New research, which involved 8000 pregnant women across Europe, adds to the mounting body of evidence that PCB exposure does in fact reduce birth weight.
More: Science for Environment Policy

People who spend the most time at the office have the highest levels of polyfluorinated compounds (PFC) levels in their blood, found a new study, which also showed a direct link between chemical levels in the air of a person’s workplace and the amount of PFCs in his/her blood.
More: Discovery News

A report from the Japan Dyestuff and Industrial Chemicals Association (JDICA) revealed that some organic pigments contained a trace of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) unintentionally generated in their manufacturing process.
More: Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry - Press Release

DOVER, Ohio, February 10, 2012 (ENS) - A legal settlement between a chemical manufacturer and the federal government this week ends the manufacture of short-chained chlorinated paraffins in the United States.
More: Environment News Service

For centuries, indigenous peoples throughout the world relied on hunting, farming, and fishing for their subsistence. Today, many traditional foods have become life-threatening dangers, contaminated by pollutants and pesticides.
More: Media Global News

Pesticides waste dumps and dilapidated warehouses, containing more than 1,000-1,500 tons of pesticides, inherited from the Soviet Union in Armenia, are like time bombs which have already essentially damaged the environment.
More: Armenia Now

Obesity is rising steadily around the world. Convincing evidence suggests that diet and activity level are not the only factors in this trend—chemical “obesogens” may alter human metabolism and predispose some people to gain weight.
More: Environmental Health Perspectives

Pesticides could be suppressing people's vitamin D levels, leading to deficiency and disease, say scientists. The warning follows the discovery that adults with high serum concentrations of organochlorine pesticides such as DDT have lower vitamin D levels.
More: Chemistry World

Chile - El pasado 19 de diciembre el Ministerio de Agricultura prohibió la fabricación, importación, exportación, distribución, venta, tenencia y uso de varias sustancias activas plaguicidas, como Clordecona, Alfa-HCH, Beta-HCH, Pentaclorobenceno, Endosulfán, Alacloro y Aldicarb.
More: Noticias Aliadas

Children living near DuPont’s plant in West Virginia are exposed to much higher concentrations of an industrial chemical than their mothers, according to a newly published study. Children under 5, who are exposed from drinking water as well as their mothers’ breast milk, had 44 percent more of the perfluorinated chemical in their blood than their mothers.
More: Environmental Health News

A study finds disturbing evidence that chemicals found in furniture, fast-food packaging and microwave popcorn bags may hinder children’s ability to mount proper immune responses after they are vaccinated.
More: TIME Healthland

Children's health advocates are calling on state legislatures to ban flame retardants in baby's products after testing found the toxic chemicals in 85 percent of items it tested.
More: The Baltimore Sun

Basée à Grez-en-Bouère (Mayenne, France), l'usine de retraitement de déchets souillés aux PCB (interdits depuis 1987) est accusée d'avoir contaminé les terres, les cours d'eau ainsi que la biodiversité de la Mayenne.
More: BIOaddict

Overall concentrations of some persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in soil have declined, according to research conducted in Norway and the UK. The researchers suggest that there has been a reduced influence of primary sources of some POPs on soils for these two countries in recent years.
More: Science for Environment Policy

Fish exposed to low levels of common flame retardants called PBDEs for most of their lives pass the chemicals – and more surprisingly, the associated toxic effects – along to their progeny. While parents' health effects were minimal, the exposures reduced hatch rates and altered the thyroid hormone system of the next generation.
More: Environmental Health News

As factories have moved out of Chinese cities, housing and public buildings have been built on contaminated sites. Former industrial land is referred to in Europe and the United States as “brownfield”. It is a more refined term for this often polluted land than its routine designation in the Chinese media: “toxic land”. 
More: chinadialogue.net

Montevideo, 11 ene (PL) El Gobierno uruguayo prohibió la entrada del insecticida Endosulfan, un tóxico con efecto nocivo para la salud humana, vida silvestre, suelos y medioambiente, informó hoy la Secretaría de Comunicación (SC).
More: Prensa Latina (Spanish)

In some Keralan villages half the families have a severely disabled child: the legacy, locals say, of pesticide spraying. The villagers see the dust rising from the track and know that Dr Mohammed Asheel is on his way.
More: The Guardian

Endosulfan is the pesticide of choice for farmers in rural India trying to control insects threatening cashew nut and other crops - but the chemical can have devastating health impacts.
More: The Ecologist

Elevated circulating levels of POPs have been linked to hypertension, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and myocardial infarction in humans. A new study now shows an association between increased circulating levels of POPs and markers of atherosclerosis in the carotid artery.
More: Environmental Health Perspectives