Published on SEJ (https://www.sej.org)

Home > Chemicals

Missouri, Florida Journalism Professors Join Classes on Multistate Fertilizer Investigation [1]

What brought together two teams of student reporters, half a dozen states and 1,000 miles apart? For one, the high environmental cost of chemical fertilizer. For another, a pair of dedicated journalism teachers. Cynthia Barnett and Sara Shipley Hiles share how they took the project from daydream to reality, brought students into the field and got pickup from numerous news outlets, in the latest EJ Academy.

SEJ Publication Types: 
EJ Academy [2]
Topics on the Beat: 
Agriculture [3]
Chemicals [4]
Economy & Business [5]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Studies [8]
Fish & Fisheries [9]
Food [10]
Journalism & Media [11]
Pollution [12]
Water & Oceans [13]
Region: 
National (U.S.) [14]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [15]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [16]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [17]
Visibility: 
Public [18]

New Flame Retardants Found In Breast Milk Years After Others Were Banned [19]

"In the early 2000s, researchers tested breast milk samples from U.S. mothers and found high levels of toxic compounds used as a common flame retardant in household items."

Chemicals [4]
Consumer [20]
Environmental Health [6]
Pollution [12]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [14]
Source: NPR [21], 08/25/2023

Painful Process Underway of Regulating PFAS in Drinking Water [22]

Long-growing concern over dangerous “forever” chemicals has drawn the attention of federal and state policymakers, local communities and the utilities that provide their drinking water. But little about regulating PFAS will be quick or easy, making it a major environmental and public health story for years to come. Issue Backgrounder unfolds the regulatory moves, the politics and the larger implications of PFAS policy.

SEJ Publication Types: 
Backgrounders [23]
Topics on the Beat: 
Chemicals [4]
Consumer [20]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Politics [24]
Government [25]
Health [26]
Infrastructure [27]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [28]
Pollution [12]
Water & Oceans [13]
Region: 
National (U.S.) [14]
Visibility: 
Public [18]

Drinking Water Of Millions Of Americans Contaminated With PFAS Chemicals [29]

"Drinking water consumed by millions of Americans from hundreds of communities spread across the United States is contaminated with dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, according to testing data released on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."

Chemicals [4]
Consumer [20]
Environmental Health [6]
Pollution [12]
Water & Oceans [13]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [14]
Source: Guardian [30], 08/18/2023

"One Family’s Toxic Train Wreck Ordeal: Illness, Exile and Debt" [31]

"The Albright family left town after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed near their Ohio home. Now, they are back, facing personal, medical and financial crises in a newly divided community."

Chemicals [4]
Disasters [32]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Politics [24]
Transportation [33]
Public [18]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [15]
Source: NYTimes [34], 08/17/2023

Pa. Kids Near Fracking Wells Face Higher Risk For Childhood Cancer And Asthma [35]

"Residents living near fracking wells were more likely to experience childhood cancer, severe asthma attacks and low birth weights, found three long-awaited studies on fracking and health released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Tuesday evening."

Chemicals [4]
Energy & Fuel [36]
Environmental Health [6]
Public [18]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [37]
Source: EHN [38], 08/17/2023

Minnesota Tribal School Fights To Eliminate PFAS in Drinking Water [39]

"As the United States begins to crack down on PFAS contamination, Indigenous communities are getting left behind."

Chemicals [4]
Consumer [20]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Justice [7]
Infrastructure [27]
Pollution [12]
Water & Oceans [13]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [14]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [15]
Source: Grist [40], 08/16/2023

Texans Must Fight "State-Regulated" Oilfield Waste Dumps By Themselves [41]

"Some Texans who challenge oil and gas waste sites must spend significant sums and time on investigating what they say the Texas Railroad Commission should examine. Will new regulations for handling waste increase oversight or just maintain the status quo?"

Air [42]
Chemicals [4]
Energy & Fuel [36]
Environmental Justice [7]
Laws & Regulations [28]
Pollution [12]
Public [18]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [17]
Source: Public Health Watch [43], 08/16/2023

"Texas’ Brazos River, Captive and Contaminated" [44]

"Dow-Freeport, the largest chemical plant complex in the Western Hemisphere, dominates—and pollutes—the Lower Brazos Watershed."

Chemicals [4]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Justice [7]
Pollution [12]
Water & Oceans [13]
Public [18]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [17]
Source: Texas Observer [45], 08/15/2023

"Uranium Hunters in US West Face Partial Ban, Pollution Fears" [46]

"Five weeks before President Joe Biden announced a historic new ban on new uranium mining around the Grand Canyon, Sarana Riggs approached the barbed-wire fence surrounding an inactive mine in an Arizona national forest, a Geiger counter in her hand."

Chemicals [4]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Justice [7]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [47]
Pollution [12]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [14]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [17]
Source: Bloomberg Environment [48], 08/15/2023

Pages

The Society of Environmental Journalists
1629 K Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006
Telephone: (202) 558-2055
Email: sej@sej.org
© 2026 The Society of Environmental Journalists. All Rights Reserved.
All graphics © SEJ, unless otherwise stated.
Source URL:https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics?page=112

Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/publications/ej-academy/missouri-florida-journalism-professors-join-classes-multistate-fertilizer-investigation [2] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication-types/ej-academy [3] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/agriculture [4] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics [5] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/business [6] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health [7] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice [8] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmentalists [9] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/fisheries [10] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/food [11] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/journalism/media [12] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/pollution [13] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/water [14] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national [15] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-lakes [16] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/southeast [17] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/southwest [18] https://www.sej.org/taxonomy/term/81 [19] https://www.sej.org/headlines/new-flame-retardants-found-breast-milk-years-after-others-were-banned [20] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/consumer [21] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/08/24/1194759795/flame-retardants-breast-milk-banned-chemicals [22] https://www.sej.org/publications/backgrounders/painful-process-underway-regulating-pfas-drinking-water [23] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication-types/backgrounders [24] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-politics [25] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/government [26] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/health [27] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/infrastructure [28] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/laws [29] https://www.sej.org/headlines/drinking-water-millions-americans-contaminated-pfas-chemicals [30] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/17/pfas-us-drinking-water-contaminated-forever-chemicals-epa [31] https://www.sej.org/headlines/one-family-s-toxic-train-wreck-ordeal-illness-exile-and-debt [32] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/disaster [33] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/transportation [34] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/16/health/east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-crisis.html [35] https://www.sej.org/headlines/pa-kids-near-fracking-wells-face-higher-risk-childhood-cancer-and-asthma [36] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/energy [37] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/mid-atlantic [38] https://www.ehn.org/living-near-fracking-wells-higher-risk-childhood-cancer-low-birth-weight-asthma-2663909422.html [39] https://www.sej.org/headlines/minnesota-tribal-school-fights-eliminate-pfas-drinking-water [40] https://grist.org/equity/minnesota-tribal-school-pfas-water-contamination-epa/ [41] https://www.sej.org/headlines/texans-must-fight-state-regulated-oilfield-waste-dumps-themselves [42] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/air [43] https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/15/texas-oilfield-waste-dumps-railroad-commission/ [44] https://www.sej.org/headlines/texas-brazos-river-captive-and-contaminated [45] https://insideclimatenews.org/news/14082023/texas-brazos-river-captive-and-contaminated/ [46] https://www.sej.org/headlines/uranium-hunters-us-west-face-partial-ban-pollution-fears [47] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/nuclear-power/radiation [48] https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/uranium-hunters-in-us-west-face-partial-ban-pollution-concerns [49] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics?page=111 [50] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics?page=108 [51] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics?page=109 [52] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics?page=110 [53] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics?page=113 [54] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics?page=114 [55] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics?page=115 [56] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics?page=116 [57] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics?page=502