Nate Seltenrich

California pesticides
Credit: David Prasad/flickr

In 1996, the EPA was ordered to test pesticides for impacts on people’s hormones. They still don’t.

New lawsuit aims to make the agency do what Congress ordered more than 25 years ago.

In 1996, Congress ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to test all pesticides used on food for endocrine disruption by 1999. The EPA still doesn’t do this today.

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PFAS takeout

Want single-use foodware without harmful chemicals? A new certification will help you find it

Here’s a secret about single-use foodware: brands and manufacturers don’t have to tell what’s in it, and in some cases, they don’t even know.

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food dye children health

Food dyes linked to attention and activity problems in children

Synthetic dyes used as colorants in many common foods and drinks can negatively affect attention and activity in children, according to a comprehensive review of existing evidence published this month by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA).

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As legal cannabis spreads, growers go organic — and beyond
Credit: Buddy Buddy Indoor Natural

As legal cannabis spreads, growers go organic — and beyond

On a noisy, littered block in southeast San Francisco lined end-to-end with mismatched warehouses, Chris Lu grows organic cannabis for discerning customers in California's legal market.

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Inequality of noise exposures: A portrait of the United States.

Noise pollution has been associated with adverse cardiovascular and neurological outcomes.1 It is also unevenly distributed across cities and landscapes and—like many environmental hazards—tends to disproportionately affect lower-income and nonwhite individuals.2 The authors of a new study in Environmental Health Perspectives provide an initial assessment of socioeconomic inequality in environmental noise exposures across the contiguous United States.2

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Phytoestrogens in soy infant formula: Association with DNA methylation in girls has unknown implications.

For years, parents have contended with conflicting reports1,2,3,4,5 in the media and blogosphere on the safety of soy infant formula. Soybeans contain phytoestrogens, which under some conditions mimic or interfere with the estrogens within the human body.6 However, the National Toxicology Program concluded in 2009, based on the research to that point, that exposures to phytoestrogens in soy formula are of “minimal concern.”7 Research in the field continues apace, with a new study providing evidence of an association between soy formula consumption and differences in gene methylation in baby girls—although any health implications remain unknown.8

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climate change health care

Severe flooding increasingly cutting people off from health care

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environmental justice

Agents of Change in Environmental Justice program accepting applications

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Heat, air pollution and climate change … oh my! Was summer 2023 the new normal?

Heat, air pollution and climate change … oh my! Was summer 2023 the new normal?

Intense heat waves induced by climate change create favorable conditions for air pollution to worsen. Scientists say this isn’t likely to change unless action is taken.

BADGE BPA chemical

BPA's evil cousin

An ongoing series examining BADGE — an unregulated danger in epoxy resins.

navajo children

Opinion: Protecting Indigenous children means protecting water

We need to stop compartmentalizing the environment, family and culture as separate problems.