February 13, 2023Press Release
Scientists shed light on how microplastics in the environment are adversely impacting health and evaluated what governments have done to address the problem in the first report produced by the California State Policy Evidence Consortium (CalSPEC).
EPA’s long-awaited update to its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) handbook is drawing measured praise from academics and industry but also targeted concerns, particularly regarding elements of its systematic review approach -- which the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has touted as a model for EPA’s TSCA program. A systematic review expert with the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) at the University of California San Francisco praised the handbook’s approach to that discipline in a recent interview, and even said it should be a model for operations across the agency, and specifically the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) program.
The air quality regulator for much of Southern California is risking public health by allowing emissions of ethylene oxide, a highly toxic gas associated with lymphoid and breast cancer, at levels far above the federal cancer risk guidelines for the chemical, warn environmental health experts.
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed maximum limits for the amount of lead in baby foods like mashed fruits and vegetables and dry cereals, after years of studies revealed that many processed products contained levels known to pose a risk of neurological and developmental impairment.
Common chemicals called phthalates found in hundreds of household products have been linked to uterine fibroids—non-cancerous tumors ranging...
Most American voters say they want more government and industry protection from toxic chemicals, a new poll has found.
October 11, 2022Press Release
American voters overwhelmingly say they want government and industry to ensure the products they buy
are free of harmful chemicals, and they are willing to pay more for it, according to a national online survey
commissioned by the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) at the University of
California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Tania Pacheco-Werner put on her walking shoes. She was halfway through her first pregnancy and had just been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Her doctor’s advice? Stay active. But Pacheco-Werner lives just outside Fresno. It was summer, and well over 100 degrees. The air outside was also thick with wildfire smoke from nearby forest fires — an increasingly common occurrence due to climate change.
It's a normal reaction for any expectant mother. But worrying during pregnancy may raise the risk of a premature birth, a study suggested Monday. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found those who suffered anxiety had a significantly higher risk of going into labor early.
In the past few months, people across the U.S. have faced extreme climate hazards such as wildfires on the West Coast, flooding that contributed to undrinkable water in Mississippi and left hundreds homeless in eastern Kentucky, and record-breaking heat waves. Concurrently, four states have passed near-total abortion bans, and the first abortion ban passed after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade has taken effect in Indiana.
Researchers who floated a 2019 proposal for prioritizing chemicals for TSCA review based on their prevalence in Americans and their environment have published a new paper that identifies as particular priorities substances, such as melamine, that EPA itself has not yet addressed -- a disconnect that one co-author says is proof of “flaws” in the toxics program. The new study , published Aug. 30 by the journal Chemosphere , builds on a 2019 paper that set out a framework for...
Revelations of toxic risks to pregnant people seem to emerge with alarming frequency. In late August a peer-reviewed study published in Chemosphere finds that the compound melamine, its primary byproduct (cyanuric acid), and four aromatic amines were detected in the urine of nearly all pregnant research participants. These chemicals are associated with increased risks of cancer, kidney toxicity, and/or developmental harm to the resultant child. Beyond Pesticides has covered a variety of pregnancy risks from pesticides and other toxic chemicals, including these in just the last three years: pesticides and children’s sleep disorders; prenatal exposures to a multitude of chemicals; insecticides and childhood leukemia; insecticides and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
Pregnant people are unknowingly being exposed to harmful chemicals that can increase the risk of cancer and harm child development, according to a new study by a team of researchers at University of California, San Francisco, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Early-life vulnerability to environmental exposures was explored during a four-day National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) workshop, held Aug 1-4. “Children’s Environmental Health: A Workshop on Future Priorities for Environmental Health Sciences,” sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), featured several NIEHS scientists and grantees who shared their expertise, offered advice, and discussed how environmental health sciences can help inform policy.
Pregnant women are exposed to toxic chemicals in dishware, hair coloring, plastics and pesticides that can heighten their risk of cancer and harm child development, a new study warns.