The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "chemical contamination" ...
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Camp Lejeune: Deadly Waters
Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina had been exposed to toxic drinking and bathing water for 30 years despite warnings from outside contractors. When people began raising questions about the contaminated water, base officials ignored them.
Tags: toxic; contaminated; water safety; marines; chemicals
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The Body Toxic
Baker writes about the "dizzying array of chemical contaminants, the by-products of modern industry and innovation that contribute to a host of developmental deficits and health problems that are just now being understood."
Tags: toxins; health; poison; well-being; health problems; chemical poisoning; chemical pollutants; biomonitoring; FDA; EPA
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A Few Good Men, A Lot of Bad Water
Over the last few decades, hundreds of thousands of marines have trained at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. In 1980, during routine testing, their water was found to have high levels of a number of chemicals but primarily perchloroethylene, a dry cleaning agent, and trichloroethylene, a degreasing solvent.
Tags: contamination; dumping chemicals; pollution; waste; wells; Camp Lejeune; Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry
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Witnesses Wait
Humans have found ways to synthesize chemicals that cause terrible damage in the human body and do not decompose; they last and last. Most companies that produce these compounds locate away from people, in industrial zones. But in one neighborhood of New Orleans, an old chemical company mixed some of the most hazardous substances ever produced by man: Agent Orange, Heptachlor, Endosulfan, Dieldrin and DDT. They produced these chemicals out in the open on a small parcel of land ringed by people's homes. The wind blew the dry chemicals onto the houses, and there has been no effort to remove the soil or the risk to people who play and raise children and gardens there. Using an EPA database and Google Earth, the reporter found that there is no place more polluted with old, canned, organo-chlorine insecticides than this tiny, black, new Orleans neighborhood.
Tags: Pollution; Agent Orange; heptachlor; endosulfan; dieldrin; DDT; New Orleans; soil contamination; EPA; Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
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Natural Gas Drilling: Is New York Ready?
Much of New York City's drinking supply lies near the Marcellus Shale, an area that has become increasingly attractive to energy companies because of natural gas. Drilling in the area may not be safe for residents as chemicals may alter the purity of the water supply.
Tags: environmental contamination; mining; conservation; aquifer; hydrofracking;
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A River Lost?
This investigation explored the many ways in which a Seattle Superfund site, the Duwamish River, was being neglected by the government. The reporters found that plans to clean up the pollution fell short, that local governments did not follow EPA orders regarding the river, and locals who fish in the river are eating unsafe levels of contaminated fish.
Tags: environment; pollution; chemicals; toxic waste; EPA; federal government; local government; Boeing
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Toxic Traces Revisted
The first story in the series shows that the Minnesota Dept. of Health knew about the contaminated drinking water in the Twin Cities almost a year before releasing the information to the public. The second story reported that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency ignored the fact that perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in the soil near the 3M Company building were spilling into the Mississippi River and ground water. Last in the series, MPR News reported on how pressure from the public drove the investigation in regulating the flow of PFCs into the city's water.
Tags: contamination; Minneapolis; St. Paul; PFBA
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A Body's Burden
The authors tested a typical family's blood, hair, and urine for the presence of several everyday chemical contaminants known collectively as our "body's burden." The investigation revealed the presence of flame retardants, plastics, metals, PCBs, even the chemical precursors for Teflon and Gore-Tex in each family member, with concentrations in the children often far outpacing those in their parents.
Tags: pollution; contamination; public safety; health; chemical contamination; body burden; blood testing
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What's buried at Hercules?
This investigation of a Hercules Inc. chemical plant showed a history of questionable environmental practices extending back decades, including the burial of drums of chemicals in the company's landfill, an EPA report noting more than 37 acres of contaminated soil, and a host of complaints from residents who feared their health had been compromised from the smoke and chemicals. Company officials say there is no evidence toxic chemicals pose a health threat and any contamination is confined to the plant's site.
Tags: industrial pollution; environment; toxic chemicals; Environmental Protection Agency; EPA
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"Study Finds Diseases in 1918 Test Area"
A year long health survey of residents in a 345-house area of Spring Valley showed shocking results. These houses were built over a series of trenches, bunkers, and laboratory debris fields that were part of a W W 1 chemical warfare test area. Investigation shows that 131 people were afflicted with 56 separate diseases, which can be linked to arsenic, mustard gas, and Lewisite.
Tags: World War 1: W W 1; health; housing; chemical; warfare; diseases; arsenic; mustard gas; Lewisite; contamination