March 26, 2020
Imagine this: More than six million Americans have drinking water that is poisoned by a group of closely related chemicals. Some of the chemicals are known to cause liver and thyroid disease, immune system suppression, high cholesterol and cancer; others are the subject of suspicion and ongoing research.…
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January 17, 2020
Community advocates in several states have jointly petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate hundreds of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, as hazardous waste under a law that would empower federal regulators to initiate cleanups.…
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January 16, 2020
Thousands of residents from Bucks and Montgomery counties have joined communities across the country in a national petition demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency regulate a toxic class of chemicals known as PFAS.…
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December 11, 2019
Baseball fans may be excited to have combination pitcher/slugger Shohei Ohtani on the Los Angeles Angels, but new research suggests that he isn’t the only dual threat that could help out Southern California. UC Berkeley engineers have discovered a mineral-coated sand that can soak up toxic metals like lead and cadmium from water.…
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December 10, 2019
A sweeping defense bill would mandate phasing out by 2024 firefighting foam that contains chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems, and improve planning to protect military bases from natural disasters.…
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I recently attended a Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America meeting focused entirely on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). To a casual observer, it might have seemed like just another scientific conference. Powerpoint talks, coffee break, powerpoint talks, poster session, repeat. But below the surface, the meeting was the latest battlefield in an escalating fight over environmental liabilities that could have multibillion dollar consequences for chemical manufacturers.…
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October 12, 2019
While working on his dissertation at the UC Berkeley School of Environmental Engineering, Tom Bruton had high hopes for developing a groundbreaking technology to break down toxic chemicals in groundwater. But in 2017, after years of painstaking development, his method proved less than effective.…
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Synergist chemicals keep a low profile, but they are a crucial part of flame retardants’ act: Think of them as Teller to flame retardants’ Penn. These little-known compounds don’t slow ignition on their own, but when used in combination with flame retardants, they help delay fire spreading by creating less-flammable chars or quenching chemical reactions. And we use a lot of them: While flame retardants can make up 15% of the weight of some plastic electronics cases, synergists can comprise another 10%.…
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