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NY Enviro Group Says Junked Thermostats Cause Major Mercury Pollution

"ALBANY, N.Y. — While health and environmental groups are praising the Environmental Protection Agency for reining in mercury emissions from power plants, a New York group says discarded thermostats remain a major source of mercury contamination in the state."

Source: AP, 12/23/2011

Chemical Industry Seeks Further Delays in EPA Dioxin Risk Study

"In light of just-passed federal legislation, a chemical industry group is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to change course on its assessment of the most potent form of dioxin, a pollutant that causes cancer and is linked to reproductive problems. Such a move by the agency could drag out completion of the assessment, which has been underway for 20 years."

Source: C&EN, 12/23/2011

"Researchers Assess Effects of a World Awash in Nitrogen"

"Humans are having an effect on Earth's ecosystems but it's not just the depletion of resources and the warming of the planet we are causing. Now you can add an over-abundance of nitrogen as another "footprint" humans are leaving behind. The only question is how large of an impact will be felt. In a Perspectives piece in the current issue of Science, Arizona State University researcher James Elser outlines some recent findings on the increasing abundance of available nitrogen on Earth."

Source: SPX, 12/21/2011

"Opinion: News Stories Miss Important Points of Breast Cancer Report"

"Some media reported that a new analysis of environmental links to breast cancer tells women to stop worrying about consumer products. But these stories ignore the report’s explanation that definitive evidence is not attainable and lack of human evidence of harm doesn’t mean something is safe.The real news is that for the first time, an authoritative medical group stated that scientific evidence plausibly links pollutants and industrial chemicals with biological activity that suggests breast cancer risk."

Source: EHN, 12/13/2011

Honeywell, Simplot Plan To Build Plant to Make Safe Fertilizer

"Honeywell and fertilizer maker J.R. Simplot have agreed to build the first commercial facility for Sulf-N 26, a granular fertilizer that is comparable to ammonium nitrate but would be ineffective as a bomb material. Ammonium nitrate combined with fuel oil was used in the bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995."

Source: C&EN, 12/12/2011

"Modesto Residents Concerned Over Soil Laced With Toxic Barium"

"Too much exposure to barium can cause tremors, breathing problems, diarrhea, irregular heartbeats, paralysis and death. Who could blame people for worrying if they live near huge mounds of soil laced with it?
The prospect of dust kicking up from those mounds when crews finally start building a freeway segment on top of them is causing some anxiety in neighborhoods west of downtown Modesto."

Garth Stapley reports for the Modesto Bee December 12, 2011.

Source: Modesto Bee, 12/12/2011

"Brominated Battle: Soda Chemical Has Cloudy Health History"

"Patented as a flame retardant for plastics, and banned in food throughout Europe and Japan, a brominated chemical called BVO has been added to sodas for decades in North America. Now some scientists have a renewed interest in this little-known ingredient, found in 10 percent of sodas in the United States. Research on its toxicity dates back to the 1970s, and some experts now urge a reassessment."

Source: EHN, 12/12/2011

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