Login
‘Silent Epidemic of Chemical Pollution’ Demands Radical Regulatory Redo, Say Scientists
An international team of scientists has issued a stark warning that current toxicology and chemical regulatory regimes are failing to protect public health and the environment from a host of toxins found in pesticides and other petrochemical-based compounds. In an article published in November in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Sciences Europe, 43 researchers from five continents, including leading experts in toxicology, biology, public health and environmental sciences, began by pointing out severe lapses in current regulatory systems for evaluating the safety of products derived from petrochemical byproducts.
They note, for example, that the full commercial formulations of common petrochemical-based pesticides used in global agriculture have never been subjected to long-term tests on mammals. They also note that only the active ingredients declared by makers of pesticides and plasticizers (a type of chemical additive used to increase pliability) have been assessed for human health risks.
In fact, the full ingredient lists for these commercial chemical compounds are often proprietary — not publicly disclosed by the companies that develop them. And yet, the article’s authors found that these pesticides and plasticizers contain petroleum-based waste and heavy metals such as arsenic that could make them “at least 1000 times more toxic at low environmentally relevant doses than the active ingredients alone under conditions of long-term exposure.”
As a result of these regulatory failings, “We are facing a silent epidemic of chemical pollution,” said article co-author Angelika Hilbeck, a biologist at ETH Zürich. “Chronic diseases are surging, biodiversity is collapsing, and public trust in science is eroded by decades of conflicts of interest.”
Farm Runoff Linked to Uranium in Groundwater
The water flowing from taps across America’s heartland carries a hidden history. Every drop has filtered through layers of sediment, picking up minerals along the way. Now scientists have discovered that agricultural chemicals may be altering what the water carries into homes. Researchers at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln have uncovered a troubling connection between farm runoff and naturally occurring uranium in aquifers. Their findings reveal how nitrate from fertilizers and animal waste can trigger the release of uranium into groundwater supplies.
The team, led by associate professor Karrie Weber, collected sediment cores from the High Plains Aquifer near Alda, Nebraska. This vast underground reservoir supplies drinking water to millions of people across eight states. In laboratory experiments, the researchers pumped simulated groundwater through these sediments. The presence of nitrate in the water led to the removal of approximately 85% of the uranium. Without nitrate, only about 55% moved.
The difference comes down to microbial activity. Bacteria living in the soil transform nitrate into reactive compounds that chemically alter uranium, dissolving it into water that then travels through the aquifer. “Most Nebraskans do rely on groundwater as drinking water,” said Weber. “So when you have high concentrations, that becomes a potential concern.”
EPA, MAHA Commission Urged to Assess Christmas Tree Pesticides Risks to Children
The Center for Biological Diversity reported:
The Center for Biological Diversity and Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission today to address the health risks posed by the heavy use of toxic pesticides on Christmas trees.
Tree farms in Oregon, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Florida and Texas that produce nearly two-thirds of the Christmas trees harvested in the U.S. have reported spraying 270,000 pounds of pesticides each year. Many of these pesticides include products known to be potent endocrine disruptors, carcinogens and neurotoxins that impede children’s brain development. The pesticides are chlorothalonil, simazine, glyphosate, hexazinone, carbaryl, chlorpyrifos and dimethoate.
“Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, and Americans should be able to bring a Christmas tree into their home that doesn’t carry dangerous chemicals that can harm their children’s development or poison their pets,” said J.W. Glass, EPA policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
“For hundreds of years we’ve celebrated Christmas without pesticide-drenched trees, but in recent decades the EPA has ignored the risks to children posed by heavy pesticide use on Christmas tree farms. We need the EPA to protect our kids and ensure that all Americans are safe from pesticides this holiday season.”
US ‘Cancer Alley’ Residents Stand up to Petrochemical Giants
One of the first giveaways is the smell, says Shamell Lavigne of how to recognize that the area she grew up in is steeped in “filth.” She was raised in the heart of what has become known as ‘Cancer Alley,’ an 85-mile-stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans where around 200 fossil fuel and petrochemical plants are clustered along the banks of the mighty Mississippi River.
The region handles around a quarter of U.S. petrochemical production, which feeds public demand for things like chemicals, fertilizers and plastics. It earned its grim nickname from having some of the highest cancer risks in the U.S.
“There’s so many houses down each street that have been affected by cancer,” says Lavigne. Sometimes this is every other house, she explains, or even multiple homes in a row where at least one or two family members have fallen ill.
For decades, ‘Cancer Alley’ facilities have been releasing a variety of toxic pollutants into the surrounding soil, water and air and local communities say they are paying a heavy price for the mountains of plastic the world produces. Simultaneously, the area has long ranked in the top 5% nationally for cancer risk. Though recent research from Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. suggests the overall cancer threat is as many as 11 times higher than government estimates.
New York City Bill Aims to Ban Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Firefighting Gear
A new bill proposed in the New York city council would ban the use of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in protective gear worn by the city’s 11,000 firefighters. The New York fire department is the nation’s largest firefighting force, and approval of the legislation would mark a major win for advocates who are pushing for safer “turnout gear” alternatives across the U.S. Massachusetts and Connecticut last year became the first states to ban the use of PFAS in turnout gear, and Illinois enacted a ban this year.
Turnout gear, including jackets, pants, boots, gloves and other protective equipment that firefighters wear, is treated heavily with PFAS, making it resistant to water and heat, and helping the textiles breathe.
But occupational cancer is the leading killer of firefighters nationwide, and the regular exposure to the highly toxic PFAS is thought to be a driver of the deaths. The International Association of Firefighters estimates cancer from turnout gear accounted for 66% of firefighter deaths from 2002 to 2019.
