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Beware the air you breathe – more evidence links microplastics to health problems
By Carey Gillam
People diagnosed with infertility and certain cancers may have to blame the very air they breathe, according to a new report that adds to evidence that tiny plastic particles in air pollution and other environmental sources could be causing these and other diseases and illnesses.
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) said they reviewed approximately 3,000 studies in determining that exposure to microplastics – plastic particles less than 5 millimeters – may be causing a host of health problems in people, including colon cancer; chronic pulmonary inflammation, which can increase the risk of lung cancer; and infertility issues in both men and women.
The paper was published Wednesday in the Environmental Science & Technology journal.
“We urge regulatory agencies and policy leaders to consider the growing evidence of health harms from microplastics, including colon and lung cancer,” study lead author Nicholas Chartres said in a statement. Chartres, formerly with the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, is now with the University of Sydney.
The study expands on a 2023 collaboration between the research team and other experts aimed at informing state lawmakers.
Microplastics are increasingly drawing concerns from public and environmental health scientists as evidence builds showing they’ve become essentially ubiquitous, found in air, water, food, and within human tissues. One recent study that has not been peer reviewed found particularly concerning accumulation of microplastics in brain samples. The microplastics in air pollution can come from many sources, including tires and degrading garbage that shed tiny pieces of plastic into the air.
EPA must tighten pesticide rules to protect pollinators like bees and butterflies, petition argues
By Douglas Main
US regulators should require pesticide makers to more thoroughly tests their products for toxicity to insects before approval, according to a petition submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday by an environmental advocacy group.
Most pesticides registered for use in the US have not been rigorously tested for their impacts on insects other than honeybees, a single non-native species. Scientists and conservationists have argued for years that this system fails to protect pollinators and underestimates the toll of pesticides on these animals, which is especially relevant given the decline of many insect species worldwide.
The EPA only requires that manufacturers perform, at a minimum, three narrow tests on adult bees to study a chemical’s toxicity on insects.
“They’re not an appropriate surrogate for the other 4,000 wild species we have in North America, nor are they a surrogate for other pollinators like moths and butterflies,” said Rosemary Malfi with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
The petition was filed on behalf of Xerces by the environmental law group Earthjustice.
Many of proposed changes come directly from EPA experts or academics invited to advise the agency.
“They’re not following their own recommendations,” Malfi said.
Regulators battle Oregon and Washington farmers over limits to farm pollution
By Keith Schneider
SUNNYSIDE, Washington – Waters from the snowpack of the Cascade Mountains support orchards, vineyards and dairies here in the Yakima Valley of eastern Washington State, boosting a flourishing farm economy and helping to stock store grocery shelves nationwide.
But as the waters flow, so do a host of dangerous farm pollutants, contaminating drinking water wells in the valley and through the adjacent Lower Umatilla Basin across the state line in Oregon.
Regulators and citizen groups have been pressing crop and livestock producers for years to document and rein in the pollution, tightening restrictions on some of the nation’s largest dairies, and bringing litigation against several seen out of compliance.
The actions put both Washington and Oregon among a growing number of US states leading a controversial national campaign to make agriculture more accountable for its mammoth wastes.
“There is a lot of new energy around this problem,” said Salini Sasidharan, assistant professor of groundwater management at Oregon State University. “A lot of investment is being made. There’s momentum here to make a real difference.”
But progress is slow and results are mixed. And farmers are fighting back, saying that they’re doing their best to balance environmental protection and business needs, and the crackdown on their business threatens not just their livelihoods, but also potentially the abundance of the country’s food supply.
Scientists call on federal regulators to rid US agencies of corporate influence
By Shannon Kelleher
Scientists are calling for the incoming Trump administration to adopt a set of guidelines designed to ensure scientific integrity at federal agencies and loosen corporate influence on regulators charged with protecting Americans’ health.
The recommendations, published Dec. 16, state that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies must eliminate financial and political conflicts of interest from environmental health research, halt industry influence on advisory boards and use the best available science to identify the health risks of toxic chemicals, which are contributing to the rise in chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
Conflicts of interest that undermine the scientific process have resulted in “weakened chemical regulations, increased exposure to harmful chemicals, and greater risks to the health of families, workers, and communities,” the authors concluded.
“Our recommendations will not only strengthen the scientific frameworks of regulatory agencies but also enhance their ability to identify and mitigate toxic chemical exposures, protecting the health of all people who live in the US – especially those who are most susceptible to harm,” Rashmi Joglekar, director of science and policy at the University of California San Francisco Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE), said in a press release. PRHE issued the guidelines.
The proposal has been endorsed by at least 48 scientists and public health experts and14 health and environmental organizations. Longer recommendations will be available in early January, said a spokesperson for PRHE.
The EPA and FDA said they plan to review the guidelines.
Feds propose protecting monarch butterflies under Endangered Species Act
By Douglas Main
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Tuesday proposed listing the monarch butterfly as a threatened species, a move that follows years of mounting concerns about declining counts of the iconic insect.
The decision to grant the butterflies protections under the Endangered Species Act comes after years of analysis and demands from environmental groups for stronger protections for monarchs.
“Today’s monarch listing decision is a landmark victory 10 years in the making. It is also a damning precedent, exposing the driving role of pesticides and industrial agriculture in the ongoing extinction crisis,” George Kimbrell, legal director at the Center for Food Safety, said in a press release. The center is one of the groups that sued the government over the issue several years ago.
The group noted in its statement that the “once-common orange-and-black butterflies have declined by 90% in recent decades, with the latest count showing the second smallest population on record.”
Under the government proposal, critical habitat would be designated for the insect, and a recovery plan crafted. The proposal opens a 90-day comment period that will close on March 12, 2025, after which the FWS is likely to issue a final opinion. It is unclear how the incoming Trump Administration, which is expected to emphasize deregulation, will act on the proposal and comments.
US EPA bans toxic dry cleaning chemical
By Shannon Kelleher
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday issued a ban on a highly toxic chemical used in dry cleaning, glue and stain removers, a move the agency called a “major milestone for chemical safety after decades of inadequate protections and serious delays.”
The new rule will ban the manufacture and processing of trichloroethylene (TCE) for most products within one year, allowing a longer phaseout period for TCE use in aircrafts, medical devices and some other applications.
TCE is a known human carcinogen, and is also linked to birth defects and liver and kidney disease, as well as a surge in global Parkinson’s disease diagnoses.
“With no doubt that these chemicals are deadly, there is no doubt that this final rule will save lives – especially our children’s lives – around the country,” Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) said in a statement.
The chemical, contaminates the drinking water of an estimated 19 million people, posing an especially high risk to pregnant women, infants and young children..
In a 2020 risk evaluation, the EPA found that 52 out of 54 conditions of use for TCE carry “unreasonable” health risks.
While all uses of TCE will ultimately be prohibited, “some of the exemptions associated with longer timeframes are necessary to avoid impacts to national security or critical infrastructure,” the EPA states on its website.
Iowa is “in crisis” due to illegal manure discharges into waterways, new report says
By Carey Gillam
Iowa regulators are failing to properly penalize Iowa factory farms for illegally contaminating state waterways with animal waste, according to an analysis released Monday by a public health advocacy group.
Between 2013 and 2023, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recorded 179 incidents in which livestock operators discharged manure in violation of the law, fouling creeks and rivers and killing off more than one million fish, according to Food & Water Watch, which based its report on a review of state discharge enforcement reports. The quantities of discharges ranged up to 1 million gallons, the group said.
The findings show a “state in crisis,” according to the group, which said its analysis found “no area of the state is safe from manure discharging into waterways.”
The group noted the violators have paid less than $750,000 in penalties for the illegal actions, despite the fact that such spills can carry harmful contaminants known to cause birth defects, cancers and other health problems in people.
“While factory farms spur on Iowa’s worsening water pollution crisis, the state is letting corporate giants get off with barely a slap on the wrist,” Food & Water Watch organizer Michaelyn Mankel said in a statement.
Spotlight on cancer-causing food additive as advocates demand FDA ban Red Dye 3
By Shannon Kelleher
In the waning days of the Biden administration, a long-fought battle over a cancer-causing food additive is again in the spotlight as consumer advocacy groups and lawmakers demand federal regulators ban Red Dye No. 3, a chemical used to give popular candies, foods and drinks their cherry-red colors.
The issue took center stage Thursday at a US Senate hearing where lawmakers grilled Jim Jones, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deputy commissioner for human foods, over the issue.
“Red 3 has been known to cause cancer in cosmetics but we still allow it to be put in our food. I don’t understand that,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville said in the hearing. “If we know something is deadly for anybody that ingests it how do we continue to just study that and not say hey, enough is enough?”
Industry studies linked Red Dye 3 to cancer in rodents more than 30 years ago, and public health groups have spent years lobbying food companies and regulators to get the chemical out of foods.
Two years ago, two dozen organizations and scientists submitted a petition to the FDA demanding a ban, citing a 1990 FDA conclusion that the chemical causes cancer when fed to rats.
Last month, 23 members of Congress sent a letter to the FDA also calling for a ban, saying the FDA “should act quickly to protect the nation’s youth from this harmful dye.” The letter noted Red Dye 3 has been banned or mostly banned in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and California has a ban on the dye in food taking effect in 2027.
“Thirty-four years of inaction is far too long,” the letter states.
In Thursday’s hearing, Jones said the agency was “hopeful” it would “be acting on that petition” in the “next few weeks.”
It is “long past time,” for the FDA to ban the dye, US Rep. Frank Pallone said in a Dec. 5 letter to the FDA. “With the holiday season in full swing where sweet treats are abundant, it is frightening that this chemical remains hidden in these foods that we and our children are eating.”
Study indicates “persistent, damaging” effects of glyphosate herbicide exposure on brain health
By Carey Gillam
Exposure to a widely used weed killing chemical could be having “persistent, damaging effects” on brain health, according to a new study.
The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroinflammation, found that laboratory mice exposed to glyphosate herbicide developed significant brain inflammation, a condition associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The researchers, many who are associated with a neurodegenerative disease research center at Arizona State University (ASU), said the symptoms continued even long after exposure ended.
“This work is yet another step forward in understanding the impact of this widely used herbicide on the brain,” lead ASU researcher Ramon Velazquez said. “But more research is needed to determine the impact that glyphosate has on the brain since most Americans are exposed to this herbicide on a daily basis.” Velazquez noted that the work is particularly important given the increasing incidence of cognitive decline in the aging population, particularly in rural communities where glyphosate is used in farming.
Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide globally – made popular by Monsanto Co as the active ingredient in its Roundup brand, among others. It has been used so extensively by farmers, homeowners and industrial and municipal users for so long that it is considered ubiquitous – found in food, water and in human urine samples. A 2022 report by a unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said more than 80% of urine samples drawn from children and adults in a US health study contained glyphosate.
Several authors of the new paper were also part of a team that published a prior, related study that examined the impact of glyphosate when it infiltrates the brain.
Court rules USDA’s GE crop rules break law, must be reworked
By Douglas Main
US regulators made “significant” errors in adopting a new rule four years ago around the release of genetically modified crops, and must now strengthen oversight, a federal court ruled this week.
The US District Court for the Northern District of California sided with the National Family Farm Coalition and other plaintiffs in finding that a rule issued in 2020 by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) related to regulation of genetically engineered (GE) crops ran afoul of other federal laws.
Close to 100 new GE plants have been exempted from USDA oversight since the 2020 rule took effect. The court vacated the rule, effective Dec. 2, and sent it back to USDA for “reconsideration consistent with this order.”
“This is a critical victory on behalf of farmers, the planet, and scientific integrity,” George Kimbrell, legal director for the plaintiff Center for Food Safety, and counsel in the case, said in a statement. “USDA tried to hand over its job to [the] pesticide industry and the Court held that capitulation contrary to both law and science.”
Up until 2020, most GE crops were evaluated by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) before they were allowed to be used commercially. But during the first Trump Administration, the agency took a deregulatory course, making it easier to bring new genetically altered plants to market.
Several environmental groups sued in 2021, arguing that these 2020 rules violated the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Plant Protection Act.
In this week’s decision, US District Judge James Donato ruled that the USDA violated the Plant Protection Act, as well as the Administrative Procedure Act, by failing to account for harm caused by the 2020 rules. In re-writing these regulations, Donato wrote: “APHIS’s errors are significant.”