Latest news with #EnvironmentalResearch
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Study links air pollution before pregnancy to childhood obesity risk
With rapid urbanization and industrial growth, air pollution levels are rising globally, posing serious risks to public health. From respiratory diseases to cardiovascular conditions, the adverse effects of polluted air are well-documented. However, emerging research suggests that air pollution may also have more subtle but long-term consequences—especially on early childhood development. A new study now reveals that exposure to air pollution in the three months before pregnancy could increase the risk of childhood obesity. The study, conducted on more than 5,000 mothers and their children, raises concerns about children's body mass index and obesity risk factors up to age 2. The research, supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and published in Environmental Research, reveals the potential impacts of environmental exposure before conception. While previous studies have connected air pollution during pregnancy to various childhood health issues, including respiratory problems and increased risks of obesity and heart conditions, this research specifically examined the preconception period. The study focused on the final stages of egg and sperm development when environmental factors can influence reproductive cell health. Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, Duke University, and Fudan University conducted one of the largest studies to date on preconception environmental exposures. The team analyzed 5,834 mother-child pairs recruited from 28 maternity clinics across Shanghai, examining the relationship between pre-pregnancy exposure to different types of air pollution and childhood body mass measurements. "These findings imply that the three months before conception are important and that people who plan to bear children should consider taking measures to lower their air pollution exposure to reduce their children's risk for obesity," said Jiawen Liao, postdoctoral research associate in population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and the study's lead author. The research team developed advanced machine learning models to assess daily pollution exposure at participants' residences. Led by Jim Zhang of Duke University, they incorporated satellite data, pollutant simulations, and meteorological factors to measure levels of PM2.5, PM10, and nitrogen dioxide, primarily produced by vehicles. The study tracked children's weight and height through electronic medical records every three months until age 2. Researchers compared participants exposed to lower pollution levels (25th percentile) with those exposed to higher levels (75th percentile) to evaluate connections between air pollution and child development outcomes. Results showed that higher PM2.5 exposure before conception correlated with a 0.078 increase in child BMIZ, a standardized score comparing body mass index to children of the same age and sex, at age 2. Similarly, increased PM10 exposure was linked to a 0.093 kilogram per square meter rise in BMI at the same age. After six months, children with greater preconception exposure to all three pollutants demonstrated higher weight, BMI, and BMIZ growth rates. Zhanghua Chen, assistant professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and senior study author, noted the broader implications: "The magnitude is small, but because air pollution is widespread and everybody is exposed, the risk of air pollution exposure on children's obesity risk may be substantial and may start before their mothers' pregnancy." While the observational nature of the study necessitates additional research to establish direct causation between pre-pregnancy air pollution exposure and childhood obesity risk, researchers recommend precautionary measures. These include wearing masks during poor air quality conditions, minimizing outdoor exposure, and using air purifiers indoors. The recommendations apply to both women and men planning to conceive. The research team at the Keck School of Medicine plans to continue investigating this connection through a new study monitoring preconception air pollution exposure in Southern California. They are also evaluating the effectiveness of indoor air purifiers in reducing heart and metabolic problems among the general population. This story was produced by LA Post and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
EPA must use the best available science − by law − but what does that mean?
Science is essential as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency carries out its mission to protect human health and the environment. In fact, laws passed by Congress require the EPA to use the 'best available science' in many decisions about regulations, permits, cleaning up contaminated sites and responding to emergencies. For example, the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to rely on science for setting emission standards and health-based air quality standards. The Safe Drinking Water Act requires the EPA to consider the best available peer-reviewed science when setting health-based standards. The Clean Water Act requires the agency to develop surface water quality criteria that reflect the latest science. The Toxic Substances Control Act requires the EPA to use the best available science to assess risk of chemicals to human health and the environment. But what exactly does 'best available science' mean? That's an important question as the Trump administration launches an effort to roll back clean air and water regulations at the same time it is preparing to replace all the members of two crucial EPA science advisory boards and considering eliminating the Office of Research and Development – the scientific research arm of the EPA. Some basic definitions for best available science can be found in laws, court rulings and other sources, including the EPA's own policies. The science must be reliable, unbiased, objective and value-neutral, meaning it is not influenced by personal views. Best available science is the result of the scientific process and hypothesis testing by scientists. And it is based on current knowledge from relevant technical expertise and must be credible. The EPA's scientific integrity policy includes 'processes and practices to ensure that the best available science is presented to agency decision-makers and informs the agency's work.' Those include processes to ensure data quality and information quality and procedures for independent reviews by scientific experts outside of government. I have seen the importance of these processes and procedures personally. In addition to being an academic researcher who works on air pollution, I am a former member of the EPA's Science Advisory Board, former chair of the EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, and from 2022 to 2024 served as assistant administrator of the EPA's Office of Research and Development and the EPA science adviser. The EPA Science Advisory Board plays an important role in ensuring that the EPA uses the best available science. It is tasked with reviewing the scientific and technological basis of EPA actions. The 1978 Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act ordered EPA to establish the board. The Science Advisory Board's members must be 'qualified by education, training, and experience to evaluate scientific and technical information on matters referred to the Board.' But those members can be replaced by new administrations, as the Trump administration is planning to do now. During the first Trump administration, the EPA replaced several independent scientists on its advisory boards in a manner that deviated from established practice, according to the Government Accountability Office, and brought in scientists connected with the industries the EPA regulates. I was one of the independent scientists replaced, and I and others launched an independent review panel to continue to deliver expert advice. No matter who serves on the EPA's advisory boards, the agency is required by law to follow the best available science. Failing to do so sets the stage for lawsuits. The same law that established the Science Advisory Board is also a legal basis for the Office of Research and Development, the agency's scientific research arm and the EPA's primary source for gathering and developing the best available science for decision-makers. During my time at the EPA, the Office of Research and Development's work informed regulatory decisions involving air, water, land and chemicals. It informed enforcement actions, as well as cleanup and emergency response efforts in EPA's regions. State agencies and tribal nations also look to the EPA for expertise on the best available science, since they typically do not have resources to develop this science themselves. Federal courts have also ordered the EPA to use the best available science, and they have recognized the importance of reviews by external experts. In 2024, for example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied an industry petition to review an EPA standard involving ethylene oxide, a pollutant emitted by some chemical and industrial facilities that has been associated with several types of cancer. The court accorded an 'extreme degree of deference' to the EPA's evaluation of scientific data within its area of expertise. The court listed key elements of the EPA's best available science, including 'an extensive, eighteen-year process that began in 1998, involved rounds of public comment and peer review by EPA's Science Advisory Board ('SAB'), and concluded in 2016 when EPA issued a comprehensive report on the subject.' The District of Columbia Circuit in 2013 also affirmed the central role of science to inform revisions of National Ambient Air Quality Standards, which set limits for six common air pollutants. In that case, Mississippi v. EPA, the court noted that the EPA must receive advice from its Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, or CASAC. The court advised that, while the agency can deviate from the committee's scientific advice, 'EPA must be precise in describing the basis for its disagreement with CASAC.' The Trump administration in 2025 dismissed all members of CASAC and said it planned to replace them. Requiring the agency to use the best available science helps ensure that decisions are based on evidence, and that the reasoning behind them is the result of well-accepted scientific processes and free from biases, including stakeholder or political interference. The scientific challenges facing the EPA are increasing in complexity. Responding to them effectively for the health of the population and the environment requires expertise and robust scientific processes. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: H. Christopher Frey, North Carolina State University Read more: America's clean air rules boost health and economy − charts show what EPA's deregulation plans ignore How a lone judge can block a Trump order nationwide – and why, from DACA to DOGE, this judicial check on presidents' power is shaping how the government works As federal environmental priorities shift, sovereign Native American nations have their own plans H. Christopher Frey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New study makes concerning discovery about health risk to children in drinking water: 'An impact of exposure'
A new study out of Sweden found that exposure to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as "forever chemicals," can weaken children's immune systems. Researchers tested 17,051 children aged 6 months to 7 years old from a Swedish community whose drinking water had been contaminated by forever chemicals. They published their findings in Environmental Research, which states that children who had high prenatal exposure to forever chemicals had an increased risk of ear infections. The study also found that high exposure may be associated with a greater risk of eye and urinary tract infections, although researchers said more research must be done to further establish these associations. "Although the explicit mechanisms for such an effect are unknown, the fact that we observed suggestive associations with several types of common infections suggests an impact of exposure on general immunity," researchers wrote in the study. PFAS are known as forever chemicals because they take hundreds or thousands of years to break down. These chemicals can build up in the body and create health issues. Previous studies have examined how forever chemicals may be transferred from mother to child during pregnancy. The fetal immune system starts developing within a few weeks of gestation. Prenatal exposure to PFAS can negatively impact this development as the child grows, according to this latest study. This means forever chemicals can impact a person's health before they are born, which can impair immune systems and increase the risk of infections. Other studies have found that PFAS may increase the incidence of rare cancers or impact certain genes in the brain. Researchers continue to look into the effects forever chemicals have on the human body. Some scientists have even found ways to destroy certain PFAS by using UV light and hydrogen. Officials are looking at ways to tackle the issue of forever chemicals in everyday items to protect public health. The European Union is looking into a ban on PFAS in consumer products. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also announced plans to curb the discharge of PFAS from industrial wastewater into local waterways. Companies have also committed to phasing out packaging and products that contain forever chemicals. Do you worry about having toxic forever chemicals in your home? Majorly Sometimes Not really I don't know enough about them Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
The Guardian
18-03-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Victoria's unique dolphin population threatened by legacy of ‘forever chemicals'
It has been half a century since governments around the world, faced with overwhelming evidence, started banning early generations of what we now call forever chemicals. Industrial chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and the notorious pesticide DDT had been widely used – DDT is credited with saving millions of lives from insect-borne disease, while PCBs were vital in electrical safety – before it was understood that they were serious environmental toxins. 'The problem with these legacy contaminants,' environmental scientist Chantel Foord says, 'is that they're amazing in our products because they don't break down, but they're equally devastating in our environment because they don't break down.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email PCBs and DDT were banned in Australia in 1975 and 1987 respectively, and are now prohibited under the Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants. But, as Foord's latest research shows, both are still prevalent in our environment. Her study, published in the Environmental Research journal, has found that Victorian dolphins, including the critically endangered Burrunan species that only live in Victoria's coastal waters, have some of the world's highest levels of DDT and PCBs. The study was conducted on dolphins stranded on the Victorian coast between 2002 and 2022. Foord says that nearly two-thirds of all specimens, and 90% of the endangered Burrunan, recorded PCB and DDT levels greater than health thresholds, potentially contributing to the deaths of some individuals. DDT and PCBs build up in the body over time, with higher concentrations found in organisms higher up the food chain. The study found that PCB levels weren't declining over time in dolphins around the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria's east, suggesting pollutants were still entering the environment. Foord says understanding the pathway of the contamination is crucial to controlling it. 'We know we're finding alarming concentrations of PCBs and DDT within dolphins,' Foord says. 'I don't believe it is fully understood how we are getting persistence of these concentrations – is it because it's running off the land, is it being leached from waste or is it stored in sediments and it's just slowly making its way into today's animals? 'There's not a lot of regular water or sediment monitoring information, at least that's available to the public or the scientific community, so there's a lot we need to do if we want to understand our waterways. Without understanding the source, we can't mitigate any of this risk.' A spokesperson for Victoria's Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action said it was monitoring the situation. 'Many of the past practices that have led to legacy pollutants in our marine environments have now stopped, and we're actively monitoring pollutant levels and their impact to make sure our marine wildlife can thrive,' the spokesperson said. 'We work with multiple agencies to monitor the level of pollutants in Port Phillip Bay. The Port Phillip Bay Seafloor Integrity Report developed over three years found very low to negligible levels of DDT and PCB in Port Phillip Bay's seafloor ecosystems.' While DDT has not been used in Australia for nearly 40 years, some older electrical equipment still contains PCBs. In 2006 the national implementation plan for the Stockholm convention estimated that 21,000 tonnes were still in use in Australia. Some of this has since been destroyed, but the amount remaining in the environment is uncertain. Dr Kathryn Hassell, the Australasian president of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, says legacy toxicants such as DDT and PCBs are considered relatively harmless when bound in soils and marine sediments. Problems arise when polluted areas are disturbed, either through human or natural processes. 'What we're seeing happening now, and this relates to changing climatic conditions, is the re-suspension of contaminants that would otherwise be locked up,' Hassell says. 'The big one is flooding events … You might not see these contaminants for ages then suddenly they're present because there's been these huge flooding events and you not only have a lot of storm water wash off terrestrial surfaces, but re-suspension of sediments in waterways.' Another potential source of contamination is landfills, particularly older or unlicensed sites not designed to modern containment standards. Despite the challenges, Hassell believes contaminants, once identified, can be managed successfully through bioremediation, removal or containment. For the Burrunan, however, time is running out. Previous studies have found alarming levels of mercury and Pfas in these dolphins, which have also suffered a mass mortality event from a condition known as fresh-water skin disease, which has been linked to climate breakdown. Dr Kate Robb, Foord's co-author and head of the Marine Mammal Foundation, said the Burrunan dolphin was first listed as endangered in 2013, and in 2021 its status was downgraded to critically endangered. Despite this, she said the foundation was hamstrung in its conservation efforts while it waited for the state government to formulate an action plan for the species. 'We continue to do our work and keep pushing for things to be taken seriously,' Robb said. 'We've found the species has globally high levels of Pfas, globally high levels of mercury and now globally high levels of legacy PCB and DDTs. We have all of these compounding issues, and yet we still don't have an action plan to actually mitigate any of them.'
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists uncover troubling health impacts of common household products on children: 'Vulnerable developing brains'
New research has discovered a troubling link between toxic chemicals found in everyday products and healthy brain development in children, adding to growing concerns about PFAS exposure. A study published in Environmental Research found a potential relationship between exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — better known as PFAS — during pregnancy and children's brain development. The study followed 84 mother-and-child pairs through pregnancy until the children turned six. Researchers measured the mothers' PFAS exposure via blood draws. They also monitored each child's brain development with MRIs at two and six years of age. PFAS exposure during pregnancy was associated with white-matter alterations in the children's brains. White matter helps with learning and processing information, and research has shown that white matter can impact cognitive development even more than gray matter. "Overall, our findings suggest that prenatal exposure to PFAS can alter the structural properties of major white matter tracts in the brain and this may be associated with neurodevelopmental vulnerability," the researchers said in the study's text. PFAS are toxic chemicals in many everyday household products, like clothing, nonstick cookware, food packaging, and personal care products, like shampoo. PFAS are also known as "forever chemicals" because they can take up to thousands of years to break down in the environment, and our bodies can't break them down. By spreading awareness of the impacts of PFAS exposure during pregnancy, families can advocate for stronger regulations to limit these harmful chemicals. As research continues to uncover PFAS-related health risks, proactivity can help keep future generations healthier. The study's researchers stated in the article, "To protect the vulnerable developing brains of children, there is an urgent need for researchers and policy makers to work together to inform the conduct of rigorous epidemiological studies that examine the associations between multiple environmental chemical exposures and developmental alterations." Several countries, including Denmark and Germany, have restricted certain PFAS and are working to ban them altogether, save for a few uses, like batteries. The United States Environmental Protection Agency implemented a PFAS Strategic Roadmap in 2021, detailing its steps toward reducing PFAS in the environment. Its efforts include creating a standard to reduce PFAS in drinking water and regulating PFAS in products we buy. Brands are also joining the cause. For example, Restaurant Brands International promised to eliminate PFAS added to packaging by 2025. And Yum! Brands has committed to removing added PFAS, phthalates, and BPA from its packaging by the end of 2025. As a consumer, you can support proposed legislation to regulate PFAS by commenting on rules listed on Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
