Category: EHN Originals

PITTSBURGH—The site of a former coal-fired power plant northwest of Pittsburgh is leaking coal ash and poisoning surrounding groundwater, according to a new report. Coal ash, the material left behind after coal is burned, contains harmful substances like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, lithium, mercury and uranium, among others. Exposure is linked to health effects like...

Thanks to new legal pathways, people around the world could sue plastics manufacturers for damages totalling more than $20 billion by 2030, with most lawsuits originating in the U.S., according to a new study. The report, published by the Australian Minderoo Foundation, estimates that the plastics industry is costing society around $100 billion annually in...

American environmental law came of age under the aegis of that unlikely ol’ treehugger, Richard Milhous Nixon. The seminal laws on clean air, clean water, endangered species, and environmental impact statements were born. So were two vital environmental agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the Commerce...

Pesticides kill almost 100 million birds every year in the United States — and a federal loophole ensures this crisis will continue. Chemicals may drift away from farms and land on birds’ skin and feathers, they might seep into soil and water where they kill the insects and invertebrates birds love to eat. Sometimes, birds...

For years, scientists across the world have gathered evidence showing declines in sperm quality. Now, new research compiling the results of those studies has found that sperm count has dropped dramatically around the world, and the rate of decline is accelerating. In a new analysis, researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center, the University of Copenhagen,...

What is happening with sperm counts? This study shows, for the first time, that sperm counts are declining everywhere, not only in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, which was shown previously, but also in South America, Asia and Africa. This new analysis found that sperm count globally dropped by more than 50% between...

Environmental Health Sciences, which publishes EHN.org, announces Angela Marie Hutchinson as its director of engagement. As director, Hutchinson will lead the international organization’s journalism, media and communications efforts. Hutchinson has been recognized as a media and arts trailblazer by the U.S. Congress, Los Angeles mayor and Los Angeles City Council. She is author of “Create...

The midterms came and went. And because we have to, you know, count all of the ballots, some things are still unresolved. However, here are some quick environmental takeaways. There were only two major state initiatives on energy and the environment this year. First, a $4.2 billion measure in New York state split up this...

Editor’s note: This essay originally published San Francisco Marin Medicine journal. After Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski and I published Our Stolen Future in 1996, we got “slapped” by one of the most prominent science journalists of the day, Gina Kolata writing for the New York Times. Among her criticisms was that one chemical can’t cause...

What will it take to achieve a more just world when it comes to beauty? Answering this question is one of the goals of the Environmental Reproductive Justice Lab led by Dr. Tamarra James-Todd at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Their new limited-series podcast, Beauty + Justice, will feature guests from a variety...