chemicals

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Safety of US Tap Water Remains Murky
Safety of US
Tap Water Remains Murky
Aug 19, 2008 12:58 PM CDT

Safety of US Tap Water Remains Murky

Consumers, experts worry over effect of drugs present in supply

(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...

Vanishing Bees Reveal Dangers of Pesticides
Vanishing Bees Reveal Dangers of Pesticides
opinion
Jul 30, 2008 6:20 PM CDT

Vanishing Bees Reveal Dangers of Pesticides

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

(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...

Even Toughest Toads Are Being Unmanned

Clues to sex-change mystery could explain amphibian decline

(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...

US Firms Balk at EU Crackdown on Chemicals

Tough new regs shift burden to proving products are safe

(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...

Nalgene Nixes Suspect Chemical
Nalgene Nixes Suspect Chemical
Apr 18, 2008 1:31 PM CDT

Nalgene Nixes Suspect Chemical

Company will yank bottles containing bisphenol A

(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...

Hot Water Leaches Harmful Chemical From Plastic

Study finds plastic bottles leach chemical BPA in hot water

(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...

Chinese Drugs Go Unchecked
Chinese Drugs Go Unchecked
Oct 31, 2007 12:54 PM CDT

Chinese Drugs Go Unchecked

Loophole allows pharma-producing chemical companies to bypass regulation

(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,...

Household Chemicals Sickening Cats
Household Chemicals Sickening Cats
Aug 16, 2007 12:21 PM CDT

Household Chemicals Sickening Cats

Flame retardants used on furniture could be hurting humans, too

(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...

Bad Plastic: It's Practically Everywhere

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

(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,...

Cleanliness May Be Next to Sickliness

Household products contain chemicals linked to asthma, infant growth defects

(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...

Toothpaste Scare Widens&mdash;Again
Toothpaste Scare Widens—Again
Jun 28, 2007 7:41 AM CDT

Toothpaste Scare Widens—Again

Tainted tubes from China turn up in Georgia prisons, hospitals

(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...

China Closes 180 Food Plants
China Closes 180 Food Plants
Jun 28, 2007 3:51 AM CDT

China Closes 180 Food Plants

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

(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...

China Shutters Scores of Food Factories

Crackdown spreads to plants using industrial chemicals in edibles

(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...

Colgate Cautions Against Fake Toothpaste

Counterfeit dentifrice may contain toxic chemical, company says

(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....

Largest Oil Spill in US Seeps Under Brooklyn

Exxon owns up to a century of leaks and dumping over 55 acres

(Newser) - Underneath the ground of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is a dark blob of gasoline, solvents, and associated poisons that composes the biggest oil spill in US history.  It's accumulated from a century's worth of smaller leaks and waste dumping, reports New York magazine, and ExxonMobil has quietly accepted the blame, but...

Common Chemicals Boost Disease Risk
Common Chemicals Boost Disease Risk
May 25, 2007 10:46 AM CDT

Common Chemicals Boost Disease Risk

Scientists tie brief early exposure to laundry list of ailments

(Newser) - Beginning in the womb, exposure to common substances increases the likelihood of numerous health problems—including cancer, ADD, Parkinson's and obesity—years and even generations later, international environmental scientists say. Two hundred prominent experts yesterday took the unusual step of calling for intervention by governments, even those that have downplayed...

Trail of Chinese Chemicals Leads to Toothpaste

Governments on two continents investigate tainted product

(Newser) - The Dominican Republic is the latest country investigating the possibility that a poisonous chemical from China wound up in a consumer product. This time it's toothpaste that contains the industrial solvent diethylene glycol, which has already turned up in Panama and Australia, the Times reports. The Chinese government has tracked...

Chemicals in Tap Water, French Fries May Cause Breast Cancer

(Newser) - Hundreds of common chemicals—from a substance used in French fries to one found in tap water—may cause breast cancer, a new report linking the disease to everyday products suggests. Researchers say they've found a link between cancer in animals and more than 200 common chemicals, many of which...

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