A question nagging researchers is closer to being answered by a large-scale reanalysis of European data. The study finds that exposure during pregnancy to now-banned persistent chemicals may affect fetal growth and reduce birth weight of newborns.
More: Environmental Health News

Chiapas, Mexico -Detectaron una sustancia con alto potencial cancerígeno en el 5 por ciento de los más de 90 transformadores de Chiapas, analizados por un grupo de trabajo del Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD).
More: El Heraldo de Chiapas (Spanish)

The concentrations of potentially dangerous chemicals in the blood of east metro residents exposed to 3M Co. pollution have fallen significantly since 2008, state health officials reported Wednesday.
More: Star Tribune, Minneapolis, USA

Levels of DDT – a mostly banned pesticide still allowed for malaria control in some tropical regions – increased three-fold in breastfeeding mothers after one indoor spraying, finds a study in Mozambique, Africa.
More: Environmental Health News

Nearly 40 years after Dr. Robert Mobbs first voiced his alarm about pesticide pollution, Aberdeen became the site of one of the largest and most expensive Environmental Protection Agency Superfund cleanup efforts in the country.
More: The Pilot

On a four-month research cruise from the East China Sea northward to the Chukchi Sea in the High Arctic, researchers measured levels in air and water of the pesticides chlorothalonil, chlorpyrifos, dacthal, dicofol, endosulfan, and trifluralin.
More: Chemical & Engineering News

Tras realizar mediciones de Contaminantes Orgánicos Persistentes (COP) en 40 hogares, la OCU exige mayor vigilancia en los ambientes domésticos y mayor implicación de la Administración. En domicilios de Madrid, Almería y Valladolid se encontraron altas concentraciones de sustancias peligrosas para nuestra salud.
More: OCU (Spanish)

YIXING, Jiangsu - Chinese and foreign scientists on Monday called for more attention to tackle urgent environmental issues other than climate change, as homemade and imported pollutants threaten people's health.
More: China Daily

L'usine responsable a été mise en demeure par l'Etat pour réduire ses seuils d'émissions de PCB. Mais le mal est déjà fait pour les éleveurs : cinq troupeaux contaminés ont dû être abattus dans le sud de la Mayenne.
More: BIOaddict (French)

When exposed to certain levels of PCBs, turtles suffer from stunted growth and weak bones, found a new study. With low bone-density, turtles have a tougher time diving, swimming and chewing their food. And the same is probably true for fish and other wild animals that are exposed to the ubiquitous environmental pollutant.
More: Discovery News

Toxic pollution affects the health of more than 100 million people, shortening their productive life spans by an astonishing 12.7 years on average. It is a common misperception that disease is responsible for most illness, when in fact toxins and pollutants in the environment are a major source of illness and reduced life spans globally.
More: Inter Press Service
See also: www.scientificamerican.com

There are still relatively few Inuit among the more than nine million Canadians living with diabetes or pre-diabetes. But that situation is changing.
More: Nunatsiaq Online

L'Autorité européenne de sécurité des aliments (EFSA) vient de publier son nouveau rapport annuel sur la présence de pesticides dans les aliments. Ce rapport confirme que les produits issus de l'agriculture biologique sont nettement moins contaminés que les autres.
More: www.notre-planete.info

Kailasahar - Rampant use of endosulfan is poisoning rivers in the north east region of India, the world’s largest producer and exporter of the hazardous chemical.
More: Digital Journal

The cleanup will be required when state officials decide how much of the pollutant - PFOS, or perfluorooctane sulfonate - should be allowed in Pool 2, a section of the Mississippi River between the Ford Dam in St. Paul and Hastings.
More: TwinCities.com

Monitoring in the Arctic for toxic substances produced in farms and factories located far to the south continues this year, with scientists like Anya Gawor on the look-out for traces of these contaminants in the Arctic air and waters, and even in tiny sea creatures.
More: Nunatsiaq Online

Researchers have developed new tools to screen previously untested fire-retardant chemicals for potential toxicity. The tools – known as Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) models – could allow regulatory decisions to be made in the absence of experimental data, saving time and money by prioritising risk assessments for the most hazardous substances.
More: Science for Environment Policy

Dr. Warner was a very successful chemist by the mid-1990s, but his son’s death led him to the disturbing realization that he had never had a course in toxicology and knew little about what makes some chemicals hazardous.
More: The Globe and Mail

Research in four German rivers indicates that several organic compounds pose a risk of acute toxic effects on invertebrates.
More: European Commission - Science for Environment Policy

A panel of experts has recommended that a toxic flame retardant be added to a watch list of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) designed to eliminate the impact of hazardous chemicals on human health and the environment.
More: Newsroom America