Chemicals

"The Trump administration on Thursday proposed new regulations on lead and copper in drinking water, updating a nearly 30-year-old rule that may have contributed to the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Mich., that began in 2015."

"Beginning in early 2020, California will ban the sale of the pesticide chlorpyrifos which state environmental officials say has been linked to brain damage and other health defects in children."

"Partially inspired by the Flint, Michigan, water crisis, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a new rule to reduce exposure to lead from drinking water around the country on Thursday."

"PFAS chemicals have been identified in synthetic turf, according to lab tests performed on several samples of the artificial grass that were shared with The Intercept. The presence of the chemicals, members of a class that has been associated with multiple health problems, including cancer, adds to growing concerns about the grass replacement that covers many thousands of acres in parks, schools, professional sports stadiums, and practice fields around the U.S."

"COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — The movement started last spring with a dinner table conversation at then third-grader Aggy Deagle’s home."

"Plastic production really began in earnest in the 1950s. It’s hard to remember, but we once got along without it. Of course, plastic offered great convenience, and its production skyrocketed."

"The US Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog is investigating EPA activity on a consent order controlling the manufacture of two fluoroethers. The 2009 order initially applied to DuPont and now affects its Chemours spin-off."

"Sterigenics U.S. LLC announced Sept. 30 it will permanently shut its Willowbrook, Ill., medical sterilization facility after a bitter fight with Illinois residents and lawmakers over the plant’s ethylene oxide emissions."

"Legislation that would require the EPA to designate all PFAS as hazardous substances within one year isn’t feasible, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said Sept. 26."

"The Senate urged its negotiators Sept. 25 to back language banning the Pentagon’s use of firefighting foam containing potentially hazardous nonstick chemicals known as PFAS, as House-Senate talks continue toward a single Defense Department reauthorization bill."