Chemicals

"The U.S. Army has acknowleged that the nerve gas leak monitors at a Kentucky chemical weapons storage depot were not working for nearly two years, 2003-2005."

"Researchers for the first time have linked air pollution exposure before birth with lower IQ scores in childhood, bolstering evidence that smog may harm the developing brain."

"A Great Lakes study linking a pesticide in fish to diabetes adds to the growing chorus of studies suggesting that environmental contaminants may play a role in the widespread disease."

"The British Bee Keepers' Association ... is receiving money from one of the main manufacturers of [an] allegedly bee-killing brew, Bayer Crop Sciences, and endorsing some of its products as 'bee-friendly'."

"A controversial alternative to the ozone-depleting pesticide methyl bromide could be in use in Pajaro Valley strawberry fields next year."

"Should the federal government store 17,000 tons of mercury at the Idaho National Laboratory? 'The answer is no,' said Gov. Butch Otter."

During the Bush administration and earlier, the Pentagon waged a war to keep EPA from regulating perchlorate, a rocket fuel that has widely contaminated drinking water, by fudging the science about its health effects. Now the defense industry is pushing the same case to the Obama Office of Management and Budget.

"A lawsuit filed by about 5,700 Baton Rouge residents against ExxonMobil Corp. over a 1993 fire crawled through federal court for almost 15 years and has finally come to an end -- the residents lost, lawyers said."

Some 50 chemicals which can potentially harm human health are contained in food packaging.