Persistent organic pollutants

Effects of chemicals in flame retardants

Health & Medicine

New study indicates chemicals found in flame retardants may effect the intelligence of young children.

The unhealthy toys list

Health & Medicine

Arctic gender imbalance

Environment
The World

Welcome PCBs!

POPsible Nightmare

A Chemical Roundtable

Officials from more than 100 nations will gather in Montreal later this month to begin negotiations on phasing out a dozen toxic chemicals. Scientists call these toxins “Persistent Organic Pollutants” because they lodge in the fatty tissues of people and animals, and can cause health problems from reproductive defects to cancer. Here to give us […]

Chemical’s “Dirty Dozen”

Host Steve Curwood talks to University of Wisconsin Professor Anders Andren about a call for a ban on the use of 11 “persistent toxic substances,” including several chlorinated compounds, along with lead and methyl mercury. An advisory committee to the US-Canada International Joint Commission says the chemicals are unsafe in every known concentration.

The World

Breast Cancer and Chlorine

Brenda Wilson reports on the movement among cancer researchers toward examining the link between breast cancer and chemicals found in the environment, including the pesticide DDT. The new momentum is due in part to two recent studies which suggested a link to between breast cancer and DDT and PCBs, both of which are chlorinated chemicals.

Up in Flames

Flame retardants, used ubiquitously in the United States to treat furniture and carpets, are being associated with lowering the intelligence of young children.

The World

Delays over Dioxin

A government report, fifteen years in the making, on the dangers of the chemical dioxin still needs fine-tuning.