Toxics

Outbreaks of potentially toxic algae are rising sharply this summer in lakes, rivers and streams in the U.S., according to EWG’s ongoing tracking of algae outbreaks.

In a scathing opinion, today a federal court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to ban chlorpyrifos, a toxic pesticide linked to brain damage in children.

If you have a child between the ages of 6 and 12, chances are you’ve been subjected to the homespun chemistry experiment that is slime: a combination of ordinary school glue, baking soda and borax – a common laundry detergent additive. Thanks to a chemical reaction between these three ingredients, you magically have pliable slime that kids love to stretch, squeeze and then forget on the dining room table.

Today Johnson & Johnson, one of the largest multinational manufacturers of consumer packaged goods, announced a new transparency initiative that  will provide additional details on fragrance chemicals used in its Johnson’s baby products.

The known extent of contamination of American communities with toxic fluorinated compounds, known as PFAS chemicals, continues to grow at an alarming rate.

Tap water supplies for more than 14 million Americans are contaminated with a cancer-causing industrial solvent made notorious by the book and film “A Civil Action,” according to an Environmental Working Group investigation released today.

The Environmental Protection Agency failed to respond quickly and forcefully enough to the crisis of lead in the tap water of Flint, Mich., in 2014, the agency’s inspector general said in a report today. EWG said the report should push the Trump administration to take immediate steps to safeguard the nation’s drinking water from lead contamination and reduce children’s exposure to the potent neurotoxin.

A troubling new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that more than a third of the nation’s schools that tested their water for lead found “elevated levels” of the neurotoxin. But despite heightened concern in recent years about lead in drinking water, more than 40 percent of schools surveyed conducted no lead testing in 2016.

Today American Oversight and the Environmental Working Group petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency for release of documents detailing contacts between former EPA chief Scott Pruitt and the chemical industry ahead of the agency’s decision to exclude major sources of exposure when evaluating the health risks of asbestos and three other highly toxic chemicals.