"The US Senate will act in early 2010 on legislation to battle climate change, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday, ending hopes of a breakthrough by next month's global talks."
The secretive Food and Drug Administration withheld information about contaminated tacos sold to school lunch programs that caused kids to continue to get violently sick in several states for years.
"The rapid adoption by U.S. farmers of genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton has promoted increased use of pesticides, an epidemic of herbicide-resistant weeds and more chemical residues in foods, according to a report issued Tuesday by health and environmental protection groups."
"The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed new air quality regulations for sulfur dioxide emissions, which come mostly from power plants and industrial facilities, expecially those that burn coal."
"A corridor of land protected by Puerto Rico's last governor hosts dozens of rare and endangered species .... Now new Gov. Luis Fortuno has revoked the reserve as part of a drive to bring jobs and investment for the U.S. territory's struggling economy."
"Smaller than a virus and used in more than 200 consumer products, silver nanoparticles can kill and mutate fish embryos, new research shows."
As U.S. chlorine plants convert to cleaner technology, they are leaving behind large stocks of mercury. There is a danger that mercury will find its way to dangerous and polluting uses on the global market. Efforts to ban mercury export have not been effective.
"Facing the possibility of a $27 billion pollution judgment against it in an Ecuadorean court, Chevron launched an aggressive lobbying and public relations campaign to try to prevent the judgment as well as reverse a deeply damaging story line."
"Researchers have pinpointed the source of what is probably the worst mass poisoning in history, according to a study published Sunday. For nearly three decades scientists have struggled to figure out exactly how arsenic was getting into the drinking water of millions of people in rural Bangladesh."
