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Action Needed on Plastic Additives Linked to Sperm Decline, Experts Warn
Action must be taken to curb the use of plastic additives linked to plummeting sperm counts, a leading reproductive scientist has warned, as splits over chemical regulation contributed to the collapse of a crucial treaty on plastic pollution.
Across the world, sperm counts have been declining at a rate of about 1% a year for the past 50 years, and human fertility has been diminishing at a similar rate, studies have shown. Increasing levels of obesity, sedentary lifestyles and ageing populations have all been held up as possible causes.
But according to Dr. Shanna Swan, professor of environmental medicine and public health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, environmental factors play the most significant role. Swan said the decline was “largely, but not entirely due to toxins in the environment that have the ability to interfere with steroid hormones.”
Industrial Pollution’s Imprint on Cognitive Health Can Last Generations
University of Utah researchers found strong evidence that exposure to industrial pollution during pregnancy can shape a grandchild’s neurodevelopment. A child has a higher risk of an intellectual disability if their grandmothers lived near industrial facilities while pregnant with a parent, especially the mother. Higher density of industrial facilities corresponded to higher risk for the grandchild.
“We know that breathing polluted air is dangerous for our own health now, but it’s scary to imagine what it could do to people’s unborn grandchildren,” said Sara Grineski, professor in the Department of Sociology at the U and lead author of the study. “The evidence from this study and many others force us to ask: What will be the legacy of the decisions that we make today?”
About 1% of Americans have an intellectual disability. Previous research shows that a child’s risk of an intellectual disability is higher when directly exposed to toxins in the womb, for example, if the mother accidentally ingests lead or mercury. Research on intergenerational air pollution exposure is rarer, but Grineski is leading in this area. She and colleagues have published studies focused on Utah that link the risk of an intellectual disability to prenatal exposure to ozone, particulate matter and industrial pollution.
‘How Can This Happen?’ Fight Over Sewage Sludge on Farms Intensifies
Ryan Dunham heard his eleven-year-old daughter’s scream from his living room. He bolted up the stairs to the bathroom where she was taking a shower and couldn’t believe his eyes. The water flowing from the faucet was brown, and it smelled like “decay, rot and death.”
It was the same smell he noticed coming from his neighbor’s farm fields across the street just days earlier. Dunham has lived in New Scotland, a rural town in upstate New York, for more than 20 years and is accustomed to the smell of manure. But this smell was different, it was so bad he couldn’t open his windows and his kids didn’t want to play outside in the middle of summer.
After that day last spring, Dunham discovered his neighbor was spreading sewage sludge — a biosolid made up of decomposed human and industrial waste — as fertilizer on the fields. That waste was seeping into his home’s water supply, putting his family’s health at-risk.
“I connected the dots that my kids were literally taking showers in human sewage,” Dunham said. “How can this happen in the state of New York? How can this happen legally in the United States of America? It boggles my mind.”
Former Michigan State Student Sues College for $100 Million After Cancer Diagnosis Due to Alleged Chemical Exposure
A former Michigan State University graduate student is suing the school for $100 million, claiming she was diagnosed with cancer after her work exposed her to hazardous chemicals.
Ling Long Wei, an international student from China, worked as a research assistant at Michigan State from 2008 to 2011 while earning a master’s degree from the school’s horticulture program. Wei filed a lawsuit this month claiming she developed thyroid cancer after her work exposed her to pesticides and herbicides without proper training or safety equipment.
Michigan State University spokesperson Amber McCann declined to comment toThe Independent, citing pending litigation. However, she said the school “prioritizes the health and safety of our entire campus community.” “Appropriate and required training and necessary personal protective equipment is provided in compliance with applicable university policies and state and federal laws,” McCann said.
It was Wei’s “dream” to study at Michigan State, a leading agricultural science school, her attorney Maya Greene said at a Monday press conference. When she first arrived, Wei was required to work as a student research assistant, and perform field research as part of her horticulture coursework, the lawsuit states.
Refinery Shutdown in Los Angeles Leaves Behind Massive Toxic Cleanup With Few Clear Answers
Environmental Health News reported:
A century-old oil refinery in Los Angeles will close by year’s end, but a massive underground plume of toxic sludge and chemicals — including PFAS — threatens groundwater and public health with no binding cleanup plan or cost disclosure requirements in place.
In short:
- Phillips 66 plans to shutter its Los Angeles refinery complex, where decades of buried oil waste, acid sludge, and fire-fighting foam have created a vast underground “lake” of contamination extending more than 16 feet deep in places.
- Groundwater tests show pollutants like benzene, lead, and PFAS have leached into aquifers connected to drinking water sources. Monitoring wells near residential areas have repeatedly found elevated levels of gasoline additives.
- California regulators say their oversight is limited, and cleanup cost estimates rely solely on Phillips 66, which reported a $908 million loss on the site last year and is not required to set aside dedicated cleanup funds.
“It is a huge problem that there is currently no disclosure requirement concerning the actual cost.” — Ann Alexander, environmental policy consultant at Devonshire Strategies.
A Coal-Fired Plant in Michigan Was to Close. But Trump Forced It to Keep Running at $1m a Day
Donald Trump has made several unusual moves to elongate the era of coal, such as giving the industry exemptions from pollution rules. But the gambit to keep one Michigan coal-fired power station running has been extraordinary — by forcing it to remain open even against the wishes of its operator.
The hulking J.H. Campbell power plant, which since 1962 has sat a few hundred yards from the sand dunes at the edge of Lake Michigan, was just eight days away from a long-planned closure in May when Trump’s Department of Energy issued an emergency order that it remain open for a further 90 days.
On Wednesday, the administration intervened again to extend this order even further, prolonging the lifetime of the coal plant another 90 days, meaning it will keep running until November — six months after it was due to close.
