Chemicals

"Four new substances have been added to a list of chemicals that may cause cancer compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)."

"Gov. Jerry Brown's veto of a bill to reform the California Department of Toxic Substances Control is drawing indignation from community groups and state legislators who had pressed for broad changes at the troubled agency."

"Starting [Wednesday], Baker Hughes Inc., a major provider of hydraulic fracturing services, says it will disclose all the chemicals it uses in fracking fluid and will no longer withhold ingredients as trade secrets."

"NBC 5 Investigates has analyzed data released by a Washington D.C.-based research group and found dozens of facilities across the Chicago area that store or use toxic chemicals which - if released in an accidental leak or explosion - could directly affect hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren throughout the city and suburbs."

"Deborah Swackhamer, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Minnesota, decided last year to investigate the chemistry of the nearby Zumbro River. She and her colleagues were not surprised to find traces of pesticides in the water."

"Marla Spivak sat on the curb outside an emergency room in Arizona nearly four decades ago holding a jar with a lone honeybee buzzing around inside. She was 22, and on her way to a summer job with a renowned bee researcher."

"The decades-long decline in lead-poisoned children in Maryland has essentially stalled, but state officials said Thursday they are taking steps in the coming months to address gaps in the marathon effort to eliminate the environmental health threat."

"A persistent chemical formerly used in Scotchgard still contaminates most fish in U.S. rivers and the Great Lakes despite a phase-out a dozen years ago, a new federal study shows."

"At least 18 times in the past three years BNSF Railway freight trains rolled west out of Minneapolis pulling cars filled with hazardous chemicals that were not on the train's official cargo list, according to train crew complaints."