Chemicals

"California scientists are reporting a pair of victories in the epic struggle between man and mosquito. A team at the University of California, Riverside, appears to have finally figured out how bugs detect the insect repellent known as DEET. And the team used its discovery to identify several chemical compounds that promise to be safer and cheaper than DEET, according to the report in the journal Nature."

"Environment: Scientists measure organophosphate flame retardants at higher levels than those of the troublesome compounds they are replacing."

"Early results from government tests on dead bees this spring and summer show levels of controversial pesticides are comparable with those detected last year, when Health Canada declared a link between the seed-coating chemicals and 'unusually high' bee deaths, the Star has learned."

"Critics of hydraulic fracturing, known widely as 'fracking,' have been pushing hard for natural gas companies to disclose all of the chemicals in the fluids that are used in the process. But what if the companies themselves don't even know what those chemicals are?"

"Scientists have documented for the first time that banned flame retardants have declined in people in the United States, where levels of the chemicals had been growing exponentially."

"WHITING -- The Indiana Department of Environmental Management issued its final ruling on a permit application for BP's Whiting Refinery, requiring the company to cut its mercury releases into Lake Michigan by more than half."

"Cancer-causing industrial chemicals have been found in the sewers at a Columbia-area restaurant as a state investigation of illegal dumping expands from the Upstate to the Midlands, where utility officials scrambled this week to learn more about the threat to central South Carolina."

"WASHINGTON -- From mercury to pesticides, Americans are exposed daily to environmental chemicals that could harm reproductive health, the nation's largest groups of obstetricians and fertility specialists said Monday."

"SAN JOSE -- Anticipating a cleanup cost estimated as high as $1.6 billion, local governments from across California made their final legal pitch Monday to hold the paint industry accountable for allegedly threatening children's health by spreading toxic lead paint through tens of thousands of homes."

"Monic Uriarte says she began having headaches and bouts of dizziness three years ago, about the time she and her neighbors began smelling a chemical odor on the streets and in their homes."