I still clearly remember the day 15 years ago when a reporter called me to ask if women needed to worry about lead in lipstick. Lead in lipstick? Why would there be lead in lipstick? I was Chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), California District, at a time when we as … Continue reading ACOG updates opinion to reduce prenatal exposure to toxic chemicals
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
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
APHA’s Annual Meeting 2020 went virtual this year and Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) scientists led dialogues about how to better protect children from environmental health threats by applying our knowledge of environmental health to the most pressing questions of our day. Professor Tracey Woodruff, Director of PRHE, was featured in a … Continue reading PRHE at APHA 2020: How to better protect the health of at-risk children
Rules and regulations that govern our air, water, food, and the products in our homes should be based on the best available scientific evidence. EPA, however, is using a faulty systematic review method that can exclude critical evidence and have negative consequences for public health. One vital step in a systematic review is to assess … Continue reading How EPA’s method for assessing study quality is designed to exclude critical evidence
Worldwide, communities near industrial operations, major highways, freight terminals and ports are highly exposed to multiple sources of chemical pollution. Historically, scientists have investigated hazardous exposures using a single-chemical approach that does not capture the health impact of cumulative exposures. Communities, health researchers, and the National Academies of Science are calling on scientists to use … Continue reading The need to study multiple chemical exposures, not one at a time
Versions of this post appear in both English and Spanish languages below. Although phased out about 15 years ago, toxic flame-retardant chemicals, called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are still showing up in high levels among pregnant women and their fetuses in California, according to our study published on July 22, 2020, in Scientific Reports. In … Continue reading Yesterday’s flame retardants in today’s bodies
You must be logged in to post a comment.