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NEWS ABOUT: chemicals

chemicals stories: 24 news summaries

1 - 20 of 24 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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 Your Shampoo Is 
 Chock Full of Toxins 

Few ingredients contribute to cleaning

Aug 13, 09 8:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - Most of what’s in shampoo does nothing to cleanse—instead, it “strokes your emotions,” writes Bill Bunn in Salon. If your hair is greasy, you simply need detergent. But shampoos contain a variety of other ingredients—two-thirds by volume—intended to make you feel good about the... More »

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hair • chemicals • cleaning • toxins • hair care • shampoo

(Newser) - Cyborg bugs may sound like creatures in a Michael Bay movie, but they could save your life, New Scientist reports. The Pentagon is trying to implant electrodes in crickets and cicadas—which communicate via wingbeats—and program them to “speak” differently around certain chemicals. “The insect itself might... More »

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technology • Pentagon • cicadas • chemicals • communication • insects • electrodes • crickets • wings

(Newser) - Traces of a chemical used in rocket fuel have been found in several brands of powdered baby formula, according to a CDC study. The chemical, perchlorate, has also been found in several cities’ water supplies; if that water is combined with contaminated formula, it could exceed the level of perchlorate... More »

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study • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention • chemicals • chemical • thyroid • baby formula • perchlorate

Chemicals Hitting Males Where It Hurts

Toxins triggering sex changes across species, research finds

Dec 7, 08 5:28 AM CST
(Newser) - Common chemicals are speeding the pace of evolution and having a feminizing impact on males across several species, reports the Independent. New research reveals that baby boys whose mothers have been exposed to more "gender-bending" chemicals—endocrine-disrupters like many pesticides—have smaller, feminized genitals. "This research shows... More »

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gender • chemicals • wildlife • academic research • feminization

De-icer Shortage May Mean More Flight Delays

De-icer shortage could make things slippery for airports in storms

Dec 5, 08 11:22 AM CST
(Newser) - If your flight leaves late this winter, consider blaming Canada. A mineworkers' strike there has led to a shortage of a key chemical used to de-ice runways. Airports plan to use other chemicals instead, but that will take a toll on both budgets and the environment, reports USA Today. More »

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chemicals • runway • flights • airport • ice • winter travel • winter weather

ANALYSIS

Bush's EPA Gutted Toxic Chemical Protections

Military-use substances were deemed less toxic, key reviews stalled

Nov 11, 08 4:15 PM CST
(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency program that rates the toxicity of chemicals used in the US, and around the world, has been manipulated in favor of industry and the military under the Bush administration, Rebecca Claren reports in Salon. Budget-cutting directives from the White House have allowed outside organizations, including the... More »

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chemicals • toxic chemicals • budget • Environmental Protection Agency • Department of Defense • George W. Bush • EPA • Integrated Risk Information System

Safety of US
Tap Water Remains Murky

Consumers, experts worry over effect of drugs present in supply

Aug 19, 08 12:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - As critics pan bottled water as wasteful and frivolous, many Americans are turning back to tap water—only to find a debate of equal concern waiting at their kitchen sinks. The Wall Street Journal examines the controversy over tap-water purity, and why many argue the federal government isn’t doing... More »

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water • chemicals • Environmental Protection Agency • impurities

opinion

Vanishing Bees Reveal Dangers of Pesticides

Why won't the US
do the right thing, ban dangerous products?

Jul 30, 08 6:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - The rapid, mysterious deaths of billions of honeybees demand a closer look at how we use and control pesticides, Al Meyerhoff writes in the Los Angeles Times. A family of toxic chemicals called neonictonoids—led by two Bayer pesticides called Gaucho and Poncho—may be killing off the insects, but... More »

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bees • chemicals • honeybees • insects • pesticide

Even Toughest Toads Are Being Unmanned

Clues to sex-change mystery could explain amphibian decline

Jul 13, 08 10:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - The mystery of the hermaphrodite toads may be solved: Researchers have found that various chemicals used in farming are linked to sex changes in certain amphibian species, the Independent reports. In a population of cane toads, 40% of males had developed feminine coloring and ovaries, and an additional 20% had... More »

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endangered species • farming • chemicals • extinction • frogs • hermaphrodite • sex change • amphibians

US Firms Balk at EU Crackdown on Chemicals

Tough new regs shift burden to proving products are safe

Jun 12, 08 1:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - The European Union has passed a series of tough new laws requiring companies to prove that the chemicals in their products are safe, the Washington Post reports. The rule is the exact opposite of US law—which requires proof that a chemical is dangerous before it can be regulated—and... More »

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cancer • European Union • public health • chemicals • product safety • consumer safety

Nalgene Nixes Suspect Chemical

Company will yank bottles containing bisphenol A

Apr 18, 08 1:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - The maker of Nalgene bottles will pull the products from stores over concerns about the health effects of the chemical bisphenol A, Reuters reports. The plastic water bottles, long a favorite of hikers, will be made with BPA-free materials going forward. The move comes despite the chemical industry's assurances that... More »

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Canada • bisphenol A • plastic • public health • chemicals • bottles • Nalgene

Hot Water Leaches Harmful
Chemical From Plastic

Study finds plastic bottles leach chemical BPA in hot water

Jan 30, 08 9:55 AM CST
(Newser) - Hot liquid causes a potentially harmful chemical to leach out of certain plastics much faster than usual, researchers have found. The study, published in Toxicology Letters, discovered that  bisphenol A, or BPA, was released from some common plastic bottles 55 times faster when they were placed in boiling water. Concerns... More »

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baby bottle • plastic • chemicals • hormones • research

Chinese Drugs Go Unchecked

Loophole allows pharma-producing chemical companies to bypass regulation

Oct 31, 07 12:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - China’s massive prescription drug industry has an equally massive flaw: pharmaceuticals made by chemical companies are not held to regulatory standards. Of nearly 500 Chinese companies at a recent drug trade show, 82 were unregulated and uncertified, the New York Times discovered. “This is definitely against the law,... More »

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China • FDA • chemicals • pharmaceutical • Chinese chemical companies

Household Chemicals Sickening Cats

Flame retardants used on furniture could be hurting humans, too

Aug 16, 07 12:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cats are falling ill with thyroid disease caused by toxic flame retardants found in household dust and some pet food, says the EPA. Chemicals known as PBDEs—polybrominated diphenyl ethers—found in consumer products and furniture are mimicking hormones which send a cat's thyroid into overdrive. Since humans are the... More »

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pets • chemicals • illness • thyroid • hyperthyroidism • PBDE • polybrominated diphenyl ethers • cat food • cat

Bad Plastic:
It's Practically Everywhere

And it's linked to infertility, obesity, cancer—you name it

Aug 2, 07 1:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - It's in everything from baby bottles to coffee makers to CDs, and research is accumulating, as Salon's Elizabeth Grossman puts it, that it's a major health hazard. Bisphenol A is a key ingredient of the lightweight plastics now ubiquitous in consumer products, and it's been variously linked to reproductive health,... More »

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cancer • obesity • pregnancy • health • reproduction • women • baby bottle • plastic • chemicals • safety • product safety • neurological disorder

Cleanliness May Be Next to Sickliness

Household products contain chemicals linked to asthma, infant growth defects

Jul 24, 07 2:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - Common household products, including laundry detergents and floor cleaners, contain harmful chemicals that could induce health problems in adults and infants, a new report says. Five chemicals, present in popular brands like Pine-Sol, Formula 409, and Tide, may lead to asthma attacks, developmental problems, and infertility but often are not... More »

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chemicals • Household cleaners • Pine Sol • Tide • Cheer • Easy Off oven cleaner • Formula 409 • Women's Voices for the Earth • American Chemical Society • phthalates • monoethanolamine • alkyl phenol ethoxylates • Green Cleaning Kits

Toothpaste Scare Widens—Again

Tainted tubes from China turn up
in Georgia prisons, hospitals

Jun 28, 07 7:41 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Chinese toothpaste scare is far from over and is more than just a scare. Tainted tubes have turned up, as expected, in discount stores—but officials have also found them in institutions such as prisons and hospitals, the Times reports. Nearly 1 million tubes containing varying amounts of a... More »

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China • food • Florida • toothpaste • Georgia • chemicals • food safety • tainted toothpaste • safety • contamination

China Closes 180 Food Plants

Dangerous chemicals added to products from candy to pickles; most not exported

Jun 28, 07 3:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Chinese government has shut down 180 food manufacturing plants for racking up a whopping 23,000 violations in the last six months, most of them for using chemicals and industrial materials as food fillers to cut costs. Almost all were small and unlicensed, making it unlikely their products, worth... More »

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China • food • chemicals • food safety • safety • contamination

China Shutters Scores of
Food Factories

Crackdown spreads to plants using industrial chemicals in edibles

Jun 27, 07 12:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Chinese government has closed 180 factories that were using dangerous and illegal ingredients, such as formaldehyde, in food products. The relatively large number of plants casts serious doubt on Beijing's insistence that the recent rash of tainted products originated with a small number of sources, the AP reports: A... More »

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China • food • melamine • toothpaste • chemicals • food safety

Colgate Cautions Against Fake Toothpaste

Counterfeit dentifrice may contain toxic chemical, company says

Jun 14, 07 4:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - Colgate alerted the public today that counterfeit toothpaste bearing its brand name and possibly containing a deadly chemical has turned up in discount stores in four Northeast states. The phony products' packaging is riddled with misspellings and gives the manufacturing location as South Africa, where the company doesn't make toothpaste.... More »

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China • FDA • Panama • toothpaste • chemicals • Colgate • counterfeit • Costa Rica • South Africa • diethylene glycol • Colgate Palmolive • Dominican Republic

1 - 20 of 24 Stories | 1 2 Next >>


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