Levels of a little-known class of neurotoxic chemicals found in computers, TV sets, cars and furniture are building up rapidly in key indicator species of San Francisco Bay fish, according to tests by the Environmental Working Group (EWG.)

EWG asks the CEOs of nine major fast food corporations to disclose the use of toxic nonstick chemicals in their packaging.

Public interest groups today called on US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to explain a key change in a controversial and highly unusual pollution cleanup agreement before she leaves office later this month.

A series of studies published beginning in the 1950s shows that DuPont has known for at least 50 years that Teflon fumes at relatively low temperatures can cause an acute illness known as polymer fume fever. In several studies DuPont recruited human volunteers and intentionally exposed them to Teflon fumes to the point of illness. The results of these studies suggest that people cooking on Teflon and other non-stick pans may be at risk.

EWG alleged today that the DuPont chemical company has violated federal law by withholding from the government for the last 22 years a company study that detected a toxic, Teflon-related chemical in the umbilical cord blood of one infant born to a company worker, and in the blood of another worker’s baby.

Consumers instantly recognize them as household miracles of modern chemistry, a family of substances that keeps food from sticking to pots and pans, repels stains on furniture and rugs, and makes the rain roll off raincoats. But in the past 5 years, the multi-billion dollar “perfluorochemical” industry has emerged as a regulatory priority for scientists and officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Environmental Working Group today asked the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to ban the use of arsenic-treated wood in outdoor play structures and to order consumer refunds for millions of playsets nationwide, based on a new round of laboratory tests that found high levels of arsenic contamination even on older pressure-treated wooden structures.

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today introduced legislation to protect drinking water from contamination by the toxic chemical perchlorate.

Secret tests conducted in 1984 by the DuPont chemical company found a Teflon-related contaminant (C8) in the tap water of the Little Hocking Water Association in Ohio, just across the river from the company’s Teflon plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. But the company never told the community, its water utility or state regulators about the tap water testing program, which continued through at least 1989, or about the positive findings.