Long-term exposure to air pollution increases the danger associated with four of the biggest Covid-19 mortality risks: diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease and asthma. It also can make the immune system overreact, exaggerating the inflammatory response to common pathogens. And everyday hormone-disrupting chemicals could affect our immune system’s defenses against infections. More:

• The toxic chemicals in our homes could increase Covid-19 threat  –  The Guardian
• EDC-2: The Endocrine Society's Second Scientific Statement on Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (Scientific statement)
• Immunomodulatory effects of synthetic endocrine disrupting chemicals on the development and functions of human immune cells (Review article)
• Delayed discovery, dissemination, and decisions on intervention in environmental health: a case study on immunotoxicity of perfluorinated alkylate substances (Research article)
• Serum Vaccine Antibody Concentrations in Children Exposed to Perfluorinated Compounds (Research article)

New data suggest that commercial incineration of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) doesn’t break down these hardy chemicals. Instead, it spreads them into surrounding areas. More:

• Incineration may spread, not break down PFAS  –  C&EN
• A guide to the PFAS found in our environment  –  C&EN

We can't do anything about getting older except age with grace and tolerate the excesses of youth (as long as they honor social distancing). Health problems, however, are another thing, because they may have causes that can be prevented and/or treated. More:

• Confronting the chemicals that are worsening COVID-19  –  EHN
• An Introduction to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (video)  –  The Endocrine Society

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals masquerade as hormones. These insidious contaminants increase the diseases that cause the underlying conditions that result in susceptibility to COVID-19. Hormones determine our development, and our behavior—all at tiny concentrations. Hormone-impersonating chemicals can rob us of otherwise healthy lives. More:

• Endocrine-disrupting chemicals weaken us in our COVID-19 battle: Linda S. Birnbaum, Jerrold J. Heindel  –  EHN
• Advances in epigenetics link genetics to the environment and disease (Review article)

Female firefighters in San Francisco have higher concentrations of certain cancer-linked chemicals in their blood than women in other occupations, according to the first study to investigate how women in the profession are exposed to chemicals in the line of duty. Chemicals called PFAS were found in high levels in the first study of female firefighter health. More:

• Female firefighters exposed to cancer-linked chemicals  –  The Mercury News
• Women Firefighters Biomonitoring Collaborative  –  WWBC

In May 2018 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, D'Anthony Brown sets up fishing poles at the William O Huske Dam. This is the dam closest to the Chemours plant, which manufactures products containing PFAS chemicals. Chemours has been accused of polluting the water supplies of cities downriver. More:

• Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ flow freely through this river—and now its fish  –  National Geographic
• Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ more common in tap water than thought, report says  –  National Geographic
• Legacy and Emerging Perfluoroalkyl Substances Are Important Drinking Water Contaminants in the Cape Fear River Watershed of North Carolina (Research article)
• Elevated levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in Cape Fear River Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) are associated with biomarkers of altered immune and liver function (Research article)
• Evaluation of the toxicological effects of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid in the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) (Research abstract)
• GenX Exposure Study  –  North Carolina State University

A fluorinated gel can capture a larger proportion of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from contaminated water than currently available techniques. More:

• Fluorinated gel grabs PFAS  –  C&EN
• Ionic Fluorogels for Remediation of Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances from Water (Research article)

More than 50 years ago, scientists at the Permanente Foundation Hospital in Oakland started a simple experiment: When a pregnant woman would come in for routine maternal care, they were asked to give a sample of blood, to be frozen for future research. They didn’t know it at the time, but those samples would later be key in understanding the long-term health impacts of the then widely-used pesticide DDT. More:

• DDT’s toxic legacy could span three generations  –  Grist
• DDT and Breast Cancer: Prospective Study of Induction Time and Susceptibility Windows (Research article)
• DDT Exposure in Utero and Breast Cancer (Research article)

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) have been produced for a wide range of applications, mostly in open uses, such as metalworking fluids, lubricants, coolants or additives in consumer goods. The production volume is more than one million tonnes requiring control of the lifecycle of these persistent and bioaccumulative chemicals. In May 2017, the Stockholm Convention amended its Annex A to list short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) as a Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP). More:

• Chlorinated paraffins in the technosphere: A review of available information and data gaps demonstrating the need to support the Stockholm Convention implementation (Research article)

Harmful chemicals in food packaging and other food contact materials can pose considerable risk to our health, according to a review of more than 1,200 peer-reviewed studies. The report's authors—33 scientists from around the globe—urged lawmakers to take swift action to reduce exposure. The problem, they said, is particularly acute for recycled materials and plastics alternatives promoted as more environmentally friendly in response to plastic pollution concerns. More:

• Food packaging can harm human health  –  EHN
• Impacts of food contact chemicals on human health: a consensus statement (Research article)

But first, let's thank European supermarket chain Lidl for trying. We all must. Plastic pollution is an enormous challenge. Unfortunately they, like many, are ignoring the toxic dimension of plastic recycling. Until efforts to solve the plastic crisis fully understand plastic toxicity, they risk making today's solutions into tomorrow's problems. And not just tomorrow's minor problems—we're talking societal-disruption and extinction-scale problems. More:

• Ocean plastic: How recycling creates tomorrow’s problems.  –  EHN
• EDC-2: The Endocrine Society's Second Scientific Statement on Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (Research article)
• An Introduction to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals  (Video) –  The Endocrine Society

The billion-dollar companies that made and used chemicals now popping up in water supplies around the country are switching to newer alternatives, but they haven’t escaped liabilities for historic environmental contamination. More:

• Creating ‘Forever Chemicals': A Guide to PFAS Companies (2)  –  Bloomberg Law
• Chemours Tells Investors It Has ‘Minor’ Role in PFAS Problems (1)  –  Bloomberg Law

Health and environmental concerns certainly played a role in the decision to ban the highly fluorinated waxes, which contain toxic synthetics commonly known as PFAS. But so did another factor: That some teams enjoy a competitive advantage by having greater financial resources to obtain the waxes. More:

• Ski wax linked to forever chemicals – and a ‘dirty secret’ – to be banned  –  Portland Press Herald

Harmful levels of long-banned chemicals, including the pesticide DDT, have been found in the tissues of two vulnerable dolphin species swimming in waters flowing into the Great Barrier Reef. More:

• DDT and other banned chemicals pose threat to vulnerable dolphins on Great Barrier Reef  –  The Guardian
• Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)  –  Australia National Pollutant Inventory
• Benzene hexachloro - (HCB)  –  Australia National Pollutant Inventory
• Geographic and temporal variation in persistent pollutants in Australian humpback and snubfin dolphins (Research abstract)

Drinking water has long been at the center of city health and environment debates as utilities and public works departments face pressure to keep the basic necessity safe for residents. A lack of [US] federal regulations has left cities scrambling to understand the health risks of PFAS and the most cost-effective ways to get it out of drinking water. More:

• The cost and confusion of cleaning PFAS contamination  –  Smart City Dive
• PFAS Contamination of Drinking Water Far More Prevalent Than Previously Reported  –  EWG
• ATSDR’s Minimal Risk Levels (MRLs) and Environmental Media Evaluation Guides (EMEGs) for PFAS  –  US ATSDR
• How Much Does an Industrial Water Treatment System Cost?  –  SAMCO

• Keeping our water clean- the case of water contamination in the Veneto Region, Italy  –  WHO

Yet, we are hit daily with news about health epidemics that affect human populations: obesity rates continue to climb; more than a million new cancer cases are diagnosed in the US each year; one in every six American children has a developmental disability, and one in 59 have autism spectrum disorder. Many of these conditions are linked to hormones and endocrine health. More:

• Vandenberg, Trasande, Sargis: Understanding endocrine disruptors  –  EHN
• An Introduction to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (Video)
• Environmental Endocrine Disruptors & Metabolic Disorders (Video)
• Helping your Patients Limit Endocrine Disrupting Chemical Exposures (Video)

Fluorinated glide wax is being banned from elite competitions, and big brands like Swix say they’re searching for environmentally friendly alternatives. But the seductively speedy—and noxious—compounds are unlikely to loosen their grip on the sport anytime soon. More:

• Nordic Skiing Has an Addiction to Toxic Wax  –  Outside Online

The European Union (EU) has taken an important step towards cleaning up its recycling; it will no longer allow materials containing a class of toxic, globally banned flame retardants known as PBDEs to be recycled. More:

• EU Withdraws its Toxic Recycling Exemption  –  IPEN
• High Levels of Dioxins Found in Children’s Toys and Other Products Made of Recycled Plastics Found in Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, the EU, India, Japan and Nigeria  –  IPEN
• Toxic Loophole: Recycling Hazardous Waste into New Products  –  Arnika HEAL IPEN Report

On the day Susan Gordon learned Venetucci Farm, in Colorado, was contaminated, the vegetables looked just as good as ever, the grass as green, and the cattle, hogs, chickens, and goats as healthy. The beauty of the community farm she and her husband managed made the revelation all the more tragic. Chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, invisible and insidious, had tainted the groundwater beneath her feet. More:

• Scientists Fight Back Against Toxic ‘Forever’ Chemicals  –  Wired
• What are PFAS? Basic Information on PFAS  –  US EPA
• Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). Why Be Concerned About PFAS?  –  US NIH
• What are the health effects of PFAS?  –  US ATSDR

• Drinking Water Health Advisories for PFOA and PFOS  –  US EPA
• Forever Chemicals’ Are in Your Popcorn and Your Blood  –  Wired
• Perfluoroalkyl acids and their precursors in floor dust of children's bedrooms – Implications for indoor exposure (Research article)
• Great Weatherproof Gear That'll Keep You PFC-Free This Autumn  –  Wired

• Air Force Tests Clarkson Plasma Reactor to Degrade, Destroy PFOS, PFOA  –  Clarkson University
• Defluorination of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) by Acidimicrobium sp. Strain A6 (Research article)
• Electrochemical Transformations of Perfluoroalkyl Acid (PFAA) Precursors and PFAAs in Groundwater Impacted with Aqueous Film Forming Foams (Research article)

Over a million children have developed some form of intellectual disability over the past two decades after being exposed to chemicals including flame retardants, pesticides, lead, and mercury, a study has revealed. More:

• Child IQ in the U.S. Lowered by Exposure to Flame Retardants and Pesticides, Study Warns  –  Newsweek
• Trends in neurodevelopmental disability burden due to early life chemical exposure in the USA from 2001 to 2016: A population-based disease burden and cost analysis (Research article)