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Air Pollution May Be Changing Sperm
Air quality is linked to a wide range of health issues including respiratory problems, cardiovascular complications, and cancer, and that list of concerns only continues to grow. According to researchers presenting this week at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), common pollutants may be fundamentally disrupting human sperm genetics — and these alterations may affect far more than male fertility.
One of the largest studies of its kind, the project took place from 2013 to2017 and included over 2,000 men in Salt Lake City, Utah. Volunteers provided researchers with semen samples initially after signing up, and then at two, four, and six month intervals.
The researchers were particularly focused on examining changes to sperm DNA methylation. These chemical shifts regulate genetic activity without actually rewriting the DNA itself. Changes in methylation are already linked to genes utilized during chromosomal organization, cellular maintenance, and overall sperm development.
Judge Pressures Parkinson’s Patients Over Syngenta Paraquat Settlement
A federal judge overseeing nationwide litigation involving allegations that exposure to paraquat weed killing products causes Parkinson’s disease is applying pressure to plaintiffs who are not accepting settlement agreements proposed by paraquat maker Syngenta.
US District Judge Nancy Rosenstengel has ordered plaintiffs who do not agree to the terms of Syngenta’s settlement plan to meet with a “special master” by mid-July to ensure that they are “making a fully informed decision not to participate.” Additionally, the judge has required that many plaintiffs choosing to opt out of the settlement undergo depositions by early August, along with “narrow third-party discovery” related to their use of paraquat.
The judge noted that a significant number of plaintiffs choosing not to participate in the settlement come from just a few law firms. The judge cited as an example the Nachawati Law Group, noting that out of 217 of the firm’s paraquat clients, 183 had opted out of the settlement. “The Court would like to gain a better understanding of the possible reasons for this high number of opt-out cases,” Rosenstengel wrote in a recent order.
Michigan Takes First Step to Outlaw Highly Toxic Weed Killer Linked to Parkinson’s
Michigan could be among the first states to ban paraquat, a highly toxic weed killer that’s been prohibited in more than 70 countries but remains legal in the United States.
Paraquat is also the subject of more than 8,000 lawsuits from people who claim the chemical caused their Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative brain disease that affects movement.
State Rep. Julie Rogers D-Kalamazoo, introduced legislation in June that would phase out the use and sale of paraquat in Michigan over the next two years. “This seems like a step forward to protect workers and people who are handling that kind of chemical,” Rogers told MLive.
The Michigan bill, House Bill 6114, joins a growing movement to outlaw paraquat throughout the country, and it follows a 2025 investigation from MLive.com and AL.com into the ongoing use and risks of the weed killer. Lawmakers confirmed the reporting helped get paraquat on their radar.
New Research Traces How ‘Forever Chemicals’ Move Through the Great Lakes and Into People
In the United States, PFAS chemicals are so ubiquitous — found in everything from frying pans to skincare — that nearly all of the country’s population likely has measurable levels of the so-called “forever chemicals” in their blood. It’s only in the last few decades that the public and scientists started untangling the health and ecological risks associated with some of the manufactured compounds, which earned their nickname because they don’t break down easily in the environment.
Now, new research from the University of Notre Dame has deepened our understanding of how PFAS can filter through ecosystems and move up the food chain to get to people. The peer-reviewed study, published this spring in the Journal of Environmental Quality, focused on the Great Lakes. The researchers analyzed 42 years of studies and combined nearly 2,500 samples of algae, fish, birds, and other organisms, in what’s called a meta-analysis to identify trends in PFAS distribution.
PFAS have been linked to a range of health issues, and the chemicals have been identified in human tissue, including in the bloodstream, liver, kidneys, and lungs. Known health risks range from decreased fertility to a higher prevalence of certain cancers. People can be exposed to PFAS in several ways, including through the food they eat.
Exposure to Everyday Chemicals Can Add up — a Toxicologist Offers Simple Steps to Reduce Your Dose
Imagine an ordinary Tuesday. You wash your hair, put on deodorant, drink coffee, pack lunch in a plastic container and commute through traffic to get to work. At work, the custodial staff wipes down a shared table with disinfectant. At home, you cook dinner, clean the kitchen and run the dishwasher.
Each of these ordinary moments can involve exposure to chemicals. By itself, that is not a reason for concern. After all, chemicals make up the entire physical world. But depending on the dose, timing and circumstances of exposure, some chemicals in our environment — both naturally occurring and human-made ones — may affect health.
Most everyday exposures occur at low levels, and many products are designed and regulated with safety in mind. But as a board-certified toxicologist who studies how chemical exposures affect human health, I rarely ask whether a single chemical is safe in isolation. A more realistic question is: What might the health effects be when many low-level exposures overlap?
