toxic chemicals

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EPA Throws Hammer Down on 2 Toxic Chemicals

Full ban announced for TCE, partial ban of dry-cleaning staple perc—both tied to various cancers

(Newser) - Bans of two toxic chemicals first proposed last year have finally come to fruition. On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency barred the use of trichloroethylene (aka TCE) and perchloroethylene, also referred to as perc—both solvents used in consumer products and industrial settings and that have been tied to various...

Beware These 'Toxic Zombies' in Your Kitchen
Beware These 'Toxic
Zombies' in Your Kitchen
OPINION
Nov 1, 2024 4:40 PM CDT

Beware These 'Toxic Zombies' in Your Kitchen

Atlantic writer urges people to toss their black plastic spatulas

(Newser) - Toxic-Free Future's Megan Liu has a warning for us about the kitchen utensils we use: Beware plastic ones, especially black versions. That's because black plastic is likely to have been made with recycled electronic waste (e.g., TV and computer casings), in a process that often sees little...

EPA Aims to Relax Limits on Common Pesticide
EPA Aims to Relax
Limits on Common Pesticide
LONGFORM
Apr 28, 2024 3:15 PM CDT

EPA Aims to Relax Limits on Common Pesticide

ProPublica reports on how critics say the agency is working too closely with chemical industry

(Newser) - "It's exactly what we recommended against." That's the view of Veena Singla, a member of a scientific advisory panel tapped by the EPA, on the agency's plan to loosen restrictions on a pesticide called acephate. Sharon Lerner of ProPublica digs into the issue and how...

After Odor Sickened His Family, He Set Up a Hidden Camera

Florida's Xuming Li arrested, accused of injecting chemical agents under neighbor's door

(Newser) - A Florida man suspicious about chemical smells in his home that appeared to be making his infant sick installed a camera to see if he could suss out what was going on—and now his neighbor is accused of being the cause. NBC News reports that 36-year-old Xuming Li, a...

East Palestine Derailment Killed Almost 45K Fish, Animals

Only aquatic species were affected, state agency says

(Newser) - The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says no land animals died in the Feb. 3 derailment of a train carrying toxic chemical in East Palestine—but it was a different story in the local waterways, where almost 45,000 fish and animals died. Officials said Thursday that an estimated 38,...

EPA Takes Over Ohio Spill Cleanup, Warns Railroad

'Norfolk Southern will pay for ... the trauma they’ve inflicted on this community'

(Newser) - The EPA on Tuesday took control of the toxic cleanup of a train derailment in Ohio and ordered Norfolk Southern to pay all the costs, reports NPR . If the railroad balks, the federal agency threatened to do the work itself and bill Norfolk Southern three times the cost, per the...

Forever Chemicals Invade Orcas—and Their Fetuses
Forever Chemicals Invade
Orcas—and Their Fetuses
NEW STUDY
Jan 15, 2023 6:00 AM CST

Forever Chemicals Invade Orcas—and Their Fetuses

'We need to think about how this could affect our health,' says researcher

(Newser) - Researchers say they're "shocked and saddened" to have discovered toxic chemicals, including "forever chemicals," in the bodies of killer whales, including endangered southern resident orcas, whose population decline could be a direct result. Scientists from the University of British Columbia, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and BC'...

Finally, Cause of City's 'Stench of Death' Is Revealed

Fire at California warehouse filled with beauty products led to plant die-off, which led to hydrogen sulfide in the air

(Newser) - In early October, residents in Carson, Calif., started picking up on a noxious smell emanating from the Dominguez Channel, with dozens of complaints called in daily to the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Some even noted they were suffering from fatigue, headaches, and respiratory issues, reports the Guardian . Now,...

What New York Residents Fear Is Old and Underground

In one neighborhood, tourists are fighting over what may be a toxic site

(Newser) - Residents of a historic New York City neighborhood have two fears—toxic mercury and over-development—and they're combined at the former site of a 19th-century factory, the New York Times reports. South Street Seaport, a low-rise area now popular with tourists, once included a thermometer factory at 250 Water...

Hurricane Harvey's Toxic Impact Wasn't Fully Disclosed

6 months later, only a few spills have been investigated by the feds: AP

(Newser) - More than a half-year after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, the extent of the resulting environmental assault is beginning to surface, while questions about the long-term consequences for human health remain unanswered. County, state, and federal records pieced together by the AP and Houston Chronicle reveal more than...

In Deepest Part of Ocean, 'Sky High' Pollution
In Deepest
Part of Ocean,
'Sky High' Pollution
NEW STUDY
Feb 14, 2017 9:17 AM CST

In Deepest Part of Ocean, 'Sky High' Pollution

Toxic chemicals reach 6 miles deep in ocean: study

(Newser) - At the deepest spot in the ocean, scientists have found beer cans, plastic bags, a tin of Spam, and now tiny crustaceans contaminated with toxic chemicals banned nearly 50 years ago. The "extraordinary levels" of pollution in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean and the Kermadec Trench...

Dust in Your Home Could Be Teeming With Toxins
10 Toxins Found
in 90% of Indoor
Dust Samples
STUDY SAYS
Sep 15, 2016 3:31 PM CDT

10 Toxins Found in 90% of Indoor Dust Samples

And they could lead to everything from cancer and respiratory problems to lower IQ

(Newser) - We're surrounded by toxic chemicals, and even holing up in our meticulously kept homes may not save us, Time reports. Ten chemicals that may be hazardous to our health were found in over 90% of indoor dust samples taken for a study published in the Environmental Science & Technology...

Woman Says Disorder Caused Her to Make Herself Blind

Jewel Shuping says she had someone put drain cleaner in her eyes

(Newser) - Jewel Shuping has been preoccupied with blindness since she was a young girl. She says she used to roam the halls at night at age 3 or 4, the idea of being blind felt "comfortable" when she was 6, and she spent hours staring at the sun when her...

This Oft-Sold Chemical Could Kill You

Methylene chloride was banned in Europe but continues to kill in the US

(Newser) - A publicly available chemical has been killing people—teens working odd jobs, a mother of four, an Iraq War veteran, DIY home-improvers—since the 1940s, and the government has done little to nothing about it, according to an eye-opening Slate investigation. The chemical solvent methylene chloride found in many over-the-counter...

Time's Almost Up for 9/11 Survivors Fund

WTC Health Program will run out of money next year, leaving 70K without coverage

(Newser) - Marcy Borders, the 9/11 survivor known as the "Dust Lady" for the iconic photo of her emerging from a devastated World Trade Center, died Tuesday at the age of 42 from stomach cancer, reports CNN . Illnesses like hers, and dozens of other chronic diseases and afflictions suffered by survivors...

This Herb May Rival DEET in Repelling Mosquitoes

 This Herb May Rival DEET 
 in Repelling Mosquitoes 
in case you missed it
Aug 22, 2015 7:10 PM CDT

This Herb May Rival DEET in Repelling Mosquitoes

Native Americans used to turn to this sweet-smelling herb

(Newser) - Native North Americans have long used the fragrant herb sweetgrass to ward off biting insects like mosquitoes, and new research shows how the traditional repellent works chemically. About to share their findings with the American Chemical Society, researchers at the US Department of Agriculture, the University of Guelph, and the...

5K Tennesseans Evacuated in Dead of Night Due to Train

Toxic fumes wafted out after derailment

(Newser) - Thousands of Tennessee residents were roused from sleep overnight on the outskirts of Knoxville when a freight train car derailed and burst into flames, sending toxic fumes into the air, NBC News reports. Seven cops were treated for inhaling those fumes, per a spokeswoman for the Blount County Sheriff's...

Toxic Water Actually 'So Routine' in Ohio

Pollution, invasive species, and climate change have all been blamed

(Newser) - Tap water has been declared safe to drink and bathe in again in Toledo, Ohio, but scientists warn that toxic algae blooms could be here to stay. Fertilizer from farms and cattle feedlots are partly to blame for the thick layer of algae choking Lake Erie, the most developed of...

2 Chemicals Actually Leaked in West Virginia

Freedom Industries announces PPH also a small part of spill

(Newser) - A West Virginia water advisory may finally be over— at least officially —but what exactly seeped into the Elk River has only just been revealed. In addition to the crude MCHM , the company behind the spill, Freedom Industries, revealed yesterday that a second chemical, PPH, made up 7.3%...

2 Students Arrested After Chemical 'Device' Goes Off

Colorado police say rupture was 'not accidental'

(Newser) - Two Denver-area students have been arrested after a chemical device "went off" in a high school class room yesterday morning, sending at least four students and one teacher to the hospital. In a statement , police said they'd determined that the device's rupture "was not accidental,"...

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