Chemicals

Re "Common chemicals linked to breast cancer," May 14 Environmentally induced cancers are the result of human failure. This failure is not only of a misguided war on cancer focusing on the result and not the cause but also the continued addiction by agriculture and other industries to toxic agents. It also reflects a failed regulatory scheme coupled with antiquated and ineffective toxic chemical control laws. Nationally, our primary standard is the Toxic Substances Control Act, enacted in the 1970s.

In a strongly worded declaration, many of the world's leading environmental scientists warned Thursday that exposure to common chemicals makes babies more likely to develop an array of health problems later in life, including diabetes, attention deficit disorders, prostate cancer, fertility problems, thyroid disorders and even obesity.

Five environmental groups and a labor union Tuesday petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to restrict the use of chemicals that are in many household detergents and have been linked to gender changes in fish and other aquatic life. Led by the Sierra Club, the groups are seeking a ban on nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates in consumer and industrial detergents and other cleaning products.

When 4-year-old Allan Gutierrez died a year ago, the symptoms he displayed, including severe nausea, violent heart palpitations and "ascending" paralysis, baffled doctors. Since then, his condition has become known only too well to Panamanians who have friends or relatives among the hundreds of identified victims.

State wildlife officials are girding this summer for a chemical assault on the dreaded Northern Pike, a carnivorous fish that for more than a decade has bedeviled scenic Lake Davis in the High Sierra. Ten years after the state poisoned the water in a highly controversial and ultimately unsuccessful bid to exterminate the pike, officials once again plan to treat Lake Davis with a menu of fish-killing chemicals.

Chemicals frequently used to clean up oil spills in marine environments turn out to be more toxic to coral reefs than the oil itself, researchers said this week. Previous research indicated serious effects of these oil dispersants on coral larvae. In this study, published in the current issue of the journal Environmental Science and Technology, researchers in Israel used a new technique to test the effect on adult corals and found devastating results.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to spend $17 million to eliminate a 14-acre chemical terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, delivering on promises made nearly six years ago to improve safety of nearby neighborhoods in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The council gave the Port of Los Angeles permission to buy out the remaining 18 years of a lease held by Westway Terminal Co., which operates 136 tanks on the San Pedro side of the harbor's main channel.

An epidemic of thyroid disease among pet cats could be caused by toxic flame retardants that are widely found in household dust and some pet food, government scientists reported Wednesday. The often-lethal disease was rare in cats until the 1980s, when it began appearing widely, particularly in California cats.

Governments of almost 200 countries have agreed to speed the elimination of a major greenhouse gas that depletes ozone, U.N. and Canadian officials said Saturday, describing a deal they said was a significant step toward fighting global warming.