"U.S. EPA will issue its controversial rules for toxic air pollution from industrial boilers [Wednesday], an agency official said [Tuesday] morning, despite a court order that required the rules be done by Presidents Day."
"Climate change is a major obstacle to a 2004 global treaty aimed at cutting exposure to 21 highly dangerous chemicals, says a new U.N.-commissioned report issued Monday. The 66-page report says the risks of exposure could increase if more stockpiles and landfills leak due to flooding, or other extreme weather linked to rising temperatures."
"Bottom-feeding fish in the Hudson River have developed a gene that renders them immune to the toxic effects of PCBs, researchers say."
"The province has launched a probe into the use of the deadly toxin Agent Orange after a Toronto Star investigation showed young forestry workers were doused with the chemical in the 1950s, 60s and 70s."
"An ingredient used in Coca-Cola and Pepsi is a cancer risk and should be banned, an influential lobby group has claimed."
The BP Gulf oil spill reminded us that spill-response technology had barely advanced for decades. But a new product tested during the spill may offer a leap forward in removing oil from water.
"Many agricultural pesticides – including some previously untested and commonly found in food – disrupt male hormones, according to new tests conducted by British scientists. The researchers strongly recommended that all pesticides in use today be screened to check if they block testosterone, which is critical to men’s and boys’ reproductive health. Thirty out of 37 pesticides tested by the University of London altered male hormones, including 16 that had no known hormonal activity until now. Most are fungicides applied to fruit and vegetable crops, including strawberries and lettuce."
Anti-government protestors took to the streets of Iran yesterday and were brutally suppressed by police. Just as high food prices helped fuel this month's revolution in Egypt, shortages of refined fuel and high prices for a range of goods are heightening pressures in Iran. Economic sanctions are one cause of the fuel shortage. The consequences ripple well beyond Iran's borders -- to Afghanistan, Armenia, and nations of the former Soviet Union, as well as oil-rich Persian Gulf nations.
"In an unusual scenario that raises questions of conflict of interest, a company that conducts research on behalf of the pesticide industry has paid a U.S. government agency to help prove some controversial chemicals are safe."
"The federal government’s No. 1 hunting ground for environmental offenders isn’t deep in the mists of the boreal forest — it’s in the back rooms of Canada’s neighbourhood dry cleaners."
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