"A new study suggests that a synthetic chemical that is ubiquitous in the environment and in people's blood may affect the liver -- though the significance for human health remains unclear."
Washington Post reporter Lyndsey Layton writes about the thousands of chemicals exempted from EPA screening for potential harm to the environment and public health — and the three-decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that renders it possible, in the interest of protecting manufacturers' bottom lines.
"Reports of high cadmium content in children's jewelry imported from China have prompted a senior U.S. senator to press for legislation that would ban the toxic heavy metal as a hazardous substance from those products and toys."
"Elevated exposure to bisphenol A has been linked in a new study to a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease, the second time researchers have made a connection between the widely used plastic-making compound and heart ailments."
"Chemicals in a cancer-causing substance used to seal pavement, parking lots and driveways across the U.S. are showing up at alarming levels in dust in homes, prompting concerns about the potential health effects of long-term exposure, a new study shows."
"The agency's environmental and health concerns about phthalates, PBDEs and two other chemical types marks a shift in federal policy and is sparking policy changes in advance of anticipated regulations."
"In the past dozen years, three new diseases have decimated populations of amphibians, honeybees, and — most recently — bats. Increasingly, scientists suspect that low-level exposure to pesticides could be contributing to this rash of epidemics."
"LOS ANGELES -- Barred from using lead in children's jewelry because of its toxicity, some Chinese manufacturers have been substituting the more dangerous heavy metal cadmium in sparkling charm bracelets and shiny pendants being sold throughout the United States, an Associated Press investigation shows."
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Bayer CropScience has not properly maintained or tested the underground storage tank where it keeps roughly 200,000 pounds of methyl isocyanate, the deadly chemical that killed thousands of people in Bhopal, India, in 1984, state inspectors have alleged."
"A team of researchers has documented a variety of urogenital malformations in male babies born to women living in an area of South Africa where the potentially endocrine-disrupting pesticide DDT is still used. The team, reporting in a study published online 23 October 2009 in BJU International, believes the malformations may be connected to the mothers’ DDT exposure."
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