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Very High Levels of Toxic Chemicals Found in Eco-Friendly Menstrual Products, Study Says
Extremely high levels of toxic chemicals called PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have been found in a small sampling of reusable menstrual pads and panties, according to a new study.
“Whether we wear feminine hygiene products or not, we will all be exposed,” said senior study author Graham Peaslee, a professor of physics, chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. “Everything in the US ultimately goes into landfills, and with time these forever chemicals leach into our drinking water, our irrigation water and our food supply,” Peaslee said.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are called “forever” chemicals because they fail to break down fully in the environment. Known endocrine disruptors, various types of PFAS have been linked to serious health problems such as cancer, obesity, high cholesterol, decreased fertility, low birth weight, accelerated puberty and hormone disruption, according to the EPA.
Exposure to a Mix of Pesticides Raises Risk of Pregnancy Complications, Study Suggests
Exposure to multiple pesticides increases the chances of pregnancy complications compared to exposure to just one pesticide, new peer-reviewed research suggests. The findings raise new questions about the safety of exposure to widely used pesticides and herbicides in food and agricultural communities.
The study, which bio-monitored pregnant women in a heavily agricultural state in Argentina, adds to recent-but-limited evidence pointing to heightened dangers in mixtures of pesticides. The authors say research into how pesticide mixtures impact human health is important because the vast majority of studies look at exposure to a single pesticide, and regulations on the substances’ use are developed based on toxicity to just one.
However, people are frequently exposed to multiple pesticides in non-organic meals, or when living in agricultural regions around the world. Studying exposure to those mixtures and other environmental factors is “essential” to protecting people’s health, said the authors, with the National University of the Littoral in Argentina. “The concept of the exposome, which encompasses all lifetime environmental exposures, underscores the importance of studying pesticides as mixtures rather than in isolation,” the authors wrote.
Trump Exempts More Than 100 Polluters From Environmental Standards
The Trump administration is exempting dozens of chemical manufacturers, oil refineries, coal plants, medical device sterilizers and other polluters from Clean Air Act rules.
On Thursday, the White House announced it would exempt more than 100 plants from pollution limits established by the Biden administration.
The limits are aimed at reducing the releases of toxic chemicals, including those that cause cancer. One rule that the Trump administration is exempting about 50 polluters from would have been expected to reduce cancer risks of people living within six miles of a chemical plant by 96%. The Trump administration touted its decision as being supportive of fossil fuels and manufacturing.
“President Trump recognizes that overly restrictive environmental regulations undermine America’s energy reliability, economic vitality, and national security,” according to a White House fact sheet.
Methane Leaks From Gas Pipelines Are a Hidden Source of Widespread Air Pollution
The Trump administration is decreasing the attention federal regulators pay to pipeline leaks. But leaks from natural gas pipelines don’t just waste energy and warm the planet — they can also make the air more dangerous to breathe. That air pollution threat grows not just in the communities where the leaks happen but also as far as neighboring states, as our analysis of gas leaks and air pollution levels across the U.S. has found.
For instance, in September 2018 the Merrimack Valley pipeline explosion in Massachusetts, which released roughly 2,800 metric tons of methane, damaged or destroyed about 40 homes and killed one person. We found that event caused fine-particle air pollution concentrations in downwind areas of New Hampshire and Vermont to spike within four weeks, pushing those areas’ 2018 annual average up by 0.3 micrograms per cubic meter.
That’s an increase of about 3% of the U.S. EPA’s annual health standard for PM2.5. Elevated air pollution then showed up in New York and Connecticut through the rest of 2018 and into 2019.
ER Visits Drop 20% After Coal Plant Shutdown
A new study by NYU Langone Health researchers found that the shutdown of a significant fossil fuel pollution source near Pittsburgh, PA, resulted in immediate improvements in respiratory health. The study is available online starting July 22 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a journal of the American Thoracic Society.
Assessing data from nearby local and federal air quality monitors, the researchers tracked the air pollution health effects on residents near the Shenango plant before and after its closure in 2016.
Results showed that within the first few weeks after the plant’s closure in January 2016, respiratory related emergency visits decreased by about 20%. In the first month of the closure, pediatric asthma visits declined by 41%, and continued to fall by 4% each month through the end of the study period. These findings indicate that reductions in fossil-fuel related air pollution are linked to both short and long-term lung health benefits, the researchers say.
Open Burning of Plastic Is an Escalating Public Health Threat, Say Experts
When Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa was a child, her mother sent her to market with a basket woven from grasses. “But now we don’t do that,” she says, because plastic has taken over most utilitarian purposes in today’s Malawi. “You go and you get a plastic carrier, and they’re usually not reusable plastics.”
In many Malawi communities, and across poorer nations worldwide, there is no waste collection or proper disposal. Instead, families faced with an onslaught of cheap plastic products — including single-use bags, bottles and diapers — commonly burn the waste in pits beside their homes.
With a growing number of developing-world communities living beneath a pall of toxic petrochemical plastic smoke, Mzumara-Gawa is sounding the alarm. Now an ecologist at the Malawi University of Science and Technology and an environmental advocate with the NGO Tearfund, she says the widespread open burning of plastics is taking an increasingly heavy public health and environmental toll that is largely being ignored.
Experts warn that many communities are resorting to the burning of plastic waste in households as fuel, while burning by industry to make energy is also becoming common. Add to this the vast volume of plastic waste dumped by the Global North on the Global South — waste that often ends up being incinerated without pollution controls.
