Chemicals

In a new book, a Dutch researcher says a new class of insecticides, the neonicotinoids, may be causing as much damage to bird populations as the DDT Rachel Carson wrote about in Silent Spring. Some bird populations in Europe are crashing dramatically.

"A national environmental group is threatening to sue over the federal government's oil spill emergency response plan for Alaska, saying regulators violated the law by not studying whether using chemicals to disperse oil spills would harm the state's endangered and threatened marine species."

"The controversial chemical bisphenol A can render roundworms sterile, kill their embryos, and damage their chromosomes, according to a new lab study."

"In a continued effort to ban arsenic in chicken feed, Food & Water Watch, a Maryland consumer advocacy group, has released a study outlining the environmental and human health impacts posed by 'poisoned poultry.'"

"Eighteen months after the Environmental Protection Agency announced reforms to its controversial process for evaluating health hazards posed by dangerous chemicals, significant problems continue to hamper the program and leave the public at risk, according to a new report by a nonprofit research group."

"Taking any public health measures to ban or control bisphenol A — as Canada recently did — is premature since evidence of its alleged health risks is not strong enough, the World Health Organization said Tuesday."

"The Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it has issued a subpoena to Halliburton for not revealing information about liquids used in a natural gas drilling technique called 'fracking.'"

"A growing body of scientific research suggests that exposure to chemical toxicants in the womb can lead to chronic health problems, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, later in life."