA — The federal government is making good on a promise to ban a toxic chemical additive in soft plastic toys and other children's products."

"A Cold War 'red scare' campaign against compulsory medication helped kill off five years of fluoridation in this northern Wyoming city in 1954. The federal government has long since called fluoridation one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. But it was only a few weeks ago that Sheridan's City Council voted to resume fluoridating municipal drinking water."

"If a company dumped the black goop behind a factory, it would violate all sorts of environmental laws and face an expensive hazardous-waste cleanup. But playgrounds, parking lots and driveways in many communities are coated every spring and summer with coal tar, a toxic byproduct of steelmaking that contains high levels of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems."

"Pregnant women take elaborate steps to protect their babies' health, following doctors' orders to avoid alcohol, caffeine, tobacco — even soft cheeses and deli meats. In spite of these efforts, a new study shows the typical pregnant woman has dozens of potentially toxic or even cancer-causing chemicals in her body — including ingredients found in flame retardants and rocket fuel."

"INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- Bayer CropScience will stop making, using and storing the deadly chemical methyl isocyanate at its Institute plant as part of a corporate restructuring that will cost the Kanawha Valley 220 jobs over the next several years, company officials announced Tuesday."

"U.S. EPA [Tuesday] proposed to start gradually banning a pesticide often used on cocoa beans and dried fruits that degrades to fluoride, a move closely linked to the Obama administration's decision last week to curb the maximum levels of fluoride in drinking water out of concern for children's health."

"Environmental health groups are now looking to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to impose tougher standards on fluoride in drinking water, building on a decision Friday by the federal Department of Health and Human Services to lower the recommended level for the first time in nearly 50 years."
 

"Fearful that pollution from a nearby DuPont factory is harming their health and property values, a growing number of Pompton Lakes [NJ] residents want the company to guarantee the price of their homes — or buy them out."

"U.S. EPA is interceding in a New Jersey public-health flap that could have national implications, ordering a hospital services company to stop disinfecting its ambulances with finely misted pesticides after a local union complained of workers falling ill."

"Scientists are continuing to sound the alarm about some common chemicals, including the herbicide atrazine, and link them to changes in reproductive health and development. Endocrine disrupting toxic chemicals have been found to feminize male frogs and cause homosexual behavior." Now the question is how these substances may be affecting human development and behavior.