About 1 in 33 babies are born with a birth defect. Spina bifida, a neural tube defect, which is one of the most common birth defects, affects about 4 in 10,000 – 1,500 babies are born with spina bifida each year in the U.S. Spina bifida occurs when the neural tube does not close completely … Continue reading Pollution and gene interactions may raise birth defect risks
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt just released new proposed regulations that he claims will ‘strengthen science’ and address the ‘replication crisis.’ But let’s be very clear, these regulations will only serve to undermine scientific evidence and contribute to the real crisis here—unraveling public health protection in the U.S. The rulemaking is based on prior proposed legislation … Continue reading Pruitt’s War on Science Just Got Real
Our April 2018 legislative briefing “Is the New Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Working as Congress Intended?,” held in partnership with The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), was attended by 95 people including Congressional and agency staff, media and NGOs. Leading experts shared concerns about EPA’s approach to the science in TSCA implementation- … Continue reading Is the New Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Working as Congress Intended?
Whether at the Oscars or the March for Science, women are increasingly standing up with each other and questioning the status quo in everything from entertainment to politics, including in my field of environmental health. Protecting women during pregnancy from pollution might seem like an obvious public health objective, yet in the 40-plus year history … Continue reading The Clean Air Act must protect pregnant women: here’s how
Americans love going out to eat. In fact, two-thirds of the U.S. population dine out daily, according to our new study. While many of us know that dining out establishments typically serve larger meals that contain more butter, salt, and oil than foods we might prepare at home, how many of us know that chemicals … Continue reading No free lunch with phthalates on the menu
Constant exposure to environmental pollutants can sicken our bodies, and social stressors such as poverty and psychological burden can further aggravate the health effects. For example, traffic-related air pollution has been linked to the onset of childhood asthma. However, if children exposed to air pollutants also experience violence, their risks of developing asthma can be … Continue reading 1+1>2: Evaluating how risks of pollutants and stressors stack up
You may have heard the statistics: 80,000 industrial, commercial and consumer product chemicals registered for use in the U.S. with little if any health data on most, and few hazardous chemicals restricted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Thus, you might naturally think that EPA’s focus under the reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) would … Continue reading In this EPA, low priority is a high priority
