chemicals

Nearly 50 Dead in Explosion at Chinese Chemical Plant

Nearly 50 Dead in Explosion at Chinese Chemical Plant

At least 47 people have died in an explosion at a plant in Yancheng, China Thursday run by a chemical company with a history of environmental violations, Sky News reported. The blast forced more than 3,000 people to evacuate the area, AFP reported. More than 600 are injured and 90 are in the hospital with […]

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    Green Snow Raises Pollution Concerns in Russian City

    Green Snow Raises Pollution Concerns in Russian City

    Pollution is turning the snow green in the Russian city of Pervouralsk, the latest in a series of incidents fueling growing concerns about the environmental health of the country that could threaten President Vladimir Putin’s popularity, The Independent reported Monday. One video shared by ND News Feb. 15 shows a patch of green snow outside […]

    ‘Plastic Is Lethal’: Groundbreaking Report Reveals Health Risks at Every Stage in Plastics Life Cycle

    ‘Plastic Is Lethal’: Groundbreaking Report Reveals Health Risks at Every Stage in Plastics Life Cycle

    With eight million metric tons of plastic entering the world’s oceans every year, there is growing concern about the proliferation of plastics in the environment. Despite this, surprisingly little is known about the full impact of plastic pollution on human health. But a first-of-its-kind study released Tuesday sets out to change that. The study, Plastic […]

    EPA Adopts Fringe Science Claim That Small Doses of Pollution Are Healthy

    EPA Adopts Fringe Science Claim That Small Doses of Pollution Are Healthy

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April 2018 proposed relaxing standards related to how it assesses the effects of exposure to low levels of toxic chemicals on public health. Now, correspondence obtained by the LA Times revealed just how deeply involved industry lobbyists and a controversial, industry-funded toxicologist were in drafting the federal agency’s […]

    IKEA Is Launching Air-Purifying Curtains

    IKEA Is Launching Air-Purifying Curtains

    Air pollution within the home causes 3.8 million deaths a year, according to the World Health Organization. A recent University of Colorado in Boulder study reported by The Guardian found that cooking a full Thanksgiving meal could raise levels of particulate matter 2.5 in the house higher than the levels averaged in New Delhi, the […]

    Trump EPA OKs ‘Emergency’ to Dump Bee-Killing Pesticide on 16 Million Acres

    Trump EPA OKs ‘Emergency’ to Dump Bee-Killing Pesticide on 16 Million Acres

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported last week that in 2018 it issued so-called “emergency” approvals to spray sulfoxaflor—an insecticide the agency considers “very highly toxic” to bees—on more than 16 million acres of crops known to attract bees. Of the 18 states where the approvals were granted for sorghum and cotton crops, 12 […]

    EPA Delays Action on Toxic Nonstick Chemicals, Sets No Limit

    EPA Delays Action on Toxic Nonstick Chemicals, Sets No Limit

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will propose a regulatory determination on highly toxic nonstick chemicals “by the end of this year,” a timeline that’s been criticized as too slow to take on the notorious drinking water contaminants. At a press conference on Thursday in Philadelphia, EPA acting administrator Andrew Wheeler announced a “comprehensive cross-agency […]

    Proposed Detention Center for Child Migrants Contaminated With Lead and Other Pollutants

    Proposed Detention Center for Child Migrants Contaminated With Lead and Other Pollutants

    A site that the Trump administration proposed as a migrant detention center for unaccompanied children is contaminated with several pollutants that could harm the children’s health, a report released by EarthJustice on Tuesday found. In June 2018, former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that the government was preparing to house unaccompanied children at Goodfellow Air […]