Doctors raise alarm on dropping global fertility rate, environmental pollutants cited
By Shannon Kelleher
Health researchers from around the world are sounding an alarm on a persistent drop in fertility rates, pointing to environmental pollutants among a wide range of factors that they argue need to be urgently addressed in a paper published Wednesday.
Both male and female reproductive health is deteriorating, especially in industrialized regions, suggesting important roles of environmental factors, such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals and pesticides, the authors of the paper state. Studies indicate that the global fertility rate is dropping, with 93% of all countries worldwide expected to dip below levels necessary to keep populations from shrinking by 2100.
The trend is driven, in part, by the impacts of exposure to toxic chemicals, as well as lifestyle factors such as smoking and obesity, according to the 11 researchers authoring the paper, which was published Wednesday in the journal Human Reproduction Update. The researchers – who come from multiple countries, including the United States, Australia, South Africa, Greece, and Denmark – reviewed dozens of studies in coming to their central conclusion that public policy, research and medical access must be stronger on the topic of fertility.
In conjunction with the publication of the paper, the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS), which represents fertility societies in 65 countries, is launching a global campaign Wednesday seeking to push policymakers to make fertility care more affordable, accessible, and equitable, and to adopt policies that aid fertility, including reducing exposures to air pollution and other harmful chemicals linked to reproductive harm.
The paper says that “due to multiple societal and environmental changes, it is important to emphasize that globally between 48 million couples and 186 million individuals of reproductive age live with infertility.” They call infertility “a common chronic disease affecting many reproductive-age women and men.”
Data on the decline in total fertility rate around the world – the number of children each woman gives birth to, a critical factor in population growth – is “pretty remarkable,” said Tracey Woodruff, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine who was not involved in the paper.
“This is really an important issue because it impinges on people’s ability to choose pregnancy should they want to choose pregnancy,” said Woodruff
Among environmental pollutants, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, in particular, are a fertility concern, she said. “We know that the number and amount of them are increasing and we know that some of them can directly impact male and female reproductive health.”
It is difficult to fully calculate the role of environmental pollutants in infertility since “we only have data on a very small proportion of endocrine-disrupting chemicals to which we’re exposed,” she added.
About one in six people struggle with infertility, according to the World Health Organization. Research suggests sperm count in men has declined by 1.6% per year since 1973, although the impact on global fertility is unknown, the paper states.
Climate change bringing challenges for Superfund site cleanup
By Barbara Reina
US efforts to clean up toxins and protect communities from some of the nation’s most contaminated sites are getting more difficult as climate change brings increasingly abnormal weather events that make containing chemical waste more challenging, experts warn.
Fast and heavy rainfall, sea level rise, sinking land and the loss of natural coastal barriers are among the factors that open the way for repeated flooding that can create havoc on US efforts to contain hazardous waste at many Superfund sites.
“There are hundreds of contaminated Superfund sites across the country that are at risk of extreme coastal flooding” and becoming “compromised,” said Jacob Carter, a scientist at the Partnership for Policy Integrity, who previously worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “I expect that we will continue to see more sites compromised as climate change progresses.”
Carter co-authored a 2020 report projecting at least 800 Superfund sites would be at risk of extreme flooding by 2040, even under a low sea level rise scenario.
Since then, the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation has been on the rise, according to the 2023 US Government Fifth National Climate Assessment. In 2022 alone, the US experienced 18 weather and climate disasters with damages exceeding $1 billion.
A 2023 report published by the American Chemical Society adds to concerns, projecting more than 400 potential sites in California that deal with hazardous waste – though not necessarily Superfund sites – will be threatened by a 1-in-100 year flood event due to sea level rise by the end of the century if climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated.
Washed away
One ongoing example of the challenges is seen in the Dewey Loeffel Landfill Superfund site in Rensselaer County, New York, where the EPA has been working for years to deal with hazardous waste that includes cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS). Regulators estimate more than 46,000 tons of waste were dumped at the 19-acre site decades ago, triggering fish and animal deaths and uncontrolled fires. Contamination spread to groundwater, soil, sediment and surface waters, according to the EPA.
“The impacts of climate change and extreme weather events are an important consideration in the Superfund process,” said Joe Battipaglia, remedial project manager for the Dewey Loeffel Superfund site.
Monsanto’s ‘cancer index’, an alleged conspiracy, and new PCB-related complaints
By Dana Drugmand
The former Monsanto company – now owned by Bayer AG – illegally cut a secret deal with General Electric Co. decades ago to try to shield itself from liability related to PCB contamination in western Massachusetts, engaging in a conspiracy that continues to wreak harm on the region, according to new complaints from local officials.
In a January 2 letter sent to several local, state, and federal officials, including President Joe Biden and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, officials from the town of Lee, Mass., said they believe a 1971 business deal between Monsanto and GE in which GE agreed to release Monsanto from liability for PCB contamination violated the Massachusetts Civil Conspiracy Law. The town plans to file charges against Monsanto this month, the letter states. Lee officials also accuse the EPA of failing to “adequately investigate” the arrangement between the two companies.
Attached to the letter are internal corporate documents, including a “cancer index” detailing a long list of Monsanto employees diagnosed with cancer dating back to 1949. The company spreadsheet notes where the employee worked, what type of cancer they suffered and – for many of the workers– dates of death. Monsanto was the sole manufacturer of PCBs in the United States from the 1930s through the 1970s.
The move in Massachusetts comes amid mounting community outrage over the construction of a new toxic waste dump in Lee in Berkshire County near a location where GE used polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS) for decades in manufacturing electrical transformers. GE discharged the chemical waste into the nearby Housatonic River.
PCBs have long been linked to an array of human health concerns, including leukemia and other cancers. In one study of nearly 400 children, researchers found that detection of PCBs in the home was associated with a 2-fold increase in risk for acute lymphocytic leukemia. PCBs are also known to be harmful to fish and wildlife. They do not easily break down, making eradication difficult.
A “grave concern” – fight building against Biden’s hydrogen hubs
By Dana Drugmand
When President Joe Biden visited Philadelphia in mid-October to announce a $7 billion federal investment in seven regional ‘clean’ hydrogen hubs proposed across the country, he touted the promise of “tens of thousands of jobs” and the potential for sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to “taking 5.5 million gas-powered vehicles off the road.”
But for many climate and environmental advocates, the announcement was no cause for celebration. Though proponents of hydrogen pitch it as a clean alternative to fossil fuels, nearly all hydrogen production globally currently stems from these planet-warming fuels, and environmental advocates worry that a massive hydrogen buildout risks extending the fossil fuel era at a time when climate science demands an urgent transition away from coal, oil, and gas.
The hydrogen hubs “amount to another corporate scam”, Marion Gee, co-executive director at the Climate Justice Alliance, said at the time of Biden’s announcement, while Food and Water Watch Policy Director Jim Walsh called the project “greenwashed dirty energy [that] will undermine efforts to address the climate crisis.”
Now, some activist coalitions are challenging the government narrative and organizing efforts to block some hub buildouts. They cite a lack of transparency and the potential for negative environmental impacts among a laundry list of concerns.
“It’s really a misappropriation of funds, of our taxpayer funds, to go down this hydrogen path,” said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a regional environmental group focused on protecting the quality of the Delaware River watershed. “We’re going to be fighting it, and I think the public as a whole is going to be fighting these hydrogen hubs across the nation.”
The group is coordinating a sign-on letter to the US Department of Energy (DOE) expressing “grave concern” with a proposed hydrogen hub for the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The letter asserts that the government hub project amount to a “little known federal initiative that will have indelible impacts on our communities and the environment.”
170 scientists urge Biden to reject huge proposed gas export project
By Shannon Kelleher
In the wake of the COP28 climate summit, 170 US scientists from the US and around the world sent a letter Tuesday calling for the Biden administration to reject a massive natural gas export facility proposed for Louisiana, as well as similar pending projects.
The facility, Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2), would be the largest liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal in the Gulf, spanning about 546 acres and shipping up to 24 million tons of LNG to other countries each year.
CP2 would be the second LNG export terminal built in the Gulf region by the company Venture Global and would result in annual emissions equivalent to 42 million gas-powered cars – 20 times more than the recently approved Willow oil project in Alaska.
“You have often said that your policies will be guided by listening to the science,” the letter says, addressing President Biden. “As scientists we are telling you in clear and unambiguous terms that approving CP2 and other LNG projects will undermine your stated goals of meaningfully addressing the climate crisis and put us on a continued path toward escalating climate chaos.”
The letter to President Biden follows a Dec. 11 letter from over 230 organizations that also implored President Biden and Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to halt the project.
“I think what we’re seeing is the logical response to continued and repeated inaction from the Biden administration to meaningfully address any platform to phase out fossil fuels,” said Jim Walsh, policy director for the environmental group Food & Water Watch.
EPA scores enforcement wins, losses in 2023; announces funding for vulnerable communities
By Shannon Kelleher
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scored both wins and losses in its enforcement of environmental laws for 2023, stepping up fines for polluters and on-site inspections but cleaning up fewer pollutants than it has in a decade, according to the agency’s annual enforcement and compliance report.
The agency said Monday that it had required polluters to pay more than $704 million in fines, penalties, and restitutions this year, a tally significantly higher than in 2022. However, the agency’s enforcement actions only led facilities to reduce, treat or eliminate about 74 million pounds of pollutants – about 450 million pounds less than in 2015, and the smallest amount in at least a decade.
The EPA said a focus of its work was in communities facing environmental justice concerns; the agency conducted 60% of its on-site inspections in 2023 in such communities, surpassing a goal it had set to achieve by 2026.
“While our work is not complete, EPA’s revitalized enforcement program is making a positive difference in communities across America, particularly for people living in underserved and overburdened communities that for too long have borne the brunt of pollution,” David Uhlmann, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in a press release.
In other high points for the year, the agency said its public water system inspections resulted in 150 cases to correct violations – a more than 300% increase over the average for the last decade, the agency said.
And, after losing about 950 jobs following a decade of budget cuts, the agency is now hiring about 300 new positions to boost its enforcement program, the EPA said.
“We’re pleased to see the Environmental Protection Agency staffing up and ramping up enforcement efforts to hold polluters accountable and protect some of our nation’s most vulnerable communities,” said Coby Dolan, the legislative director of the Access to Justice Program at the nonprofit Earthjustice.
The agency needs to do more, however, to address disparate harms faced by frontline communities burdened by pollution, he said.
New EPA plan for hormone-harming pesticides sparks hope, but also skepticism
By Johnathan Hettinger
A new US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plan aimed at protecting the public from exposure to pesticides that harm reproductive health is sparking hope for advocates who have called for action for more than two decades, but skepticism remains high.
The EPA is accepting public comments on the plan, which could impact regulation of several widely used pesticides, until December 26. But key players in the agrochemical industry – as well as some environmental advocates – are asking the EPA to extend the deadline, citing the complexity and magnitude of the EPA’s proposal.
The long overdue strategy comes after litigation and multiple Inspector General probes exposed decades of EPA inaction to deal with evidence that many widely used pesticides are disrupting human hormones in ways that interfere with healthy pregnancies and cause an array of other harms.
“Generally, we’re very happy EPA is finally taking some action on this program,” said Jenny Loda, a staff attorney at the Center for Food Safety (CFS). Last year, CFS sued the EPA on behalf of farmworkers for failing to abide by the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) implemented by Congress as part of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996.
Loda said that they will continue with their litigation, which has the potential to set court-ordered timelines on the EPA’s progress with the program.
EPA proposes tighter standards to slash slaughterhouse pollution
By Shannon Kelleher
Following a legal challenge from environmental groups, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday proposed new standards aimed at reducing water pollution from slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. The move is the agency’s first such effort in two decades.
The EPA said its preferred option presented in the proposed rule could eliminate about 100 million pounds of water pollution generated by large slaughterhouse and meat processing plants each year.
The plan would put stricter limits in place for nitrogen in liquid waste that is directly discharged into waterways and would establish limitations for phosphorus for the first time. It would also establish the first pretreatment standards for oil, grease, and certain other pollutants. The standards would apply to about 845 of the 3,879 slaughter and meat processing facilities that discharge waste into US waters.
“It’s a very good step in the right direction,” said John Rumpler, senior clean water director for Environment America, a network of state environmental groups. “But by EPA’s own estimates they could be doing more to curb pollution from this sector,” he said.
The EPA said its plan “follows the latest science” and “would help protect the nation’s vital water resources, which support safe drinking water, agriculture, industry, recreation activities, and thriving communities, through the implementation of affordable and available wastewater treatment technologies.”
An alternative option proposed by the EPA would apply to the same 845 facilities, eliminating an estimated 228 million pounds of water pollution per year, according to the EPA. A third option would extend requirements to some smaller facilities, affecting almost twice as many facilities and eliminating an estimated 322 million pounds of pollution per year, the EPA said.
In addition, the EPA is proposing limits on E. coli bacteria in wastewater directly discharged into waterways, which can cause severe illness if consumed by humans.
“We can’t sit back” – Amid climbing cancer rates, Iowa health officials eye farm chemicals
Faced with a startlingly high cancer rate in the key US farm state of Iowa, public health leaders are taking the politically precarious step of acknowledging that preventing disease necessitates cutting exposure to potentially cancer-causing chemicals, including those used in agriculture.
In a departure from other state cancer prevention programs, which rarely address environmental risk factors for cancer other than radon, a known cause of lung cancer, Iowa is working to better understand and make the case for limiting exposure to pesticides, commercial fertilizer, and animal manure used and generated by Iowa agriculture, among other environmental contaminants.
“These broader array of environmental risk factors are absolutely there for cancer. But they’re not paid attention to in state cancer control plans,” said Molly Jacobs, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts, who is working with Iowa health authorities. “It’s quite unique that Iowa has addressed this as a priority in their plan. I applaud Iowa for taking on this task of thinking much broader and bigger, and changing this paradigm.”
The work to address environmental factors to reduce cancer cases began earlier this year and is being undertaken by the Iowa Cancer Consortium. It’s a 21-year-old, 650-member coalition of public health professionals, researchers, and health providers focused on controlling cancer. The consortium is led by Dr. Mary Charlton, an epidemiologist at the University of Iowa College of Public Health who also is research director of the Iowa Cancer Registry, which collects cancer data on Iowa citizens.
The consortium has launched an Environmental Task Force and a five-year plan for cutting public exposure to “environmental carcinogens.”
Farmers, agricultural executives, and state lawmakers have spent decades resisting any changes in farm practices that reduce the use of chemicals and nutrients, saying the inputs are needed to ensure ample food production.
But public health advocates say evidence tying the farm pollutants to disease is too strong to deny.
“We can’t sit back and say, ‘Wow. Somebody may not like this.’” said Kamyar Enshayan, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa. “Knowing what we do know, it’s just prudent that we support practices and systems that require significantly less fertilizer and pesticides.”
Paraquat ties to Parkinson’s disease featured on Al Jazeera news
Evidence tying the popular weed killer paraquat to Parkinson’s disease is featured this week in an online news segment that includes fresh details about corporate influence over US regulators and suppression of scientific research.
Al Jazeera’s investigative show Fault Lines highlights the reporting of The New Lede (TNL) and the thousands of internal corporate documents obtained by TNL that reveal decades of efforts by Syngenta, paraquat’s longtime manufacturer, to conceal evidence of how chronic exposure to paraquat can cause Parkinson’s disease.
Last month, the “Paraquat Papers” reporting by The New Lede was also the focus of an ABC News Nightline segment.
The New Lede, in collaboration with The Guardian, first revealed a trove of internal Syngenta documents in October 2022 and followed up in subsequent stories, exposing years of corporate efforts to cover up evidence that paraquat can cause Parkinson’s disease. The documents obtained by The New Lede additionally showed evidence of efforts to manipulate and influence the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and published scientific literature. The documents also show how the company worked to mislead the public about paraquat dangers, among other secret strategies.
The Fault Lines piece adds to TNL reporting with several on-camera interviews.