The levels of harmful flame retardants in children's blood are dropping every year, according to a new study of kids from New York City. The flame retardants—polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)— were used for decades in furniture, electronics and clothing in an effort to slow the spread of flames if they catch fire. The chemicals were voluntarily phased out starting in 2004 because they build up in the environment and people—PBDEs are found in the air (in and outside our homes), some food, and in people all around the world.

• Good News: Toxic flame retardants declining in NYC kids’ blood – EHN
• Ten Years After California Ban, Big Drop in Fire Retardants in Breast Milk – EWG
• Temporal trends and developmental patterns of plasma polybrominated diphenyl ether concentrations over a 15-year period between 1998 and 2013 (Research article)

A byproduct of yellow pigment manufacturing is showing up in Great Lakes air—and it isn't going away Toxic PCBs are on a steady decrease in Great Lakes region air but over the past decade one type remains constant—it's likely due to yellow pigment manufacturing. More:

• Most PCBs are decreasing near the Great Lakes—but one’s not. Why? – EHN
• Atmospheric Concentrations of PCB-11 Near the Great Lakes Have Not Decreased Since 2004  (Research article)
• Partial pressures of PCB-11 in air from several Great Lakes sites (Research article)
• Global distribution and local impacts of inadvertently generated polychlorinated biphenyls in pigments (Research article)
• Inadvertent Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Commercial Paint Pigments (Research article)
• A New Player in Environmentally Induced Oxidative Stress: Polychlorinated Biphenyl Congener, 3,3′-Dichlorobiphenyl (PCB11) (Research article)
• PCBs and OH-PCBs in Serum from Children and Mothers in Urban and Rural U.S. Communities (Research article)

When Donald Taves discovered two kinds of fluoride in his blood in the late 1960s, he immediately knew something was wrong. Everyone assumed that blood contained just one type of fluoride, a naturally occurring form that health officials added to drinking water to prevent cavities. But levels in people’s blood didn’t seem to relate to those found in their water supply. More:

• In search of safe replacements for harmful chemicals used in cookware, carpets, clothing, cosmetics and more – ENSIA
• Short-chain Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) - A literature review of information on human health effects and environmental fate and effect aspects of short-chain PFAS – The Danish Environmental Protection Agency
• New Chemicals Program Review of Alternatives for PFOA and Related Chemicals – US EPA
• Fact Sheet: PFOA & PFOS Drinking Water HealthAdvisories – US EPA
• Fluorinated Compounds in U.S. Fast Food Packaging (Research article)
• Release of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) from Carpet and Clothing in Model Anaerobic Landfill Reactors (Research article)
• Comparing the toxic potency in vivo of long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids and fluorinated alternatives (Research article)
• Hazard assessment of fluorinated alternatives to long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) and their precursors: status quo, ongoing challenges and possible solutions (Research article)
• Polyfluoroalkyl Chemicals in the U.S. Population: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2004 and Comparisons with NHANES 1999–2000 (Research article)
• PFCS: global contaminants: PFCS in animals worldwide – EWG

In many ways, DuPont’s environmental crisis in the Ohio River Valley is now playing out in southeastern North Carolina, where the company made C8 at its Fayetteville Works plant before switching to a compound called GenX.  More:

• Part 1: Secrets, denials and toxic water: C8 in the Ohio River Valley – The Fayetteville Observer
• Part 2: DuPont’s C8 leak in Fayetteville spurs fears of health crisis – The Fayetteville Observer
• Part 3: Public learns of Cape Fear River toxins, 11 years later – The Fayetteville Observer
• Part 4: For those exposed to GenX, an agonizing wait for answers – The Fayetteville Observer

If you only focus on diet and exercise you're missing a huge influence—chemicals in our environment that promote weight gain. More:

• Why are we so fat despite our best efforts? – EHN
• Environmental obesogens: organotins and endocrine disruption via nuclear receptor signaling (Research article)
• Uppsala Consensus Statement on Environmental Contaminants and the Global Obesity Epidemic (Research article)
• Metabolism disrupting chemicals and metabolic disorders (Research article)
• Obesogens: an emerging threat to public health (Expert review)

Le Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN) et le Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) annoncent les résultats principaux de deux réseaux de suivi des oiseaux sur le territoire français et évoquent un phénomène de « disparition massive », « proche de la catastrophe écologique ». « Les oiseaux des campagnes françaises disparaissent à une vitesse vertigineuse, précisent les deux institutions dans un communiqué commun. En moyenne, leurs populations se sont réduites d’un tiers en quinze ans. » More:

• Les oiseaux disparaissent des campagnes françaises à une « vitesse vertigineuse » – Le Monde

Luring falcons to farms can keep pesky insects, rodents and other critters in check—putting a dent in poison and pesticide use. Summer carloads of sweet-toothed tourists, flush with cash and seeking local pies and jams, are an economic godsend in the cherry-growing region. Other hungry visitors are less welcome—voles, weevils, fruit flies, grasshoppers and pest birds do significant damage to local crops. More:

• Protecting crops with predators instead of poisons–EHN
• Poisons Used to Kill Rodents Have Safer Alternatives–Audubon
• Second generation anticoagulant rodenticide assessment (Department of Pesticide Regulation, Canada)
• Pesticides Use and Exposure Extensive Worldwide (Research article)
• Pest-removal services provided by birds on small organic farms in northern California (Research article)
• Enhancing agricultural landscapes to increase crop pest reduction by vertebrates (Research article)
• Prey Consumption by a Large Aggregation of Barn Owls in anAgricultural Setting (Research article)
• Avian predators as a biological control system of common vole (Microtus arvalis) populations in north‐western Spain (Research article)
• Establishing songbird nest boxes increased avian insectivores and reduced herbivorous arthropods in a Californian vineyard, USA (Research article)
• Great Tits (Parus major) Reduce Caterpillar Damage in Commercial Apple Orchards (Research article)
• Bird damage to select fruit crops: The cost of damage and the benefits of control in five states (Research article)
• Effects of Introducing Threatened Falcons into Vineyards on Abundance of Passeriformes and Bird Damage to Grapes (Research article)

Glaciers, like many venerable objects, can act as time capsules. Like a dusty vinyl record holds an era’s songs, ice holds very old molecules—not just the H2O of snow, but traces of airborne particles like dust, ash, and chemicals that hitched a ride on falling flakes. In the Antarctic, Adélie penguins harbor consistent levels of the pesticide DDT. More:

• Melting Glaciers Do More Than Raise Sea Levels–Hakai magazine
• Melting Glaciers: A Probable Source of DDT to the Antarctic Marine Ecosystem (Research article)

Chemours is facing demands from North Carolina regulators to curb atmospheric releases of fluorinated chemicals from the company’s factory. More:

• Chemours told to cut fluorocarbon air pollution from North Carolina plant–C&EN
• State orders Chemours to control additional sources of GenX contamination–NC Department of Environmental Quality
• GenX Investigation–NC Department of Environmental Quality
• What’s GenX still doing in the water downstream of a Chemours plant?–C&EN
• Partitioning and removal of perfluorooctanoate during rain events: the importance of physical-chemical properties (Research article)

Pesticides accumulate in bodies with high fat content. This conclusion has been reported by scientists who have been studying seabirds and marine mammals of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea for several years. In a scientific article, the authors presented the results of a study of organochlorine pesticide (OCP) build-up in the bodies of seabirds and marine mammals living in the north-western part of the Pacific Ocean. More:

• Pesticides found to accumulate in fat tissue–Phys.org
• Organochlorine pesticide accumulation in seabirds and marine mammals from the Northwest Pacific (Research article)

The study is the first to link the group of chemicals, PFASs [perfluoroalkyl substances], to weight gain and obesity, and suggests that exposure to the toxics may counteract weight loss efforts by slowing down people's metabolism. More:

• Another potential PFAS problem: Weight gain–EHN
• Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and Michigan (News clippings)
• GenX (News clippings)
• Perfluoroalkyl substances and changes in body weight and resting metabolic rate in response to weight-loss diets: A prospective study (Research article)
• Trends in exposure to polyfluoroalkyl chemicals in the U.S. Population: 1999-2008 (Research article)
• Detection of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in U.S. Drinking Water Linked to Industrial Sites, Military Fire Training Areas, and Wastewater Treatment Plants (Research article)

Chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—used frequently in fast-food wrappers and other products for their oil- and water-repellant properties—have been linked to hormone disruption, immune dysfunction, high cholesterol and even cancer. Now, a new study suggests that exposure to the chemicals could make it harder to keep weight off after dieting. More:

• Environmental Chemicals Found in Non-Stick Pans Are Linked to Weight Gain–TIME
• Chemicals in packaging, carpets and non-stick pans 'may contribute to obesity'–The Guardian
• Many fast food wrappers still coated in PFCS, kin to carcinogenic Teflon chemical–EWG
• Household Chemical Linked to Heart Disease–Health.com
• Perfluoroalkylated substances in food: occurrence and dietary exposure (Scientific Report of EFSA)
• Fluorinated Compounds in U.S. Fast Food Packaging (Research article)
• Perfluoroalkyl substances and changes in body weight and resting metabolic rate in response to weight-loss diets: A prospective study (Research article)
• Perfluorooctanoic Acid and Cardiovascular Disease in US Adults (Research article)

Discovery of a class of industrial compounds called fluoroethers in public tap water last year shocked hundreds of thousands of North Carolina residents who had been drinking the tainted liquid. Scientists are racing to find out why. More:

• What’s GenX still doing in the water downstream of a Chemours plant?–C&EN
• Toxic tap water–A Wilmington StarNews investigation
• Legacy and Emerging Perfluoroalkyl Substances Are Important Drinking Water Contaminants in the Cape Fear River Watershed of North Carolina (Research article)
• Identification of Novel Perfluoroalkyl Ether Carboxylic Acids (PFECAs) and Sulfonic Acids (PFESAs) in Natural Waters Using Accurate Mass Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (TOFMS) (Research article)
• Cytotoxicity of novel fluorinated alternatives to long-chain perfluoroalkyl substances to human liver cell line and their binding capacity to human liver fatty acid binding protein (Research article)
• Comparing the toxic potency in vivo of long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids and fluorinated alternatives (Research article)

An investigative news series about perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) or C8, associated compounds such as PFOS and GenX, and their negative impact on human health. More:

• The Teflon Toxin (News series) –The Intercept

The U.S. military is spending billions to clean up drinking water contaminated with toxic firefighting foam while continuing to use dangerous new formulas. More:

• The U.S. military is spending millions to replace toxic firefighting foam with toxic firefighting foam–The Intercept
• The Teflon Toxin–The Intercept
• One new substance [PFHxS] added to the Candidate List, several entries updated–ECHA (EU)
• The Madrid Statement on Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs)–Environmental Health Perspectives
• Contamination–The unfolding scandal of toxic water in Australian communities (video) ABC (Australia)
• Michigan bill proposes nation's lowest PFAS limit in drinking water–Mlive (US)
• Maximum Contaminant Level Recommendation for Perfluorooctanoic Acid in Drinking Water-Basis & Background –New Jersey Drinking Water Institute (US)
• Research on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)–US EPA
• Discovery of 40 Classes of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Historical Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFFs) and AFFF-Impacted Groundwater (Research article)
• Sorption of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) Relevant to Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF)-Impacted Groundwater by Biochars and Activated Carbon (Research article)

While the dangers of PFOA and PFOS are widely known, very little is known about the other chemicals in their class, PFAS. Here is some of the emerging science on how other per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances affect people. More:

• PFOA and PFOS are only the best-known members of a very dangerous class of chemicals–The Intercept
• Short-chain Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) (Literature review–Danish EPA)
• Research on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS–US EPA)
• Polyfluoroalkyl Compounds in Texas Children from Birth through 12 Years of Age (Research article)
• Perfluoroalkyl Substances during Pregnancy and Offspring Weight and Adiposity at Birth: Examining Mediation by Maternal Fasting Glucose in the Healthy Start Study (Research article)
• Cord blood gene expression supports that prenatal exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances causes depressed immune functionality in early childhood (Research article)

In regions of the world threatened by malaria, bed nets treated with insecticides are an increasingly common public health tool to fend off mosquitos. But there is growing evidence that the nets, often provided for free or at a subsidized price by hospitals and aid organizations, are being put to other uses, including fishing. More:

• Fishing with insecticide-laced mosquito nets is a global phenomenon–Mongabay
• The use of mosquito nets in fisheries: A global perspective (Research article)

Teflon pans have existed since the 1960s. And while Teflon’s powers of food repulsion are a source of wonderment, the chemical engineers behind them were unable to endow them with the equally magical property of indestructibility. More:

• The chemical industry doesn’t want you to be afraid of Teflon pans. You should be–Salon
• Questions & Answers about PFOA Blood Testing–NY Department of Health
• The toxic exposure of flamingos to per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from firefighting foam applications in Bonaire (Research article)

Long strips of bright wildflowers are being planted through crop fields to boost the natural predators of pests and potentially cut pesticide spraying. Concern over the environmental damage caused by pesticides has grown rapidly in recent years. Using wildflower margins to support insects including hoverflies, parasitic wasps and ground beetles has been shown to slash pest numbers in crops and even increase yields.

• Stripes of wildflowers across farm fields could cut pesticide spraying–The Guardian
• In-field wild flower strips–Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UK
• Flower Strips for Beneficial Insects–Agroscope, Switzerland

Plastic used in some second-hand toys could pose a health risk for children as they don't meet the most up-to-date safety guidelines, a study has found. Scientists tested 200 used plastic toys they found in nurseries, thrift shops and homes across England's south-west for nine hazardous elements. Twenty toys had traces of all nine elements. More:

• Second-hand toys could harm children, scientists discover–BBC News
• Concentrations and Migratabilities of Hazardous Elements in Second-Hand Children’s Plastic toys (Research article)