Environmental Protection Agency

After years of court battles the EPA has announced it will ban agricultural uses of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide suspected of causing health problems in children. The ban comes into effect in six months, with a further review of non-food uses to follow.

A study is questioning the safety of a food preservative found in hundreds of products that is suspected of impairing immune system activity. The research calls for greater surveillance of the immunological effects of food additives.

A study is demonstrating a new screening method developed to better identify human-made chemicals in people. The proof-of-concept research discovered more than 100 chemicals, including 55 that have never been reported found in humans before.

The Fourth National Climate Assessment report has been published. Based on decades of environmental research by scientists from 13 federal agencies, the report outlines the findings of ongoing climate studies, their impact and what we should be doing about it.

The US EPA has issued Volkswagen and its subsidiary Audi with a notice of violation (NOV) of the Clean Air Act by running software in their 2.0-liter diesel passenger vehicles that turns full emissions controls on only when undergoing official emissions testing.

In the developing world small-scale gold mining and smelting under primitive conditions poses a major health hazard. To help alleviate this, a team from Argonne National Laboratory and the US EPA are developing a prototype mercury capture system (MCS) to reduce heavy metal pollution.