EHN Originals

Less than 10% of the world’s plastic is recycled, while about 12% enters incinerators, burn pits, and other systems that release enormous amounts of carbon and toxics into the atmosphere. But the vast majority of the nearly 350 million metric tons of plastic produced every year returns to the Earth, averaging 500 years of slow…

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The air inside our cars is full of harmful flame retardant chemicals — especially on hot days, according to a study published today in Environmental Science & Technology. Researchers found flame retardants in the cabin air of all 101 cars that they tested. All of the cars were from 2015 or newer and 99% contained…

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) are two major global agencies in charge of food chemical safety. It is common to hear that food chemical regulations in the EU are more protective of human health than in the U.S. The latest example is the recent ban of…

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Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it would regulate two forms of PFAS contamination under Superfund laws reserved for “the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites.” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the action will ensure that “polluters pay for the costs to clean up pollution threatening the health of communities.” That was an encore…

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HOUSTON — En homenaje al Día de la Tierra, EHN en Español (EHNe) está publicando cartas de estudiantes del octavo grado de YES Prep Northbrook Middle School en el barrio de Spring Branch, Texas, que está en el área de Houston. Las profesoras de literatura y gramática Cassandra Harper e Yvette Howard incorporaron el medio…

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PITTSBURGH — EHN Reporter Kristina Marusic joined NPR’s “Living on Earth” to discuss proposed chemical recycling plants in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Marusic recently reported on a proposed chemical recycling plant in Point Township, Pennsylvania, that was ultimately canceled. She has also reported on community opposition to similar plants in Ohio and West Virginia.…

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Jill Hunkler, an Ohio resident who considers herself a “fracking refugee,” is telling her family’s story at the global plastics treaty negotiations in Ottawa this week, where negotiators from about 175 countries are working to advance a treaty to address global plastic pollution. “I was forced to leave my home that I built with my…

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There’s an association between higher levels of phenols and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” and previous diagnoses of different types of cancer, researchers from the University of South California found. The study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, looked at data from 10,000 people who…

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HOUSTON — This week EHN is publishing letters from eighth grade students at YES Prep Northbrook Middle School in the Houston-area neighborhood of Spring Branch, Texas. English educators Cassandra Harper and Yvette Howard incorporated the environment into a series of lessons in December last year. Each student conducted their own research to begin drafting letters…

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Trudi Warner, a retired social worker and climate activist in England, won a significant legal battle against government lawyers who sought to prosecute her for contempt of court during a jurors’ rights protest. Sandra Laville reports for The Guardian. In short: Warner was accused of contempt for a silent protest advocating jury independence in climate…

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