Researchers are finding an ever-growing list of chemicals in dust and are trying to understand what the compounds mean for our health. As sure as the sun rises, houses collect dust. It gathers on our knickknacks and dirties the carpets. More than just dirt, house dust is a mix of sloughed-off skin cells, hair, clothing fibers, bacteria, dust mites, bits of dead bugs, soil particles, pollen, and microscopic specks of plastic. It’s our detritus and, it turns out, has a lot to reveal about our lifestyle. More:

• Tracing the chemistry of household dust–C&EN
• Consumer Product Chemicals in Indoor Dust: A Quantitative Meta-analysis of U.S. Studies (Research article)

Researchers tested more than 400 samples of packaging materials, including hamburger and sandwich wrappers, pastry bags, beverage cups and French fry containers, and found evidence of fluorinated compounds called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Of the materials tested, these chemicals were found in 56 percent of dessert and bread wrappers, 38 percent of sandwich and burger wrappers and 20 percent of paperboard. More:

• Extensive use of fluorinated chemicals in fast food wrappers: Chemicals can leach into food–ScienceDaily
• Fluorinated chemicals in fast food packaging–Food Packaging Forum
• Fluorinated Compounds in U.S. Fast Food Packaging (Research article)
• Fast food with a side of fluorinated chemicals–Environmental Health News
• Perfluorinated Chemicals Found in Fast Food Wrappers–Environment News Service
• Report finds chemicals in one-third of fast food packaging–CNN
• Warning: Food Wrappers Still Coated in Cancer-Causing Chemical–EcoWatch
• Toxic chemicals in one-third of fast food packaging–Reuters

Long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are persistent chemicals with proven toxic effects. A study estimated the emissions and concentrations of two such chemicals, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in 11 of Europe's most populated river catchments. Estimated emissions were lowest in the Thames and highest in the Rhine, while the EU environmental quality standard for PFOS was exceeded in all rivers. More:

• Europe's rivers ‘highly contaminated’ with long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids–Science for Environment Policy
• Europe-wide estuarine export and surface water concentrations of PFOS and PFOA (Research article)

Researchers at the Columbia University have discovered high and potentially harmful levels of flame retardant on the hands of toddlers in New York City. The study, from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, or CCCEH, in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, examined 25 mother-child participant pairs from the CCCEH Sibling-Hermanos birth cohort. More:

• NYC toddlers exposed to high levels of flame retardants: Study–UPI
• Prevalence of historical and replacement brominated flame retardant chemicals in New York City homes (Research article)

Polar bears are facing trouble inside and out. The animals are losing habitat as global warming melts sea ice. Now a study shows bears’ bodies hold toxic chemicals originally made in distant factories, substances that threaten adult bears’ health at a level 100 times greater than the acceptable threshold of risk for humans. For cubs, the risk is more than 1,000 times that threshold. More:

• Polar Bear Cubs at High Risk from Toxic Industrial Chemicals, Despite Bans–Scientific American
• Risk of POP mixtures on the Arctic food chain (Research article)

A new National Academy of Sciences' risk assessment could accelerate public health protection from pesticides. More:

• Will Better Science Help Protect Us from Chemical Exposures?–Civil Eats
• New Report Calls for Use of Emerging Scientific Data to Better Assess Public Health Risks–The National Academies of Sciences.Engineering.Medicine
• Using 21st Century Science to Improve Risk-Related Evaluations (Report)

The first stage in this policy making process is identifying problems – what they are, how severe their impacts are, who they affect and whether there is a need for policy intervention. This requires collecting scientific knowledge and is described as impact assessment. Evidence-based impact assessment allows policymakers to maximise benefits and mitigate unwanted consequences and is becoming increasingly important in decision making. However, current impact assessment methods are expensive and time consuming; often, by the time evidence has been provided, the policy context has changed. More:

• QUICKScan: a quick, participatory method for exploring environmental policy problems – Science for Environment Policy
• QUICKScan as a quick and participatory methodology for problem identification and scoping in policy processes (Research article)

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been an area of growing concern, making many headlines in 2016. This article examines further developments concerning EDCs through the year. More:

• Concern Over EDCs Continues to Grow – MedPage Today
• Commission presents scientific criteria to identify endocrine disruptors in the pesticides and biocides areas – European Commission
• Migration of Parabens, Bisphenols, Benzophenone-Type UV Filters, Triclosan, and Triclocarban from Teethers and Its Implications for Infant Exposure (Research article)

The global industrial food system is emerging as a significant pathway through which people are exposed to potentially hazardous chemicals,1 but no method exists to assess the full extent to which chemicals are transported through food. More:

• Exploring Chemical Transport through Food: A Proposal for a Comprehensive Approach to Predict Exposures – Environmental Health Perspectives
• The Global Food System as a Transport Pathway for Hazardous Chemicals: The Missing Link between Emissions and Exposure – Environmental Health Perspectives

New mothers who quit breastfeeding earlier than they had wanted often chalk it up to not being able to produce enough milk. But a handful of researchers are exploring whether certain environmental exposures may affect some women’s ability to lactate. More:

• Mother’s Milk and the Environment: Might Chemical Exposures Impair Lactation? –Environmental Health Perspectives
• Serum Persistent Organic Pollutants and Duration of Lactation among Mexican-American Women (Research article)
• Gestational PFOA Exposure of Mice is Associated with Altered Mammary Gland Development in Dams and Female Offspring (Research article)
• Gestational and Chronic Low-Dose PFOA Exposures and Mammary Gland Growth and Differentiation in Three Generations of CD-1 Mice (Research article)

Research results further elucidate the already suggested different sensitivity of genders towards HBCD exposure on the protein level, and confirm the need for undertaking toxicological animal experiments in both genders. More:

Gender specific differences in the liver proteome of rats exposed to short term and low-concentration hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) (Research article)

Nearly everything people do, eat or come into contact with can change them in little ways — sometimes with big consequences. Exposure to some chemicals can damage DNA, leading to cancer and other problems. Other molecular changes—chemical tags added to DNA or to proteins called histones — may affect health without injuring DNA. More:

• Epigenetic marks may help assess toxic exposure risk – ScienceNews
• The Next Generation of Risk Assessment Multi-Year Study—Highlights of Findings, Applications to Risk Assessment, and Future Directions (Research article)

Flame retardants are considered carcinogens, hormone disruptors and developmental toxics. Infants and children are especially vulnerable to the effects of flame retardants in chemical laden dust and toxic fumes since their systems are still developing, and most spend many hours in car seats. More:

• Flame retardants and car seats? Still a thing – Environmental Health News
• Children's Car Seat Study 2016 (Report)

Washington has become the first U.S. state to sue the agrochemical giant Monsanto over pervasive pollution from PCBs, the toxic industrial chemicals that have accumulated in plants, fish and people around the globe for decades. The company said the case "lacks merit." More:

• Washington State Suing Agrochemical Giant Over PCB Pollution – abc NEWS
• Washington Becomes First State to Sue Monsanto Over PCBs, Accused of Knowing Its Toxicity for Decades – Truthout

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs Programme, which has evaluated nearly 1,000 agents for their carcinogenic potential since 1971, selects agents for hazard identification on the basis of public nominations, expert advice, published data on carcinogenicity, and public health importance. A complementary approach, accounting for chemical similarity and overlaying multiple data sources, can be used to systematize, inform and increase efficiency in selecting and prioritizing agents for hazard identification, risk assessment and regulation or further investigation. More:

• Prioritizing Chemicals for Risk Assessment Using Chemoinformatics: Examples from the IARC Monographs on Pesticides (Research article)
• Pesticides : Chemical Similarity Networks and Data Table (Network graphs, literature & toxicological data tables on pesticides)

Between climate change, human conflict and habitat loss, polar bears have more than enough to worry about. But it turns out these vulnerable conservation icons also face a more unlikely threat: industrial chemicals that were banned almost 40 years ago. More:

• Decades-Old Chemicals May Be Threatening Polar Bear Fertility, As If They Didn’t Have Enough to Worry About – Smithsonian
• Allee effect in polar bears: a potential consequence of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination (Research article)

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are endocrine disruptors and have been suggested as possible risk factors for diabetes. This study examined the relationship between the serum concentration of POPs and glucose metabolism to investigate this association among children. More:

• Serum Levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants and Insulin Secretion among Children Age 7–9 Years: A Prospective Cohort Study (Research article)

Commentary – It is important to know how industry arrives at their conclusions regarding hazard and risk of their substances, especially since risk assessments are known to be dependent on expert judgement and may be biased. Transparency is particularly important under REACH (registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals) since the information that industry registers with the European Chemicals Agency is used for identifying potentially hazardous substances that need to be regulated further. More:

• Commentary: Transparency on chemical risks under REACH needs to be improved – Environmental Health News
• Transparency of chemical risk assessment data under REACH (Research article)

The EU would not be breaking World Trade Organization (WTO) rules if it chose to extend REACH’s authorisation scheme on substances of very high concern (SVHC) to products imported to Europe, a recent legal analysis concludes. At present, the scheme — which is effectively a ban on SVHC, with some exceptions — applies only to products made within the European Economic Area (EEA).

• Legal analysis finds REACH authorisation ruleson imported substances of ‘very high concern’would not violate WTO law - Science for Environment Policy
• SVHC in imported articles: REACH authorisation requirement justified under WTO rules (Legal analysis)

The health hazards of brominated flame retardants lurking in household dust have made the news for years because of the ease with which humans can be exposed to the endocrine-disrupting compounds. Now, researchers show that flame retardants in dust are dwarfed by another class of brominated compounds, azo dyes, that are known mutagens and commonly used to color clothing and furniture. More: 

• Bromine-containing dyes dwarf flame retardants in house dust - ACS C&EN
• Mutagenic Azo Dyes, Rather Than Flame Retardants, Are the Predominant Brominated Compounds in House Dust (Research article)