Environmental Health

"In weighing whether to add 'sins against ecology' to the Catholic Church's official teachings, Pope Francis is bolstering not only his climate credentials, said religious experts, but also his approach to environmental justice.

During a speech Friday at the Vatican, Pope Francis said it was a 'duty' to add the 'ecological sin against the common home' to the church catechism. His speech came during the 20th World Congress of the International Association of Penal Law.

"Bayer AG discussed plans to give the German drugs giant influence within a prestigious American not-for-profit dedicated to media freedoms that would protect and promote the company’s business interests in exchange for generous funding, records obtained by the Guardian show."

"A pollution-plagued oil refinery that shut down in 2012 is now on the verge of reopening in the U.S. Virgin Islands, thanks to the aid of EPA chief Andrew Wheeler."

"Actor-producer Mark Ruffalo is ... trying to translate film into political activism with Friday’s theatrical release of his Dark Waters, based on lawyer Rob Bilott’s years-long fight to hold DuPont Co. accountable for chemical contamination that a West Virginia farmer believed was killing his cattle."

"The House Energy and Commerce Committee forwarded on Wednesday major legislation that would target a cancer-linked chemical that is leaching into the water supply."

"A panel of three appellate judges grilled attorneys for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Defense Council in a suit about the exemptions to the agency’s mercury inventory reporting rule."

"US air pollution rules could be hugely insufficient in preventing deaths, experts are concluding from a new study of the likely causes of death of 4.5 million veterans."

"A House committee approved legislation Nov. 19 to ban asbestos but allow certain chemical manufacturers to transition away from use of the cancer-causing mineral."

"Science prevailing over politics: That’s how a researcher who was snubbed for a high-profile award earlier this year has characterized the decision to finally recognize his achievements in highlighting a deadly public health problem in rural Sri Lanka."