chemicals

DuPont is a major player in the high-performance materials, chemicals, coatings and agricultural products businesses -- all of which are likely to improve as the global economy recovers. It's also investing heavily in emerging markets such as China, which will give it new engines for growth.

Carbon offsets are meant to reward companies for cutting their emission of greenhouse gases. But environmentalists claim that some companies are producing extra emissions in order to get paid for destroying it. A U.N. board has halted credits for the projects in question while it investigates.

Chinese companies may bid for Potash Corp, (POT) as the country's growing food needs make access to fertilizer increasingly urgent. Companies including Sinofert, Chalco and ChemChina are all potential bidders for the Canadian company, Reuters reported without naming its sources. BHP Billiton...

Since the recession began, more than 8 million Americans have lost their jobs. But perhaps even more surprising is the small number of companies that are responsible for laying off such a large percentage of today's unemployed workers.

Dow Chemical reported second-quarter earnings of 50 cents a share, compared with a loss of 47 cents a share in the second quarter of 2009. Sales rose 20% from a year earlier.

An ill-advised attempt to evade environmental laws may have been the major cause of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion, testimony before a government panel has revealed.

A petrochemical was the cause of the foul smell that sickened a handful of people and led to the massive recall last month of some 28 million boxes of Kellogg cereal -- including Froot Loops and Corn Pops, the non-profit Environmental Working Group announced. The group said little is known about...

The FDA said on Thursday it was conducting a safety review of triclosan, a widely used antibacterial chemical that can be found in products from soap to toys. While triclosan isn't known to be hazardous, the FDA said, recent studies merit further review of the ingredient.

Doctors and environmental scientists are growing more concerned that chemicals found in many household cleaning supplies, such as floor cleaners and glass cleaners, are behind the ongoing increase in breast cancer cases in the U.S. Anecdotal evidence from some of the latest epidemiological data suggests that younger women (and a growing number of men) are contracting the cancer.

The Gopher State will be a happier place for babies come Jan. 1. That's when it enacts the first-ever ban on plastic sippy cups and baby bottles containing Bisphenol-A. The Federal government has yet to act on BPA, a controversial chemical feared to harm fetuses and children.