Login
Scientists Were Unsure of How Microplastics Harmed the Body — Until Now
For decades, scientists believed that plastics were some of the safest materials around. Their long chemical chains, companies and researchers believed, wouldn’t react with food, water or — perhaps most importantly — the human body. Now, a new study in the journal Nature shows just how flawed that assumption was.
The research from scientists at Columbia University shows that when water is exposed to tiny microplastics, it releases highly reactive chemicals. These chemicals, known as reactive oxygen species (ROS), are known to contribute to heart disease, cancer and neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s.
“They can essentially react with nearby biological molecules such as proteins, DNA, lipids, RNA — you name it — and damage them,” said Wei Min, professor of chemistry at Columbia University and one of the authors of the study, which was published earlier this month. “Because they’re high energy, they can, for example, bump into DNA and cause mutations.”
Amid Iowa’s Water Crisis, Factory Farms Get a Pass on Environmental Permitting
By the time rainwater rolled down the hillside and reached the stream near the edge of Gordon Garrison’s property, it had turned a foul, murky red. Gravity had acted predictably, Garrison knew. In 2015, New Fashion Pork, a Minnesota-based company with facilities in seven states, built a 4,400-head hog confinement half a mile from his home.
Between the confinement, and Garrison’s 300 acres of restored prairie, oak savanna and wetlands, lay sloping fields owned by a New Fashion Pork subsidiary. When the manure storage pit beneath their facility filled, the company hired contractors to spread the waste on the fields as fertilizer.
Twice in the facility’s first few years of operation, Garrison alleged, the contractors applied manure on already saturated ground, causing the animal waste to flow downhill into a tributary of the Des Moines River.
5 Takeaways From Our Investigation of Trump’s Waivers for Polluters
They are among the biggest sources of cancer-causing pollution in the United States: chemical manufacturers, steel-making plants, facilities that sterilize medical devices.
In 2024, they were required to take steps to reduce their toxic emissions. That all changed when President Trump returned to office and gave them a pass.
It was the biggest presidential intervention in the Clean Air Act since the bedrock environmental law was enacted more than 50 years ago. Mr. Trump has gone further than any president in dismantling regulations designed to protect the environment, resulting in dirtier air and water. Even so, his aid to specific polluters stands out.
To understand these efforts, The New York Times reviewed more than 10,000 pages of government documents and conducted more than 70 interviews.
Living Near Farm Pesticide Use Linked To Higher Blood Pressure In Women
A study of 459 women published October 24, 2026 in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology found that living near heavier agricultural pesticide use over 10 years was linked to higher blood pressure and lower HDL cholesterol.
Researchers studied 459 women, average age 48.4, from an agricultural region of California’s Salinas Valley. Using home addresses and the state’s Pesticide Use Reporting database, they estimated average use of seven pesticide classes within 1 kilometer of each home over the 10 years before measurements taken in 2022 to 2024.
A one-quartile increase in combined pesticide exposure was linked to 1.82 mm Hg higher systolic blood pressure, 1.59 mm Hg higher pulse pressure (the gap between the top and bottom numbers) and 1.35 mg/dL lower HDL cholesterol, plus a 12% higher relative risk of low HDL or reported cholesterol medication use.
A second statistical model gave similar results, including a 9% higher risk of low HDL from the 25th to 50th percentile of exposure. Glyphosate herbicide showed the most consistent contribution to the low-HDL and pulse-pressure links. Body weight, blood sugar and inflammatory markers showed no link.
Pennsylvania Restricts Use of PFAS Chemicals in Firefighting Foam
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed into law on Oct. 22 a measure that prohibits the use of chemicals known as PFAS in firefighting foam, which is used to suppress fires. The language was included in Senate Bill 804, unrelated legislation to phase out harmful chemicals in intravenous (IV) bags and other medical devices.
The new law restricts the manufacture, sale and distribution of PFAS in firefighting foam in Pennsylvania starting in July 2027, and the use of them starting in January 2028, with exceptions including airports, chemical plants and oil refineries.
There are thousands of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, which are man-made chemicals used in everyday products, such as food packaging, stain-resistant carpets and non-stick cookware. The Environmental Protection Agency considers them “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment or the human body. PFAS are linked to cancer and other health issues.
