In 2016, Fred Stone made a discovery that threatens to ruin the Maine dairy farm that's been in his family for more than a century: His cow's milk contained exorbitant levels of chemicals that have been linked to illnesses including cancer, thyroid disease, obesity and ulcerative colitis. More:

• How toxic PFAS chemicals could be making their way into food from Pennsylvania farms  –  EHN
• Farmers Are Losing Everything After “Forever Chemicals” Turned Up In Their Food  –  BuzzFeed.News
• This has poisoned everything’ – pollution casts shadow over New Mexico’s booming dairy industry  –  The Guardian
• The hunt for PFAS turns to Michigan farms using human waste as fertilizer  –  MLive
• Biosolids and PFAS Contamination in Pennsylvania  –  ArcGIS
• Wisconsin battles waste plants that spread hazardous PFAS  –  WBay

California is the nation's top agricultural producing state and receives approximately 300 pesticide complaints a year. With studies showing links between certain pesticides and severe health effects such as developmental delays and autism, people are on high alert. More:

• California Launches App for Reporting Pesticide Incidents  –  US News
• Pesticide Problem- There’s an app for that. A new mobile app allows workers to report pesticide incidents 24-7  –  California Dept. of Pesticide Regulation
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Prenatal Residential Proximity to Agricultural Pesticides- The CHARGE Study (Research article)

The other week I got an urgent email from a friend. His wife is newly pregnant and he was concerned that her super fragrant, aerosol “dry shampoo” was toxic. Could I review the ingredients and let him know what to do? However, the onus of protecting children from chemicals should fall on manufacturers and regulators, not parents. More:

• Parenting 'tips' to avoid toxics aren't enough – we need action to protect our kids  –  The Guardian
• 56 suspect chemicals found in the average pregnant woman  –  University of California
• Toxic Matters - Protecting Our Families from Toxic Substances  –  University of California

Even in the dead of winter, Montreal firefighters are going to be hosed off before leaving the scene of a fire in an effort to reduce the amount of cancer-causing contaminants they are exposed to. The new decontamination measures come after a 2018 study from the University of Fraser Valley found that Canadian firefighters are killed by cancer about three times more often than the general population. More:

• Montreal firefighters hope to prevent cancer with decontamination measures – CBC News
• Cancer top cause of firefighter fatal workplace claims, study finds – CBC News
• Female firefighters who develop reproductive cancers to get workers' compensation – CBC News
• Firefighters undergo extensive decontamination process after blaze – CBC News
• Unused Fire Gear PFAS Test Results Are “Thousands of Times Higher” than EPA Drinking Water Standards – Station Pride No.1

It’s a myth that environmental regulations stifle economic productivity. Harmful chemicals cost the US $340bn a year. Look at phasing out lead in gasoline. To this day, the US receives a $200bn annual economic stimulus package each year because lead levels in children plummeted when the US Environmental Protection Agency moved to protect children. More:

• How banning dangerous chemicals could save the US billions – The Guardian
• Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the USA- a population-based disease burden and cost analysis  (Research abstract)

From strapping zip ties on to cabinets to popping plastic covers into outlets, new parents do what they can to control their newborn’s environment. But beyond the visible, there are more obscure health concerns from additives and contaminants found in unexpected places. More:

• A parent's guide to avoiding potentially toxic chemicals – The Guardian
• Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit – University of California
• Center for Children's Health, the Environment, the Microbiome and Metabolomics (C-CHEM²) – Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing

Reducing chemical exposures at home

• Detox Me app - Tips for healthier living – Silent Spring Institute
• Tips for Cleaning – Silent Spring Institute
• EWG’s Healthy Living- Home Guide: Mattresses – EWG
• Tips for Reducing Exposures to Toxic Flame Retardants – Toxic-Free Future
• Reducing chemical exposures at home- opportunities for action (Research article)

Flame Retardants

• Are your children safe from toxic flame retardant chemicals? – CEH
• Distorting science – Chicago Tribune
• Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) Public Health Statement – US ATSDR
• Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) and Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBBs) Factsheet - National Biomonitoring Program – US CDC
• Exposure to brominated and organophosphate ester flame retardants in U.S. childcare environments: Effect of removal of flame-retarded nap mats on indoor levels (Research article)

Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

• An Overview of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Interim Guidance for Clinicians Responding to Patient Exposure Concerns – US ATSDR
• NTP Monograph on Immunotoxicity Associated with Exposure to Perfluorooctanic Acid (PFOA) or Perfluorooctane Sulfonate – US NTP
• Removing Toxic Fluorinated Chemicals From Your Home’s Tap Water – EWG
• PFAS contamination: Here's what's being done to find solutions – US Today

Pesticides

• Poison-proof Your Home- One Room at a Time- Pesticide Poison Prevention Checklist – US EPA
• Integrated Pest Management in Child Care Centers – US EPA
• Protecting Children from Pesticides: Information for Parents – HealthyChildren.org
• Minimizing Pesticide Risks – NPIC

Thanks to a United Nations-led initiative, Bangladesh is finally getting rid of a huge cache of notoriously toxic and currently illegal pesticide, Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT, as it is commonly known. Thirty four years after the import of a sub-standard DDT consignment which has since been stored at Chattogram Government Medical Sub-depot (MSD), will soon be shipped out of the country and destroyed in an underground incinerator in Germany. More:

• Bangladesh finally getting rid of toxic DDT – Dhaka Tribune

The biosolids are put in the top 12 inches of soil to “improve and maintain productive soils and stimulate plant growth,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But concerns about that practice have been elevated after 2018 testing showed two dozen of Michigan’s wastewater plants are discharging high levels of the chemicals in their liquid waste after water containing PFAS enters the system from industrial sources. That prompted questions about what remains in the solid wastes. More:

• The hunt for PFAS turns to Michigan farms using human waste as fertilizer – Michigan Live
• Wisconsin case shows how sewage plants spread unregulated toxins across landscape – Madison
• Public health experts aim to stop spreading of sludge – Portland Press Herald
• Frequent Questions about Biosolids – US EPA

In a paper published last month in Nature Sustainability, researchers from North America and Western Europe recommend that educators put chemistry in context by devoting more time to how the discipline affects society and the environment. More

• Researchers recommend chemistry educators focus more on environmental impacts – Ensia
• Better living through Green Chemistry – Ensia
• Science Education: Appendix G - Crosscutting Concepts – Nextgenscience
• Why Is a Green Chemistry Education Roadmap Needed? – American Chemical Society
• Systems thinking for education about the molecular basis of sustainability – Nature Sustainability

The case of nitrogen

• We’ve changed a life-giving nutrient into a deadly pollutant. How can we change it back? – Ensia
• Nitrogen pollution is a problem as big as climate change. Science might have a fix – Grist

New data suggest that the safety threshold for PFOA in drinking water should be as low as .1 parts per trillion, according to the nation’s top toxicologist. Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, cited the figure, which is 700 times lower than the safety level set by the Environmental Protection Agency, at a conference on PFAS at Northeastern University last week. More:

• Teflon Toxin Safety Level Should Be 700 Times Lower Than EPA Guideline – The Intercept
• The Teflon Toxin- DuPont and the Chemistry of Deception – The Intercept
• Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) – US NIH
• A Chemical Category-Based Prioritization Approach for Selecting 75 Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) for Tiered Toxicity and Toxicokinetic Testing (Research article)

Human Health Effects

• Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances – California OEHHA
• Nomination Summary for Perfluorinated compounds (N20346) – US NTP
• Nomination Summary for Perfluorinated compounds (N90211) – US NTP
• PFOA Chronic Summary – US NTP
• PFHxS Toxciological Summary Sheet – Minnesota Department of Health
• Associations of Fetal Growth Outcomes with Measures of the Combined Xenoestrogenic Activity of Maternal Serum Perfluorinated Alkyl Acids in Danish Pregnant Women (Research article)

One of the major uses of DDT was controlling insect outbreaks, like spruce budworm, in conifer forests across North America. Thousands of tons of the chemical were blanketed over forests using airplanes and helicopters—and a portion of it washed into the lakes. Bob Weber at The Canadian Press reports that in the province of New Brunswick alone, almost 6,300 tons of the stuff covered forests between 1952 and 1968. More

• Decades After DDT Was Banned, It Still Impacts Canadian Lakes – Smithsonian
• New study shows legacy of DDT to lake ecosystems – Phys.org
• Study Finds Lakes Are Still Filled With DDT 50 Years After It Was Banned – Gizmodo
• 5 New Brunswick lakes have high levels of DDT despite ban on pesticide 46 years ago – Globalnews.ca
• Canadian Sediment Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life - DDT, DDE, and DDD (Environmental Guidelines)
• DDT (General Factsheet)
• Ecological Legacy of DDT Archived in Lake Sediments from Eastern Canada (Research article)
• Global trends in the production and use of DDT for control of malaria and other vector-borne diseases (Research article)

Dangerous chemicals used to create nonstick cookware and fire-fighting foams are showing up in our food. A recent analysis by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found chemical contamination of PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) at multiple levels of the U.S. food supply chain. Here’s what they are and why health experts are concerned about them. More

• What Are ‘Forever Chemicals’ And How Are They Getting in Your Food? – Healthline
• That chocolate cake won’t last forever, but the chemicals in it might – Grist
• Is Oral-B Dental Floss Really Toxic? What You Need to Know – Healthline
• High Levels of Toxic PFAS Chemicals Pollute Breast Milk – The Intercept
• Fact Sheet- 2010-2015 PFOA Stewardship Program - Assessing and Managing Chemicals under TSCA – US EPA
• 3M has long known it was contaminating the US food supply – Quartz
• Damaged health from PFAS costs Europe more than 50 billion euros per year – Quartz

In the early 2000s, residents of a small, Rust Belt city called Tonawanda, New York, began noticing something strange: Over the years, it seemed, an increasing number of people were getting sick — primarily with cancer. Tonawanda’s a highly industrial city with more than 50 polluting facilities situated within a three-mile radius. It was common for the air to feel dense and to smell like gasoline. Residents wondered what toxic chemicals might be in the air and if they were making them sick. More:

• Justice Through Citizen Science- How ‘Chemical Fingerprinting’ Could Change Public Health – The Revelator
• Tonawanda Coke Soil Study Progress Update (January 2019) – University at Buffalo

A recent investigation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found evidence of a class of man-made chemicals that have been linked to cancer in numerous foods sold in mid-Atlantic grocery stores, including samples of meat, seafood, and chocolate cake. More

• The FDA Has Found Trace Amounts of a Worrying 'Forever Chemical' in Our Food – Science Alert
• FDA finds surprisingly high levels of PFAS in certain foods – including chocolate cake – EDF
• FDA Tests Confirm Suspicions about PFAS Chemicals in Food – EWG
• Whole Foods packaging contained little-known chemicals linked to cancer until a report called them out. Here’s how to protect yourself – Business Insider

Regulation

• Governor Inslee Signs Ban on Nonstick Chemicals in Food Packaging – Toxic-Free Future
• San Francisco Bans PFAS Chemicals in Single Use Food Service Ware – SGS

All sewage sludge recently tested by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection was contaminated with PFAS chemicals. The state tested the sludge, solid waste that remains after the treatment of domestic and industrial water, for the presence of three “forever chemicals”: PFOA, PFOS, and PFBS. Of 44 samples taken from Maine farms and other facilities that distribute compost made from the sludge, all contained at least one of the PFAS chemicals. In all but two of the samples, the chemicals exceeded safety thresholds for sludge that Maine set early last year. More

• Toxic PFAS chemicals found in Maine farms fertilized with sewage sludge  –  The Intercept
• Bad Chemistry  –  The Intercept
• PFOA and PFOS Are Only the Best-Known Members of a Very Dangerous Class of Chemicals  –  The Intercept

Human Health Effects and Environmental Fate

• Short-chain Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)  –  Danish Ministry of the Environment
• PFOA and PFOS Cause Lower Sperm Counts and Smaller Penises  –  The Intercept
• National inventory of perfluoroalkyl substances in archived U.S. biosolids from the 2001 EPA National Sewage Sludge Survey (Research article)
• Perfluoroalkyl Acid Distribution in Various Plant Compartments of Edible Crops Grown in Biosolids-Amended soils (Research article)
• Perfluoroalkyl Acid Characterization in U.S. Municipal Organic Solid Waste Composts (Research article)

The rules of healthy eating used to be simple, at least in theory: Consume fewer processed items, avoid sugar, and keep your meals balanced. But scientists are slowly uncovering a hidden threat that's complicating this narrative. An investigation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found evidence of a class of manmade chemicals that have been linked to cancer in numerous foods sold in mid-Atlantic grocery stores, including samples of meat, seafood, and chocolate cake. More:

• The FDA found 'forever chemicals' in meat, seafood, and chocolate cake sold in grocery stores. Here's how worried you should be  –  Business Insider
• FDA finds PFAS at high levels in its first tests of food, report says  –  Michigan Live
• FDA finds surprisingly high levels of PFAS in certain foods – including chocolate cake  –  EDF
• FDA study finds PFAS in grocery store foods  –  Food Packaging Forum
• Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)  –  US FDA
• Statement on FDA’s scientific work to understand per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food, and findings from recent FDA surveys  –  US FDA

Early puberty means a child's body begins to change into that of an adult, showing secondary sex characteristics. It is usually classified as early puberty when a child shows such characteristics before the age of eight or nine ― girls before eight and boys before nine ― which is two years earlier than average. More:

• Obesity, chemical exposure speed up early puberty in children  –  The Korea Times

Now, mounting evidence shows that the emergence of seemingly safer and less persistent “alternatives” to legacy PFASs may pose the same problems as their predecessors. An ineffective and broken regulatory system and weak environmental laws have done little to stymie the ever-revolving chemical treadmill that has contaminated entire communities and put public health at risk.. More:

• These Chemicals Are Forever: Water Contamination from PFOA, PFOS, and other PFAS  –  Food & Water Watch

Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are everywhere. There are thousands of these synthetic compounds, which get used in all sorts of products because of their flame retardant and oil- and water-repelling properties. PFAS coat nonstick pans, water-resistant fabrics, and glossy paper. They’re also in fire-fighting foams. More:

• Eco-friendly packaging could be poisoning our compost  –  Popular Science
• Perfluoroalkyl Acid Characterization in U.S. Municipal Organic Solid Waste Composts (Research article)

The movement to buy sustainably grown flowers is rising as many growers and florists in Australia voice their concerns about the effect chemicals have on the environment and workers' health. More:

• Growers and florists urge consumers to be aware of chemical use in cut-flower industry  –  ABC News
• Risk Assessment of Florists Exposed to Pesticide Residues through Handling of Flowers and Preparing Bouquets (Research article)