The Biden administration is tightening the screws on “forever chemicals” used in the production of a wide range of consumer goods, such as nonstick cookware, camping gear, and fast-food packaging — a push that industry groups argue is overly restrictive and will drive up costs. The rules are part of a yearslong Environmental Protection Agency-led push to crack down on air and water pollution from perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, or PFAS, which are nearly impossible to break down...

A drinking water map created by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) from a collection of national data reveals the concerning number of drinking water systems with levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, exceeding proposed limits across the U.S. PFAS encompass thousands of man-made chemicals found in everyday items such as nonstick cookware, firefighting foams, grease-resistant food wrappers and water-resistant clothing. PFAS, known as "forever chemicals" because of the...

After years of reporting on forever chemicals, ProPublica reporter Sharon Lerner had one question that still nagged at her. She knew that a handful of 3M scientists and lawyers had learned in the 1970s that the chemical PFOS had seeped into the blood of people around the country and that company experiments around that time had shown that PFOS was toxic. But the company kept making the compound until 2000. How, she wondered, had 3M kept its dark secret for decades? For years, no one who knew...

North Korea on Wednesday sent a swarm of balloons, loaded with garbage and feces, across the border, triggering air raid sirens in one South Korean border community. North Korea’s move was evidently a response to South Korean groups that occasionally send balloons with leaflets, music, or videos into the North. On Sunday, Pyongyang warned it was preparing a “tit-for-tat action” that would involve “mounds of newspapers and filth” to retaliate against South Korean pamphleteers. Late on...

North Korea sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash and excrement across the heavily fortified border to South Korea on Wednesday, calling them "gifts of sincerity", prompting an angry response from Seoul, which said the act was base and dangerous. Photographs released by the South Korean military showed inflated balloons with plastic bags tied to them. Other images appeared to show trash strewn around collapsed balloons, with the word "excrement" written on a bag in one photograph. By...

South Korea’s military on Wednesday accused North Korea of floating balloons loaded with trash and manure across the border and immediately demanded that Pyongyang halt its “inhumane and vulgar” operation. More than 260 balloons have already been detected in South Korea since the operation began on Tuesday night, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Images released by the military appear to show the balloons carrying plastic bags—one of which had the word “excrement” written on the side...

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