Chemicals

Chemical company executives withheld from the Illinois EPA detailed information about a 1978 chemical spill as plans were being made to clean it up.

"OTTAWA -- Half of the children's jewelry items tested at the government's product safety laboratory last year were made of almost pure lead."

"Federal regulators under President Barack Obama have sharply shifted course on long-standing policy toward pharmaceutical residues in the nation's drinking water, taking a critical first step toward regulating some of the contaminants while acknowledging they could threaten human health."

"Reversing a decade-old decision, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it plans to require pesticide manufacturers to disclose to the public the inert ingredients in their products."

"Extremely high, potentially unhealthy levels of lead dust have been found in the Allegheny County Health Department's dilapidated office building in Lawrenceville that houses the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program."

"The two U.S. producers of the toxic flame retardant decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) ... and the largest U.S. importer of this chemical ... today announced commitments to phase out the chemical in the United States."

"Hispanic farmworkers in California poisoned by pesticides are demanding that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency exercise greater control over toxic substances used in agriculture."

"A common chemical used in the plastic lining of frozen-food dinners and many other products is endangering the development of fetuses in pregnant women, a new study suggests."