Chemicals

New evidence indicates the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry fails to protect communities from dangers such as the now-disappearing plumes of toxic groundwater carrying cancer-causing chemicals far beyond the Kelly Air Force Base near San Antonio, TX.

NYT: "The goal is to open up a system in which the agency failed to inform the public that a widely prescribed heartburn drug was especially toxic to babies; that a diabetes medicine and a painkiller increased heart attack risks; and that antidepressants increased suicidal thoughts and behavior in children and teenagers."

The Newark Star-Ledger reports a move by a top New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection official to prevent public disclosure of scientific information that should be public until political appointees without science credentials and press officers have approved it.

Ever wonder what lies beneath your feet – what's down there in the ground on which we walk? The Toledo Blade's Tom Henry has an editor who asked that question and the result was an interesting look at what the government is doing – or not doing – to clean up gasoline spills from leaky underground tanks.