EHN Originals

Wildlife on every continent are contaminated with harmful flame-retardant chemicals, including some endangered species such as killer whales, northern sea otters, red pandas and chimpanzees, according to a new map that tracks peer-reviewed studies from around the world. Flame-retardants — used in products like furniture, building materials, electronics and cars to meet flammability rules —…

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PITTSBURGH — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) is holding a public meeting in Pittsburgh tonight on the agency’s first proposed updates to the state’s environmental justice policy in 20 years. Environmental Health News (EHN) spoke with Rich Negrin, secretary of PA DEP to get a quick summary of the new policy. We…

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Sabah Usmani joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast to discuss the role of urban planners in tackling environmental injustice. Usmani, a senior fellow and a Ph.D. student in the Climate and Health Program at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, also talks about the link between energy access and health, and…

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Time is limited for us to make the kinds of changes needed in our communities to make them safer for older adults. Each year seems to bring new climate challenges that test the ability of individuals to prepare and of communities to plan. And yet, there has never been a better time than today to…

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Pesticides are designed to be toxic – to bugs and weeds. But pesticides can also be toxic to people, especially children. The threat posed by pesticides to our kids when they’re at school is just one of the many reasons Congress preserved a role for state and local governments when enacting our federal pesticide laws.…

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“Fairly paying Black people for their time makes me a bad scientist?” This question came out of me with a frustrated sigh. The Institutional Review Board (IRB), whose job is to judge whether or not proposed research studies involving humans are ethical, had rejected my recent proposal. My project, which would have paid $100 to…

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Experts from the Minderoo Foundation published today a large, open-access database, called the Plastic Health Map, that includes the findings from more than 3,500 studies from 1961 to 2022 on how plastic chemicals impact human health. Thousands of chemicals found in plastics — such as PCBs, phthalates, BPA and PFAS — are linked to a…

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“¿Pagarle lo justo a la gente negra por su tiempo me convierte en un mal científico?” La pregunta me salió acompañada por un suspiro frustrado. La Institutional Review Board (IRB), cuyo trabajo es juzgar si las propuestas de investigación que involucran a seres humanos son éticas, había rechazado mi más reciente propuesta. Mi proyecto, que…

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PITTSBURGH — Waste from the oil and gas industry contains toxic and radioactive substances. Disposal of this waste is supposed to be carefully tracked, but 800,000 tons of oil and gas waste from Pennsylvania oil and gas wells is unaccounted for, according to a recent study. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University…

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In May, seven people died and 37 were injured when a rare dust storm caused a 72-vehicle pileup on Interstate 55 in Illinois. For many in the scientific and agricultural communities, the dust storm harkened back to the devastating Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Recent climate patterns in Illinois are not unlike those in the…

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