grilling meat
Latest News

Chemicals 400 Times as Mutagenic as Known Carcinogens Found

CORVALLIS, Oregon, January 6, 2014 (ENS) – Newly identified compounds produced by chemical reactions in vehicle exhaust or by grilling meat are hundreds of times more mutagenic than their cancer-causing parent compounds, according to scientists at Oregon State and three other universities. […]

USS Ronald Reagan
At Risk

U.S. Sailors Sue Japanese Nuclear Plant Owner TEPCO

SAN DIEGO, California, January 3, 2014 (ENS) – Seventy-one U.S. Navy sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan are filing suit against the Japanese utility Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, after they were allegedly exposed to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant when they arrived in Japan with aid. […]

paints
Latest News

Children in Developing Countries Exposed to Toxic Lead Paint

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 23, 2013 (ENS) – Pregnant mothers and young children in the developing world are still exposed to “astonishingly high and dangerous levels of lead” through unsafe paints, finds a study by the UN Environment Programme, released Tuesday during the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action. […]

Minamata ceremony
Latest News

Treaty Curbing Mercury Emissions Becomes International Law

KUMAMOTO, Japan, October 10, 2013 (ENS) – Japan, where residents of Minamata suffered lethal mercury poisoning in the mid-1950s, today became one of the first countries to sign a new international treaty to reduce mercury emissions and to phase out many products containing the toxic metal. […]

flaring
Energy

Air Pollution Destroys Health of Texas Fracking Communities

KARNES CITY, Texas, September 20, 2013 (ENS) – In the five years since the shale boom hit, the once-beautiful hills of south Texas have been transformed into a scarred, industrial landscape. The residents’ health is part of the collateral damage, according to the environmental watchdog group Earthworks. […]

WTC dust
At Risk

EPA Chemist Who Revealed Twin Towers Toxic Dust Fired – Again

WASHINGTON, DC, September 11, 2013 (ENS) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientist who first revealed the dangers of toxic dust at the World Trade Center disaster site has received a second notice of proposed removal from her job more than a year after a federal civil service court ordered her returned to work. […]

smoker
Latest News

Thirdhand Tobacco Smoke Damages Human Cells

BERKELEY, California, June 21, 2013 (ENS) – For the first time, scientists have documented that thirdhand smoke – the noxious residue that clings to virtually all surfaces long after the secondhand smoke from a cigarette has cleared out – causes genetic damage in human cells. […]

bodies, children
At Risk

U.S. Confirms Syrian Attacks With Outlawed Chemical Sarin

WASHINGTON, DC, June 13, 2013 (ENS) – Based on a new “high confidence assessment” by the U.S. intelligence community that the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons on Syrian civilians, President Barack Obama has decided to increase U.S. support to the Syrian opposition. […]

dispersant
Latest News

Feds Must Analyze Oil Spill Dispersant Effects on Wildlife

SAN FRANCISCO, California, May 30, 2013 (ENS) – The federal government must analyze the effects of the California Dispersants Plan to determine whether the chemicals that break up oil spills would harm endangered wildlife, under a legal settlement filed today by federal agencies and conservation groups. […]

plywood
Latest News

EPA Limits Formaldehyde Exposure From Wood Products

WASHINGTON, DC, May 29, 2013 (ENS) – Giving expression to a law unanimously passed by Congress in 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today proposed two rules to help protect Americans from exposure to the harmful chemical formaldehyde emitted from wood products. […]

BPA-free bottle
Latest News

Plastics Chemical Bisphenol A May Harm Brain Development

DURHAM, North Carolina, February 25, 2013 (ENS) – Environmental exposure to bisphenol A, a chemical found in plastics and resins, may suppress a gene vital to nerve cell function and to the development of the central nervous system, finds new research led by scientists at Duke Medicine. […]

personal care products
At Risk

Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals Linked to Cancers: WHO/UNEP Report

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 19, 2013 (ENS) – Chemicals in household and industrial products that disrupt the human hormone system are linked to high global rates of breast, ovarian, prostate, testicular and thyroid cancers, warns a report released today by the UN Environment Programme and the World Health Organization. […]