Chemicals

"The Office of Management and Budget has instructed U.S. EPA to use existing toxicity data rather than require companies to conduct new tests to determine whether chemicals can damage the human endocrine system."

Despite Democrats' promises, a Congressional investigation into whether military contractor KBR knowingly exposed soldiers to toxic sodium dichromate in Iraq seems to be going nowhere.

"Twenty percent of the drinking fountains and faucets at Utica elementary schools tested positive for lead, according to results of a voluntary testing program released Tuesday."

"Under rules to be proposed this week, the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to add Parkinson's disease, ischemic heart disease and hairy-cell leukemia to the growing list of illnesses presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant used widely in Vietnam."

Carbonless copy papers, used for most credit card receipts, are coated with a powdery layer of Bisphenol A, an endocrine disruptor.

"An overhaul of federal toxics regulations will require prioritizing tens of thousands of chemicals currently in the marketplace, representatives of industry and advocacy groups agree. At issue: the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act."

"The Environmental Protection Agency plans to conduct a new study about the potential health risks of atrazine, a widely used weedkiller that recent research suggests may be more dangerous to humans than previously thought."

"A new study adds to the growing concern that prenatal exposure to the chemical bisphenol A could harm children's development. In the study of 249 pregnant women, the first to examine the effects of BPA on children's behavior, researchers found that girls whose mothers had the highest levels of BPA during pregnancy were more aggressive and hyperactive at age 2 than other girls."

"If birds hosting flu virus are exposed to the waterborne pollutant, they might develop drug-resistant strains, chemists worry."