Earth
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Earth
UV-pollutant combo hits tadpoles hard
Coincident exposure to ultraviolet light and an estrogen-mimicking pollutant severely jeopardized the chance a tadpole would reach adulthood.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Sewage linked to fish-gender quirks
Releases from sewage treatment plants appear to impair reproductive tissues in fish.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Pollutants shape baby-gator gonads
The same pollutants that appear to shorten the length of a grown-alligator's phallus actually lead to this organ's lengthening in baby gators.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
POPs treaty enacted
A new United Nations treaty that seeks to phase down or eliminate production and use of 16 persistent, toxic pollutants has gone into effect.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Seals’ meals, plastic pieces and all
Bite-size pieces of plastic chipped from wave-battered consumer products work their way up marine food chains, suggests a study of fur seals in Australia.
By Ben Harder -
Earth
Blame the Sea? Ocean may be melting ice shelf from below
Significant portions of a large Antarctic ice shelf just south of one that suddenly broke apart in February 2002 are rapidly thinning and may suffer a similar, catastrophic demise in less than a century.
By Sid Perkins -
Earth
Flaming Out? Days may be numbered for two fire retardants
The maker of two controversial flame-retardant chemicals has voluntarily initiated negotiations with the federal government to end their production.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
California acts on plastic additive
Korean engineers have developed a replacement for a plasticizer used in polyvinyl chloride that California has just ruled is a known reproductive toxicant.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
Chicken Little? Study cites arsenic in poultry
Most chicken eaten in the United States contains 3 to 4 times as much arsenic as is present in other kinds of meat and poultry.
By Ben Harder -
Earth
Gulf War vets face elevated ALS risk
Two studies suggest that veterans of the 1991 Gulf War are at elevated risk of developing the fatal neurodegenerative condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared with other military personnel and with the general population.
By Ben Harder -
Earth
Flame retardants take a vacation
The lifetime in blood of flame- retarding diphenyl ethers, now-ubiquitous pollutants, ranges from 2 weeks to 2 years, Swedish researchers find.
By Janet Raloff -
Earth
New PCBs?
New studies have begun linking toxic risks with a ubiquitous family of flame retardants.
By Janet Raloff