"U.S. farmers are using more hazardous pesticides to fight weeds and insects due largely to heavy adoption of genetically modified crop technologies that are sparking a rise of 'superweeds' and hard-to-kill insects, according to a newly released study."

"Pregnant rats exposed to an industrial pollutant passed on a variety of diseases to their unexposed great-grandkids, according to a study published Wednesday."

"Two out of every three times oil and gas companies have publicly disclosed the chemicals in their hydraulic fracturing fluid, they've left something out."

"A new study in monkeys provides the strongest evidence yet that an estrogen-like chemical called BPA could alter chromosomes, increasing the risk of birth defects and miscarriages, scientists say."

"Despite recent announcements in Ottawa and Quebec that suggest asbestos will soon be a thing of the past, products made of the cancer-causing mineral are still being imported and used in Ontario today."

"As part of his work as a community organizer for environmental causes, Juan Parras takes photos of refineries and petrochemical plants near the Houston Ship Channel. Sometimes, he says he’s made to feel like a criminal for doing it."

Dave Fehling reports for State Impact Texas/NPR September 24, 2012. [29]

"ST. LOUIS, Mich. -- The sun sets through the clouds on a late summer afternoon, and a wind brushes through wildflowers on a 52-acre site wrapped by the Pine River, softening the sounds of children in a playground nearby. But the dead robins that drop in Teri Kniffen's yard around the corner and the signs scattered in town bear the evidence of unseen hazards, an alphabet soup of toxicity."

"The sign by the side of the highway is hard to miss: ASBESTOS. No, it’s not a health warning to motorists about hazardous material ahead. It’s the name of a proud community in southern Quebec, waging a fight to survive in an increasingly lonely stand against the world."

"British scientists have shot down a study on declining honeybee populations that triggered a French ban on a pesticide made by Swiss agrochemicals group Syngenta."