Chemicals

"PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — The Pease International Tradeport, which features an airport, hundreds of businesses and several day care centers, has been called a textbook example of how to redevelop an air base. But many who worked or had their children looked after there are coming to terms with a hidden risk: drinking water contaminated by military firefighting foam that contained perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs."

"Industry is pressing Congress to ditch safety upgrades made in wake of deadly West, Texas, plant explosion".

"When nearly 200 countries agreed last October to dramatically reduce their reliance on climate change-polluting chemicals called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in air conditioning and refrigeration, the hunt for alternatives was already underway. Now, a new study in the journal Nature Communications that comprehensively explored pure liquid options found only 27 candidates, and problems with all of them."

"On the day before President Trump's inauguration, the outgoing Obama administration passed a last-minute directive, banning the use of lead ammunition and fishing sinkers on federal land."

"Legislation that would require the disclosure of or restriction of chemicals in hydraulic fracturing fluids, cosmetics and other products had been introduced in 16 states as of Feb. 10."

"DuPont and Chemours Co have agreed to pay $671 million in cash to settle thousands of lawsuits involving a leak of a toxic chemical used to make Teflon, the companies said on Monday."

"Hundreds of people with bullet fragments lodged in their bodies have suffered lead poisoning from the slugs, including several people who have extremely elevated levels of the highly toxic metal in their blood, health authorities reported Thursday."

"A 2015 explosion at the company's refinery near Los Angeles came frighteningly close to releasing a lethal gas into a neighborhood; a ban may result".

The National Response Center, run by the Coast Guard, takes reports of toxic spills and is supposed to keep a database on spill incidents. But a new study shows that it does nothing of the sort -- putting the public at risk by keeping them in the dark.