Vietnam will stop using all types of machinery and equipment containing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), one of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs), by 2020 and safely dispose the substance by 2028.
VietNamNet - Viet Nam

The Agricultural Ministry has taken measures to control pesticides with a view to safeguard public health and the environment as the Ministry found that it is compulsory to change the act on pesticides to meet the modern day requirements. Organic fertilizer is suitable for the country's agriculture as Sri Lanka still practices traditional methods. More:
www.news.lk - Sri Lanka

In all urban markets of Nepal, farmers are selling heavily poisoned vegetables and fruits. This is because of the overuse of insecticides and pesticides. And toxic chemicals are used to preserve fruits and vegetables during transportation and storage till they reach the consumers. More:
The Himalayan - Nepal

Birds are providing some insight into contamination in the Great Lakes. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey are observing the nesting patterns of tree swallows along the banks of the lakes and are collecting blood from their babies to monitor levels of some toxins. More:
The Columbus Dispatch - USA

On June 13, 2014, the World Bank approved a US$ 8.10 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF)* for Egypt’s “Sustainable Persistent Organic Pollutants Management Project (POPs)” More:
The World Bank

When Penelope Jagessar Chaffer became pregnant, her obstetrician warned her to avoid alcohol, cigarettes and mercury-laden tuna. Dangers posed to her unborn child by industrial chemicals such as flame retardants, pesticides and plastics, however, never came up. Chaffer's prenatal care experience is more or less the norm, according to a national survey that gauged obstetricians' stances on counseling pregnant patients about environmental health hazards.More:
www.huffingtonpost.com

Tests on 125 consumer and children’s products show some manufacturers have replaced flame retardants banned in many products sold in Washington, with unregulated - but also potentially toxic - chemicals. A report containing test results is available. More:
Bonney Lake Courier-Hearld - USA

Researchers from Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority in Germany have made a study of Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and “novel” brominated flame retardants in house dust.

Researchers from Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences have made a study of development of PFOS and PFOA criteria for the protection of freshwater aquatic life in China.

22/10/2013 - The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee, a subsidiary body of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), recommended the inclusion of polychlorinated napththalenes (PCN) and hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD) to the UN-backed major treaty banning hazardous chemicals. Every human in the world carries in his or her body traces of POPs, which circulate globally through a process known as the “grasshopper effect” and include chemicals which are agents that that can kill people, damage the nervous and immune systems, cause cancer and reproductive disorders and interfere with normal infant and child development.

Shoppers spend over £10 billion on bananas annually and now this demand is being linked to the contamination of Central America's crocodilians. A research analyses blood samples from spectacled caiman in Costa Rica and finds that intensive pesticide use in plantations leads to contaminated species in protected conservation areas. More:
ScienceDaily

To protect delicate eardrums, around 8 to 10 baleen whale species have ear canals that are naturally sealed off from the external environment. Over the years, earwax begins to build in the narrow tubes. Like tree rings, layers found within whale earplugs are already used to help researchers estimate an animal’s age. In this new study, scientists guessed that the wax may have more secrets to tell. More:
www.smithsonianmag.com

San Francisco - In the coastal redwood forests of central California, scientists trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the reproductive problems of dozens of endangered condors think they have uncovered the culprit: the long-banned pesticide DDT. More:
www.thecalifornian.com

University researchers say they have developed a safer and cheaper way to clean up harmful contaminants from the ground after finishing a $1-million research project that spanned 13 years. The researchers with the University of Calgary and SAIT use rubbing alcohol and ultraviolet light to remove PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, from affected soil. More:
Calgary Herald

Montreal - Quebecers should be worried that it took 15 years for officials to clue into the fact that a Pointe-Claire company had a yard full of toxic materials, says one environmental expert, and the public should be demanding more transparency in the wake of the discovery. More:
www.montrealgazette.com
See also: PCB site in Pointe-Claire: Quebec’s environment minister approves Reliance’s plan for cleanup

Concentrations of 16 PBDEs, which are persistent, bioaccumulative, and may be toxic to both humans and the environment, were determined in dust samples from 33 New Zealand households and in breast milk samples from 33 mothers living in these households. More:
Massey University - New Zealand

Washington, August 5, 2013 - Many developing countries import pesticides to increase agricultural production and control vector-borne diseases such as malaria. Over time, unused pesticides become obsolete and unsafe for use. Today, across Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 50,000 tons of obsolete pesticides litter the landscape. Exposure to these pollutants can cause cancer, allergies, reproductive disorders, and damages to the nervous and immune systems. More:
www.worldbank.org

India is still reeling from the deaths of 23 schoolchildren in the village of Dharmasati Gandawa in Bihar on July 17 after they ate a free school lunch that was made with cooking oil tainted with the pesticide monocrotophos. The police say that the cooking oil might have been kept in a container that once held the pesticide. More:
The New York Times

Gas chromatography (GC) is one of the most important tools in the chemical industry and in chemical laboratories. Analytical chemists use it for a wide variety of purposes, from forensic research to environmental testing, health screening and pharmaceuticals production. More:
Chemistry World

An urgent review is underway after a Four Corners investigation- an Australia's television program- found elevated levels of dangerous dioxins in a generic version of 2,4-D, one of Australia's most widely used herbicides. More:
ABC News - Australia