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HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) - An environmental group asked the federal government Tuesday to ban the use of certain toxic chemical compounds in industrial and household detergents because the ingredients are believed to cause male fish to develop female characteristics.
The Sierra Club also asked the Environmental Protection Agency to bar the use of these products in areas where wastewater treatment plants aren't equipped to remove nonylphenol ethoxylates, or NPEs.
The compounds, which are derived from petroleum, are used mainly in detergents but also in paper manufacturing and flame retardants. The Sierra Club, along with the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations and the textile-and-hotel-workers union UNITE HERE, also seeks to require labeling on all products containing NPEs.
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