News Releases

PFAS Chemicals

Cookware

EWG Petitions Government to Evaluate Cancer-Causing Potential Of Fluoride in Tap Water

Monday, June 6, 2005

EWG petitions the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to evaluate cancer-causing potential of fluoride in tap water.

Key Issues:

Fluoride in Tap Water

Industry Study Used by Feds Hid Evidence of Rocket Fuel's Effects

Friday, June 3, 2005

A major investigation by The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., reveals that an industry-funded study relied on by federal scientists to recommend a safe dose for perchlorate erroneously reported that healthy adults were not affected by low doses.

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State Attorneys General Oppose Shield for MTBE Polluters

Wednesday, June 1, 2005

In a letter to all U.S. senators, the chief legal officers of 12 states from New York to California are urging lawmakers to vote against the federal energy bill or any legislation that protects oil companies from lawsuits over drinking water contaminated with the toxic gasoline additive MTBE.

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State Attorneys General Oppose Legal Shield for MTBE Polluters

Wednesday, June 1, 2005

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Feingold Bill Would Limit Subsidies To Rich Corporate Farms

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

A prominent U.S. senator introduced legislation Tuesday to limit federal water subsidies to the richest corporate farms — a measure that could reduce the flow of cheap, taxpayer-subsidized water to many of the biggest agribusinesses in California and other Western states.

Key Issues:

Subsidies

IN BREAK WITH PARTY, SCHWARZENEGGER OPPOSES BIG OIL BAILOUT

Monday, May 23, 2005

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has come out against a provision in the federal energy bill shielding oil companies from lawsuits over water pollution by the toxic gasoline additive MTBE — a stance at odds with his fellow Republicans in the California congressional delegation, who all voted for it.

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U.S. Reps. Solis and Bishop Propose Ban on EPA Support for Pesticide Experiments on People

Thursday, May 19, 2005

As Congress prepares to vote on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget for the next year, U.S. Representatives Hilda Solis of California and Tim Bishop of New York will introduce an amendment that would bar the Agency from using staff time or money to analyze data from pesticide tests on human subjects. Their amendment also bars the EPA from conducting human pesticide experiments on its own.

Key Issues:

Farming

Government Official Warns of Arsenic Wood Cancer Risk

Friday, May 13, 2005

Commissioner Thomas Moore of the federal government's Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) shares Environmental Working Group's (EWG) concern that children playing on decks, play sets and other structures made of arsenic-treated lumber may develop cancer later in life from arsenic that rubs off the wood and sticks to children's skin.

Key Issues:

Arsenic

Consumer Products

EPA, DuPont Settle and Delay Court Case Over Human Pollution

Friday, May 6, 2005

The penalty DuPont will reportedly pay for covering up its pollution of newborn American babies with the cancer-causing Teflon chemical will likely be $15 million. This sum amounts to just 8 percent of the maximum allowable fine.

Key Issues:

PFAS Chemicals

Cookware

California Tightens Smog Standards

Thursday, April 28, 2005

The California Air Resources Board today adopted the nation's most stringent smog standards, which state scientists say could avert hundreds of premature deaths, thousands of hospital trips and more than 3 million school absences of asthmatic children.

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Flawed Medical Criteria in Specter/Leahy Bill Leave Lung Cancer Victims Out in Cold

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

An EWG Action Fund analysis of the Specter/Leahy asbestos bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee today finds that the legislation delivers unusually harsh treatment to people dying of asbestos-caused lung cancer.

Key Issues:

Asbestos

News Release (21 Apr 2005)

Thursday, April 21, 2005

The ARB meets Thursday, April 28 in El Monte to consider recommendations from state scientists for adopting tougher ozone standards.

Key Issues:

Will DeLay Allow 112 House Members With MTBE Tap Water Contamination A Vote To Protect Their Constituents?

Monday, April 18, 2005

House Republicans Are Expected To Block Amendments That Would Strip Their Polluter Immunity Provision From Energy Bill

Key Issues:

EWG's Energy Research Archive

Oil, Gas and Mining Industries Stake Claim to Most of U.S.' Natural Treasures

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

For decades, the oil and gas and mining industries have complained that they are locked out of access to public lands that could free the U.S. from dependence on foreign energy sources. Now the first-ever investigation of 1,855 taxpayer-owned natural treasures in the West reveals the truth: Drilling and mining interests already control land in or near more than two-thirds of national parks, forests and wilderness areas.

Key Issues:

Federal and State Policy

Environmental Working Group's Response to the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association on Congress' Proposed MTBE Accountability Shield

Monday, April 11, 2005

The NPRA's propaganda about our report is painstakingly crafted to confuse the issues, but it makes one thing perfectly clear: The oil industry is desperate to get the accountability shield, and scared of the facts that have already forced them to pay more than $250 million to two California communities whose drinking water was contaminated by MTBE.

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Twenty-Six House Members Voted For DeLay's MTBE Lawsuit Immunity Bill Despite Contamination In Their Districts

Wednesday, April 6, 2005

In a move designed to please big oil companies, 26 Members of Congress voted in late 2003 to stop their own communities from being able to sue oil companies for polluting their drinking water with a toxic gasoline additive called MTBE. Since that vote, communities in each of those districts have filed suit for help with cleanup, and if Members vote again this year with Big Oil they will be voting away their constituents' right to sue.

Key Issues:

Virtual Flood

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

The federal government has promised Central Valley agribusinesses it will increase the amount of taxpayer-subsidized irrigation water by 44 percent over the next 25 years, well beyond what the state's infrastructure can reliably supply, according to Bureau of Reclamation documents obtained by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

Key Issues:

Subsidies

Proposed EPA Mercury Rule Leads World in Wrong Direction

Monday, March 14, 2005

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) today condemns the Bush EPA's proposed rule allowing power plants to trade mercury pollution credits.

Key Issues:

Mercury

New Analysis Shows Growing Number of Asbestos Related Deaths in Texas

Monday, February 14, 2005

Texas legislature is poised to consider legislation limiting the ability of the sick or dying to get their medical bills covered by the asbestos companies.

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