Michael Hawthorne

— California officials vowed Tuesday to move forward on a new fire safety rule that could eliminate the use of toxic flame retardants in household furniture and baby products sold nationwide. At a public hearing on the proposed standard, what was...

If you read the Chicago Tribune's "Playing With Fire" series about the deceptive campaign by the chemical and tobacco industries to introduce toxic flame retardants into our homes -- and ultimately into our bodies -- you won't be surprised that it won...

Though obscure, fire-safety rules in California have a huge impact on consumers everywhere in the country because they influence how manufacturers make furniture sold in all states. Under a current California rule, known as Technical Bulletin 117, foam...

Federal officials vowed Wednesday to conduct an emergency cleanup of a lead-contaminated lot near a Pilsen elementary school, more than six years after authorities first identified the hazards. The Tribune reported in November that the lot had not been...

Owners of a smelting facility linked to dangerous levels of lead in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood will spend $3 million on new equipment to curb emissions of the toxic metal. In a legal settlement announced today by federal and state officials, H....

Federal and state officials have known for more than six years about hazardous levels of brain-damaging lead in a vacant lot near Walsh Elementary School in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Yet even after field investigators raised alarms about children...

Students watched as the counts mounted onscreen at the UIC student center, periodically falling silent when a total was announced. "Come on, Ohio," breathed Monique Bolden, 18; of the West Side. "Come on, president." The table of students, who live in...

The world's major manufacturers of flame retardants officially cut ties today with an industry-funded front group that waged a deceptive campaign to fuel demand for the chemicals in household furniture, electronics, baby products and other goods....

WASHINGTON — Chemical companies would need to provide more health and safety information about their products and regulators would have more authority to force harmful substances off the market under legislation approved along party lines...

The first signs of bipartisan support for overhauling the nation's chemical safety law emerged Monday, as three Republicans joined 23 other senators calling for tough restrictions on toxic flame retardants. Citing the Tribune's Tribune's "Playing With...

Thousands of commuters continue to breathe high levels of lung-damaging diesel exhaust at Chicago's Union Station, in part because of nagging maintenance problems at the Old Post Office that straddles the southbound tracks. Testing by Amtrak has...

This week, oil company BP agreed to cut air pollution at its Whiting refinery in a $400 million settlement with the federal government. (The full story is here.) What does this mean for us -- the refinery's neighbors? The Tribune's environmental...