The Issue
Toxics
Industry doesn’t have to test chemicals for safety before they go on the market. EWG steps in where government leaves off, giving you the resources to protect yourself and your family.
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The Latest on Toxics
PFOA is used to make PTFE, the Teflon in pans. However, scientific evidence points to fluorotelomers as the main source of the PFOA and other perfluorinated chemicals in Americans' blood. That fluorotelomers on coated paper food packaging break down into PFOA and other chemicals is a separate problem from PTFE and cookware. This source of PFOA is one that DuPont cannot control by reducing emissions or impurities in its products.
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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted unanimously today to deny a petition to ban the use of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) pressuretreated wood in playground equipment.
Read MoreAn EWG analysis of data from state environmental agencies finds that drinking water supplies for over 15 million Americans are contaminated with MTBE, a suspected carcinogen added to gasoline that even at trace levels renders water undrinkable due
Read MoreMillions of consumers and their water utilities in 25 states will be forced to pay billions of dollars to remove a toxic, foul-smelling gasoline additive from drinking water under a plan to prohibit water pollution lawsuits against oil and chemical companies.
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In the first nationwide tests for chemical fire retardants in the breast milk of American mothers, Environmental Working Group (EWG) found unexpectedly high levels of these little-known thyroid toxins in every woman tested.
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) today released results of the most extensive tests to date of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) levels in farmed salmon consumed in the United States.
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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.)
Read MoreEWG asks the CEOs of nine major fast food corporations to disclose the use of toxic nonstick chemicals in their packaging.
Read MoreView and Download the report here: Tainted Catch
Read MoreDocuments obtained by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and a review of court records show that a federal cleanup agreement between Monsanto and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ch
Read MorePublic 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.
Read MoreEWG testifies at a EPA public meeting on teflon contamination, and charges DuPont repeatedly downplayed questions of the Teflon chemical’s toxicity.
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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.
Read MoreTelfon-coated cookware poses a hazard when it is heated to high temperatures. EWG tests show that in 2 to 5 minutes on a conventional stovetop, cookware coated with Teflon and other non-stick surfaces can exceed temperatures at which the coating breaks apart and emits toxic particles and gases linked to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pet bird deaths and an unknown number of human illnesses each year.
Read MoreEWG 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.
Read MoreEWG asks EPA administrator Whitman to investigation apparent reporting violations by DuPont Chemical. EWG submits documentation that DuPont had determined that 2 of 7 babies born to Teflon-exposed female workers in the company's Parkersburg WV plant had facial birth defects. DuPont had not reported this information to EPA as required under Section 8(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Read MoreConsumers 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.
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Testimony before the Consumer Product Safety Commission
Jane Houlihan
Vice President for Research
Environmental Working Group
Washington DC
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.
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