Rabat.- Marruecos enviará el próximo martes desde Casablanca 50 toneladas de desechos tóxicos a Francia para ser eliminados por un empresa especializada. A través de un comunicado, la Organización de Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO) explicó que el DDT, uno de los pesticidas que se mandará a Francia, forma parte de la categoría de los Contaminantes Orgánicos Persistentes (POP) y fue adquirido en este país en los años 80 para luchar contra el paludismo. More:
www.diariovasco.com (Spanish)

Nairobi, July 4 2013 - Representative of 28 African countries today developed a draft roadmap aimed at driving the continent toward meeting the 2020 goal of the sound management of chemicals across their life cycles. National legal and institutional arrangements for chemical management and public resources for ensuring the sound management of chemicals are often insufficient, particularly in Africa. More:
UNEP News Centre

At issue are substances called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, said Dr. Aimin Chen, an assistant professor of environmental health at the University of Cincinnati. They’ve been widely used as flame retardants. “Reducing exposure to PBDEs is a challenge,” he said in a news release, “but even a few simple steps such as hand-washing and limiting young children’s exposure can be helpful.” More:
Cincinnati Business Courier

Manufacturers add potentially harmful fire-retardant chemicals to insulation to pass a flammability test required in building codes. But the test isn’t reliable for foam plastic insulation, argued fire scientist Vytenis Babrauskas and his colleagues in a study published in Building Research and Information. More:
www.kqed.org (California, USA)

The complex debate over toxins in Norwegian farmed salmon has experts speaking out on both sides, with some maintaining that farmed salmon is safe while others advise against consuming it at all. More:
Barents Observer

Femmes enceintes et jeunes, ne mangez pas de saumon plus de deux fois par semaine. Telle est la nouvelle recommandation du gouvernement norvégien, forcé de reconnaître – tardivement – que ce poisson gras est aussi bourré de produits toxiques. More:
www.rue89.com (French)

Des substances toxiques présentes dans des déchets plastiques de taille microscopique peuvent s’insérer dans la chaîne alimentaire par l’ingestion d’organismes de la faune marine, comme l’holothurie, le plancton et les moules, affirme la délégation néerlandaise, qui invitera les ministres européens de l’environnement à s’attaquer au problème lors d’une réunion aujourd’hui (18 juin) à Luxembourg. More:
EurActiv.com (French)

Santo Domingo - Cuando un producto calificado como ambiental llega a las aduanas del país, o cuando se pretende que salga de sus fronteras, sean estas terrestres, aéreas o marítimas, se genera una alerta en el sistema de la Iniciativa Aduanas Verdes. More:
www.listindiario.com.do (Spanish)

New Bedford, MA, USA - Though New Bedford is the number one fishing port in the country, fishing in the harbor itself was banned by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in 1979 because the fish can contain dangerous amounts of the cancer-causing chemicals that litter the harbor floor. More:
SouthCoastToday

An ‘impact paper’ published today by the UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has drawn heavy criticism for suggesting that pregnant women should avoid exposure to common environmental chemicals, despite conceding that the risks of such exposures are unknown and unlikely to be ‘truly harmful to most babies’. More:
RSC Chemistry World

Europeans live longer and healthier lives than in the past, partly due to successful environmental policies that have reduced the exposure to harmful environmental contaminants in air, water and food, according to a joint EEA/JRC report. The report shows the multiple ways in which the environment affects human health. More:
Joint Research Centre (European Commission)

With smoke and tar from faulty light fixtures leaking into New York City public school classrooms at alarming rates, the Bloomberg administration said on Tuesday that it would cut in half the time it needed to replace them. More:
The New York Times

Health experts say that women in the developing world (like women everywhere) have a special set of vulnerabilities to environmental contaminants because their bodies are more sensitive to pollutants that can cause allergies, immune disorders and reproductive and neurological problems triggered by exposure to some synthetic chemicals. More:
www.upi.com

Les représentants de 170 pays ont adopté une série de mesures pour renforcer les protections contre les produits chimiques dangereux et les déchets lors d’une conférence des Nations Unies à Genève. More:
www.actualites-news-environnement.com (French)

Les parties réunies à la conférence sur les produits chimiques et les déchets dangereux, qui s'est tenue à Genève du 28 avril au 10 mai 2013, ont décidé l'inscription de cinq produits chimiques supplémentaires dans la réglementation internationale, annonce l'International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). More:
www.actu-environnement.com (French) 

GENEVA - A summit on chemicals and hazardous wastes ended Friday with an agreement to globally phase out a widely used flame retardant and to accept stricter requirements for disclosing information about exports of four other chemicals. More:
StarTribune World

Chlordecone once used on banana crops is threatening livelihoods and public health by polluting soil and sea. After polluting the soil, the chemical is wreaking havoc out at sea, an environmental disaster that now threatens the whole economy. More:
The Guardian
Le Monde - Guadeloupe : monstre chimique (French)

Researchers found that children of mothers who had high PBDE levels during their second trimester showed cognition deficits when the children were five years old as well as higher rates of hyperactivity at ages two to five. More:
Scientific American

An Environmental Health News analysis of thousands of reports from America’s largest companies shows that toys and other children’s products contain low levels of dozens of industrial chemicals, including some unexpected ingredients that will surprise a public concerned about exposure. More:
Environmental Health News

ELLSWORTH, Maine — New research by a Blue Hill scientist shows that during a fire, firefighters are exposed to dangerous levels of toxic, cancer-causing chemicals created when commercial flame retardants burn. More:
bangordailynews.com