Environmental Health

Valley fever, a sometimes-serious fungal disease endemic to the Southwest, is spread by windborne soil dust. Climate change may make it worse.

"The omnibus spending bill unveiled by lawmakers Monday night blocks a number of key energy and climate regulations put forward by the Obama administration."

"Oil and gas companies that are using hydraulic fracturing -- or fracking -- off the Southern California coast must report chemicals discharged into the ocean under new requirements released Thursday by federal environmental regulators."

"Four days after a coal-processing chemical leaked into the Elk River, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's administration and West Virginia American Water Company were once again unable to give a firm timeline for when water service would be restored to 300,000 residents in the Kanawha Valley."

"Medical screenings have found high arsenic levels in at least two of the more than 50 residents tested near Louisville’s contaminated Black Leaf industrial site, the scene of Kentucky’s largest residential environmental cleanup ever."

"TORONTO -- Canadian health officials said Wednesday a fatal case of H5N1 bird flu has been reported in Canada, the first such case in North America. The victim was travelling from China when symptoms first appeared."

"WASHINGTON -- A coalition representing environmental groups, consumer advocates and unions is calling on the White House to reform the process for reviewing new regulations, a process that has reportedly been gummed up for years."

"When the time comes for a glittering soiree or a beach visit that demands flip-flops, nail salons are where women turn for pampering and polish. But under the luxurious veneer, salons aren't always healthy places to be."

"The Camorra mafia has been dumping and burning toxic waste for decades in the area between Naples and the province of Caserta."

"Javier Sepulveda watches the cockroaches skitter across the floor of his Harlem apartment with a mixture of anger and angst. For him they are more than just a nauseating nuisance: They’re one of the main reasons his 12-year-old daughter, Melissa, sometimes struggles to breathe with the scary sensation that she’s suffocating."