The US has begun a project to help clean up Agent Orange contamination at one area in Vietnam - the first such move since the war ended in 1975. The work is taking place at the airport in the central city of Danang. More:
www.bbc.co.uk

In Zimbabwe, chemicals are extensively used in agriculture, particularly in regions where soils are known to be poor and sandy, and these are also the regions where poor communal farmers are mostly concentrated. Changes in the climate system have also been a cause for serious concern, as local agriculture and food production systems are under stress. More:
allAfrica.com (The Herald)

For almost 50 years, whenever chemicals have been found in lake trout in Lake Ontario, they also have contaminated animals and people throughout the Great Lakes and farther north, in the Arctic. The lake trout's role as a toxic harbinger, begun in the late 1960s, continues as researchers recently discovered another unfamiliar flame retardant in the trout and in the Canadian Arctic's beluga whales. More:
Environmental Health News

El pescado es fuente de nutrientes como ácidos grasos, proteínas, vitaminas y minerales, pero también puede serlo de contaminantes, como metilmercurio, arsénico y contaminantes orgánicos persistentes (COP). Un estudio analiza cuál es la cantidad de pescado que debe consumirse para optimizar la ingesta de nutrientes y limitar la exposición a contaminantes. More:
www.consumer.es (Spanish)

In a major new study, two groups of women in the Salt Lake City and San Francisco areas – one group with pelvic pain and the other with no symptoms -- were more likely to be diagnosed with endometriosis if they had high blood levels of the estrogen-like pesticide hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) than women with low levels. HCH has been banned as a crop pesticide in the United States but it builds up and persists in the environment, so it remains in some food supplies. More:
Environmental Health News

Plus de 100 millions de personnes dans le monde sont exposées à des niveaux dangereux de produits toxiques, selon le média australien ABC, qui s'appuie sur les travaux du Blacksmith Institute, une ONG américaine. More:
www.lepoint.fr (French)

Tegucigalpa.- El uso indiscriminado de plaguicidas, pesticidas y herbicidas en la producción agrícola nacional poco a poco ha estado envenenando a adultos y niños, a tal punto que la Secretaría de Salud reporta varios muertos y alrededor de dos mil intoxicados en los últimos dos años. More:
La Tribuna (Spanish)

L'Efsa a publié le 18 juillet un rapport sur les taux de dioxines et de PCB présents dans les aliments. Verdict : un baisse de l'exposition à ces substances toxiques via l'alimentation tant pour la population générale que chez les enfants. More:
Actu-Environnement (French)

There has been an established increase in reproductive disorders and other hormonal diseases, according to a recent European Environment Agency (EEA) report. The report documents a growing body of research that indicates this increase is influenced by growing levels of chemical pollutants in the environment known as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). More:
Science for Environment Policy

High concentrations of perfluorinated compounds have been found in water and aquatic organisms downstream of Hamilton’s John C. Munro International Airport in the Welland River and Lake Niapenco. More:
Environment Canada

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a new report on levels of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in food and feed. The report reveals a general decrease in dietary exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs, comparing the period 2008-2010 with 2002-2004, of at least 16 % and up to 79 % for the general population. More:
European Food Safety Authority

According to new research, there was no substantial change from 2000 to 2009 in the global use of the insecticide DDT to control diseases such as malaria. Pyrethroids, another type of insecticide, are also widely used, but there are concerns that insects are developing resistance and insecticidal nets containing pyrethroids are becoming less effective. More:
Science for Environment Policy

In past decades, scientific knowledge and feasible technologies were unavailable, but now there is enough expertise to pursue discontinuation of hazardous and toxic reagents. More:
Chemistry International

As the postmarket research continues, one wonders: Who, exactly, decides on the replacements for toxic chemicals, and on the basis of what criteria? And why does finding truly safer alternatives seem so difficult? More:
Environmental Health Perspectives

There are differences in the assessment and restriction of chemicals exempt from the EU’s regulatory instrument REACH. A new study has analysed the differences between several regulatory frameworks that govern these chemicals and recommended greater harmonisation in assessment criteria and regulatory follow-up. More:
Science for Environment Policy

Rattled in Europe by the REACH regulation and carbon dioxide emission curbs, international chemical companies are at the Rio Earth Summit determined to push for a global approach to environmental policy – but with a light regulatory touch. Speaking ahead of the Rio summit, international chemical firms were keen to convey the message that environmental standards are better if they are implemented globally. More:
EurActiv.com

Over the past several decades, U.S. industries have injected more than 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquid deep into the earth, using broad expanses of the nation's geology as an invisible dumping ground. Federal rules divide wells into six classes based on the material they hold and the industry that produced it. More:
ProPublica

In the fall of 1982, Warren County, one of the poorest counties in North Carolina, drew national attention when civil rights figures, religious leaders and others joined local residents trying to stop construction of a toxic waste landfill. Although the effort ultimately failed, and more than 6,000 truckloads of soil laden with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were deposited there, the protest marked the birth of America’s environmental justice movement. More:
Environmental Health News

SACRAMENTO, Calif./California Newswire - In an effort to protect public safety by reducing the use of toxic flame retardants, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. has directed state agencies to revise flammability standards for upholstered furniture sold in the state. More:
Fire Engineering

To detoxify the stock of endosulfan kept in corroded barrels at three godowns of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK), the deadly pesticide will be transferred to fresh barrels from Sunday. More:
The Hindu
See also: Endosulfan gets a ‘makeover’ at PCK estate - The Hindu