An interview with Dr. Shanna Swan Shanna Swan, PhD, is an epidemiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Her new book, Count Down, chronicles how chemicals in our air, food, water, homes, and personal care products are threatening sperm counts and jeopardizing human reproduction. Shanna will discuss her book and her … Continue reading Count Down: It’s not just sperm
Growing up in urban poverty with working-class parents subjected to occupational exposures taught me that where you live and work affects your health. I was raised with the conviction that one should not have to choose between work and health. So, when I learned about the dangers that methylene chloride posed to human health (e.g., … Continue reading New study unveils more worker deaths from methylene chloride than previously reported
Everyone in the United States is exposed to hundreds of environmental chemicals every day. One class of chemicals has recently become more concerning, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are chemicals found in nonstick cookware and food packaging materials, such as pizza boxes and microwave popcorn bags. Historically, chemical companies dumped PFAS into lakes and … Continue reading Double jeopardy: exposure to PFAS and social stress leads to elevated CRH, a biomarker leading to preterm birth
The 30-year story of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) attempting to regulate formaldehyde reads like a tragic relationship that may finally be changing. Formaldehyde is a chemical commonly found in building materials, insulation, furniture, and clothing, and shown to have negative health effects related to asthma and fertility. EPA’s doomed attempts to regulate formaldehyde … Continue reading Formaldehyde and EPA – time for a change
Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment's scientists used new technology to detect 109 chemicals in pregnant women and newborns, including 55 chemicals never before reported in people and 42 “mystery chemicals,” whose sources and uses are unknown. The study was published in the March 17, 2021, Environmental Science & Technology journal. The chemicals include … Continue reading PRHE finds evidence of 55 new chemicals in people
Deodorant, shampoo, and other personal care products often contain siloxanes—chemicals that contaminate the environment as soon as they wash down the drain, migrate into fish, and wind up back on your plate. Siloxanes are a group of silicon-based compounds that are used as carriers in personal care products and as intermediates in the production of … Continue reading From your deodorant, across the ocean, and back to your plate: siloxanes stay in our environment
President Biden’s “Modernizing Regulatory Review” memorandum foreshadows important changes to come in how the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory agencies are able to conduct business. The memo indicates an intention to reduce institutional constraints on regulatory agencies, enabling them to issue regulations more quickly and with less second-guessing from other parts of … Continue reading What Biden’s “Modernizing Regulatory Review” memo means for EPA and public health
NAS Recommends EPA Adopt PRHE’s Navigation Guide and Other Scientifically Rigorous Methods to Evaluate Chemical Risks SAN FRANCISCO - UCSF’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment’s (PRHE) systematic review method called the Navigation Guide was recommended by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Report, “The Use of Systematic Review in EPA’s … Continue reading National Academies of Sciences issues scathing rebuke of EPA’s TSCA systematic review method
For too long, the health ramifications of pollution and toxic chemicals have fallen disproportionately on communities of color, so the Biden administration’s commitment to address environmental injustices is a welcome development. PRHE advised the Biden transition team on ways to improve chemical policy and return science, health, and environmental justice to the forefront of EPA’s … Continue reading How PRHE supports environmental justice through science
The last four years have been a master class in how to put the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to work for the chemical industry. Overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates we are all exposed to multiple, industrial chemicals and pollutants in our environment and that these exposures affect our health, increase risk of disease, and jeopardize children’s … Continue reading How to fix chemical policymaking at EPA
