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Disposable Face Masks Used During Covid Have Left Chemical Timebomb, Research Suggests
The surge in the use of disposable face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic has left a chemical timebomb that could harm humans, animals and the environment, research suggests. Billions of tonnes of plastic face masks created to protect people from the spread of the virus are now breaking down, releasing microplastics and chemical additives including endocrine disruptors, the research found.
As a result, the very equipment whose use was intended to protect people during the pandemic now poses a risk to the health of people and planet, potentially for generations.
“This study has underlined the urgent need to rethink how we produce, use and dispose of face masks,” said Anna Bogush of Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, the lead author of the study.
The Clue to Unlocking Parkinson’s May Be All Around Us
It was back in 1958 that a chemical company first discovered that its new weed killer appeared toxic to humans, “mainly by affecting the central nervous system,” as one company scientist documented at the time. The company kept its concerns to itself — as well as its later research indicating that large doses caused tremors in mice and rats.
That’s because the herbicide, paraquat, was sublime at wiping out weeds. And profitable. Over the decades it became, an executive proudly declared, a “blockbuster.” By 2018, some 17 million pounds of it were used across the U.S., double the figure for six years earlier.
As industry has boomed and agricultural and industrial toxins like paraquat have proliferated in the postwar period, so has something else: Parkinson’s disease. Once almost unknown, the ailment was first identified in 1817 when Dr. James Parkinson described a handful of elderly people with what he called “the shaking palsy.” That was in polluted London, and it’s now understood that air pollution is a risk factor for the disease.
Some 90,000 cases of Parkinson’s are now diagnosed each year in the U.S., about one every six minutes on average. It is the world’s fastest-growing neurodegenerative disease, causing tremors, stiffness and balance problems. It is also the 13th-leading cause of death in the U.S. One factor in its increase may be the way we have come to live, for there’s growing evidence linking it to a range of pesticides and industrial chemicals, including paraquat and substances used in dry cleaning.
Ingredient Red Flags: How to Spot the Chemicals to Avoid in Food, Kitchenware and Cosmetics
‘Far from being a rock or island … it turns out that the best metaphor to describe the human body is ‘sponge’. We’re permeable,” write Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie in their book Slow Death By Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things. While the permeability of our cells is key to being alive, it also means we absorb more potentially harmful substances than we realize.
Studies have found a number of chemical residues in human breast milk, urine and water systems. Many of them are endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the body’s natural hormones. “They can mimic, block or otherwise disrupt normal hormone function, leading to adverse health effects,” says Dr. Shanna Swan, professor of environmental medicine and reproductive health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. We (often unknowingly) ingest, inhale or otherwise absorb them, and while toxicity depends on dosage, the reality is that a lot of us are exposed to them daily.
So what to do about it? There are apps that will give you information about the ingredients in products, such as Yuka, Think Dirty and EWG’s Healthy Living, but there are some key “nasties” worth knowing about. Because science is always evolving, navigating these issues can be tricky — even for the experts. That’s why many specialists recommend looking at your overall lifestyle and habits, rather than fixating on individual substances in isolation. The list that follows is far from exhaustive, but it highlights 15 ingredients that science suggests may pose risks to our health.
Millions of Britons Face Higher Risk of Heart Failure Due to Dirty Air, Study Suggests
Millions of Britons face a higher risk of stroke or heart failure because of dirty air where they live. People living in areas of the U.K. with the worst levels of air pollution are 27% more likely to develop heart failure, compared with people in areas with the cleanest air, a study suggests.
Stroke risk was 7% higher in the worst areas, the research shows. The findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology conference in Madrid, the world’s largest heart conference.
The study’s lead author, Ghita Housni, of the William Harvey research institute at Queen Mary University of London, said: “We know cleaner air means healthier hearts, and this research lays bare the impact of air pollution on public health.”
