Every day we are exposed to hundreds of chemicals in the food we eat, the water we drink, and products we use in our homes. But what makes some chemicals more problematic than others and what does that mean for our health? Our new study sheds light on what PFAS and PBDEs are doing to … Continue reading How do PFAS and PBDEs affect telomeres and what does that mean for our health?
Advancing health equity through environmental health science and policy is a core mission of PRHE. Inequities in exposures to environmental contaminants are an important contributor to health inequities and can have a significant effect on the quality of life in at-risk communities. A potentially important step toward addressing inequities came with President Biden’s Executive Order … Continue reading How EPA can improve identifying and reducing environmental health inequities
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
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
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
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