Latest news with #toxicchemicals
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
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. The highest levels of contamination came from a type of 'neutral' PFAS that scientists know exist but have just recently been able to measure and more thoroughly test for harm, the study found. 'We typically measure a type of PFAS called ionic, which has a charge, and we can measure those down to parts per trillion which is a low exposure level,' Peaslee said. (An ionic charge is the positive or negative charge of an ion, an atom that has gained or lost electrons.) Newer technology is now allowing scientists to measure neutral PFAS — which have no charge. Some of the neutral versions are thought to be linked to the same health harms as the ionic versions, said Kathrin Schilling, an assistant professor of environmental science at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. She was not involved in the study. 'That's important because neutral PFAS tend to fly under the radar but can be more easily absorbed through the skin, or even mucous membranes like those in the vagina because they can more easily move through fatty tissues,' said Schilling via email. The new testing found an alarming amount of these neutral PFAS in some reusable period products, according to the study. 'When we measured the neutral PFAS there were much higher concentrations — not parts per trillion, not even parts per billion, but levels at parts per million — that's very, very high,' Peaslee said. What does that mean for the people using these products? 'The truth is, we still do not fully understand how they behave in the body or what long-term exposure might mean,' Schilling said. 'Neutral PFAS are not well studied, and there are no clear regulations for them yet.' Some PFAS added intentionally The study, published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters, analyzed 43 period underwear, eight reusable pads, four menstrual cups, three reusable incontinence underwear and one reusable incontinence pad — a total of 59 products. A separate part of the study also looked at tampons. 'We didn't provide manufacturer names in our study However, the majority were US manufacturers,' Peaslee said. 'We also looked at a few from South America, a couple from Australia and a couple from Europe. While the number of samples is small, we believe it was a representative snapshot.' In addition to measuring neutral and ionic PFAS, the study examined whether PFAS was found at low enough levels to indicate it was inadvertently added due to contamination during the manufacturing process. Researchers also searched for higher levels of PFAS that would indicate the chemicals were likely added on purpose. 'What's shocking is that we found 33% of period underwear and 25% of reusable pads had intentional PFAS use — meaning the chemicals had been put there, likely to keep the products from leaking,' Peaslee said. Many reusable materials were sourced from third-party suppliers in other countries, who may not be as aware of the dangers of PFAS as domestic manufacturers, he said. 'It did seem to be random — sometimes they put PFAS in the inside layer of material, sometimes on the outside, sometimes between the layers, all of which suggests they have no idea what they're doing,' Peaslee added. 'There's no labeling, so consumers have no clue because there's no way they can tell.' There were some encouraging findings, said lead author Alyssa Wicks, who conducted the research while a graduate student at Notre Dame. 'Only a subset of the products had high levels of PFAS present, which means that PFAS must not be essential in the manufacture of reusable feminine hygiene products,' said Wicks, now a postdoctoral assistant in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University in Durham, North Carolia. 'Manufacturers should be able to make these textile products without chemicals of concern in them,' Wicks said in a statement. A growing number of teens and adults are looking for more eco-friendly choices at a time when scientists still know very little about how much PFAS and other chemicals are actually absorbed via vaginal tissue over time, Schilling said. 'That is a huge gap in our understanding, especially given how many people rely on these products monthly for years,' she said. 'While these findings might seem niche at first glance, they point to a broader need for research, regulation, and transparency around the materials used in all menstrual products.' For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at
CNN
21 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Eco-friendly menstrual products test high in toxic chemicals, study finds
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. The highest levels of contamination came from a type of 'neutral' PFAS that scientists know exist but have just recently been able to measure and more thoroughly test for harm, the study found. 'We typically measure a type of PFAS called ionic, which has a charge, and we can measure those down to parts per trillion which is a low exposure level,' Peaslee said. (An ionic charge is the positive or negative charge of an ion, an atom that has gained or lost electrons.) Newer technology is now allowing scientists to measure neutral PFAS — which have no charge. Some of the neutral versions are thought to be linked to the same health harms as the ionic versions, said Kathrin Schilling, an assistant professor of environmental science at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. She was not involved in the study. 'That's important because neutral PFAS tend to fly under the radar but can be more easily absorbed through the skin, or even mucous membranes like those in the vagina because they can more easily move through fatty tissues,' said Schilling via email. The new testing found an alarming amount of these neutral PFAS in some reusable period products, according to the study. 'When we measured the neutral PFAS there were much higher concentrations — not parts per trillion, not even parts per billion, but levels at parts per million — that's very, very high,' Peaslee said. What does that mean for the people using these products? 'The truth is, we still do not fully understand how they behave in the body or what long-term exposure might mean,' Schilling said. 'Neutral PFAS are not well studied, and there are no clear regulations for them yet.' The study, published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters, analyzed 43 period underwear, eight reusable pads, four menstrual cups, three reusable incontinence underwear and one reusable incontinence pad — a total of 59 products. A separate part of the study also looked at tampons. 'We didn't provide manufacturer names in our study However, the majority were US manufacturers,' Peaslee said. 'We also looked at a few from South America, a couple from Australia and a couple from Europe. While the number of samples is small, we believe it was a representative snapshot.' In addition to measuring neutral and ionic PFAS, the study examined whether PFAS was found at low enough levels to indicate it was inadvertently added due to contamination during the manufacturing process. Researchers also searched for higher levels of PFAS that would indicate the chemicals were likely added on purpose. 'What's shocking is that we found 33% of period underwear and 25% of reusable pads had intentional PFAS use — meaning the chemicals had been put there, likely to keep the products from leaking,' Peaslee said. Many reusable materials were sourced from third-party suppliers in other countries, who may not be as aware of the dangers of PFAS as domestic manufacturers, he said. 'It did seem to be random — sometimes they put PFAS in the inside layer of material, sometimes on the outside, sometimes between the layers, all of which suggests they have no idea what they're doing,' Peaslee added. 'There's no labeling, so consumers have no clue because there's no way they can tell.' There were some encouraging findings, said lead author Alyssa Wicks, who conducted the research while a graduate student at Notre Dame. 'Only a subset of the products had high levels of PFAS present, which means that PFAS must not be essential in the manufacture of reusable feminine hygiene products,' said Wicks, now a postdoctoral assistant in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University in Durham, North Carolia. 'Manufacturers should be able to make these textile products without chemicals of concern in them,' Wicks said in a statement. A growing number of teens and adults are looking for more eco-friendly choices at a time when scientists still know very little about how much PFAS and other chemicals are actually absorbed via vaginal tissue over time,' Schilling said. 'That is a huge gap in our understanding, especially given how many people rely on these products monthly for years,' she said. 'While these findings might seem niche at first glance, they point to a broader need for research, regulation, and transparency around the materials used in all menstrual products.'
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Health
- Washington Post
Amid PFAS fallout, Maine residents navigate medical risks
When Lawrence and Penny Higgins of Fairfield, Maine, learned in 2020 that high levels of toxic chemicals called PFAS tainted their home's well water, they wondered how their health might suffer. They'd been drinking the water for decades, giving it to their pets and farm animals, and using it to irrigate their vegetable garden and fruit trees.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
US wetlands ‘restored' using treated sewage tainted with forever chemicals
Many of the nation's wetlands are being filled with toxic Pfas 'forever chemicals' as wastewater treatment plant effluent tainted with the compounds is increasingly used to restore swampland and other waters. The practice threatens wildlife, food and drinking water sources, environmental advocates warn. Effluent is the liquid discharged by wastewater treatment plants after it 'disinfects' sewage in the nation's sewer system. The treatment process largely kills pathogens and the water is high in nutrients that help plants grow, so on one level it is beneficial to struggling ecosystems. But the treatment process does not address any of the hundreds of thousands of chemicals potentially discharged into sewers, including Pfas. Testing has found effluent virtually always contains Pfas at concerning levels, but the practice of using it for wetland restoration is still presented as an environmentally friendly measure. 'There's a huge dark side to this whole business of municipalities using effluent that's carrying loads of Pfas and other toxic materials and calling it 'wetland restoration',' said James Aronson, a restoration ecologist and president of Ecological Health Network non-profit. 'It's truly the worst kind of lying to the public.' Pfas are a class of about 15,000 compounds that are dubbed 'forever chemicals' because they do not naturally break down, and accumulate in the human body and environment. The chemicals are linked to a range of serious health problems such as cancer, liver disease, kidney issues, high cholesterol, birth defects and decreased immunity. The volume of wastewater that plants treat each day makes it virtually impossible to efficiently remove chemicals. Still, effluent has been used to recharge hundreds of wetlands across the country, as well as some rivers and aquifers, when they dry up or are otherwise degraded by human activity. Among the largest projects are in Louisiana, which has increased its use of effluent to restore the bayou and protect against coastal erosion that is in part driven by the installation of levee systems. Florida has in place similar programs aimed at regenerating the Everglades and shorelines. Meanwhile, some rivers in the south-west, like the Trinity River near Dallas, are 'almost entirely' effluent, while in California the Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and other rivers are 'effluent dominated'. Orange county, California, now uses effluent to recharge its aquifer that provides drinking water for 2.5 million people. At the same time, the country's water districts are spending an estimated $1.8bn to install technology that will remove Pfas and other pollutants from the water they pull from the aquifer. The levels of Pfas in effluent at 200 California wastewater treatment plants were almost all thousands of times above the level that the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe for some compounds, recent research found. The practice is often billed as 'recycling water' and 'green', but advocates say the terms are misleading because toxic waste is literally being pumped unchecked into the environment. It's not just Pfas – microplastics, heavy metals and other toxins have been found at high levels in effluent. Few regulations around chemicals exist, and though the wastewater industry knows the scale of the problem. It's a 'don't ask, don't tell' issue, said Laura Orlando, a civil engineer with Just Zero non-profit who has worked on waste management design. 'There's lots of hype about recycling and such, but nothing about public health, because they're following the rules – which are not protective of public or ecosystem health,' Orlando said. Though little research into how the levels of Pfas in effluent used to restore wetlands affects wildlife exists, the chemicals can have consequences for animals. For example, in North Carolina, where Pfas discharged from industrial sources polluted wetlands, the chemicals were thought to be behind health problems similar to lupus in alligators and immune impacts on pelicans. 'We're talking about ecosystem health,' Aronson said. 'It's the food web, and soil, animal, and water interactions – everything gets degraded and poisoned, and it's the opposite of restoration.' There is some potential to use some types of wetlands to treat effluent that can then be released as truly clean water. 'Constructed wetlands' are filled with effluent and the inflow and outflow of water is controlled. Those can be filled with plants that take up Pfas and other contaminants. The plants would have to be disposed of in hazardous waste facilities. While there are some efforts to explore how this could work on a broad scale, the chemicals and toxins are a problem that few in the wastewater industry are thinking about, Orlando said. 'Unless you acknowledge the problem you can't fix the problem and we have to examine these words like 'clean' and 'safe',' she said.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Potentially Toxic Chemicals Are Reaching Toddlers Before Kindergarten, Study Finds
Young children nationwide are exposed to a large swath of possibly toxic chemicals before kindergarten, new research suggests 'Our study shows that childhood exposure to potentially harmful chemicals is widespread. This is alarming because we know early childhood is a critical window for brain and body development,' said the study's lead author, Deborah Bennett Researchers found that of the 111 chemicals they focused on, 48 were found in more than 50% of the childrenBefore ever stepping foot inside a kindergarten classroom, young children nationwide are already exposed to a large swath of possibly toxic chemicals, new research suggests. The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology on Monday, June 30, analyzed chemical exposure in 201 kids from the ages of 2-4 years old between 2010 and 2021, using urine samples from the children and most of their mothers during pregnancy. Researchers focused on 111 chemicals. 'Our study shows that childhood exposure to potentially harmful chemicals is widespread. This is alarming because we know early childhood is a critical window for brain and body development,' said the study's lead author, Deborah Bennett in a statement from UC Davis, where she is a professor. 'Many of these chemicals are known or suspected to interfere with hormones, brain development and immune function,' Bennett added. Researchers found that of the 111 chemicals, 96 were detected in at least five kids and 48 were found in more than 50% of the children. In addition, 34 were found in more than 90% of the kids — including nine substances "which have not been included in U.S. national biomonitoring." "This study reveals frequent exposure to multiple chemicals in young U.S. children, often exceeding prenatal levels," the authors wrote in a summary. "Expanded biomonitoring of emerging chemicals of concern and studies of their health effects in this vulnerable population are warranted." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. According to UC Davis, the study found children were exposed to phthalates, parabens, bactericides, and various other chemicals through "everyday activities, such as eating, drinking, breathing indoor and outdoor air and touching contaminated surfaces." 'Exposure to certain chemicals in early childhood, such as pesticides, plasticizers and flame retardants, has been linked to developmental delays, hormone disruption and other long-term health issues,' the study's first author, Jiwon Oh, told UC Davis. Read the original article on People
