Chemicals

"The Department of Health announced this week that Little Alabama Bayou, about 20 miles west of Baton Rouge, has fish with unsafe levels of mercury, a heavy metal that can stunt brain development and inflict long-term damage on the kidneys and heart. The bayou runs through the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area, a popular fishing destination."

"On red-dirt pastureland on the southern edge of the Navajo Nation, El Pahi stands beside what looks like a child’s science experiment, but on a larger scale."

"The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this month ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to go back and reconsider its lead hazard standards for homes—again."

"Trump EPA officials purposely veered from the agency's principles of scientific integrity to approve continued use of the weedkiller dicamba on genetically modified crops, the agency has admitted."

"The atrazine wars offer a cautionary tale for scientists whose work triggers blowback by regulated industries, and lessons for protecting scientific integrity."

"Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, spent years negotiating with industry groups to get new regulations placed on the chemical industry after the ITC fire in 2019. The bill has passed both chambers, but small changes need to be ironed out before it is sent to Gov. Greg Abbott."

The rye and rapeseed that Rick Clifton cultivated in central Ohio were coming along nicely — until his tractor rumbled over the flat, fertile landscape, spraying it with herbicides."

"Over the last 25 years, the toxicity of 381 pesticides in the U.S. more than doubled for pollinators and aquatic invertebrates such as crustaceans, mayflies, and dragonflies, according to a new study."

"A state appeals court has upheld California’s cleanup standards for a cancer-causing chemical that was added to pesticides and has polluted groundwater in the Central Valley, rejecting challenges by manufacturers that may have to pay the costs."

"After years of urging state and federal authorities to reduce harmful chemical emissions from the Denka Performance Elastomer manufacturing plant in Reserve [La.], a St. John the Baptist Parish group is seeking help from an international human rights commission."