MetaFilter posts tagged with chemical

'Our sources say it contains chemicals, dangerous chemicals'

VicNebulous — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:53:33 -0800

A tense standoff has developed in waters off Somalia over an Iranian merchant ship laden with a mysterious cargo that was hijacked by pirates. Somali pirates suffered skin burns, lost hair and fell gravely ill "within days" of boarding the MV Iran Deyanat. Some of them died.

Would you like obesity with that?

wierdo — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:08:38 -0800

Bisphenol A. Canada is banning it in baby bottles, while the California State Senate recently passed a bill to ban it in child care products. Even the US Senate is getting in on the action. Bill Moyers thought it was interesting enough to run this Expose story. In addition to the previously discussed cancer risk, it may also cause obesity. Is this pointless overreaction, or is it an example of government's failure to act [PDF] in the face of industry pressure? The FDA, was, after all, tasked with screening such endocrine disruptors over ten years ago. Previously on the blue and green.

The Bijlmermeer Disaster

frecklefaerie — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:03:22 -0800

The Bijlmermeer Disaster Yesterday marked the anniversary of the 1992 crash of El Al Flight 1862 into the Amersterdam neighborhood of Bijlmermeer, "whose sordid aftermath opened up a whole can of worms relating to secret weapons trafficking and unaccountable government." Six years after the crash, an investigation revealed that the flight had been carrying three of the four chemicals needed for Sarin.

Here's more reason to convert to digital photography

giantkicks — Sun, 01 Jun 2003 11:50:20 -0800

Kodak gives more reason to convert to digital photography. Eastman Kodak's "Kodak Park facility" in Rochester, is #1 in New York for releases of suspected toxicants and neurotoxins to endocrine, gastrointestinal, liver, cardiovascular, kidney, respiratory, and reproductive health. Remember dioxin? The stuff of Agent Orange, used in the Vietnam war that caused so much grief to war vets and Vietnamese, well Kodak released more dioxin into New York's environment in 2000 than any other source. In 1996 they were dumping methylene chloride concentrations as high as 3,600,000 parts per billion into area rivers, when the legal level is five parts per billion. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found Kodak guilty of illegal disposal of hazardous wastes, illegal use of incinerators and waste piles, failing to notify the EPA of groundwater contaminations, making undocumented shipments of hazardous wastes, and for 20 years having leaky underground pipes, among other violations.

Where did those chemical and biological weapons come from?

peebo — Wed, 26 Mar 2003 15:13:55 -0800

Where did those chemical and biological weapons come from?
”According to the December declaration, treated with much derision from the Bush administration, U.S. and Western companies played a key role in building Hussein's war machine. The 1,200-page document contains a list of Western corporations and countries -- as well as individuals -- that exported chemical and biological materials to Iraq in the past two decades.”

I’ve always been surprised that this type of report doesn’t get more attention. During the UN hearings I half expected the Administration to level with the world and simply say: ”We know they have the stuff because we sold it to them.”

US and Gassing Iraqis

nofundy — Fri, 21 Mar 2003 07:21:28 -0800

Military use of Gas
Top US military planners are preparing for the US to use incapacitating biochemical weapons in an invasion of Iraq. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed the plans in February 5th testimony before the US House Armed Services Committee. This is the first official US acknowledgement that it may use (bio)chemical weapons in its crusade to rid other countries of such weapons.

Would someone explain to me again why we're attacking Iraq? Was it something about use and/or possession of chemical weapons?

soul food for the coalition of the willing

subpixel — Mon, 17 Mar 2003 16:38:18 -0800

mustard with your pork sir? as we head to war, here's some alarming data on america's own stash of undestroyed chemical weapons as well as the phenomenal return on investment for deep-pocket GOP campaign contributors.

Remembering Halabja

clevershark — Sun, 16 Mar 2003 15:43:47 -0800

15 years ago today Saddam Hussein launched an unprecedented chemical weapons attack on 20 Kurdish villages. (warning: disturbing images). I think this speaks for itself.

Serratia Marcesens and Project 112

manero — Wed, 22 Jan 2003 18:41:56 -0800

Project 112 was a secret, cold-war era project to determine vulnerabilities of US warships to various chemical and biological attacks. While lots is known about what happened, there's still a lot of information that hasn't been released yet. In the early 1950s, the US Army sprayed the bacteria Serratia Marcesens over San Francisco. While the government thought that it was safe, many people ended up checking into the hospital. One elderly man even died as a result of the US testing chemical and biological agents against it's own citizens.

Kevs — Thu, 27 Jun 2002 16:58:23 -0800

Silent Evidence - Ronald Bailey insists that Rachel Carson's campaign against DDT in "Silent Spring" is filled with bad science and has resulted in millions of unnecessary deaths due to increased malaria rates. The US Government has also considered removing the ban on DDT, as has Roger Bate in the Wall Street Journal.