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Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, briefed a bipartisan group of senators Tuesday after a report found that Washington and other cities have elevated levels of chromium-6, a probable carcinogen, in their public drinking water. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) met with Jackson in Durbin’s office on the third floor of the Capitol Tuesday afternoon. They convened the meeting after the Environmental Working Group, an organization headquartered in Washington, released a report this week that found chromium-6 in the tap water of 31 cities across the country. “Administrator...

An environmental group that analyzed the drinking water in 35 cities across the United States, including Bethesda and Washington, found that most contained hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen that was made famous by the film "Erin Brockovich." The study, which will be released Monday by the Environmental Working Group, is the first nationwide analysis of hexavalent chromium in drinking water to be made public.

Just wondering... My EeePC needs an updated browser and I was wondering how this would work. I'm Linux challenged, and don't even know how to install it.

Researchers may have found a sugar-coated answer to a toxic waste problem. At a presentation yesterday at the semiannual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago, Illinois, a team of chemists reported that a sugar-based solution effectively reduced the threat of the heavy metal chromium, without creating new pollution headaches in the process. Chromium, like some of its chemical cousins, can be either beneficial or harmful to living things, depending on its form, concentration, and method of absorption. Chromium III, for example, the metal's natural state, is stable and an essential nutrient. On the other hand, hexavalent chromium--or Cr(VI)--is...

SEATTLE (AP) - The Food and Drug Administration identified the substance that killed some dairy cows this month as a chromium compound, and a newspaper reported it contained chromium 6, the chemical investigated by activist Erin Brockovich. The FDA news release Wednesday did not say how the compound - a tacky, reddish-brown substance - might have gotten on the cattle. "It's not something we use in the dairy industry," said Jay Gordon, executive director for the state Dairy Federation. Ten cows became sick and three died after Enumclaw farmer John Koopman found the substance on them June 6. Their backs...