Chemicals

"On Monday in Geneva, representatives of the 143 countries belonging to United Nations-sponsored Rotterdam Convention, regulating hazardous chemicals, are to begin a meeting where chrysotile, the type of asbestos fibre mined in Quebec, will be on the top of the list of new products to be regulated."

"Apples sold in the United States are more contaminated with pesticide residue than virtually any other produce, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) said today."

"This month the Environmental Protection Agency made public the names of 150 chemicals that were investigated in health and safety studies but whose identities were withheld as confidential business information."

"The government issued warnings on Friday about two materials used daily by millions of Americans, saying that one [formaldehyde] causes cancer and the other [styrene] might."

"The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that some chicken meat may contain small amounts of arsenic, though the agency is stressing that the amount is too tiny to be dangerous to people who eat it."

"At first glance the results of the fourth edition of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s fourth National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment are sobering—the modeled data suggest that every person in the United States is at increased risk for getting cancer from outdoor air pollutants and that nearly a quarter of the population is at increased risk for certain noncancer health effects."

"The government is moving to ban the sale of some popular rat and mouse poisons such as D-Con and Hot Shot in an effort to protect children and pets."

"Environmental health and autism experts Tuesday called for reform of the outdated U.S. law regulating chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976."