Chemicals

"Scientists and lawyers are scheduled to debate the safety of certain 'BPA-free' plastics this week in a U.S. District Court in Austin, Texas."

"Levels of manganese, a neurotoxin, in the cove and in a nearby creek were 10, 20 or nearly 30 times above the EPA's safety standard for tap water."

"The Obama administration’s lack of action to impose recommended changes to make refineries, chemical factories and sugar plants safer is set to get a public rebuke from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board."

"The Food and Drug Administration has agreed to ban the use of a chemical linked to health problems in infant formula packaging."

"WASHINGTON -- Nearly two years after an outcry about arsenic in apple juice touched off by a segment on 'The Dr. Oz Show,' the federal Food and Drug Administration is proposing a new limit on acceptable levels."

"Days after environmental watchdog group Center for Environmental Health cried foul on the levels of a controversial caramel coloring in Pepsi, soda giant PepsiCo announced its intention to phase out the ingredient nationwide by February 2014."

"We have to confess: When we heard that Twinkies will have nearly double the shelf life, 45 days, when they return to stores next week, our first reaction was -- days? Not years?"

"On its face, Eastman Chemical’s lawsuit against two small Texas labs that have said its plastics may be unsafe for consumption looks like a David and Goliath kind of fight (in fact, that’s how the labs are describing it). Corporate giant attempts to silence scientists -- including a professor at the University of Texas at Austin -- from publicizing research that runs counter to its commercial interests."

"Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer, citing lax oversight, urged regulators and states to do more to curb threats caused by poor storage of ammonium nitrate in the wake of April’s deadly explosion in Texas."

"A 27-year-old U.S. program intended to warn the public of the presence of hazardous chemicals is flawed in many states due to scant oversight and lax reporting by plant owners, a Reuters examination finds."