Environmental Health

"Federal agencies engaged in the battle against deadly superbugs would get their biggest funding increase ever in the congressional spending deal unveiled this week. The budget blueprint would provide at least $375 million in new funds for the 2016 fiscal year to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria, one of the biggest health threats facing the United States and the rest of the world."

"These days in Congress, not even strong bipartisan support seems to guarantee a bill’s success. But the Republicans and Democrats who backed a U.S. Senate bill to overhaul the nation’s environmental safety law for industrial chemicals refused to give up. Overcoming a thicket of procedural barriers, they won a signature victory [Thursday night] as the Senate unanimously approved, on a voice vote, an overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)."

"A foam to fight burning jet fuel made by 3M and the U.S. Navy smothers fires, but massive use has contaminated drinking water around the U.S. Huge amounts of the foam have been found in soil and water."

"For months, worried parents in Flint, Mich., arrived at their pediatricians’ offices in droves. Holding a toddler by the hand or an infant in their arms, they all have the same question: Are their children being poisoned?"

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) finalized a new rule Monday that will require all producers of raw ground beef to keep records of where the meat has come from."

'Irradiated,' a special report published today by McClatchy, offers an unprecedented look at the costs of war and the risks of a strong defense, using federal records to chronicle the deaths of at least 33,480 nuclear workers who helped the U.S. win World War II and the Cold War."

"U.S. sales of medically important antibiotics approved for use in livestock rose by 23 percent between 2009 and 2014, federal regulators said on Thursday, fueling concerns about risks to humans from antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

"Under a lawsuit settlement, all Washington children covered by Medicaid will be eligible for lead-poisoning testing if their parents request it — or if they live in old buildings, are recent immigrants or face other exposure risks."

"State and city regulators need to do a better job enforcing laws meant to protect children from lead poisoning if the longtime health scourge is ever to be eliminated, key lawmakers and community leaders said Monday."