chemicals

The derailment of a freight train carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio, last year was an environmental disaster. A new analysis of pollution and precipitation data has found that snow and rain samples collected from the Midwest to Maine and North Carolina after the crash contained high levels of pollutants, including the extremely toxic […]

Quick Key Facts What Is Bioremediation? Over the last century, urbanization and industrialization, combined with poor waste management, has led to an alarming rise in the amount of pollution in our soils, waterways, groundwater and air.  Heavy metal toxins from industrial production, chemicals from the agriculture sector, untreated wastewater, plastic pollution, crude oil leaks and […]

An international team of scientists say efforts to protect the ozone layer have been a “huge global success,” with damaging atmospheric gases declining more quickly than expected. According to the new study, the total amount of chlorine — which depletes the ozone — in all hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) peaked in 2021, five years earlier than the […]

Pharmaceutical pollution is posing new dangers to wildlife, and humans will need to develop more eco-friendly medications to preserve ecosystems, according to a new paper published in Nature Sustainability. The specific effects that human drugs can have on wildlife has been well documented. One study found that when exposed to antidepressants present in their habitat, […]

For the first time, researchers have found the presence of additives found in vehicle tires in leafy crops grown for human consumption. While residues from other substances, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, have been detected previously, there has been no investigation into how pollution from car tires may affect food, the authors noted. […]

A new study has found high concentrations of perfluoroalkyl acids, or PFAA, in sea spray. In fact, researchers noted that the levels of PFAAs in sea spray aerosols were even higher than in seawater itself, and the researchers estimated that emissions of PFAAs from sea spray could be even greater than those in the atmosphere […]

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the U.S. on March 21 overturned previous orders by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that banned the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in product packaging by a plastics treatment company, Inhance Technologies. In December 2023, the EPA issued two orders for Houston-based Inhance Technologies […]

Plastic pollution and global heating are caught in a “vicious circle” of one feeding the other, a new study by researchers from Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology has found. The mutually reinforcing relationship increases global heating, plastic waste, the degradation of materials and the leaching of chemicals into the biosphere, a press release from […]