Chemicals

Heart arrhythmias in females and permanent, deleterious modifications of a gene that plays a pivotal role in reproduction are two new problems being linked to bisphenol A. New findings about the toxicity of this chemical and data suggest human exposures may be higher than U.S. regulatory agencies have assumed.

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday a proposed settlement of a lawsuit that could result in scrutiny of how dozens of dangerous pesticides affect threatened and endangered species living around San Francisco Bay."

"From 1957 to 1987, hundreds of thousands of unprepared men, women and children who lived on or near Camp Lejeune, N.C., the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast, were the unwitting victims of a decades-long water contamination disaster that is still claiming lives."

"People living in nearly 600 neighborhoods across the country are breathing concentrations of toxic air pollutants that put them at a much greater risk of contracting cancer, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency."

On a global average, the amount of mercury falling out of the sky has tripled since the Industrial Revolution, primarily because of the burning of fossil fuels. Although this atmospheric deposition has long been considered the key vector for the widespread contamination of freshwater and coastal ecosystems, some scientists are focusing on another potential source: subterranean flows of terrestrial groundwater.