In the early 2000s, researchers at 3M uncovered evidence that high levels of PFAS—chemicals widely used in products like nonstick cookware and stain-resistant textiles—were contaminating U.S. sewage systems, according to a story last week in the New York Times. The discovery was concerning because sewage sludge used as fertilizer on agricultural fields was spreading these…
Even though U.S. toy safety standards are among the toughest in the world, toys can hurt and even kill children, according to Joan Lawrence, the U.S. Toy Association’s “Toy Safety Mom” whose formal title is senior vice president of standards and regulatory affairs. Lawrence asserts that U.S. toymakers are committed to ensuring the safety of…
Since 2014, 67 million vehicles with Takata airbags have been recalled due to a significant defect in the bag’s inflators. A January 2021 report by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealed that over 20 people in the U.S. have died and more than 400 have been injured because of the faulty airbags. High…
News broke this month that a senior official in the Trump administration instructed Chicago-based environmental regulators not to investigate the Sterigenics medical sterilization plant in suburban Willowbrook for charges that it released cancer-causing ethylene oxide into the air, according to a report from the EPA inspector general. Ethylene oxide is a volatile, easily absorbed chemical…
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