Chemicals

"Just like the controversial compound it's designed to replace, a chemical used in cash register receipts and other consumer products messes with hormones, according to research published today."

"The world's most widely used insecticide has for the first time been officially labelled an 'unacceptable' danger to bees feeding on flowering crops. Environmental campaigners say the conclusion, by Europe's leading food safety authority, sounds the 'death knell' for the insect nerve agent."

"DAVIS, Calif. -- What causes autism? The question has spurred about a billion dollars' worth of genetics research that has found no clear answer. But University of California, Davis, epidemiologist Irva Hertz-Picciotto has been pursuing another angle: Does the environment around a pregnant woman play a role in determining whether her child develops autism?"

"BP and its partners in the Macondo well that released an estimated 4.9 million gallons of oil over three months beginning in April 2010 should be required to inform state officials -- and the public -- of the toxic materials included in the spill, and the potential health effects of those materials, a three-judge appellate panel ruled in New Orleans on Wednesday."

"GENEVA -- Mercury pollution in the top layer of the world's oceans has doubled in the past century, part of a man-made problem that will require international cooperation to fix, the U.N.'s environment agency said Thursday."

"Last week, federal lawmakers trumpeted the passage of the Drywall Safety Act of 2012 as a bipartisan victory for thousands of homeowners harmed by contaminated drywall."

A French scientist has published a study indicating that plastic additives called phthalates, thought to be endocrine disruptors, are widely found in one species of ants -- presumeably because they have become widespread in the environment.

"The most ubiquitous danger at firing ranges has a lot to do with bullets but nothing to do with getting shot."

"Companies will not be able to keep trade secrets for hydraulic fracturing ingredients if a proposed Alaska rule is adopted."

"CleanWell's hand soaps promise to slay germs, and foam and ooze - just as soap should. But unlike many antibacterial soaps, the ones from this young San Francisco company and a growing number of other manufacturers lack a potentially harmful chemical: triclosan."