Have you heard of a P30 Environmental Health Center? There are 26 of them in the U.S. funded by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences to investigate the health impacts of air and water pollution, chemicals in everyday products, microplastics, and other ways contaminants put into our environment affect people. These centers have been behind some of the most extraordinary scientific breakthroughs that improve people’s health and lives, but now they are caught up in the uncertainty of NIH funding.
The timing couldn’t be worse.
Chronic diseases including cancer, diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, chronic respiratory disease, and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders have increased dramatically in the United States over the past few decades. Research shows that these diseases are linked to environmental factors such as air pollution, microplastics, and harmful chemical exposures. It is therefore urgent that we expand our ability to reduce and prevent chronic disease to make America healthy.
NIEHS P30 environmental health research informs strategies that can mitigate disease, save money, and provide a return on investment. Protecting health through environmental actions can yield $1.25 to $39 for every $1 invested. For example, the benefits of the Clean Air Act of 1990 amendment, estimated at $2 trillion in 2020, are 30x greater than the annual cost of $65 billion. This is government efficiency in action.
P30 Achievements
NIEHS-funded P30 centers advance science, reduce health care costs, and address emerging public health threats.
A few examples of P30 research include:
Advance Science
- Identified links between PFAS exposure and cancer and reduced fertility in women.
- Found links between microplastics and cancer and infertility, discovered microplastics in human brains and testes; and found that brain tissue from people diagnosed with dementia had up to 10x more plastic than other brains.
- Discovered links between air pollution and cancer and an increased risk of autism in early childhood.
Reduce Health Care Costs
- Launched a new radon communication strategy that reduced harmful radon exposures in 1 year, preventing premature lung cancer death with an economic benefit of $3.4 to $8.5 million in healthcare cost savings (2016 USD).
- Educated adolescents about the health risks of e-cigarettes and vaping to prevent cancer (which cost patients $158 billion for treatment in 2020).
- Identified links between exposures to pesticides and chronic disease including cancer and respiratory conditions, which informed policies that reduce disease and lower healthcare costs for farmers.
- Developed a program to support an air-quality-monitoring network to help people reduce air pollution exposure in areas with high asthma rates (which cost taxpayers $82 billion annually*)
Address Emerging Public Health Threats and Disasters
- Leading the way to engineer solutions to remove PFAS from drinking water, which has contaminated drinking water in every state in the U.S.(see map) Research Centers on health impacts of PFAS exposure led to EPA policy changes to reduce PFAS in drinking water.
- Found evidence of a link between lead exposures and developmental impairment in children which led to significant changes in testing, remediation and regulations to reduce emissions from battery and lead processing facilities to better protect children.
Environmental health research is essential to our health and well-being.
Learn more about how NIEHS P30 centers positively impact health:
This post was written independently and is not endorsed by NIEHS.
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