GENEVA, Switzerland – Chemicals in household and industrial products that disrupt the human hormone system are linked to high global rates of breast, ovarian, prostate, testicular and thyroid cancers, warns a report released today by the UN Environment Programme and the World Health Organization. More:
Environment News Service
UNEP News Centre
Environmental Health News

Investigadores de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria han analizado durante más de un año muestras de 61 marcas comunes de quesos -54 convencionales y 7 orgánicos- y han encontrado que en un grupo reducido de estas los niveles de "bifenilos policlorados similares a las dioxinas" (dioxin-like PCB o DL-PCB en sus siglas en inglés) superan lo establecido por la UE.. More:
www.medicinatv.com (Spanish)

A new federal advisory panel report makes a forceful case for more research into environmental causes of breast cancer, which was diagnosed in 227,000 women, killed 40,000 and cost more than $17 billion to treat in the United States last year. More:
The Center for Public Integrity

Una sopa tóxica de 4 000 toneladas amenaza a uno de los principales afluentes del río Ebro, según un estudio del Gobierno de Aragón que mide la catástrofe medioambiental causada por los vertidos ilegales de una fábrica de insecticida.  More:
www.eldiario.es (Spanish)

A study led by the University of Granada reveals that there is a direct relationship between the presence of Persistent Organic Pollutants in the body and the development of type 2 diabetes, regardless of the patient's age, gender or body mass index. More:
ScienceDaily

The world’s most extensive chemical safety regulation, implemented five years ago in Europe, is working well, according to a review published today by the European Commission. More:
Nature

Couches throughout the nation have become notorious for containing flame-retardant chemicals that may do more harm than good. Now, it turns out, those chemicals may also be leaching from the walls that surround you. Because of laws passed in the 1970s, many homes and workplaces built in the United States since then contain foam insulation doused with flame retardants. More:
www.sfgate.com

UNEP developed a training video for the analysis of perfluorochemicals. The video explains why PFCs are of concern and describes the various stages of the analysis of PFOS, PFOSA and precursor compounds in air, water, mothers’ milk and serum samples. See the video:
www.pops.int

"There are two concerns from a toxicological point of view. There's the issue that plastics are known to sorb and concentrate chemicals from sea water," explained marine scientist Professor Richard Thompson. "And the secondary question is about chemicals that have been introduced into plastics from the time of manufacture, in order to achieve specific qualities of the plastic, its flexibility, or flame retardants or anti-microbials. More:
BBC

Young zebrafish exposed to flame retardants through their mothers swam up to 60 percent slower and had reduced gene expression important for nervous system development. More:
Environmental Health News

Más de 100 millones de personas en todo el mundo están expuestos a niveles peligrosos de sustancias químicas tóxicas. Estos contaminantes incluyen radionucleidos, productos químicos industriales, pesticidas y metales pesados, que pueden provenir de actividades como la minería, la industria, la agricultura y la fabricación de armas. More:
www.informador.com.mx

GRODNO – Destruction of Belarus’ largest pesticides landfill is on track to be complete in September 2013, the project manager Viktor Solovyov said during a press tour of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, BelTA has learned. More:
Belarusian Telegraph Agency

PepsiCo Inc. will remove a controversial chemical that is added to orange Gatorade in response to customer complaints. Outcry over the chemical, known as brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, had been building over the past year. BVO has been patented as a flame retardant, and it has been linked to a number of health hazards. More:
Environmental Health News

Some plastics are worse than others for the marine life that accidentally or intentionally eat them. Unfortunately the most commonly produced plastics also absorb the most chemicals. This according to a new study in early view in Environmental Science & Technology. More:
www.motherjones.com

Fifty years after publication of Silent Spring, it is ever more evident the biologist understood how serious the threats were. Along with sparking a debate about pesticide use, Silent Spring’s publication in the early 1960s has been credited with launching the environmental movement a decade later. More:
www.montrealgazette.com

After years of study, scientists in the U.S. and Europe had reached an alarming conclusion: Flame retardants called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, build up in blood and breast milk, interfere with natural hormones, trigger reproductive problems and cause developmental and neurological damage. More:
Chicago Tribune

When a chemical company sets out to design a molecule for a new application, researchers think first about functionality, efficacy, and cost. Typically further down the list of priorities is environmental performance. Consumer awareness, however, is changing that perspective. More: 
Chemical & Engineering News

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is initiating a new effort to examine whether low doses of hormone-mimicking chemicals are harming human health and whether chemical testing should be overhauled. The EPA will evaluate whether current testing is capturing an array of effects linked to hormone mimics, and if the agency should alter its risk assessments. More:
Environmental Health News

The PCBs elimination network: the information exchange platform created for the risk reduction of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)” by Andrea Warmuth and Kei Ohno (Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, UNEP), appears in the January 2013 issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Consumers rarely know what chemicals are in the furniture products they buy because they are considered trade secrets. As a likely result, levels of flame-retardant chemicals in California children are among the world's highest, according to 2010 studies. More:
San Francisco Chronicle