Chemicals

"PFAS may be contaminating drinking water for up to 70% of about 140 million people in the US who draw water from the nation’s aquifers via private or public wells, a new federal government study estimates. The findings show a potential impact on about 95m people, or 27% of the nation’s population."

"In total 1,261 business and industry delegates registered for Cop16 in Cali, Colombia, which ended in disarray and without significant progress on a number of key issues including nature funding, monitoring biodiversity loss and work on reducing environmentally harmful business subsidies."

"India promised to burn its trash mountains and safely turn them into electricity. But a New York Times investigation found hazardous levels of toxic substances around homes, playgrounds and schools."

"New research adds to evidence that several types of agrochemicals — including the widely used herbicides 2,4-D and glyphosate — may raise the risk of prostate cancer."

"As President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition team plans his energy and environment agenda, it is relying on two seasoned former cabinet leaders and fossil fuel lobbyists to dramatically reshape the agencies charged with protecting the nation’s air, water, climate and public lands, according to six people familiar with the matter."

"Carefree menstrual pads are contaminated with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, which presents a threat to the reproductive health of women using the products, a new lawsuit filed in California state court alleges."

"A California landfill has been illegally dumping toxic waste into the Napa River for years, polluting waters that feed a valley known around the world for the quality of its vineyards, according to a federal lawsuit filed by landfill employees."

"As pesticide companies struggle to cap legal payouts to plaintiffs who claim they were injured by Roundup and other products, money from two political committees affiliated with major pesticide manufacturers has surged into state-level politics."

"Los Angeles County has filed suit against the world’s largest beverage companies — Coca-Cola and Pepsi — claiming the soda and drink makers lied to the public about the effectiveness of plastic recycling and, as a result, left county residents and ecosystems choking in discarded plastic."

"Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged Saturday that a future Trump administration would seek to remove fluoride from drinking water as a Day 1 goal, reversing a decades-old intervention widely credited for boosting public health."