NEWS ARCHIVE 2005 Last
updated on 08/25/07 07:48 AM
12/29/05
The United Steelworkers (USW) union has mailed information to over
4,500 retail carpet dealers and sent letters to the CEOs of 35
carpet manufacturing companies informing them that they may have
"a legal duty to warn" their customers about potential
harmful effects of carpets that may contain perfluorooctanoic
acid, a Teflon-related chemical also known as PFOA or C8 that may
be present in various stain repellents. [Click
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12/28/05
The price of a custom surfboard went up $200 overnight on news
that Clark Foam - the country's primary supplier of foam used to
make surfboards - was shutting its doors. The primary concern
involves Clark Foam's use of the toxic chemical Toulene
Diisocynate, or TDI. Exposure to TDI particles in the air can
cause severe and chronic lung problems. [Click
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12/27/05
BRONX, N.Y. -- Bronx-based A & L Sheet Metal Fabrications
Corp. has been cited by the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for four instances of
failing to correct hazards cited during a 2004 OSHA inspection
including failure to develop and implement a hazard communication
program, train employees, label containers and have material
safety data sheets. [Click
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12/22/05
BEIJING - China’s southern business capital of Guangzhou, just
north of Hong Kong, rushed Thursday to ensure water supplies as a
toxic spill from a smelter flowed toward the city of 7 million. It
was China’s second environmental disaster in a month and came as
authorities were trying to minimize the impact of a chemical spill
on a northeastern river. [Click
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12/21/05
SPRINGFIELD, VA -- The National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health has released a new edition of the popular NIOSH Pocket
Guide to Chemical Hazards. The Guide consolidates NIOSH and OSHA
information materials into an easy-to-use resource document for
workers, employers, and occupational health professionals. The
NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards is available from the
National Technical Information Service. [Click
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12/20/05
OMAHA, Neb. -- The U.S. Department of Labor' Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Demolition Contractors,
Inc. (DCI) for alleged failure to protect employees from safety
and health hazards including overexposure to crystalline quartz
silica and failure to provide hazardous communication training
during demolition operations. Proposed penalties total $265,000. [Click
For More]
12/19/05
New Zealand - Auckland University scientist Dr. Shiva Reddy
conducted a study that he believes links meat preservatives,
specifically nitrites and nitrates, to New Zealand's epidemic
number of type 1 diabetes cases. [Click
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12/16/05
CHICAGO - Shipped from Singapore, the swordfish entered the United
States this year without being tested for the toxic metal mercury.
When a fillet from that fish reached a display case at a
supermarket in Illinois, it carried no government warning labels,
even though federal officials know swordfish often is so
contaminated that young children and pregnant women should never
eat it. When the Chicago Tribune bought and tested this particular
piece of fish, the results showed not just high amounts of
mercury, but levels three times the legal limit. [Click
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12/15/05
Most people spend at least half their lives inside their homes.
With the winter season arriving, heating systems, reduced
ventilation and fireplaces may create poor indoor air quality that
may be unpleasant, or may lead to serious health problems. [Click
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12/14/05
When Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters receded, they left behind a
chocolate malt-like coating of sediment and sludge on the yards,
homes, and cars of New Orleans. Research published today provides
one of the first peer-reviewed analyses of contaminants in the
sediment. The findings reveal troubling levels of lead that, when
considered alongside historic soil contamination, call for
remediation, some scientists say. [Click
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12/13/05
British firefighters are again battling a ferocious blaze at an
oil depot just north of London, after they were forced to
temporarily halt their work amid fears of more explosions. [Click
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12/12/05
The molecule is supposed to be stable, unreactive, hard to digest.
It may, in fact, be none of those. It's a brominated flame
retardant — astonishingly effective at delaying fire in plastic.
In today's world, the value of such power cannot be
underestimated. Blazes sparked by televisions, stereo equipment,
VCRs and other home electronics account for the largest number of
fire deaths in the United States. But the flame retardant, known
to the industry as "Deca," also shows up in our bodies.
And there is much debate aboutwhat happens once it gets there. [Click
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12/9/05
The Ohio Department of Environmental Protection has ordered
Lanxess to take immediate steps to lower volatile organic compound
(VOC) emissions from its styrenic plastics facility in Addyston,
OH. According to local reports, officials are taking no chances,
and some 300 children who attend a grade school near the plant are
being bused to other schools. [Click
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12/8/05
WASHINGTON -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration
today debuted a new Construction Module for its Compliance
Assistance Quick Start Web tool, the agency's Web-based tool that
introduces employers and employees, especially those at new or
small businesses, to the compliance assistance resources on OSHA's
Web site. [Click
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12/7/05
WASHINGTON -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration
today announced the availability of two new resources on the
agency's website: a web-based assistance tool for workers and
employers in the tree care industry, and a new advanced search
engine that allows users to search topics in a variety of targeted
areas. [Click
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12/6/05
A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Monday reinstated a
string of racketeering suits that charge chemical giant DuPont
with hiding evidence about a widely used fungicide so it could
settle crop-loss cases on the cheap. [Click
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12/5/05
ADDYSTON, OH - Decades of breathing the air in this West Side town
means a 50 times greater risk of contracting cancer because of
chemicals coming from Lanxess Corp., the giant plastics maker
operating along the Ohio River. [Click
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12/1/05
A University of Washington study suggests that pesticides are
finding their way into the bodies of pre-school children in
agricultural communities at a higher level than previously
thought. More than half of the tested children of farm workers who
live in Douglas and Chelan counties in Washington state were
exposed during the spraying season to pesticide levels that
exceeded federal safety levels, according to UW researchers.
That's even though the children themselves do not work in the
fields. [Click
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11/30/05
WATSONVILLE, CA – Farmer Vanessa Bogenholm won't go near the
pesticide methyl bromide even though it could boost her strawberry
harvest. But just down the coast in Salinas, grower Tom Jones says
his berry farm can't survive without the powerful toxin. The two
farmers both help California supply more than 85 percent of the
nation's strawberries, but they part ways when it comes to methyl
bromide, a soil fumigant that an international treaty has banned
as of this year for all but the most critical uses. [Click
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11/29/05
HERMISTON, OR — Calling the incident a “near-miss,” a
Umatilla Chemical Depot official from the weapons disposal
facility said all 700 workers are being re-trained. Destruction of
chemical weapons are on hold until that is complete. The incident,
an unclamping of a working filter unit in the ventilation system
of the building, put at least two workers in danger of chemical
agent exposure. [Click
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11/28/05
METHUEN, MA -- ASI Industries and Atlantic Stone Industries LLC,
both located in Marlborough, Mass., have been fined a total of
$106,100 by the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) for 14 instances of failing to
correct hazards cited during OSHA inspections including exposing
employees to respirable silica dust, lack of engineering controls
to reduce exposure levels; and lack of a respiratory protection
program. [Click
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11/23/05
BEIJING - A Chinese city of 3.8 million people closed schools and
was trucking in drinking water Wednesday after shutting down its
water system following a chemical plant explosion that officials
said polluted a nearby river with toxic benzene. [Click
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11/22/05
Allegations that DuPont hid studies showing the high health risks
of a chemical used to line grease-resistant packaging for candy,
pizza, microwave popcorn and hundreds of other foods, could affect
processors on both sides of the Atlantic. [Click
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11/21/05
Newport News, Va. - The Army might not know what kind of
radioactive waste it dumped with chemical weapons off Virginia in
1960, but Ellis R. Cole is sure it wasn't harmless. The Geiger
counter readings were proof of that. Cole said he helped winch
hundreds of 55-gallon barrels labeled "radioactive" out
of a ship and into the ocean. [Click
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11/18/05
The European Parliament approved a law yesterday that will force
companies to test thousands of chemicals - many used in common
household products like paint, cleaners, toys and furniture - for
their effects on human health and the environment. [Click
for More]
11/17/05
Nine-year-old Zoe Alinaz wheeled around the lobby of the Texas
Supreme Courthouse Wednesday, impatient for his grandmother to
finish talking to lawyers and Mission citizens. Alinaz has the
neural tube defect spina bifida and cannot walk. He is one of the
several residents from Mission, Texas, who have injuries they said
were caused by exposure to harmful chemicals in a nearby toxic
waste site. [Click
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11/16/05
SAN MATEO, CA — A wing of the San Mateo Medical Center was
evacuated Tuesday morning after the spill of a hazardous chemical.
According to hospital officials, a one-ounce container of a
chemical known as Buckley's Formocresol was dropped around 10 a.m.
in a dental clinic exam room. The fumes affected three staff
members, who went to the hospital's emergency room for treatment,
and the San Mateo County hazardous-materials team was called to
the scene, while hospital personnel set up a triage area outside
the emergency room. [Click
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11/15/05
OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, November 15, 2005 (ENS) - Only 11
Canadians had their blood tested for toxic chemicals in a new
study by an environmental nonprofit organization, but they came
from across the country and every person's blood tested positive
for a wide range of chemicals. Stain repellants, flame retardants,
mercury and lead, DDT, and PCBs are among the 60 contaminants
detected by blood tests. [Click
For More]
11/14/05
Could neurotoxin pollutants be causing an elevated suicide rate in
a North Carolina community? Sited next to a paper mill and other
industrial plants, the community is suffering a sustained increase
in suicides, which researchers think could be linked to the
release of hydrogen sulfide and other airborne chemicals. [Click
For More]
11/11/05
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Birds Eye Foods and
proposed penalties totaling $60,275 for safety and health hazards
at the company's Montezuma, Ga., plant. The company received 24
serious citations for alleged violations including failure to
properly locate ammonia pressure release discharge piping and
provide workers with current, updated process safety management
information. [Click
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11/10/05
BEIJING, Nov. 10 -- An unlicensed washing-up liquid factory, which
sold potentially cancer-causing detergent to more than 300
restaurants in Beijing, was closed down on Tuesday. Hidden in a
12-square-metre room in Beijing's Chaoyang District, the factory
had sold 54 tons of toxic detergent since May, the district's
administration for industry and commerce said. Detergents were
being produced using an industrial chemical called SLESN70, a
strongly acidic liquid normally used to clean machinery and
pipelines. [Click
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11/9/05
Susan Lynn would like some information, please: What is the autism
rate among people living in the United States right now who have
never been vaccinated? If you have that data or know where to find
it, kindly contact her by the end of the month, care of the
Tennessee House of Representatives, which is considering whether
to ban a mercury preservative from childhood vaccines. [Click
For More]
11/8/05
Vermont -- The state Department of Health is urging private well
owners to obtain water tests, now that the federal safe drinking
water standard for arsenic is being lowered. Effective Jan. 31,
the Environmental Protection Agency is lowering the standard for
arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts
per billion. [Click
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11/7/05
Washington, DC, November 7, 2005 - Investigators from the U.S.
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) are en route
to the Valero oil refinery in Delaware City, Delaware, where two
contract workers were overcome and killed this weekend by entry
into a nitrogen gas-filled process vessel. [Click
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11/4/05
CBS 2 investigators and the Naperville Sun found various types of
cords keeping you connected may be toxic to the touch. There are
cords on phones, hands-free sets for cell phones, cd players and
music headsets which contain cancer causing chemicals or lead. [Click
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11/3/05
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a
searchable database with over 1,400 references to chemicals that
have the potential to affect children’s environmental health. [Click
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11/2/05
At the University of Rochester, scientists are investigating the
effects on an infant of a pregnant woman's exposure to chemicals,
such as phthalates. The hormone-disrupting compounds used to
soften plastics are found in many cosmetics, lotions, shampoos and
baby products. [Click
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11/1/05
Hammond, IN -- Calumet Container's business was rinsing,
repainting and reselling used chemical drums from the 1960s
through 1982, when the Indiana attorney general threatened to
close the plant for air and water quality violations. Within a
week, an explosion and fire leveled the facility, leaving
thousands of damaged chemical barrels, 69 semi trailers, severely
contaminated soil and water. There were no company officials
around when it happened. [Click
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10/31/05
China -- Millions of peasant workers are leaving their
poverty-stricken hometowns to join the labor force in urban areas
where they work for small-scale and privately owned enterprises.
Most of the jobs they take are strenuous and hazardous and the
workers have inadequate personal protection. After three or five
years of hard work, some get kicked out because they are suffering
from certain occupational diseases and they receive little or no
compensation. [Click
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10/28/05
Duluth, MN -- A chemical leak closed part of a laboratory at St.
Mary's Medical Center. The Duluth Fire Department's hazardous
materials team responded to the spill. The chemical was xylene, a
colorless solvent used as a cleaning agent and found in many
products, including paint thinner, varnishes and gasoline. [Click
For more]
10/27/05
ATLANTA -- The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Goldens' Foundry &
Machine Company for exposing workers to safety and health hazards
including failure to properly label chemicals; and exposing
workers to silica above the permissible exposure limit at its
Columbus manufacturing plant. The agency is proposing penalties
totaling $117,950. [Click
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10/26/05
SOUTH DAKOTA -- A Salem man has been charged with first-degree
manslaughter in the death of a woman exposed to phosphine gas in
an apartment building. Billy Lee Schulz, 58, is accused of dumping
fumitoxin in his building's water softener brine tank, causing
the Oct. 1 death of resident Irene Schock, 81, according to court
documents. The fumitoxin emitted phosphine gasses. [Click
For More]
10/25/05
Public interest groups today petitioned the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to ban the antibacterial agent triclosan in
household products because of evidence that it causes health and
environmental effects and leads to antibiotic resistance. The
chemical, marketed widely to protect children from germs, is found
in antibacterial soaps, deodorants, toothpastes, cosmetics,
fabrics and plastics. [Click
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10/24/05
CHICAGO - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 recently
settled administrative cases with three Ohio companies for
violations of federal law governing the reporting of hazardous
chemical releases. The companies involved and the location of
their Ohio facilities are Millennium Inorganic Chemicals Inc.,
Ashtabula; F.T. Precision Inc., Fredericktown; and Ohio Power Co.,
Cheshire. [Click
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10/21/05
Indianapolis, IN - A mother of 5 can't believe the warning on her
children's halloween costumes. A warning covered by Kmart with
black tape. "This product contains lead. A chemical known to
the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other
respiratory hazards," she quoted the label. [Click
For More]
10/20/05
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A cross section of safety and health hazards
including employees being exposed to excess levels of cadmium at a
Hornell, N.Y., manufacturer and refurbisher of railroad cars has
resulted in $130,500 in fines from the U.S. Labor Department's
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). [Click
For More]
10/19/05
When it comes to assessing the occupational health hazards of
exposure to nanoparticles, what can we learn from other small
particles and fibers such as asbestos? [Click
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10/18/05
Until now, the debate over a possible link between ethyl mercury
and autism has focused on its use in vaccines beginning in the
1930s, when the first children diagnosed with the disorder were
born. But medicines were not the only commercial products to
harness this highly toxic form of mercury. Starting about the same
time, ethyl-mercury-based fungicides appeared on the market. [Click
For More]
10/17/05
TEXARKANA, Ark. —Hundreds of homes were evacuated after a liquid
propane gas tank was hit by a Union Pacific train car, exploding
in a ball of fire and leaving a plume of smoke over the south end
of the city, a police spokesman said. The air quality was of
concern because a train car carrying vinyl acetate caught fire,
police spokesman Chris Rankin said. Rankin said fumes from the
chemical are “most definitely poisonous.” [Click
For More]
10/14/05
Many common baby products, such as teethers, bath books and sleep
accessories, contain toxic chemicals, according to a report
released by the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). The
toxic chemicals include phthalates and PBDEs, both of which have
been linked to a host of health problems. [Click
For More]
10/13/05
Pollutant chemicals called PCBs damage sperm but do not appear to
have a dramatic impact on male fertility, scientists say. However,
they warn damage from PCBs could be enough to render infertile men
whose sperm is already of less than optimum quality. The synthetic
organic pollutants are found widely in the environment. [Click
For More]
10/12/05
Six U.S. senators have written a letter to the Environmental
Protection Agency asking it adopt a health protective interim
standard for exposure to trichloroethylene vapors. The senators
noted that TCE, a solvent used for cleaning metal parts, is a
widespread contaminant found in at least 325 of the nation´s more
than 1,200 Superfund sites, and that the chemical has been linked
to cancer and damage to the nervous and immune systems. [Click
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10/11/05
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed SB 600, aimed at
establishing a statewide program to track trace amounts of
synthetic chemical pollutants in our bodies. "While the
intent of the measure is worthy," Schwarzenegger said in his
veto message, "the bill will only provide a partial snapshot
of chemicals present in tested participants without proper context
of what the presence of (a) specific chemical means or how it
interacts with other health factors." [Click
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1o/10/05
On Feb. 2, 2004, with no public input and minimal notification,
the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission switched from
chlorine to sanitize its water supplies to chloramine, a
combination of chlorine and ammonia. Many residents, unaware of
the changeover, suddenly began to experience health effects:
burning skin; red rashes; itching; dry mouth and throat; digestive
problems; coughing; wheezing; sinus congestion; and severe asthma
symptoms. [Click
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10/7/05
BOSTON -- The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) has cited a Boston maker of granite
and marble countertops for 10 instances of failing to correct
hazards cited in a 2004 OSHA inspection including failure to abate
included employees exposed to excess levels of silica and lack of
engineering controls to reduce exposure levels. Proposed penalties
total $58,500. [Click
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10/6/05
JOPLIN, Mo. - A butter flavoring manufacturer ordered to pay more
than $53 million in damages to employees of a southwest Missouri
popcorn plant who blamed the product for lung disease has settled
with 19 other plaintiffs. [Click
for More]
10/5/05
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited BF Goodrich for
safety and health hazards at its Tuscaloosa, Ala., tire
manufacturing plant including failure to train employees and
implement an emergency response plan and hazard communication
program. The agency is proposing total penalties of $91,700. [Click
For More]
10/4/05
Ag-Mart Produce, the giant Florida tomato grower at the center of
an investigation involving three deformed babies born to
fieldworkers, announced it will no longer use pesticides that have
been linked to birth defects. "The recent issues that have
been brought to light have caused the company to look further and
harder," Ag-Mart spokesman David Sheon said. "The
company has a history of wanting to be a leader in the reduction
of pesticides." [Click
For More]
10/3/05
BATON ROUGE -- Fifty oil spills caused by Hurricane Katrina are
still being cleaned up a month after the storm, including 1.68
million gallons of crude that poured from storage tanks southeast
of New Orleans. The Coast Guard had no estimate of how long it
will take to clean up all the spills, but most of the oil cannot
disperse further because it has been contained by collection booms
or is caught inside berms, canals and levees. [Click
For More]
9/30/05
NEWARK, N.J. - A release of chlorine gas inside a chemical plant
Friday led authorities to close a busy highway during the morning
rush hour and warn nearby residents to stay indoors and roll up
their windows. The precautions were lifted about two hours later
when hazmat teams found only negligible levels of chlorine outside
the plant because its pollution control system prevented a
dangerous release, officials said. [Click
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9/29/05
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A manufacturer of non-dairy creamers and desserts
faces $37,500 in fines from the U.S. Labor Department's
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) following a
May 4 ammonia leak. Rich Products Inc. was cited for 15 alleged
serious safety and health violations at its Buffalo plant. [Click
For More]
9/28/05
In its Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental
Chemicals, released July 21, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) has documented significant declines in the population's
exposure to environmental chemicals. The study used biomonitoring
to assess exposure levels. The report is based on measurements of
chemicals and metabolites in blood and urine from a random sample
of participants in the National Health and Nutrition Information
Survey. [Click
For More]
9/27/05
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A March 15 accident that left a worker with
second and third degree burns over much of his body has resulted
in an Akron, N.Y., manufacturer being fined $115,550 by OSHA.
Whiting Door Manufacturing Corp., which manufactures and sells
trailer doors for the transportation industry, was cited for a
total of 14 alleged willful, serious and other than serious
violations of safety standards after an accident in which an
employee working on the plant's coating line fell into an elevated
7,000 gallon tank of hot caustic solution. [Click
For More]
9/26/05
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- One of the "common sense"
bills that just passed the California State legislature this
session is the Governor's greatest headache. Will he veto it to
protect a generous and powerful industry? Or will he protect more
than 6 million children, and hundreds of thousands of teachers,
and school employees, by signing it? Assembly Bill 405 protects
those in school from exposure to experimental pesticides. [Click
For More]
9/23/05
WASHINGTON -- BP Products North America Inc. has agreed to pay
more than $21 million in penalties for safety and health
violations following an investigation of a fatal explosion at its
Texas City, Texas, plant March 23 that claimed the lives of 15
workers and injured more than 170 others. The penalties are part
of a settlement agreement announced today by the U.S. Department
of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). [Click
For More]
9/22/05
Americans may have plenty of reasons to fear French fries. While
they are one of the country's favorite foods, they are soaked with
trans fats, loaded with sodium and full of simple carbs, the bad
kind. And, it turns out, they are also full of a chemical called
acrylamide, which is known to cause cancer in laboratory rats and
mice. [Click
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9/21/05
Exposure to an extremely low dose of bisphenol-A (BPA) can disrupt
the pancreatic beta-cell function in vivo inducing insulin
resistance, according to a new study published in the Sept. 17-24
issue of Environmental Health Perspectives. BPA is widely used by
the chemical industry to produce plastic polymers. These polymers
are mainly polycarbonates, which are often used to make
transparent plastic bottles used to pack food and beverages. [Click
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9/20/05
Two right-wing, industry-backed groups filed a data quality
petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
challenging the agency's labeling of certain chemicals as
"likely human carcinogens." Specifically, the Washington
Legal Foundation (WLF) and the American Council on Health and
Science (ACHS) want EPA to eliminate statements in its Guidelines
for Carcinogen Risk Assessment that indicate that a substance may
properly be labeled as "likely to be carcinogenic to
humans" based solely or primarily on the results of animal
studies. [Click
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9/19/05
WASHINGTON - A new health risk emerged from the sediment of New
Orleans — test results showing that diesel and fuel oils, which
can take years to break down, make up as much as a 10th of the
weight of some sediment samples. Earlier tests turned up dangerous
amounts of sewage-related bacteria and lead in floodwaters and
more than 100 chemical pollutants. [Click
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9/15/05
WASHINGTON, DC -- The magnitude and geographic sweep of the
pollution left by Hurricane Katrina is so enormous that the
Environmental Protection Agency is struggling to determine what
the worst hazards are, where they are and what can be done about
them, the agency's administrator said Wednesday. [Click
For More]
9/14/05
GULFPORT, MS — Environmental crews along the Coast have embarked
on a massive cleanup effort, searching for punctured chlorine
cylinders, loose treated timber, roaming diesel tanks and
household battery acid, a mission that could take years to
complete. Damage from Hurricane Katrina threatens to harm an area
brim with marine life, but also endangers residents and pets who
may unwittingly stumble onto debris or hazardous material while
trying to reclaim their homes. [Click
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9/13/05
South Carolina -- One man is dead and two other workers have been
injured during an explosion at the Carolina Polymers plant Monday.
State health department spokesman Thom Berry says nine
firefighters also were taken to a local hospital for observation
after the blast that released chemicals from a tank into the air.
[Click
For More]
9/12/05
On college campuses across the nation, plastic bottles of water
and soda are even more ubiquitous than iPods. And for some
cost-conscious students, those bottles remain useful even after
their original contents have been downed. But a burgeoning field
of study suggests that refilling and reusing plastic bottles may
not be a wise idea. [Click
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9/9/05
DELISLE, MS - EPA officials say major factories in South
Mississippi weathered Hurricane Katrina with some damage and small
chemical releases, but no major environmental impacts.
Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson Laura Niles said the
EPA and U.S. Coast Guard conducted air monitoring around the
Mississippi Phosphates fertilizer manufacturing plant in
Pascagoula, finding that the ammonia gas was very localized and
"no major threat to the community." [Click
For More]
9/8/05
As engineers began pumping out the Big Easy, creating small but
visible wakes of water behind street signs and tree trunks, the
water they're moving carries a volatile mix of everything
imaginable — from household paints, deodorants and old car
batteries to railroad tank cars, sewage treatment plants and
landfills. While state officials stop short of calling it a toxic
soup, at least so far, federal environmental officials call it
catastrophic. [Click
For More] 9/7/05
WASHINGTON -- Jonathan L. Snare, Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Labor for Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), is prepared to
offer the full resources of the agency to help protect the safety
and health of workers responding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina
along the Gulf Coast. Five public service announcements will be
recorded on specific hazards that workers are routinely exposed to
during cleanup and recovery operations. They include: flooding,
mold, falls, electrical (including downed electrical wires) and
chainsaws. [Click
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9/2/05
(CBS) Washington -- Sewage and chemicals are mixed into a
potentially toxic bathtub soaking New Orleans, posing the threat
of disease for residents forced to wade in Hurricane Katrina's
floodwaters. "Probably the more immediate health risk to the
people is that whatever was in the sewer is in the water,"
said John Pardue, director of the Louisiana Water Resources
Research Institute at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
"Whatever bacterial or viral diseases that people put into
the system before the flooding is now in the water." [Click
For More]
9/1/05
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for business resumption
following a disaster. However, the American Society of Safety
Engineers (ASSE) is offering a disaster safety checklist to assist
businesses before, during and after a disaster, such as Hurricane
Katrina. [Click
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8/31/05
WASHINGTON -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is
extending until Nov. 7, 2005, the comment period for its lead in
construction standard that requires testing for lead exposures,
provisions to protect workers from exposure where lead is present,
and medical monitoring of exposed workers. The comment period
extension will be announced in the Aug. 29, 2005, Federal
Register. [Click
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8/30/05
Eleven EPA employee unions representing over 7000 environmental
and public health professionals of the Civil Service have called
for a moratorium on drinking water fluoridation programs across
the country, and have asked EPA management to recognize fluoride
as posing a serious risk of causing cancer in people. The unions
acted following revelations of an apparent cover-up of evidence
from Harvard School of Dental Medicine linking fluoridation with
elevated risk of a fatal bone cancer in young boys. [Click
For More]
8/29/05
WASHINGTON -- Helping prepare hospital employees to respond to
victims of mass casualty incidents involving hazardous substances
is the focus of a conference being held October 6-7 at George
Washington University in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the U.S.
Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of
Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), the conference will feature
representatives from OSHA, JCAHO, Department of Homeland Security,
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, and Department of Defense. [Click
For More]
8/26/05
PITTSFIELD, MA -- A General Electric contractor has excavated 44
barrels suspected of containing PCB-laced oil from a plot of land
that sits next to a heavily polluted parking lot on Newell Street.
Environmental advocates said it confirms their repeated warnings
that the area around Newell Street is infested with PCB dumping
grounds, which -- unless discovered and removed -- will threaten
the health of residents and of the cleaned Housatonic River for
decades to come. [Click
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8/25/05
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration has cited American Electric Power
Company, Inc. and its subsidiary Appalachian Power Company for
alleged worker safety and health violations involving asbestos at
the Phillip Sporn generating plant in New Haven, W.Va., and
proposed $110,000 in penalties. [Click
For More]
8/24/05
The U.S. EPA plans to study the extent of damage done to drinking
water supplies by a component of rocket fuel -- another step
toward possible federal regulation of the chemical. The goal of
the proposed $42 million study is to assess the occurrence of
perchlorate and 25 other contaminants in water systems and
potential human exposure over the next five years, according to
EPA's proposed rule. [Click
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8/23/05
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A wrongful death suit has been filed against
British Petroleum, claiming a former refinery contaminated ground
water in Jackson County and caused a fatal illness. The family of
Nancy Ryan claims that exposure to benzene made her sick and
eventually caused her death. [Click
For More]
8/22/05
BAY CITY, MI -- Dow Chemical Co. will post signs along the Saginaw
and Tittabawassee rivers to alert anglers about the safety of
different types of fish, state officials said. The move is aimed
at addressing dioxin in the watershed. High levels of the chemical
have settled into the soil and river sediment along at least 22
miles of Tittabawassee River flood plain downstream from the
chemical giant's headquarters in Midland. [Click
For More]
9/19/05
NEW YORK -- A wide range of occupations, from farming to teaching,
may be potential risk factors for degenerative brain diseases,
such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, research findings
suggest. In a study of more than 2.6 million U.S. death records,
researchers found that a variety of jobs were associated with an
increased risk of death. Many of the associations had been seen in
earlier research and could potentially be explained by on-the-job
exposures to the chemicals that farmers, welders and hairdressers
routinely use or inhale. [Click
For More]
8/18/05
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited B & D
Industrial & Mining Services and proposed penalties totaling
$41,550 following a fatal accident at the company's Jasper, Ala.,
plant. Alleged violations included failure to properly label and
store chemicals and gas containers. [Click
For More]
8/17/05
Los Angeles -- Six months after heavy winter storms turned a
long-closed Huntington Beach landfill into a soupy, toxic mess, an
emergency cleanup is underway amid neighbors' health concerns. In
February, workers pumped nearly 4 million gallons of rainwater
from the site. Nineteen cracks were discovered in an 18-foot-high
earthen berm along Hamilton Avenue, which lines the two
northernmost waste pits. [Click
For More]
8/16/05
Delaware -- Some Delawareans are at a higher risk for cancer
because of a combination of deadly toxins in the air, according to
a yearlong, statewide study released Monday. The study doesn't
blame a particular toxin in the chemical soup that makes up
Delaware's air, but it does say Wilmington residents are
especially vulnerable because of an increased level of
cancer-causing chemicals. [Click
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8/15/05
-Newswire - The postal addresses of 22,500 children who had died
of cancer in Britain between 1955 and 1980 were linked to
emissions hotspots for specific chemicals. These were identified
from published maps of atmospheric pollution levels. The chemicals
included carbon monoxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides,
1,3-butadiene, benzene, dioxins, benzo( a )pyrene, and volatile
organic compounds. [Click
for More]
8/12/05
Liquid detergent capsules used in washing machines pose a 'new
household risk to children', a group of Irish consultants have
warned. In a letter to the medical journal, The Lancet, the
doctors described how during a six-month period, they treated six
children with alkali eye injuries, caused by liquid detergent
tablets. [Click
For More]
8/11/05
In the second reported major incident in recent days of mishandled
hazardous materials at University of California-run Los Alamos
National Laboratory, a lab employee was hospitalized for six days
with "pneumonia-like symptoms" after inhaling dangerous
fumes. Another employee suffered temporary shortness of breath
after exposure to what an in-house investigative report at Los
Alamos called "hazardous chemical vapors". [Click
For More]
8/10/05
(CNN) -- An explosion at a hazardous waste plant rocked suburban
Detroit late Tuesday, sending fireballs and billowing smoke
hundreds of feet in the air. Authorities with the Romulus police
department and the fire department said the explosion happened at
a chemical plant shortly after 9 p.m. and that a one-mile radius
around the facility has been evacuated, including a nearby Ford
plant. [Click
For More]
8/9/05
The Environmental Protection Agency has failed to protect children
from rat poison exposure, a federal judge ruled yesterday,
suggesting chemical manufacturers should add a bittering agent to
keep children from ingesting their products. Ruling in favor of
two advocacy groups U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff wrote that the
agency failed to justify its 2001 agreement with pest control
companies, which dropped two provisions from a 1998 rule requiring
them to include a bittering agent and an indicator dye. [Click
For More]
8/8/05
ST. LOUIS - (KRT) - Worldwide, amphibians are dying. In a new
study published in the August issue of the journal Ecological
Applications, It was found that Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller
killed 98 percent of tadpoles during a three-week test in
simulated shallow ponds. In a separate dry experiment, Roundup
killed 79 percent of young frogs and toads after just one day. [Click
For More]
8/5/05
Louisiana -- The largest emitter of mercury pollution in the
state, PPG Industries in Lake Charles, announced today that it
will spend more than $90 million over three years to replace its
mercury-cell production process with a less-polluting method. PPG
had been releasing between 1,600 pounds and 1,800 pounds of
mercury into the air each year from the production unit that turns
salt and water into chlorine, alkali and hydrogen. [Click
For More]
8/4/05
West Virginia -- C8 is a chemical used by DuPont's Washington
Works plant to manufacture Teflon. The chemical, which is not
contained in the final Teflon product, has leaked into several
water supplies near DuPont's plant in Wood County for at least 50
years. Six local water districts in West Virginia and Ohio are
known to be contaminated with C8. Health screenings officially got
under way this month to determine whether the substance is harmful
to humans. [Click
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8/3/05
Like the glint of a knife in the dark, a laboratory accident in
1998 helped scientists realize that some chemicals commonly used
to make life more convenient can be health hazards. Since what
they still call "the disaster" in geneticist Pat Hunt's
lab, more scientists have come to suspect that, even in tiny
amounts, some of the chemicals that keep our food fresh, our hair
stylish, our floors shiny and our fabrics stain-free might be
confusing our hormone systems and derailing fetal development. [Click
For More]
8/2/05
WASHINGTON (AP) - In deciding whether to approve specific
pesticides, the Environmental Protection Agency is using data from
two dozen industry tests that intentionally exposed people to
poisons, including one involving a World War I-era chemical
warfare agent. [Click
For More]
8/1/05
HOMESTEAD — Two and a half years ago, nursery worker Mario
Chavez was as good as dead. Chavez, 53, says in November 2002 he
handled Christmas trees being prepared for shipping. "The
trees had been sprayed with a chemical, and it would drip over me
all day." The chemical was chlorpyrifos, an ingredient in
insecticides that in high doses can damage enzymes vital to the
nervous system. Excessive exposure may cause seizures and even
death, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warnings.
[Click
For More]
7/29/05
FORT WORTH -- A series of explosions rocked a chemical plant in
north Fort Worth on Thursday afternoon, unleashing a five-alarm
fire and an enormous pillar of black smoke that could be seen in
Denton and Dallas. At least five people were taken to hospitals
for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening.
Officials did not order evacuations but asked people who live or
work within a five-mile radius to stay indoors until early evening
to avoid the toxic smoke. [Click
For More]
7/28/05
Boston, MA -- Reading fire officials will send a bill of about
$11,000 to an asbestos removal company whose workers allegedly
moved chemicals from a laboratory at Reading Memorial High School,
triggering a full-blown hazardous materials alert. The reaction is
an example of how increased sensitivity to the potential dangers
of chemical contamination can now lead to sophisticated response
and costly results for what in the past may have been handled as a
simple mistake. [Click
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7/27/05
PERTH AMBOY, N.J. -- The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration has cited Acetylene Service
Company, Perth Amboy, N.J. for alleged safety and health
violations after a January explosion killed three workers.
Proposed penalties total $237,600. [Click
For More]
7/26/05
DEARBORN, Mich. -- Some workers at a plant in Dearborn were sent
to local hospitals after a chemical spill at about noon. Seven
workers were taken to area hospitals -- six of them for
observation and one who experienced some breathing difficulties.
The Dearborn Fire Department, confirmed that the chemical released
was hydrogen sulfide. [Click
For More]
7/25/05
SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- Thousands of Utahns will be left breathless
this holiday weekend. Not from the spectacular Pioneer Day
fireworks, but from the fireworks' thick smoke. Scientists and
health officials don't have a good understanding of the
phenomenon. One study in western Washington state traced
microscopic particles of a dozen metals in fireworks smoke,
including lead, strontium, vanadium and zinc. [Click
For More]
7/22/05
HOUSTON -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Northwest Pipe Co. and
proposed penalties totaling $197,500 for exposing employees to
safety and health hazards including failure to establish a written
safety and health program and train employees to safely use
hazardous chemicals. [Click
For More]
7/21/05
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued citations and
proposed penalties totaling $356,700 against Exide Technologies
Inc. for 38 alleged safety and health violations including
hazardous waste, emergency response, confined space entry, lead
contamination, cadmium exposure, bloodborne pathogens and lack of
employee training. [Click
For More]
7/20/05
Two new studies on Aspartame and Diet Drinks Confirm Source of
Obesity, Cancer/ Malignant Brain Tumor Epidemics. Neurosurgeon
Says Ban Toxin From Schools. [Click
For More]
7/19/05
ANNANDALE, FL - One person's beautiful fingernails can be
hazardous to another person's health. Add a language barrier to
the mix, and the possibilities for problems increase. Reaching out
to the large population of Vietnamese nail technicians, the
Environmental Protection Agency hosted a pair of workshops
yesterday with the instructions given in Vietnamese. [Click
For More]
7/18/05
METHUEN, Mass. -- Safety and health hazards at a Lawrence, Mass.,
textile mill have resulted in $66,375 in proposed penalties from
the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA). Malden Mills was cited for 14 alleged
violations of workplace safety and health standards including
flammable materials stored near emergency exits; unsafe welding
operations, and improper storage of oxygen and acetylene
cylinders. [Click
For More]
7/14/05
MOBILE, Ala. -- OSHA has cited Cutler at Abbeville L.L.C alleging
safety and health violations at the company's Abbeville, Ala., egg
processing facility. The agency is proposing penalties totaling
$81,500. OSHA began an inspection on Jan. 19, the day after an
ammonia leak caused a plant-wide evacuation. "This company
lacked comprehensive management programs to train employees,
identify hazardous chemicals and plan for unexpected ammonia
releases," said Ken Atha, OSHA's Mobile area director. [Click
For More]
7/13/05
Sheboygan, WI -- Some scientists are worried that a dangerous
chemical in the Sheboygan River could potentially make fish unsafe
to eat and harm area residents. Scientists will be gathering data
for the next two months to determine if the polychlorinated
biphenyls — or PCBs — buried in the sediment of the river are
coming to the surface and being swept into Lake Michigan. [Click
For More]
7/12/05
CEDAR FALLS, IA --- A nitric acid spill at Bossard Iowa Industrial
Products in the Cedar Falls Industrial Park sent about 15 people
to the hospital. No one appeared seriously injured from the spill
that happened around 10 a.m., As of 6 p.m. Monday five people
remained hospitalized at Sartori Memorial Hospital for
observation. [Click
For More]
7/11/05
Virginia -- A tractor-trailer carrying hazardous materials crashed
in Spotsylvania County killing its driver and closing southbound
Interstate 95 near Massaponax and paralyzing the region for about
24 hours. Between 500 and 1,000 gallons of toxic herbicide spilled
when the truck crashed. The collision and chemical spill sent
nearly a dozen people to the hospital. [Click
For More]
7/8/05
TAMPA, Fla. -- OSHA has cited Howard Fertilizer & Chemical
Company Inc., for 38 alleged serious violations of workplace
safety and health standards including failing to: use proper
equipment to mix and heat chemicals; assess hazards involved in
processing chemicals; determine and provide appropriate personal
protective equipment for employees, and provide employees with
chemical-hazard-recognition training..The citations, which assess
penalties totaling $73,850, follow investigation of a Feb. 16
accident at the company's Groveland, Fla., plant. [Click
For More]
7/7/05
WALPOLE, MA -- A local company has been fined $101,000 by the
state Department of Environmental Protection for failing to
promptly report a chemical spill this winter. On Dec. 6,about
1,300 gallons of liquid acetone, a flammable chemical used to make
plastics and fibers, spilled out of a tanker truck at the Callahan
Company, a chemical distributor at 18 Industrial Road. [Click
For More]
7/6/05
TOKYO -- Seven Japanese companies on Wednesday said a total of 51
workers who had handled asbestos had died in recent decades,
raising to 294 the death toll at 10 companies. Japanese industrial
equipment maker Kubota Corp. first announced last week that 79
workers at its asbestos-producing plants had died over several
decades. [Click
For More]
7/5/05
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) poses a greater cancer risk than EPA
has estimated, science advisers to the agency said in a draft
report released last week. The draft report from EPA's Science
Advisory Board (SAB) says the agency should classify the chemical
as a "likely" carcinogen in humans. [Click
For More]
7/1/05
St. Clair, IL -- Seven personal injury lawsuits seeking a combined
total of $33.7 million were filed in Madison County Circuit Court
on behalf of plaintiffs claiming they were exposed to
manganese-containing welding fumes which resulted in their
neurological injuries. [Click
For More]
6/29/05
SACRAMENTO — California moved closer Tuesday to the
establishment of the country's only statewide biomonitoring
program, aimed at tracking chemicals such as plastics and flame
retardants that scientists increasingly find in our bodies. [Click
For More]
6/28/05
ST. LOUIS -- Investigators continue to look into the cause of a
blaze at a gas distribution company that launched massive
fireballs and hurled metal canisters into the surrounding
neighborhood, even as some residents on Monday called for the
industrial business to move to a less populated area. A federal
agency is investigating Friday's explosion at a Praxair Inc.
facility, a gas distribution business situated next to a national
historic district neighborhood known as Lafayette Square. [Click
For More]
6/27/05
i-Newswire, - In the first study of its kind, researchers compared
the effects of both sheltering and evacuation on the local
population during a fire at a Devon plastics factory which
resulted in hazardous chemicals released into the surrounding
environment. During the first six hours, many of the local
residents were evacuated. But it was then decided that remaining
residents should stay in their homes. Researchers found that soon
after the fire, the evacuated group had almost twice as many
exposures as compared with those in the sheltered group [Click
For More]
6/23/05
For safety professionals to truly make a difference in the
workplace, they must evolve from the role of "enforcer"
to "enabler" – someone who helps workers achieve their
career goals safely and healthily and asks, "How can I help
you do that?" That philosophy, which was a recurring theme at
ASSE's annual conference in New Orleans, is the foundation of
Corning Inc.'s risk-based safety and health auditing process. [Click
For More]
6/22/05
Lyn Redwood knew something was wrong with her son, Will, shortly
after his first birthday in 1995. “It was like ‘Invasion of
the Body Snatchers.’ He couldn’t talk and it was just like he
was a shell of a person,” she said. Redwood had started hearing
about the levels of thimerosal contained in childhood vaccines.
Thimerosal is a chemical preservative that contains nearly 50
percent mercury, a liquid so-called heavy metal. [Click
For More]
6/21/05
Federal investigators joined the probe Monday into the fatal
exposure of a contract employee to phenol, a strong corrosive
poison used in the making of thermo plastics, at the Bayer Baytown
Industrial Park. An accidental release of the chemical compound
occurred at 9:15 a.m. Saturday at the polycarbonate facility. [Click
For More]
6/20/05
SACRAMENTO — Dr. Richard J. Jackson, the state's top medical
officer, has a pretty good idea how much lead contaminates you and
your family. Even though he's never tested you. He knows this
because he and other scientists have spent 50 years measuring and
studying lead in the United States. They know the typical
blood-lead level in children and adults. But when it comes to
flame retardants, plasticizers, pesticides or any of the dozens of
chemicals found as often as lead in our bodies, Jackson, the state
public health officer, has scant idea of what's normal. [Click
For More]
6/17/05
Anchorage, Alaska -- Children who fire .22-caliber rifles in
indoor shooting ranges may be at risk for high levels of lead in
their blood if the ranges aren't properly maintained, a new study
reported Thursday. Elevated lead levels in children threaten their
intellectual development and can lead to physical ailments. [Click
For More]
6/16/05
WASHINGTON -- Data from two dozen industry tests that
intentionally exposed people to poisons, including one involving a
World War I-era chemical warfare agent, are being used by the
Environmental Protection Agency in approving and denying specific
pesticides. [Click
For More]
6/15/05
Although it has taken just 60 years for humans to put many
freshwater lakes on the eutrophication fast track, a new study
shows their recovery may take a thousand years under the best of
circumstances. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences (PNAS), University of Wisconsin-Madison limnologist
Stephen R. Carpenter reported results of a study that showed that
the buildup of phosphorus in soils in lake watersheds is likely to
be the source of serious chronic environmental problems for
hundreds of years. [Click
For More]
6/14/05
TULSA, Okla. -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited the American Airlines
maintenance facility in Tulsa for allegedly failing to protect
workers from contaminated spray painting fumes and sanding dust.
Proposed penalties total $67,975. [Click
For More]
6/13/05
New Jersey — A former mechanic for an Edison forklift rental
company who was disabled in 2000 when he was exposed to a toxic
pesticide while repairing one of the machines has been awarded
$46.7 million by a Superior Court jury. The jury determined that
Troy Chemical Corp. of Newark, the company that sent the
contaminated forklift to Mid-Hudson Forklift Rental Corp. is
responsible for the disabling illnesses Karl Webb suffered after
cleaning and repairing the machine on Feb. 18, 2000. [Click
For More]
6/10/05
Harvard University researchers studying premature babies in a
neonatal intensive care unit have found surprisingly high levels
of a plastic that is particularly toxic — at least in animal
studies — to developing male reproductive systems. The chemical,
used in medical devices such as IV lines, doesn't belong in NICUs,
the researchers said Wednesday, and mothers pregnant with boys and
parents of premature baby boys in particular should ask their
doctors not to use products with the compound, an additive known
as di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, or DEHP. [Click
For More]
6/9/05
When U.S. District Judge Duross Fitzpatrick dismissed three of the
four counts against the American Conference of Governmental
Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) in a lawsuit filed by the
International Brominated Solvents Association and other
plaintiffs, the plaintiff's attorney Henry Chajet commented,
"We're very satisfied." ACGIH has an explanation for
Chajet's satisfaction: The continuing lawsuit by industry groups
who want to block ACGIH from publishing workplace exposure levels
for four chemicals is an effort to bully ACGIH and prevent it from
releasing hazard information on substances that industry wants to
use. [Click
For More]
6/8/05
MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. - Nearly 100 people living near Columbian
Chemical Co.'s plant in Marshall County have sued the company,
claiming emissions of carbon black and carbon disulfide are a
health hazard. The lawsuit, filed recently in Marshall County
Circuit Court, alleges that emissions from the Proctor plant
increase the risks for respiratory illnesses, vascular diseases,
neurological disorders and cancer. [Click
For More]
6/7/05
Michigan - Thieves intent on stealing anhydrous ammonia, a key
ingredient in the manufacture of the drug methamphetamine, had
already beaten a path to Hamilton Farm Bureau's Martin facility.
This time their vandalism of a tank cost the company almost
$12,000 in federal penalties. [Click
For More]
6/6/05
Globally, millions of people are at risk for the adverse effects
of arsenic exposure. The majority of harmful arsenic exposure
comes from drinking water from wells drilled through
arsenic-bearing sediments. Drinking water contains primarily
inorganic arsenic, which is more acutely toxic than the organic
form. [Click
For More]
6/3/05
It's just a study involving a few rats with fertility problems in
Pullman, but the findings could lead to fundamental changes in how
we look at environmental toxins, cancer, heritable diseases,
genetics and the basics of evolutionary biology. If a pregnant
woman is exposed to a pesticide at the wrong time, the study
suggests, her children, grandchildren and the rest of her
descendants could inherit the damage and diseases caused by the
toxin -- even if it doesn't involve a genetic mutation. [Click
For More]
6/2/05
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- A painting contractor's failure to protect
employees removing lead-based paint from the Heinz Loft Apartment
project in Pittsburgh, has resulted in $106,800 in proposed
penalties from the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and
Health Administration. Mike McGarry and Sons Inc., of Cleveland,
Ohio, was cited for 12 alleged willful, serious and
other-than-serious violations of workplace safety and health
regulations following an OSHA inspection. [Click
For More]
6/1/05
The industrial solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) may cause immune
system changes in workers exposed to the chemical, Italian
researchers conclude. The study found that workers exposed to TCE
showed significant changes in the normal balance of immune system
regulators called cytokines. The finding could explain previous
research that found that workers exposed to TCE had increased
rates of autoimmune disorders. [Click
For More]
5/31/05
SACRAMENTO, CA - Moving more assertively than any other state's
lawmakers, the California Legislature is stepping into a growing
global debate over how to regulate potentially dangerous chemicals
used in perfume, nail polish, plastic baby bottles, rubber ducks
and thousands of other products. Under measures facing votes this
week, the state would collect samples from the bodies of
Californians and study data from manufacturers to better identify
which chemicals may pose health risks. [Click
For More]
5/28/05
BP backed off statements made last week that the root causes of
its deadly Texas City refinery explosion were that workers weren't
following procedures and supervisors were lax. While those were
indeed critical factors leading to the blast, they were not the
deeper causes, as the company had said in releasing its interim
report on the accident a week ago. [Click
For More]
5/27/05
Researchers have reported for the first time that they have found
a highly significant link between human exposure to chemicals used
in consumer products and adverse changes in the genitals of baby
boys. The sons whose mothers' urine contained higher levels of
phthalates, a family of compounds used to soften vinyl and other
plastics, were more likely to show the physical changes, according
to the University of Rochester study. [Click
For More]
5/26/05
Farmers and amateur gardeners who are exposed to pesticides run a
higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease. Previous evidence
that suggested an association with the disease was strengthened by
the publication of research covering almost 3,000 people in five
European countries. Scientists found that heavy exposure to
pesticides increased the chances of developing Parkinson's by
almost 50 per cent. [Click
For More]
5/25/05
PARAMOUNT, CA -- A sulfur dioxide leak at a Paramount refinery
sent 19 schoolchildren to hospitals Monday with complaints of
respiratory problems and nausea as investigators worked to
determine the cause of the incident. The sulfur dioxide cloud
wafted over Wirtz School, which neighbors the refinery, and
affected about 40 children, who complained of nausea, difficulty
breathing, headache, watery eyes and other exposure symptoms. [Click
For More]
5/24/05
Ontario, Canada -- Ontario ranks as having the highest lead
pollution in North America and Canadian industrial facilities are
listed as the top three offenders, a NAFTA pollution watchdog
report shows. The Commission for Environmental Co-operation (CEC)
report to be released today, called Taking Stock, tracks toxic
chemical pollution from 24,000 industrial facilities in Canada and
the U.S. for 2002. [Click
For More]
5/23/05
TRENTON, New Jersey -- The state of New Jersey is blocking a
proposal by the U.S. Army and the chemical company DuPont to
transport corrosive wastewater left after VX nerve agent is
neutralized from Indiana to New Jersey for further treatment. The
VX nerve agent now is located in a stockpile at a U.S. Army base
in Indiana, where the neutralization has begun. [Click
For More]
5/20/05
PFOA is found in the blood of Arctic polar bears, Mediterranean
dolphins, and cormorants on Lake Winnipeg. In fact, says a 2003
report by the Environmental Working Group, "as more studies
pour in, PFCs seem destined to supplant DDT, PCBs, dioxin and
other chemicals as the most notorious, global chemical
contaminants ever produced." In a company report, DuPont
acknowledges that the widespread prevalence of PFOA in human blood
"raises questions that should be addressed." But the
company has repeatedly emphasized that there are no known human
risks. [Click
For More]
5/19/05
EDINBURG, TX — San Carlos Elementary School remains closed today
after insecticide exposure Wednesday morning forced the evacuation
of 580 students and school staff members. Fifty-six students and
nine campus staff members complained of nausea and headaches, said
Gilbert Tagle, the school district’s public information officer.
[Click
For More]
5/18/05
Greenville, SC -- Authorities say a worker at Southern Water
Treatment fainted and collapsed due to an unknown medical problem.
The worker struck a nozzle as he fell and released a cloud of
hydrogen sulfide into the air. Greenville Memorial Hospital
reported 11 patients due to the leak. [Click
For More]
5/17/05
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB)
announced it will hold a public hearing related to its
investigation of combustible dust hazards at industrial
facilities. The hearing will begin at 8:30 a.m. on June 22 in the
Horizon Ballroom of the Ronald Reagan Building and International
Trade Center in Washington. CSB is soliciting comments on a number
of questions related to combustible dust hazards. [Click
For More]
5/16/05
Europe is setting environmental standards for international
commerce, forcing changes in how industries around the world make
plastic, electronics, toys, cosmetics and furniture. Now, the EU
is on the verge of going further — overhauling how all toxic
compounds are regulated. A proposal about to be debated by
Europe's Parliament would require testing thousands of chemicals,
cost industries several billion dollars, and could lead to many
more compounds and products being pulled off the market. [Click
For more]
5/13/05
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Lee Mechanical
Contractors Inc., Park Hills, Mo., for allegedly failing to ensure
appropriate protective programs were in place for employees
working in a lead contaminated environment. Proposed penalties
total $113,000. [Click
For More]
5/12/05
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- A dangerous clean-up operation following a
thirty-three gallon spill of muriatic acid at Solvox Mfg. Company,
a subsidiary of Hydrite Chemical Company, Milwaukee, has resulted
in a proposed fine of $171,000 and workplace safety and health
violations issued by the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). [Click
For More]
5/11/05
The Bush administration has ordered a nearly 50 percent cut in
mercury pollution from power plants over the next 15 years, a plan
that will raise electricity prices but help protect fetuses and
young children from nerve damage. The rule makes the United States
the first country in the world to regulate mercury emissions from
utilities, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
officials. [Click
For More]
5/10/05
TOLEDO, Ohio -- Protecting workers and cutting injury compensation
costs are the results OSHA expects personal health care facility
operators to enjoy after participating in a half-day free seminar
provided by the agency on May 24 in Lima, Ohio. The seminar will
provide advice and guidance on OSHA regulations and best practices
in dealing with such areas as bloodborne pathogens, ergonomic
hazards, workplace violence, hazard communication, lockout/tagout
requirements, and recordkeeping. [Click
For More]
5/9/05
TORONTO, CANADA - The Ontario government is delivering on its plan
to enhance workplace health and safety by proposing to update
occupational exposure limits (OELs) for 18 hazardous workplace
substances. [Click
For More]
5/6/05
PUNTA DEL ESTE, Uruguay - The signatories of the Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) pledged
Thursday to search for alternatives in order to eventually
eliminate the use of the insecticide DDT in the fight against
malaria. Although DDT is one of the 12 POPs that the international
community has agreed on eliminating as soon as possible, it is
still widely used as an effective and low-cost weapon against the
mosquitoes that transmit malaria. [Click
For More]
5/5/05
Two years ago, state Sen. Ed Meyer lost Adora to cancer. His
normally spry 10-year-old Labrador retriever had suddenly become
lethargic. Meyer's veterinarian ran tests that revealed that
Adora's organs were riddled with cancer, which the vet was certain
was caused from ingesting poisonous lawn-care pesticides. Meyer
said he had used pesticides on his lawn in Westchester (where he
lived before he moved to Guilford, Conn., two years ago), and he
often walked with Adora on the neighboring golf course. [Click
For More]
5/4/05
Male babies exposed in the womb to chemicals that mimic estrogen
-- compounds found in birth control pills and some plastics -- are
at risk of being born with deformities in their prostate and
urethra that may lead to diseases in adulthood, according to a
study of lab animals published today. Some researchers say the
wider use of the chemicals might have contributed to a surge in
prostate cancer, particularly in men under 65 years of age, that
has been seen in the past two decades. [Click
For More]
5/3/05
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited United States
Pipe and Foundry Company for serious citations including
inadequate personal protective equipment and eye wash stations for
employees working with corrosive materials; improper labeling and
storage of hazardous chemicals; and failing to provide employees
with safety and health training, Proposed penalties total $71,000
following inspections at the company's Bessemer plant. [Click
For More]
5/2/05
A group of men from the camp gather to chat and tell their stories
to curious visitors or passers-by. Gamal Mansuer, an older man
with a white beard, holds up an inhaler and a small breathing
machine. “I can’t breathe because there is asbestos in my
lungs,” explains Mansuer, who was recently fired after working
at the factory for 15 years. He is one of 90 employees who have
been laid off from Aura-Misr, a Spanish-Egyptian asbestos company.
[Click For
More]
4/29/05
Concerned that research linking benzene to cancer could lead to
expensive and strict controls on the petroleum industry, five
major oil companies are funding a multimillion-dollar study to
counter the findings, documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle
show. The study, launched in 2001 in Shanghai, China, with as much
as $27 million from BP, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil
and Shell Chemical, will analyze benzene's effects on the blood
and bone marrow, and its ability to cause cancer in workers. [Click
For More]
4/28/05
GENEVA -- Faced with a rising toll of occupational-related death,
injury and sickness, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
International Labour Office (ILO) today mark the World Day for
Safety and Health at Work by highlighting the need for a
preventative safety culture worldwide. According to new estimates
by the ILO, the number of job-related accidents and illnesses,
which annually claim more than two million lives, appears to be
rising because of rapid industrialization in some developing
countries. [Click
For More]
4/27/05
El Passo, TX -- The top generators of toxic releases in El Paso
County are a tile manufacturing plant, Fort Bliss, and El Paso’s
refineries, according to scorecard.org, a group that reports on
information gathered by the EPA Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)
Program. The TRI is a publicly available EPA database that
contains information on toxic chemical releases and other waste
management activities reported annually by certain covered
industry groups as well as federal facilities. [Click
For More]
4/26/05
WESTON, Mass., PRNewswire -- FEMA's new software program, HAZUS-MH,
can dramatically reduce the costs associated with natural
disasters by providing advanced impact analysis to emergency
planners at all levels. HAZUS-MH helps emergency managers to
determine the potential damage from inland and coastal flooding,
hurricane winds, earthquakes, and chemical hazards. [Click
For More]
4/25/05/
RIALTO, Calif. -- An emerging threat of uncertain dimensions looms
in this working-class suburb, where a chemical used in rocket fuel
and defense manufacturing has befouled nearly half the drinking
water supply. But Rialto is just one of many communities facing
this problem. The choices faced here -- when to close wells, whom
to sue and how not to get sued -- confront officials in 36 states
where the Environmental Protection Agency says perchlorate has
been detected. [Click
For More]
4/22/05
Lagos, Nigeria -- The Nigerian Federal Government has been urged
to declare the Niger Delta region a disaster zone, following
recent research, which confirmed the presence of carcinogens in
water samples taken from across the region. [Click
For More]
4/21/05
BEIJING - An explosion tore through a chemical plant in southwest
China late Thursday, destroying a three-story building and leaving
19 employees missing, the government said. The blast occurred on
the outskirts of Chongqing, a major industrial city. [Click
For More]
4/20/05
Indiana - A Corydon industrial plant may have illegally released
into the air tens of thousands of pounds of a toxic chemical
associated with nervous-system damage and cancer each year between
1998 and 2003, accordig to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. [Click
For More]
4/19/05
Hazardous events resulting from methamphetamine production,
including explosions and environmental damage, are increasing,
according to two new reports from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC). Methamphetamine-related events recorded by
the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES)
system increased from 184 in 2000 to 320 in June, 2004, totaling
1,791 events in the 16 states that use HSEES. Washington (399
events) and Missouri (351) reported the most events. [Click
For more]
4/18/05
California lawmakers will consider the nation's first ban of BPA
in plastic products made for babies and toddlers next week. Recent
studies have shown that BPA is extremely harmful, even in very low
doses. The chemical acts like the female hormone estrogen and
interferes with the body's natural processes. [Click
For More]
4/15/05
WASHINGTON -- Reducing Worker Exposures to Perchloroethylene in
Dry-Cleaning is the name and goal of a new publication unveiled
today by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Perchloroethylene is a commonly used chemical in the dry-cleaning
industry that can pose serious health hazards. The booklet
provides practical and effective guidance on ways for dry-cleaning
operators to reduce worker exposure to perchloroethylene. [Click
For More]
4/14/05
Washington, DC – Today, 20 consumer and environmental groups
from across the country asked the national headquarters of Home
Depot and Lowe's Home Improvement, two of the largest home and
garden retailers, to carry a full range of organic, non-toxic lawn
care products to protect the health of children, families, pets
and the environment and to reconsider the sale of "weed and
feed" due to its hazards and environmental pollution. Recent
surveys show almost half of all households buying lawn care
products are seeking non-toxic alternatives. [Click
For More]
4/13/05
New Haven, CT, Apr. 13 (UPI) -- Scientists at Yale University say
they've found bisphenol-A, a chemical found in many food-storage
plastics, can lead to neurological diseases. The researchers said
small doses of BPA can lead to learning disabilities and
age-related neurodegenerative diseases. [Click
For More]
4/12/05
Across California's vast Central Valley, producer of a quarter of
the nation's food and fiber, and in a growing number of other
locales, pesticide exposure is causing alarm, and not just among
the millions of farm workers on agriculture's front line. [Click
For More]
4/11/05
BRAINTREE, Mass. -- Engineered Materials Solutions Inc., faces
$89,100 in fines and was cited for a total of 29 alleged serious
violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act including
employees being exposed to excess levels of cadmium; ineffective
steps to reduce exposure levels; inadequate monitoring of workers
for exposure; cadmium-contaminated surfaces in the break room,
change room and other locations; inadequate or improper methods of
cleaning up cadmium; and an incomplete cadmium compliance plan. [Click
For More]
4/8/05
Adam Finkel was OSHA's regional director for the Rocky Mountain
states when he became aware that inspectors from his own federal
agency were increasingly being exposed to toxic beryllium dust.
But when he and others brought the matter to the attention of the
top brass at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
the agency refused to immediately conduct specific tests for the
exposure, which can lead to a deadly lung disease like emphysema.
[Click
For More]
4/7/05
ATLANTA -- The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Leggett and Platt Inc. for
exposing worker | 
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