The Environment

The Bush Administration has adopted regulations that will dramatically roll back Americans' right to know about chemical hazards in their neighborhoods, allowing California industries to handle almost 600,000 pounds of toxic chemicals a year without telling the public, according to an investigation of federal data by Environmental Working Group (EWG).

Independent laboratory tests found a toxic food-can lining ingredient associated with birth defects of the male and female reproductive systems in over half of 97 cans of name-brand fruit, vegetables, soda, and other commonly eaten canned goods.

Create your own sign and tell McDonald's what you think of its Hummer Happy Meal promotion.

How much does your car pollute? Search our database and find out how your vehicle ranks.

The unique bond between a mother and daughter starts in the womb and evolves over a lifetime, as each adapts and grows with the other in an elaborate interplay of nature and nurture. Shared bonds of common genetics and a common environment -- their home, the air they breathe, and the food they eat -- inextricably link daughters and mothers. Now, new laboratory tests of mothers and their daughters show that these same two facets of nature and nurture -- genetics and environment -- combine to create another, unwanted aspect of the ties that bind: a common body burden of industrial chemicals. Tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group of four mothers and their daughters found that each of the eight women's blood or urine was contaminated with an average of 35 consumer product ingredients, including flame retardants, plasticizers, and stain-proof coatings. These mixtures of compounds found in furniture, cosmetics, fabrics, and other consumer goods, have never been tested for safety.

An annual flood of wasted fertilizer from heavily farmed land in the Mississippi River Basin runs off into the Gulf, where it feeds the development of massive algae blooms, removing oxygen from the water and creating the Dead Zone.

The Texas legislature is considering legislation that would restrict the legal rights of people injured by asbestos.

EPA's Plan Would Allow Industry to Pollute Communities with Dangerous Persistent Chemicals without Notifying the Public