A new study has found a link between persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and high cholesterol levels among Inuit. The study follows earlier work that found a similar link between the group of chemicals and some kinds of diabetes. That group of pollutants includes well-known chemicals like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the pesticide DDT. More:

• Scientists find link between group of pollutants and health problems in Inuit–CBC News Canada
• Association of blood polychlorinated biphenyls and cholesterol levels among Canadian Inuit (Research article)

The Czech environmental group Arnika is ringing alarm bells. According to the results of a recent study it conducted, some children’s toys and grooming accessories, such as hair brushes, sold in the EU contain toxic substances. Arnika’s Karolína Brabcová says this is an unfortunate side product of the drive to promote plastics recycling. More:

• The downside of plastics recycling: toxins in children’s toys – Radio Praha
• No HazMat for the Holidays: Children’s Toys and Hair Accessories on the EU Market Contain Toxic Chemicals – ARNIKA
• Toy or Toxic Waste? An Analysis of 47 Plastic Toy and Beauty Products Made from Toxic Recycling (Analysis report)

PFAS is an acronym for a group of industrial chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They've been used since the '50s, in everything from firefighting foam to fast-food paper wrappers to stain-resistant textiles and carpeting, waterproof shoes and boots, non-stick pots and pans, and more. Studies have shown PFAS to be linked to various health problems — including a higher risk of some cancers. More:

• Am I at risk? How do you clean it up? A PFAS expert answers basic questions–Michigan Radio
• Proposal for coordinated health research in PFAS-contaminated communities in the United States (Research article)

An online database of corporate memos, meeting minutes, and letters related to a variety of toxic substances aims to augment public health and safety. More:

• In ToxicDocs.org, a Treasure Trove of Industry Secrets–UnDark.org
• Project TOXICDOCS (online database–Columbia University and the NY City University)

When her black cat rapidly dropped from a healthy 14 pounds to a skeletal five pounds, it was natural for Arlene Blum to investigate whether a toxic chemical in her home might be to blame. Her research as a chemist in the 1970s helped reveal the possible health hazards posed by flame retardants used in children’s sleepwear. More:

• The Toxic Chemical Whack-a-Mole Game–FairWarning
• Flame Retardants–U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• The Six Classes approach to Reducing Chemical Harm–Green Science Policy Institute
• PFAS in drinking water: the need for a coordinated strategy–Green Science Policy Institute
• Temporal Changes of PBDE Levels in California House Cats and a Link to Cat Hyperthyroidism (Research abstract)

Carpets and foam carpet pads are among the most significant sources of toxic chemicals in indoor environments — chemicals we daily inhale into our lungs and absorb through our skin. A recent report by the Healthy Building Network uncovered 44 toxic chemicals common in carpets. These chemicals are known to cause respiratory disease, heart attacks, strokes, asthma and immune and developmental health problems in children. More:

• Carpets add to wildfires’ toxic air pollution–San Francisco Chronicle (US)
• Eliminating Toxics in Carpet: Lessons for the Future of Recycling (Report)

These are stain-repellent chemicals that we use in products throughout our homes, offices, schools, hospitals, cars and airplanes. They are characterized by a fluorine-carbon backbone. And the F-C bond, the Forever-Chemical bond, is quite amazing, representing one of the strongest bonds in all of organic chemistry. More:

• These toxic chemicals are everywhere — even in your body. And they won’t ever go away – The Washington Post
• Unsafe levels of toxic chemicals found in drinking water for six million Americans – Hardvard School of Public Health
• The C8 Science Panel
• Toxicological Profile for Perfluoroalkyls – US Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry
• A Never-Ending Story of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs)? (Research article)
• Influenza Vaccine Response in Adults Exposed to Perfluorooctanoate and Perfluorooctanesulfonate (Research article)
• PFOA and High Cholesterol: Basis for the Finding of a Probable Link (Research article)

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), a group of synthetic organic chemicals with industrial and commercial uses, are of current concern. This commentary discusses scientific and risk assessment issues that impact the development of drinking water guidelines for PFAAs, including choice of toxicological endpoints, uncertainty factors, and exposure assumptions used as their basis. More:

• Key scientific issues in developing drinking water guidelines for perfluoroalkyl acids: Contaminants of emerging concern (Scientific perspective)

Evaluating the level of danger to human health from exposure to multiple chemicals in contaminated sites is a complex task. To address this difficulty, researchers have developed a new screening tool that can be incorporated into public health risk assessment, which may include polluted former industrial plants, waste dumps, or even land where pesticides have been used. This ‘hazard index’ approach indicates when risk to health is high, which organs are most affected, and where further evaluation should be conducted in the context of environmental or occupational exposure at such sites.

• New hazard index tool to aid risk assessment of exposure to multiple chemicals – EC Science for Environment Policy
• Implementation of the basic hazard index screening for health risks associated with simultaneous exposure to multiple chemicals using a standardized target organ and systems framework (Research abstract)
• ATSDR Toxic Substances Portal – US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Augmentative biological control (ABC) involves the mass production of natural enemies of pests and diseases in the form of predators, parasites or microorganisms, which are then released to control crop pests (including diseases and weeds). These living pesticides are collectively called ‘biological control agents’. As it offers an environmentally and economically sound alternative to chemical control, ABC is not just of interest to commercial growers, but to retailers, consumers and policymakers. More:

• Natural enemies of crop pests will feature in the future of environmentally friendly farming (EC Science for Environment Policy)
• Biological control using invertebrates and microorganisms:plenty of new opportunities (Research article)

The impacts of racism and segregation continue to reverberate in the health of communities of color—and one of the starkest disparities is in diabetes rates. Strikingly, a growing body of research suggests that toxics may be partly to blame. Diabetes is a global health crisis—more than 30 million individuals suffer from the disease in the U.S., and it is projected to afflict 642 million individuals worldwide by the year 2040. More:

• Analysis: The metabolic legacy of environmental injustice – Environmental Health News
• These Common Chemicals Are Linked to Type-2 Diabetes: Study – Time
• Population attributable risks and costs of diabetogenic chemical exposures in the elderly (Research article)

Letter sent to US House and Senate committees calls for "coordinated research" to protect communities from toxic stain repellant and firefighting chemicals. Highly fluorinated chemicals are contaminating the water of millions of people in the U.S. and it's time for the federal government and researchers to coordinate research and education efforts to protect communities from the toxics, according to a letter sent to U.S. House and Senate committees today. More:

• Millions are plagued with highly fluorinated chemicals in water. Feds need to act, say scientists – Environmental Health News
• Proposal for coordinated health research in PFAS-contaminated communities in the United States (Letter)

Besides lead, no contaminant in drinking water has provoked as loud a public outcry in the last two years in the United States as a class of chemicals known as perfluorinated compounds. New Jersey regulators are taking the strongest action to date on the man-made chemicals that are used in scores of household and industrial products. The state will be the first to require utilities to test for two compounds and remove them from drinking water. More:

• New Jersey Sets First Binding State Limits for Perfluorinated Chemicals in Drinking Water – Circle of Blue
• Emerging Water Contaminants Update: Uncertainty Remains Despite Regulatory Action – Marten Law

The US Department of Defense (DOD) is checking for firefighting foam contamination at nearly 400 bases, as well as in all 515 of its water supplies. So far, it’s found drinking water contamination at dozens of bases. Firefighting foams used ubiquitously by the military between 1970 and 2015 contained toxic perfluorinated compounds such as PFOS and PFOA, which are now being found at a growing number of bases. More:

• Firefighting foam contamination now at 45 military bases – The Intelligencer
• Document listing 45 U.S. military bases where contamination from firefighting foam chemicals has impacted a potable water supply (The Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times)
• DRINKING WATER: DOD Has Acted on Some Emerging Contaminants but Should Improve Internal Reporting on Regulatory Compliance (US GAO Report GAO-18-78)
• Military Bases and Fire Fighting Foam (Civilian Exposure - 21 April 2016)

Some risks are difficult to deal with because they are not precisely calculable in advance. Where there is scientific uncertainty about the full extent of possible harms but 'doing nothing' is also risky, decision-makers may use the precautionary principle. A Future Brief explores the role of the precautionary principle in EU law and policy, and examines key points of discussion drawn from the evidence. More:

• Future brief: The precautionary principle: decision-making under uncertainty – EC Science for Environment Policy
• Identifying emerging risks for environmental policies  – EC Science for Environment Policy
• Integrating Environmental Risk Assessment – EC Science for Environment Policy

Even long-banned persistent organic pollutants (POPs) still linger in the environment; others are still in use and are being directly emitted; and new POPs may be identified for which we have limited information. This Future Brief from Science for Environment Policy presents recent research into POPs’ potential impacts, the levels and future outlook for POPs in the environment and humans, and how we can reduce our use of POPs.

• Future brief: Persistent organic pollutants: towards a POPs-free future – EC Science for Environment Policy
• Europe's rivers ‘highly contaminated’ with long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids – EC Science for Environment Policy
• Europe-wide estuarine export and surface water concentrations of PFOS and PFOA (Research article)
• Lake Como contaminated with chemicals banned in the 1970s – EC Science for Environment Policy
• Recent DDT and PCB contamination in the sediment and biota of the Como Bay (Lake Como, Italy) (Research article)
• Global variation in persistent organic pollutants in breast milk – EC Science for Environment Policy
• Spatial and temporal trends of the Stockholm Convention POPs in mothers’ milk — a global review (Research article)

The organic compounds that enabled industrialization have unintended, long-lasting consequences for the planet’s life. More:

• How the Benzene Tree Polluted the World – The Atlantic
• Benzene (IARC Monograph)
• Consolidated Assessment of Efforts Made Toward the Elimination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls – UNEP
• Man-made pollutants found in Earth's deepest ocean trenches (Research article)
• Bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in the deepest ocean fauna (Research article)
• Carcinogenicity of polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated biphenyls (Research article)
• Inadvertent Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Commercial Paint Pigments (Research article)
• Nonlegacy PCBs: Pigment Manufacturing By-Products Get a Second Look (Research article)
• Baptized in PCBs Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town (Book presentation)
• Living downstream (Book presentation)

Exposure to Agent Orange sprayed during the Vietnam War has been linked to increased levels of certain hormones in women and their breastfeeding children decades later, potentially putting them at higher risk of health problems, according to a new study in Science of the Total Environment. More:

• Agent Orange still linked to hormone imbalances in babies in Vietnam – Science News
• A relationship in adrenal androgen levels between mothers and their children from a dioxin-exposed region in Vietnam (Research article)
• This is the legacy of Agent Orange in Vietnam – New York Post

A new study provides disturbing evidence that children’s exposure to household insecticides is linked to higher risks of childhood leukemia and lymphoma, the most common cancers in children. The analysis also found an association between use of outdoor herbicides to lawns and gardens and higher risks of leukemia. More:

• Study Links Childhood Cancer and In-Home Pesticide Use – EWG
• Residential Exposure to Pesticide During Childhood and Childhood Cancers: A Meta-Analysis (Research article)

Perfluorooctanoic acid, widely used for decades in the making of nonstick coatings like Teflon and a variety of other consumer products, is considered toxic even in tiny amounts. PFOA has been linked to cancer, birth defects and immune system dysfunction. In 2006, eight major chemical companies, including 3M and DuPont, entered into a “voluntary stewardship agreement” to phase out the production and use of PFOA by 2015. In its place, the industry switched to other chemicals in the same family that were deemed less hazardous. But lately experts have begun to believe that these new chemicals also pose grave threats to human health. More:

• Trading old hazards for new? Mystery shrouds chemicals that replaced PFOA –Hill Country Observer