Michael Hawthorne

A study details how more than 3,600 chemicals in food-related materials have been detected in people worldwide; a companion review confirms 189 chemicals linked to breast cancer.

The pesticides, prone to drifting into neighboring yards, also endanger human health: ‘This is chemical trespassing.’

Air quality testing near Vantage and Medline during 2019 and 2020 detected spikes of EtO, when the wind blew away from the facilities toward homes and apartments.

Study finds airborne concentrations of PFAS are higher near Chicago, other urban centers, but when carried by rain, urban and rural Great Lakes areas have consistent levels.

Under contract until 2035 to buy a share of Prairie State’s electricity and help pay off $5 billion in debt, towns are now being asked to extend to 2050.

New regulations require coal-fired power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 90% and clamp down on toxic metals dumped into lakes and rivers.

For the first time polluters could be forced to clean up sites contaminated with a pair of forever chemicals that build up in human blood, cause cancer and other diseases and take years to leave th…

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s bill also would attempt to prevent corporations from seeking protection under bankruptcy laws to avoid lawsuits seeking compensation for health damages.

More than 100 million Americans are expected to benefit, including at least 660,000 in Illinois who get their drinking water from a utility that violates the new standards for PFAS.

Regulations would require commercial sterilization operations to reduce EtO emissions by 90%, largely by installing pollution-control equipment already required in Illinois.