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 "chemistry" ...
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Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power
This book investigates the response by U.S. companies and the U.S. government to the raising of environmental health standards by the European Union. The book reveals the Bush Administration's policy of retreating from environmental responsibility, while the rest of the world embraces it. The book explores the effects of this attitude on the environment, health of U.S. citizens and international relations.
Tags: environment; international relations; foreign affairs; chemicals; pollution; waste; environmental affairs; international trade;
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Chemical Insecurity
60 Minutes learned that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had documents showing that 100 chemical facilities in this country stored enough toxic chemicals for each to put more than a million people at risk in the event of an accident or deliberate attack. The news team investigated what kind of security existed at "high-risk" facilities, talked to experts, present and former government officials and environmentalist groups to put this report together. The three month investigation looked at plants in highly populated cities like Los Angeles, New York, Houston and Chicago; and found that there are no federal regulations in place when it comes to security.
Tags: TAPE; chemical insecurity; bio terrorist; terrorist attack; chemical weapons; nuclear weapons; chemical plant; nuclear plant; WMD; toxic chemicals; deliberate attack; security; terrorism; anti-terrorism expert; risk management plan; Environmental Protection Agency; Clean Air Act; Chemical Safety Board; American Chemistry Council; chemistry; chlorine gas
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The New Supertanker Plague
Hundreds of oil-bearing ships have faced destruction in the form of "super rust," a virulent form of corrosion that is "the inevitable result when unforgiving chemistry meets the harsh economics and tangled industry politics of transporting fossil fuels." Wired Magazine examines the root causes of such "hyper-accelerated corrosion," and determines among other things that proper maintenance in re-coating the steel ships would effectively combat the problem. However, "first-class ship maintenance has become increasingly rare," as ships change hands frequently, and find themselves in the hands of owners who "tend to be less interested in maintaining their vessels than maximizing the return on their investments." The article details the scientific processes of corrosion, examines the recent history and challenges facing supertankers, and investigates where the industry -- and its aging ships -- might be headed.
Tags: oil; petroleum; supertankers; super tankers; tankers; ships; rust; corrosion; Erika; Castor; Valdez; shipping; transport
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The "X" Files
NBC reports on clandestine ecstasy labs. The investigation leads to "an anonymous guru who created a website which teaches people how to make illegal drugs such as meth and ecstasy." The report sheds light on the website, called the Hive, and examines the identity of the guru known under the pseudonym Strike and suspected for having ties with a huge Mexican drug cartel. The investigating team also tracks down some of the chemical suppliers that provided the ingredients needed to make ecstasy.
Tags: TAPE; TRASNCRIPT; colleges; students; crime; law enforcement; police; Internet; chemistry; X files
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A Volatile Mix of Business and Chemistry
The Morning Call reports an "investigation into a chemical plant explosion that killed five men near Allentown, Pennsylvania, on February 9, 1999. We learned that the plant owner, in his zeal to become the only American producer of high-concentration hydoxylamine, took short cuts that saved dollars but came with a cost: The deaths of four employees and a vendor in an adjoining building.... Workers didn't realize the chemical they were distilling was volatile - even more dangerous than dynamite."
Tags: OSHA chemicals Irl Ward Concept Sciences Inc. censorship
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No title (id: 13397)
Texas Monthly investigates how Marie Robards murdered her own father by stealing barium acetate from her high school chemistry lab and slipping it into her father's refried beans. Police and medical examiners never detected the crime and only with the help of Marie's close friend, Stacey High, was Marie caught. (July 1996)
Tags: Hollandsworth Poisoning Daddy Criminal investigation Narrative 9 pgs.
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No title (id: 13240)
The Texas Observer looks at the chemical industry and its attempts to keep parents and teachers in Texas from adopting resolutions in favor of developing alternatives to chlorine-based products and resolutions in opposition to the burning of hazerdous wastes in cement kilns--acknowledged to produce dioxins, among other toxins. (Jan. 26, 1996)
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No title (id: 9907)
Metro Times (Detroit, Mich.) describes how chlorine, a once rare chemical now used in more than half of all commercial chemistry, has in less than a century of use become a major threat to human health and the environment, Feb. 10, 1993.
Tags: MI Paulsen 12 pages
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chemistry of a coverup
KTOK Radio (Oklahoma City) investigates Iraqi-born arms dealer who attempted to purchase chemical technology in the United States in order to help Iraq and Libya develop chemical weapons, November - December 1990.
Tags: OK Bohnen Weisenthal
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Bad Chemistry
The Progressive article looks at a pattern of stillbirths and miscarriages among workers at a Baltimore fire station and traces the probable cause to glycol ethers found in the heat-resistant paint on the fire engines, July 1986.