A new study confirms the presence of a gnarly group of substances in tap water in 24 states. More:

• EPA Scientists: The Toxic Chemicals Our Agency Won’t Regulate Are Definitely in Our Drinking Water – Mother Jones
• The Horrible Chemicals That Make Your Winter Gear Waterproof – Mother Jones
• The Nasty Ingredient in Fast-Food Wrappers – Mother Jones
• PFASs in Popcorn Bags and Pizza Boxes – Toxic Free Future
• Worrisome nonstick chemicals are common in U.S. drinking water, federal study suggests – Science
• EPA Acting Administrator Announces First-Ever Comprehensive Nationwide PFAS Action Plan – US EPA
• PFAS Laws and Regulations – US EPA
• Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) Factsheet – US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• An Overview of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substancesand Interim Guidance for Clinicians Responding to PatientExposure Concerns – US ASTDR
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in source and treated drinking waters of the United States (Research article)

A decades-long study in California is shining a light on the impact of pesticides on childhood brain development, while getting young people directly involved in the research. While the research remains the primary aim of CHAMACOS a large part of their outreach has been disseminating the study’s key findings to the public. More:

• How a team of researchers and high school students in California are working together to reduce pesticide exposure in children – Ensia
• CHAMACOS Study – UC Berkeley
• Silicone Wristbands Used As Personal Sampling Devices – Oregon State University
• Effects of Pesticides on Children’s Neurodevelopment – UC Berkeley
• Prenatal pesticide exposure linked to attention problems in preschool-aged children – UC Berkeley
• DPR 16-004 Pesticide Use Near Schoolsites – California Department of Pesticide Regulation
• Prenatal Exposure to Common Insecticide Linked to Decreases in Cognitive Functioning At Age Seven – U Columbia
• Prenatal Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure and Traits Related to Autism Spectrum Disorders in a Population Living in Proximity to Agriculture (Research article)
• Association between in utero organophosphate pesticide exposure and abnormal reflexes in neonates (Research abstract)

Researchers are struggling to assess the dangers of nondegradable compounds used in clothes, foams and food wrappings. The water looks unremarkable, but it is contaminated with synthetic compounds called fluorochemicals, which have been generating increasing concern around the world. More:

• Tainted water: the scientists tracing thousands of fluorinated chemicals in our environment – Nature
• Toward a new comprehensive global database of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs): Summary report on updating the OECD 2007 list of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) – OECD Series on Risk Management No. 39
• Toxic Substances Portal - Perfluoroalkyls ‐ US ATSDR
• C8 Science Panel ‐ www.c8sciencepanel.org

Study of more than 1,000 mothers and children in Europe links common chemicals to reduced lung function. Children exposed to three different chemical classes — parabens, phthalates and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—before birth and shortly after had reduced lung function at 6 and 12 years old, according to a study. More:

• PFAS and phthalate chemical exposure early in life may hamper kids’ lungs – EHN
• Early-life exposome and lung function in children in Europe: an analysis of data from the longitudinal, population-based HELIX cohort (Research article)

DuPont-spinoff Chemours is sending industrial waste from the Netherlands to North Carolina. The waste in question comes from the production of the toxic chemical GenX, DuPont’s replacement for the surfactant PFOA, which was long used in the production of Teflon and many other products. More:

• Chemours is using the U.S. as an unregulated dump for Europe's toxic GenX waste – The Intercept
• New Teflon toxin causes cancer in lab animals – The Intercept
• PFOA and PFOS cause lower sperm counts and smaller penises, study finds – The Intercept
• PFOA and PFOS are only the best known members of a very dangerous class of chemicals – The Intercept
• Chemours in the Netherlands exporting GenX waste to Fayetteville Works, says EPA letter – The Progressive Pulse

They want financial aid, medical facilities, schools for their disabled children and a tribunal to book those responsible for the pesticide tragedy. More:

• ‘We want justice’: Victims of endosulfan poisoning in Kerala set to start hunger strike – Scroll.in
• India's children reap the bitter harvest of endosulfan – The Guardian

Globally, 255 different weeds have developed resistance to 163 different herbicides. These weeds compete with crops for space, water, and nutrients in the soil—and they’re beginning to impact many farmers’ yields. More:

• Australia Might Have the Answer to Herbicide-Resistant ‘Superweeds’ – Civil Eats
• Where Corn Is King, the Stirrings of a Renaissance in Small Grains – YaleEnvironment 360
• Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative – University of Western Australia
• Harvest Weed Seed Control as a Tactic for Weed Management – No-Till Farmer
• The International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds – WeedScience.org

Detection of a toxic chemical in a northeastern Wisconsin wastewater treatment plant’s sludge has prompted a halt to application of the material on nearby farms and raised broader concerns about how public sewer systems across the state may be spreading the chemical across the landscape. More:

• Wisconsin case shows how sewage plants spread unregulated toxins across landscape – Wisconsin State Journal
• Three years later, Wisconsin hasn't stopped toxic chemical flow – Wisconsin State Journal
• EPA Actions to Address PFAS – US EPA

the U.S. military is moving ahead with plans to collect and destroy unused firefighting foam that contains the hazardous chemicals PFOS and PFOA. But in trying to solve one environmental problem related to these persistent chemicals, which have caused massive drinking water contamination, the Defense Department may be creating another. More:

• The U.S. military plans to keep incinerating toxic firefighting foam, despite health risks – The Intercept
• The Teflon Toxin – The Intercept
• The Teflon Toxin. DuPont and the Chemistry of Deception – The Intercept
• Poisoning the Well. Toxic Firefighting Foam Has Contaminated U.S. Drinking Water – The Intercept
• The U.S. military is spending millions to replace toxic firefighting foam with toxic firefighting foam – The Intercept
• Perfluoroisobutylene – PubChem
• Long-term sampling emission of PFOS and PFOA of a Waste-to-Energy incinerator (Research article)

A concentrated formula, diluted with water, forms a heat-resistant foam blanket that rapidly cools and smothers most hydrocarbon-fueled fires. The fluorine content helps create a low-surface-tension film that rapidly spreads across the surface of a flammable liquid. A foam’s quick action in a fire can mean the difference between life and death. As lawsuits pile up and government pressure rises, firefighting-foam makers reconsider the environmental cost of fluorosurfactants. More:

• What is the price of fire safety? – C&EN
• Washington moves to ban poly- and perfluorinated chemicals in food packages, firefighting foams – C&EN
• Perfluorinated chemicals linked to military bases, airports – C&EN
• Aqueous Film Forming Foam -Report to Congress – US DOD
• Perfluorohexanoic acid toxicity, part I: Development of a chronic human health toxicity value for use in risk assessment (Research article)

A new study suggests certain types of consumer behaviors, including flossing with Oral-B Glide dental floss, contribute to elevated levels in the body of toxic PFAS chemicals. PFAS are water- and grease-proof substances that have been linked with numerous health problems. The findings provide new insight into how these chemicals end up in people's bodies and how consumers can limit their exposures by modifying their behavior. More:

• Oral-B Glide floss tied to potentially toxic PFAS chemicals, study suggests – USA Today
• Dental flossing and other behaviors linked with higher levels of toxic chemicals in the body – Medical Xpress
• Certain environmental pollutants may contribute to poor kidney health – Medical Xpress
• Serum concentrations of PFASs and exposure-related behaviors in African American and non-Hispanic white women (Research article)
• Perfluorinated Chemicals as Emerging Environmental Threats to Kidney Health (Research article)

A purported "eco-friendly" flame retardant breaks down into smaller, possibly harmful chemicals when exposed to heat and ultraviolet light, according to a study from German researchers. The study, published today in Environmental Science and Technology, is the first to show that a popular insulation flame retardant degrades into dozens of smaller chemicals and casts doubt that the "green" flame retardant is as harmless as touted. More:

• “Environmentally friendly” flame retardants break down into potentially toxic chemicals – EHN
• Degradation of the Polymeric Brominated Flame Retardant “Polymeric FR” by Heat and UV Exposure (Research article)

In eastern Washington, a push to clean PCBs from its namesake river faces a dirty legacy and global pollution problem. More:

• A toxic past and present on the Spokane River – High Country News

Synthetics created in the 20th century have become an evolutionary force, altering human biology and the web of life. Today, PCBs are a notorious class of global pollutants and carcinogens capable of interfering with human fertility, development, cognition and immunity. Though human-made, biology recognises and can even interact with them. PCBs are everywhere, and by design, they endure. Scientists now call most PCBs legacy contaminants – enduring poisons from the past. More:

• Time-bombing the future – aeon
• Evidence that there are Two Forms of Fluoride in Human Serum – Nature
• Perfluorooctanoic acid – IARC Monographs-110
• Immunotoxicity Associated with Exposure to Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) or Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) – U.S. National Toxicology Program

The closer we look, the more complicated the picture appears. Studies have shown that environmental exposures can modify the expression of genes (without changing the coding sequence), leading to diseases and dysfunctions. This suggests that there are other factors, so far hidden, triggering such a profound increase in these so-called lifestyle disorders. More:

• Invisible pollutants and the tipping point for endocrine disruption – EHN
• 7 Ways to Protect Your Family From Harmful Chemical Exposure – U.S. News

Many popular carpet brands, including those widely used in affordable housing projects, contain toxic chemicals that put people’s health at risk while in use and when the carpets are disposed of, according to a new report by three environmental advocacy groups. The findings are particularly worrisome given that babies and children often spend considerable time crawling and playing on carpets, and they are most sensitive to the potential health consequences from the toxins detected. More:

• Carpets Cited as a Health Hazard, Especially for Children and Poor Communities – California Health
• Basic Information on PFAS: What are PFAS? – US EPA
• Testing Carpet for Toxics. Chemicals affecting human health and hindering the circular economy (Research report)

New Jersey’s efforts to protect the public from a class of toxic chemicals in drinking water are being threatened by the emergence of substitutes that may be just as hazardous to human health, experts argue. At a public roundtable on PFAS chemicals, scientists said chemical manufacturers have responded to increasing regulation of the chemicals by New Jersey and other states by introducing so-called short-chain alternatives, such as the chemical Gen-X, that serve the same purposes but have not been fully vetted by regulators. More:

• New chemical substitutes threaten to undermine NJ’s cutting-edge rules on PFAS – NJ Spotlight

Chemicals are manufactured for use in almost everything with which humans come into contact including food, plastics, personal care products, clothing and building materials. In addition, manufactured chemicals contaminate our environment in ways not always anticipated in air, dust, food and water. More:

• The consequences of status quo chemical policy are becoming increasingly clear – EHN
• Endocrine disruption: Fact or urban legend? (Toxicology letters)

For parents of small children, car seats are an integral part of day-to-day life. Making sure children are safely buckled and secure is the first step for any car ride, and it helps to ease parent’s minds before hitting the road. However, a new study conducted by researchers from Indiana University and The Ecology Center should serve as a warning for many parents. The researchers found that many child’s car seats contain toxic flame retardants. More:

• Children's car seats found to contain toxic flame retardants – CounsumerAffairs
• Study finds toxic flame retardants in children's car seats – PhysOrg
• Children’s Car Seats Contain Legacy and Novel Flame Retardants (Abstract)

• PFOA and PFOS cause lower sperm counts and smaller penises, study finds – The Intercept
• The Teflon Toxin – The Intercept
• Sperm Counts Continue to Fall ‐ The Atlantic
• Endocrine Disruption of Androgenic Activity by Perfluoroalkyl Substances: Clinical and Experimental Evidence (Research article)
• Temporal trends in sperm count: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis (Research article)