Environmental Health

"More than 200 people have been hospitalized with breathing difficulties in Tennessee as wildfires scorched the Southeast. Over 30 large fires have burned more than 80,000 acres in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, according to the US Forest Service."

"The state of Michigan on Thursday challenged a federal court order demanding that officials deliver bottled water to Flint residents who can’t easily pick up their own from distribution sites around the city, calling the requirement 'unnecessary' and saying it would require 'a tremendous expenditure of taxpayer funds.'"

"Consensus is growing that emergency funding for Flint, Mich., may end up in a year-end spending bill as doubts about the prospects of a waterways measure continue to grow."

"To lead the transition of the Environmental Protection Agency, President-elect Donald Trump settled on notorious climate change denier Myron Ebell. The decision rattled climate activists ... Farm chemicals, too, would likely flow unabated if Ebell's agenda comes to dominate Trump's EPA."

"EPA has added epidemiological expertise to a scientific advisory panel (SAP) that will meet next month to consider the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate. The previously postponed meeting is now scheduled to take place Dec. 13-16 in Arlington, Virginia."

"On the campaign trail, Donald Trump railed against what he called the 'FDA food police' and 'inspection overkill.' He has said he’d dramatically overhaul and limit federal government regulations. Now, big questions have arisen about how far he’ll go to scale back the incremental work done in recent years to keep pesticides, GMOs, and additives out of the food supply."

"Independent testing on an array of popular American food products found many samples contained residue levels of the weed killer called glyphosate, leading the nonprofit organization behind the testing to call for corporate and regulatory action to address consumer safety concerns."

"For years, public health experts have warned against eating certain kinds of fish, including tuna, that tend to accumulate mercury. Still, tuna consumption provides more mercury to U.S. consumers than any other source. But recently, as industry cuts down on its mercury emissions, research has found mercury concentrations in some fish are dropping."

"GENEVA, N.Y. - Thirty years ago, New York state officials first uncovered evidence that toxic metals from an old foundry in this historic Finger Lakes city had contaminated an adjoining neighborhood."