Chemicals

Biden Adm Global Plastics Plan Dubbed ‘Low Ambition’ and ‘Underwhelming’

"Critics are describing the Biden administration’s opening position in a United Nations effort to reach a global treaty or agreement to end plastic waste as vague and weak, despite its recognition of a need to end plastic pollution by 2040."

Source: Inside Climate News, 02/28/2023

Despite 1996 Law, EPA Still Hasn't Tested Pesticides For Hormone Impacts

"New lawsuit aims to make the agency do what Congress ordered more than 25 years ago."

"In 1996, Congress ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to test all pesticides used on food for endocrine disruption by 1999. The EPA still doesn’t do this today.

Nor does it appear close to doing so, argue the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the agency in December for its ongoing failure to implement the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program.

Source: EHN, 02/27/2023

What’s in the Air in Kids’ Schools? Lessons on Addressing Indoor Pollution

Now that kids are mostly back in school (and perhaps longing for snow days to send them back home), environmental reporters might want to start exploring some of the things that could make them sick. Not viruses, but potential pollutants. TipSheet explores the problem and why current law may do little to address it.

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Earlier Warning Might Have Spared Ohio A Derailment, Investigator Says

"A U.S. train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals in an Ohio town might have been avoided if the railway company's alarm system had given engineers an earlier warning that bearings were overheating, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday with the release of a preliminary investigation."

Source: Reuters, 02/24/2023

"This “Climate-Friendly” Fuel Comes With an Astronomical Cancer Risk"

"Almost half of products cleared so far under the new federal biofuels program are not in fact biofuels — and the EPA acknowledges that the plastic-based ones may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health or the environment."

Source: ProPublica, 02/24/2023

"Citing Birds And Bees, Groups Petition EPA To Close Pesticide Loophole"

"The US should overhaul regulation of a class of insecticides tied to excessive honey bee and bird deaths, according to a citizen petition filed Wednesday with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by a coalition of more than 60 nonprofit groups."

Source: The New Lede, 02/23/2023

"How Widespread Are These Toxic Chemicals? They’re Everywhere."

"Polar bears in the Arctic and plankton in the Pacific. Cardinals in Atlanta and crocodiles in South Africa." "Researchers created a map showing where PFAS compounds, linked to cancer in humans, have been detected in wildlife. It spans the globe."

Source: NYTimes, 02/23/2023

"Railroads Fought to Crush Rules That Biden Aims to Revive After Ohio Derailment"

"Long before this month’s fiery derailment, railroad industry leaders battled regulations meant to boost freight train safety, including plans to bolster some of the very same tank cars that ruptured and released chemicals in eastern Ohio."

Source: Bloomberg Green, 02/23/2023

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