The Issue
Toxics
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The Latest on Toxics
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that California Assembly's Health Committee advanced a bill that would require manufacturers of personal care products to inform the state's Department of Health Services whenever they are making products with chemicals linked to cancer or birth defects.
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Supported by local health and environmental activists, the Air Pollution Control Board in Louisville, Ky., made admirable history last week with the Strategic Toxic Air Reduction (STAR) program. Three years ago, according to the Courier-Journal, the EPA rated the city’s air the worst in the entire Southeast, but as of July 1, Louisville will have some of the nation’s strongest, healthiest air quality standards. The plan will reduce 37 specific chemicals emitted by industrial activity; programs to reduce emissions from cars and other sources will be implemented soon.
Read MoreA panel comprised mostly of independent scientists advising the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found today that DuPont's Teflon chemical, PFOA, is a "likely human carcinogen."
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A major investigation by The Riverside Press-Enterprise finds that an industry-funded study, relied on by federal scientists to recommend drinking water standards for a toxic rocket fuel chemical, erroneously reported no effects on people from low doses of the chemical.
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A major investigation by The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., reveals that an industry-funded study relied on by federal scientists to recommend a safe dose for perchlorate erroneously reported that healthy adults were not affected by low doses.
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In a letter to all U.S. senators, the chief legal officers of 12 states from New York to California are urging lawmakers to vote against the federal energy bill or any legislation that protects oil companies from lawsuits over drinking water contaminated with the toxic gasoline additive MTBE.
Read MoreIn a letter to all U.S. senators, the chief legal officers of 12 states from New York to California are urging lawmakers to vote against the federal energy bill or any legislation that protects oil companies from lawsuits over drinking water contaminated with the toxic gasoline additive MTBE.
Read MoreBusinesses that object to tough pollution standards often hold communities or states hostage by threatening to take their jobs and move. Now the shoe is on the other foot in West Virginia, where a frozen-foods company refused to bring its plant to the town of Parkersburg, where the water is contaminated with the Teflon chemical C8.
Read MoreGov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has come out against a provision in the federal energy bill shielding oil companies from lawsuits over water pollution by the toxic gasoline additive MTBE — a stance at odds with his fellow Republicans in the California congressional delegation, who all voted for it.
Read MoreIn the latest study of toxic chemicals in people, the BBC reports that seven British TV personalities were tested for 104 industrial compounds in their blood. All were contaminated with toxins, and one had 30 different chemicals in her sysem. Scientists tested for commonly found chemicals including banned pesticides like DDT, flame retardants and the PFOA chemical found in Teflon and other nonstick pans and stain repellents.
Read MoreAs Congress prepares to vote on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget for the next year, U.S. Representatives Hilda Solis of California and Tim Bishop of New York will introduce an amendment that would bar the Agency from using staff time or money to analyze data from pesticide tests on human subjects. Their amendment also bars the EPA from conducting human pesticide experiments on its own.
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An EPA whistle-blower has exposed the agency for secretly delaying completion of required rules to protect children and construction workers from lead poisoning from paint and dust in favor of voluntary compliance standards, the Los Angeles Times reports.
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Despite Tom Delay and his lapdogs recent efforts to protect MTBE polluters, a federal court ruled MTBE producers and manufacturers must pay to clean up their mess.
Read MoreThe penalty DuPont will reportedly pay for covering up its pollution of newborn American babies with the cancer-causing Teflon chemical will likely be $15 million. This sum amounts to just 8 percent of the maximum allowable fine.
Read MoreOne California city is taking no chances on a toxic rocket fuel in its drinking water. Although neither the EPA nor the state has made a final decision on safe levels of perchlorate, the Associated Press reports that Rialto, a working-class Los Angeles suburb, is taking a zero-tolerance stance and shutting down all wells that have tested positive for the chemical.
Read MoreThe California Air Resources Board today adopted the nation's most stringent smog standards, which state scientists say could avert hundreds of premature deaths, thousands of hospital trips and more than 3 million school absences of asthmatic children.
Read MoreAn EWG Action Fund analysis of the Specter/Leahy asbestos bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee today finds that the legislation delivers unusually harsh treatment to people dying of asbestos-caused lung cancer.
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The ARB meets Thursday, April 28 in El Monte to consider recommendations from state scientists for adopting tougher ozone standards.
Read MoreSmoggy air costs Californians more than $521 million a year — a price paid in hundreds of trips to the emergency room, thousands of hospital admissions and millions of missed school days, according to an Environmental Working Group analysis
Read MoreHouse Republicans Are Expected To Block Amendments That Would Strip Their Polluter Immunity Provision From Energy Bill
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