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Flint residents grapple with water crisis a decade later: ‘If we had the energy left, we’d cry’

Years after the emergency, the Michigan city is yet to replace all lead pipes and affected families are still awaiting justiceEarlier this month, Brittany Thomas received a call that her 11-year-old daughter Janiyah had experienced a seizure at school.“She’d been seizure-free for about two years now,” said Thomas, a resident of Flint, Michigan. “And they just came back.” Continue reading...

Earlier this month, Brittany Thomas received a call that her 11-year-old daughter Janiyah had experienced a seizure at school.“She’d been seizure-free for about two years now,” said Thomas, a resident of Flint, Michigan. “And they just came back.”The call took Thomas back to April 2014, when, to save money, the City of Flint switched to a water source that exposed more than 100,000 residents – including up to 12,000 children – to elevated levels of lead and bacteria. Thomas’s family drank bottled water at the time, but they cooked with and bathed in the tap water.Soon after the switch, Thomas and her two children developed rashes on their skin. Then the children began experiencing frequent seizures that sent them in and out of the hospital. Blood tests revealed they had lead poisoning.“I didn’t know how to feel,” she said. “I’ve been depressed, I’ve been frustrated, stressed out – can’t catch a break.”Studies later showed that after officials changed Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River, the percentage of children with elevated levels of lead levels in their blood doubled – and in some parts of the city, tripled. The switch also exposed residents to the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, leading to as many as 115 deaths.Despite an outcry from the predominantly African American community, officials at every level of government were slow to respond. It was nearly two years before Barack Obama, then president, declared a state of emergency in Flint. The Michigan Civil Rights Commission, a state-established body, concluded that the poor governmental response to the Flint crisis was a “result of systemic racism”.Now, a decade after the crisis began, kids are still sick, the city is not done replacing lead pipes and families like Thomas’ are still awaiting justice.“The people of Flint will never trust that water again,” said Pastor Alfred Harris of Concerned Pastors for Social Action. Harris was part of a group of pastors who organized protests and water-filter giveaways, met with lawmakers to urge them to stop sourcing water from the Flint River and sued, along with other groups, the city and state in 2016.“Flint was a poor community and majority people of color,” Harris said. “If it had been in another community – a majority white or more affluent community – I think actions would have been taken much sooner.”There is no safe level of lead exposure. The neurotoxin harms nearly all of the body’s functions, is linked to premature births and miscarriages and has been shown to cause learning and behavior problems, among other ailments, in children.A delivery man hauls bottled water outside of the St Mark Baptist church in Flint, Michigan, on 23 February 2016. Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty ImagesIn 2020, the state of Michigan agreed to a $600m settlement with Flint residents. Eighty percent of that sum would go to children who, like Thomas’ kids, were under 18 when they were exposed to Flint River water, and a district court is now reviewing residents’ claims.Settlement funds can’t come soon enough for claimants like Thomas, who said she lost her job as a result of needing to respond to her kids’ health problems. “They haven’t told us anything,” she said. “They keep giving us different dates … but nobody hasn’t seen nothing.”‘It’s like an open sore’A Flint resident for most of her life, Eileen Hayes moved into her townhome in 1996. When lead contaminated her water, she started losing her hair.“Losing hair on the top of your head changes not only how you can wear your hair, but it changes your self-esteem, how you see yourself, and of course that impacts how you carry yourself,” she said.Hayes continues to buy her own bottled water, years after the state stopped supplying it. “It would have to be a massive change that would make me stop using bottled water,” she said.In 2017, as part of a settlement with Flint residents, officials agreed to replace thousands of lead pipes in the city within three years.Hayes, like many residents, received conflicting information about whether her service lines were checked. “I can’t put the issue behind me until we fix the pipes,” Hayes wrote in a 2023 declaration. “The unfinished program is like an open sore to me.”skip past newsletter promotionOur US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionLast month, a judge held the city in contempt of court for failing to comply with the settlement. “It is apparent that the City has failed to abide by the Court’s orders in several respects,” the order read. “And that it has no good reason for its failures.”Workers prepare to replace a lead water service line at the site of the first Flint home with high lead levels on 4 March 2016. Photograph: Bill Pugliano/Getty ImagesA spokesperson for the City of Flint said lead service line replacement is ongoing. “We have completed outreach to more than 31,000 addresses and there are still 1,900 addresses where we have not been able to get consent from residents to do the work,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. The spokesperson said the city completed work at Hayes’ home in 2021. ‘If we had the energy left, we’d cry’Like Hayes and Thomas, Melissa Mays also pays for bottled water out of pocket. She worries about exposure to microplastics from bottled water, but doesn’t trust the tap.In 2014, even as some areas of the city had brown tap water, her water was clear. So she and her family continued drinking it. When the city set a boil water advisory for bacteria, she boiled the water. “Nobody told us that was making it a ton worse – concentrating the metals,” she explained.Her family consumed contaminated tap water for nine months. Now, her three sons have a long list of medical issues and learning challenges. Like Thomas, she too is waiting on settlement funds to help pay for her kids’ healthcare, school tutors and therapy.Mays said the community is still reeling from the “moral injury” of the crisis – state officials knew of the risks long before telling the public. “We are traumatised from being lied to by the same people that continue to tell us everything’s fine and it’s just in our head,” Mays said.A spokesperson for the Michigan department of environment, Great Lakes and energy (EGLE) wrote, “EGLE has worked hard to make sure Flint residents have the facts and data they need to trust their water again.” The department said it had “wholly revamped its approach to public drinking water”, with new offices added to oversee water. The official also noted that Flint’s drinking water has met federal standards since July 2016.The City of Flint said in a statement that it has made major upgrades to water quality monitoring and water infrastructure, including a new backup water source “to ensure residents have access to water in an emergency and will never again be forced to turn to the Flint River as a water source”. While the city’s water is in compliance with federal lead standards of less than 15 ppb, the city spokesperson said they recognize that “no amount of lead in water is safe”.We are traumatised from being lied to by the same people that continue to tell us everything’s fine and it’s just in our headThe Environmental Protection Agency oversees and tracks compliance with public water systems in Michigan, including Flint. A spokesperson from the agency wrote in an email: “Every community deserves clean water to drink, and the Biden-Harris Administration is working to ensure no family has to worry whether their water is safe when they turn on the tap. That’s why EPA efforts to ensure safe, reliable drinking water for Flint residents are ongoing.” The spokesperson added that the EPA is leveraging $15bn in funding from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to identify and replace lead service lines across the country.Four officials from the local, state and federal governments resigned in the wake of the crisis, including one official from the EPA. Nine leaders in Michigan, including former governor Rick Snyder, were charged with felonies and misdemeanors, but the charges were dropped.Like many residents, Mays was shocked. “Nobody went to jail. How does that happen in America?” she asked. “If we had the energy left, we’d cry.”

Crisis

Energy

Water

How cleaning product chemicals called ‘quats’ may affect the brain

We might be closer to changing course on climate change than we realized

The world might soon see a sustained decline in greenhouse gas emissions. | Eric Yang/Getty Images Greenhouse gas emissions might have already peaked. Now they need to fall — fast. Earth is coming out of the hottest year on record, amplifying the destruction from hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves, and drought. The oceans remain alarmingly warm, triggering the fourth global coral bleaching event in history. Concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere have reached levels not seen on this planet for millions of years, while humanity’s demand for the fossil fuels that produce this pollution is the highest it has ever been. Yet at the same time, the world may be closer than ever to turning a corner in the effort to corral climate change. Last year, more solar panels were installed in China — the world’s largest carbon emitter — than the US has installed in its entire history. More electric vehicles were sold worldwide than ever. Energy efficiency is improving. Dozens of countries are widening the gap between their economic growth and their greenhouse gas emissions. And governments stepped up their ambitions to curb their impact on the climate, particularly when it comes to potent greenhouse gases like methane. If these trends continue, global emissions may actually start to decline. Climate Analytics, a think tank, published a report last November that raised the intriguing possibility that the worst of our impact on the climate might be behind us. “We find there is a 70% chance that emissions start falling in 2024 if current clean technology growth trends continue and some progress is made to cut non-CO2 emissions,” authors wrote. “This would make 2023 the year of peak emissions.” “It was actually a result that surprised us as well,” said Neil Grant, a climate and energy analyst at Climate Analytics and a co-author of the report. “It’s rare in the climate space that you get good news like this.” The inertia behind this trend toward lower emissions is so immense that even politics can only slow it down, not stop it. Many of the worst-case climate scenarios imagined in past decades are now much less likely. The United States, the world’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter, has already climbed down from its peak in 2005 and is descending further. In March, Carbon Brief conducted an analysis of how US greenhouse gas emissions would fare under a second Trump or a second Biden administration. They found that Trump’s stated goals of boosting fossil fuel development and scrapping climate policies would increase US emissions by 4 billion metric tons by 2030. But even under Trump, US emissions are likely to slide downward. This is a clear sign that efforts to limit climate change are having a durable impact. Carbon Brief US emissions are on track to decline regardless of who wins the White House in November, but current policies are not yet in line with US climate goals. However, four months into 2024, it seems unlikely that the world has reached the top of the mountain just yet. Fossil fuel demand is still poised to rise further in part because of more economic growth in developing countries. Technologies like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies are raising overall energy demand as well. Still, that it’s possible at all to conceive of bending the curve in the near term after more than a century of relentless growth shows that there’s a radical change underway in the relationship between energy, prosperity, and pollution — that standards of living can go up even as emissions from coal, oil, and gas go down. Greenhouse gases are not a runaway rocket, but a massive, slow-turning cargo ship. It took decades of technology development, years of global bickering, and billions of dollars to wrench its rudder in the right direction, and it’s unlikely to change course fast enough to meet the most ambitious climate change targets. But once underway, it will be hard to stop. We might be close to an inflection point on greenhouse gas emissions Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, greenhouse gas emissions have risen in tandem with wealth and an expanding population. Since the 1990s and the 2000s, that direct link has been separated in at least 30 countries, including the US, Singapore, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Their economies have grown while their impact on the climate has shrunk per person. In the past decade, the rate of global carbon dioxide pollution has held fairly level or risen slowly even as the global economy and population has grown by wider margins. Worldwide per capita emissions have also held steady over the past decade. “We can be fairly confident that we’ve flattened the curve,” said Michael Lazarus, a senior scientist at SEI US, an environmental think tank, who was not involved in the Climate Analytics study. Still, this means that humanity is adding to the total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — and doing so at close to its fastest pace ever. It’s good that this pace is at least not accelerating, but the plateau implies a world that will continue to get warmer. To halt rising temperatures, humans will have to stop emitting greenhouse gases, zeroing their net output, and even start withdrawing the carbon previously emitted. The world thus needs another drastic downward turn in its emissions trajectory to limit climate change. “I wouldn’t get out any balloons or fireworks over flattening emissions,” Lazarus said. Then there’s the clock. In order to meet the Paris climate agreement target of limiting warming this century to less than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) on average above pre-industrial temperatures, the world must slash carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. That means power generators, trucks, aircraft, farms, construction sites, home appliances, and manufacturing plants all over the world will have to rapidly clean up. The current round of international climate commitments puts the planet on track to warm by 5.4°F (3°C) by the end of the century. That’s a world in which the likelihood of a major heat wave in a given year would more than double compared to 2.7°F of warming, where extreme rainfall events would almost double, and more than one in 10 people would face threats from sea level rise. “That puts us in this race between the really limited time left to bend the emissions curve and start that project towards zero, but we are also seeing this sort of huge growth, an acceleration in clean technology deployment,” Grant said. “And so we wanted to see which of these factors is winning the race at the moment and where we are at.” Grant and his team mapped out three scenarios. The first is a baseline based on forecasts from the International Energy Agency on how current climate policies and commitments would play out. It shows that fossil fuel-related carbon dioxide emissions would reach a peak this year, but emissions of other heat-trapping gases like methane and hydrofluorocarbons would keep rising, so overall greenhouse gas emissions would level off. The second scenario, dubbed “low effort,” builds on the first, but also assumes that countries will begin to fulfill their promises under agreements like the Global Methane Pledge to cut methane pollution 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030 and the Kigali Amendment to phase out HFCs. Under this pathway, total global emissions reach their apex in 2025. The third scenario imagines a world where clean technology — renewable energy, electric vehicles, energy efficiency — continues gaining ground at current rates, outstripping energy demand growth and displacing coal, oil, and natural gas. That would mean greenhouse gases would have already peaked in 2023 and are now on a long, sustained decline. Climate Analytics Global greenhouse gas emissions are likely to fall in the coming years, but the rate of decline depends on policies and technology development. The stories look different when you zoom in to individual countries, however. While overall emissions are poised to decline, some developing countries will continue to see their output grow while wealthier countries make bigger cuts. As noted, the US has already climbed down from its peak. China expects to see its emissions curve change directions by 2025. India, the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter, may see its emissions grow until 2045. All three of these pathways anticipate some sort of peak in global emissions before the end of the decade, illustrating that the world has many of the tools it needs to address climate change and that a lot of work in deploying clean energy and cleaning up the biggest polluters is already in progress. There will still be year-to-year variations from phenomena like El Niño that can raise electricity demand during heat waves or shocks like pandemics that reduce travel or conflicts that force countries to change their energy priorities. But according to the report, the overall trend over decades is still downward. To be clear, the Carbon Analytics study is one of the more optimistic projections out there, but it’s not that far off from what other groups have found. In its own analysis, the International Energy Agency reports that global carbon dioxide emissions “are set to peak this decade.” The consulting firm McKinsey anticipates that greenhouse gases will begin to decline before 2030, also finding that 2023 may have been the apogee. Global emissions could just as easily shoot back up if governments and companies give up on their goals Within the energy sector, Ember, a think tank, found that emissions might have peaked in 2022. Research firm Rystad Energy expects that fossil fuel emissions will reach their pinnacle in 2025. Bending the curve still requires even more deliberate, thoughtful efforts to address climate change — policies to limit emissions, deploying clean energy, doing more with less, and innovation. Conversely, global emissions could just as easily shoot back up if governments and companies give up on their goals. “Peaking is absolutely not a guarantee,” Grant said. And if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, even at a slower rate, Earth will continue heating up. It means more polar ice will melt, lifting sea levels along every ocean, increasing storm surges and floods during cyclones. It means more dangerous heat waves. It means more parts of the world will be unlivable. We’re close to bending the curve — but that doesn’t mean the rest will be easy There are some other caveats to consider. One is that it’s tricky to simply get a full tally of humanity’s total impact on the climate. Scientists can measure carbon dioxide concentrations in the sky, but it’s tougher to trace where those molecules came from. Burning fossil fuels is the dominant way humans add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Since they’re closely tracked commercial commodities, there are robust estimates for their contributions to climate change and how they change over time. But humans are also degrading natural carbon-absorbing ecosystems like mangrove forests. Losing carbon sinks increases the net amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Altering how we use land, like clearing forests for farms, also shifts the balance of carbon. These changes can have further knock-on effects for the environment, and ecosystems like tropical rainforests could reach tipping points where they undergo irreversible, self-propagating shifts that limit how much carbon they can absorb. All this makes it hard to nail down a specific time frame for when emissions will peak and what the consequences will be. There’s also the thorny business of figuring out who is accountable for which emissions. Fossil fuels are traded across borders, and it’s not always clear whose ledger high-polluting sectors like international aviation and shipping should fall on. Depending on the methodology, these gray areas can lead to double-counting or under-counting. “It’s very difficult to get a complete picture, and even if we get the little bits and pieces, there’s a lot of uncertainty,” said Luca Lo Re, climate and energy analyst at the IEA. Even with these uncertainties, it’s clear that the scale of the course correction needed to meet climate goals is immense. According to the Climate Analytics report, to meet the 2030 targets for cutting emissions, the world will need to stop deforestation, stop any new fossil fuel development, double energy efficiency, and triple renewable energy. Another way to illustrate the enormity of this task is the Covid-19 pandemic. The world experienced a sudden drop in global emissions as travel shut down, businesses closed, people stayed home, and economies shrank. Carbon dioxide output has now rebounded to an even higher level. Reducing emissions on an even larger scale without increasing suffering — in fact, improving welfare for more people — will require not just clean technology but careful policy. Seeing emissions level off or decline in many parts of the world as economies have grown in recent decades outside of the pandemic is an important validation that the efforts to limit climate change are having their intended effect. “Emissions need to decrease for the right reasons,” Lo Re said. “It is reasonable to believe our efforts are working.” The mounting challenge is that energy demand is poised to grow. Even though many countries have decoupled their emissions from their GDPs, those emissions are still growing. Many governments are also contending with higher interest rates, making it harder to finance new clean energy development just as the world needs a massive buildout of solar panels, wind turbines, and transmission lines. And peaking emissions isn’t enough: They have to fall. Fast. The longer it takes to reach the apex, the steeper the drop-off needed on the other side in order to meet climate goals. Right now, the world is poised to walk down a gentle sloping hill of greenhouse gas emissions instead of the plummeting roller coaster required to limit warming this century to less than 2.7°F/1.5°C. It’s increasingly unlikely that this goal is achievable. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change To meet global climate targets, greenhouse gas emissions need to fall precipitously. Finally, the ultimate validation of peak greenhouse emissions and a sustained decline can only be determined with hindsight. “We can’t know if we peaked in 2023 until we get to 2030,” said Lazarus. The world may be closer than ever to bending the curve on greenhouse gas emissions downward, but those final few degrees of inflection may be the hardest. The next few years will shape the warming trajectory for much of the rest of the century, but obstacles ranging from political turmoil to international conflict to higher interest rates could slow progress against climate change just as decarbonization needs to accelerate. “We should be humble,” Grant said. “The future is yet unwritten and is in our hands.”

Climate

Business

Energy

10 times as much of toxic pesticide could end up on your tomatoes and celery under new EPA proposal

Against the guidance of scientists, the EPA is relying on industry-backed tests to relax regulations on acephate

When you bite into a piece of celery, there’s a fair chance that it will be coated with a thin film of a toxic pesticide called acephate. The bug killer — also used on tomatoes, cranberries, Brussels sprouts and other fruits and vegetables — belongs to a class of compounds linked to autism, hyperactivity and reduced scores on intelligence tests in children. But rather than banning the pesticide, as the European Union did more than 20 years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed easing restrictions on acephate. The federal agency’s assessment lays out a plan that would allow 10 times more acephate on food than is acceptable under the current limits. The proposal was based in large part on the results of a new battery of tests that are performed on disembodied cells rather than whole lab animals. After exposing groups of cells to the pesticide, the agency found “little to no evidence” that acephate and a chemical created when it breaks down in the body harm the developing brain, according to an August 2023 EPA document. The EPA is moving ahead with the proposal despite multiple studies linking acephate to developmental problems in children and lab rats, and despite warnings from several scientific groups against using the new tests on cells to relax regulations, interviews and records reviewed by ProPublica show. To create the new tests designed to measure the impact of chemicals on the growing brain, the EPA worked with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which comprises some of the world’s wealthiest democratic countries and conducts research on economic, social and scientific issues. The OECD has warned against using the tests to conclude a chemical does not interfere with the brain’s development. "It’s exactly what we recommended against." A scientific advisory panel the EPA consulted found that, because of major limitations, the tests “may not be representative of many processes and mechanisms that could” harm the developing nervous system. California pesticide regulators have argued that the new tests are not yet reliable enough to discount results of the older animal tests. And the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, a second group of advisers handpicked by the EPA, also warned against using results of the nonanimal tests to dismiss concerns. “It’s exactly what we recommended against,” Veena Singla, a member of the children’s committee who also teaches at Columbia University, said of the EPA’s acephate proposal. “Children’s development is exquisitely sensitive to toxicants. … It’s disappointing they’re not following the science.” The EPA’s proposal, which could be finalized later this year, marks one of the first times the agency has recommended changing its legal safety threshold largely based on nonanimal tests designed to measure a chemical’s impact on the developing brain. And in March, the EPA released a draft assessment of another pesticide in the same class, malathion, that also proposes loosening restrictions based on similar tests. The proposed relaxing of restrictions on both chemicals comes even as the Biden administration has been strengthening limits on several other environmental contaminants, including some closely related pesticides. In response to questions from ProPublica, the EPA acknowledged that it “will need to continually build scientific confidence” in these new methods but said that the introduction of the nonanimal tests to predict the danger chemicals pose to the developing brain “has not been done in haste. Rather, a methodical, step-wise approach has been implemented over the course of more than a decade.” The agency said its recent review of acephate included a thorough examination of a variety of scientific studies and that, even with its proposed changes, children and infants would still be protected. The EPA expects to start accepting public comments on the acephate proposal in the coming months before it makes a final decision. The agency anticipates soliciting comments on malathion this summer. Some environmental scientists strongly oppose loosening the restrictions on both acephate and malathion, arguing that the new tests are not reliable enough to capture all the hazards a chemical poses to the developing brain. “It will put children at an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and ADHD that we already know are linked to this class of chemicals,” said Rashmi Joglekar, a toxicologist at the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California, San Francisco. Health and environmental scientists are concerned about more than the direct impact of having potentially greater amounts of acephate and malathion on celery and other produce. They also worry that using the new tests as a basis for allowing more pesticides on crops will set a dangerous precedent for other brain-harming chemicals. “I think the companies see this as a new way over a 10- or 20-year period to gradually lobby” the EPA “to allow higher levels of pesticides in food,” said Charles Benbrook, an agricultural economist who has monitored pesticide regulation for decades. “If they can convince regulators to not pay attention to animal studies, they have a very good chance of raising the allowable exposure levels.” Industry helped fashion EPA’s testing strategy Since its founding in 1970, the EPA has relied on studies of mice, rats, guinea pigs and other species to set exposure limits for chemicals. The lab animals serve as a proxy for humans. Scientists expose them to different doses of substances and watch to see what levels cause cancer, reproductive problems, irritation to the skin and eyes, or other conditions. Some tests look specifically at chemicals’ effects on the offspring of rats exposed during pregnancy, and some of those tests focus on the development of their brains and nervous systems. But over the past decade, chemical manufacturers and animal rights advocates have argued for phasing out the tests on the grounds they are impractical and inhumane. The animal experiments are also expensive, and the pesticide industry, which by law shoulders the cost of testing its products, is among the biggest proponents of the change. The EPA has allowed the chemical industry and animal rights groups to help fashion its testing strategy. Agency officials have co-authored articles and held workshops on the use of the cell-based tests to regulate chemicals alongside representatives of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals as well as Corteva Agriscience, BASF and Syngenta Crop Protection, companies that make pesticides regulated by the EPA. The EPA said its scientists have been working to develop the nonanimal tests for decades with other government and scientific organizations, both nationally and internationally. “It is absurd to describe those scientific efforts as an apparent conflict of interest,” the agency said in a statement. The EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs has previously come under fire for its willingness to allow pesticides onto the market without required toxicity testing. In 2018, as The Intercept reported, staff members held a party to celebrate a milestone: The number of legally required tests the office had waived for pesticide companies had reached 1,000. A science adviser to the office at the time said the move spared companies more than $6 million in expenses. "It will put children at an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and ADHD that we already know are linked to this class of chemicals." While phasing out animal experiments would save money and animal lives, experiments involving collections of cells do not always accurately predict how entire organisms will respond to exposure to a toxic chemical. The new cell-based tests and computer techniques that are sometimes used with them can be reliable predictors of straightforward effects like eye or skin irritation. But they are not yet up to the task of modeling the complex, real-world learning disorders that have been linked to acephate and malathion, according to Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy organization. The new tests can show whether a chemical can kill a brain cell. And they can show if a chemical affects how a brain cell connects with other brain cells, said Sass. “But these tests can’t show that a kid is going to be able to sit through class and not go to the principal’s office,” she said. While the cell-based tests may point to certain harms, they are likely to miss others, said Sass, who likens their use to fishing with a loose net. “You only know what you caught — the big stuff,” she said. “You don’t know about all the little stuff that got through.” A 2023 study revealed the failure of the cell-based tests to detect certain problems. In it, scientists exposed brain cells to 28 chemicals known to interfere with the development of the nervous system. Although the tests were specifically designed to assess whether chemicals harm growing brains, they failed to clearly identify harm in one-third of the substances known to cause these very problems. Instead of registering as harmful, the test results on these established developmental neurotoxins were either borderline or negative. Because of these potential blind spots and other uncertainties associated with the tests, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has advised against interpreting results of the nonanimal tests as evidence that a chemical doesn’t damage the brain. Several scientific groups have recommended that the EPA do the same. A federal advisory panel of scientists assembled to advise the EPA on pesticide-related issues published a 2020 report that identified numerous limitations and gaps in the nonanimal studies, finding that they “underestimated the complexity of nervous system development.” In 2021, the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, a group the EPA created to provide advice on how to best protect children from environmental threats, warned the agency that, “due to important limitations,” the test results “cannot be used to rule-out a specific hazard.” In comments to the EPA, California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation also cautioned the agency against using the tests to conclude that a chemical doesn’t cause specific harms. The California regulators emphasized that the traditional battery of animal tests was still necessary to understand complex outcomes like the effects on children’s developing brains. “To abandon it at this time would be to abandon a critical support for health-protective decisions,” they wrote. EPA accused of double standard As much as 12 million pounds of acephate were used on soybeans, Brussels sprouts and other crops in 2019, according to the most recent estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey. The federal agency estimates that up to 30% of celery, 35% of lettuce and 20% of cauliflower and peppers were grown with acephate. Malathion is used on crops such as strawberries, blueberries and asparagus. (The U.S. Department of Agriculture prohibits the use of most synthetic pesticides, including acephate and malathion, to grow and process products certified by the agency as organic.) Acephate and malathion belong to a class of chemicals called organophosphates, which U.S. farmers have used for decades because they efficiently kill aphids, fire ants and other pests. But what makes the pesticides good bug killers — their ability to interfere with signals sent between nerve cells — also makes them dangerous to people. For years, there has been a scientific consensus that children are particularly vulnerable to the harms of pesticides, a recognition that led the EPA to strengthen restrictions on them. But with both acephate and malathion, the agency is now proposing to remove that extra layer of protection. The EPA effectively banned another organophosphate pesticide, chlorpyrifos, in 2021, based in part on evidence linking it to ADHD, autism and reduced IQ in children. (In response to a lawsuit brought by a company that sells the pesticide and several agricultural groups, a court vacated the ban in December, allowing the resumed use of chlorpyrifos on certain crops, including cherries, strawberries and wheat.) While some health and farmworker groups are petitioning the EPA to ban all organophosphate pesticides, the agency is arguing that it can adequately protect children by limiting the amount farmers can use. Several studies suggest that, even at currently allowable levels, acephate may already be causing learning disabilities in children exposed to it while in the uterus or in their first years of life. In 2017, a team of University of California, Berkeley researchers, partly funded by the EPA, found that children of Californians who, while pregnant, lived within 1 kilometer of where the pesticide was applied had lower IQ scores and worse verbal comprehension on average than children of people who lived further away. Two years later, a group of UCLA scientists reported that mothers who lived near areas where acephate was used during their pregnancies had children who were at an increased risk of autism with an intellectual disability. The EPA considered this research when deciding to relax the limits on acephate use but stated that flaws and inconsistencies made these epidemiological studies “not compelling.” The agency also dismissed a rat study submitted to the EPA in 2005 in which the pups of mother rats exposed to higher levels of acephate were, on average, less likely to move than the pups of mothers exposed to lower levels. The EPA told ProPublica that “no conclusions could be drawn” from the experiment, citing the “high variability of the data” it produced. But some scientists outside the agency find that study a particularly worrisome indication of the pesticide’s potential to harm children. In its proposals to increase the allowable amount of both acephate and malathion on food, the EPA also had to look past other potentially concerning test results. Some of the cell-based tests of acephate showed borderline results for interference with brain functions, while some of the tests of malathion clearly indicated specific problems, including interference with the connections between nerve cells and the growth of certain parts of nerve cells. Several scientists interviewed by ProPublica said that such results demand further investigation. Some scientists see a double standard in the agency accepting the imperfect nonanimal tests while citing flaws in other research as reasons to dismiss it. “They’re acknowledging limitations in epidemiology while at the same time not acknowledging the even greater limitations of using a clump of cells in a petri dish to try to model what’s happening in a really complex organism,” said Nathan Donley, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy organization. Asked about the criticism, an EPA spokesperson wrote in an email to ProPublica that the agency “does not believe there was a double standard applied.” ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Read more about the environment

Agriculture

Animals

Chemicals

Mosquito season is upon us. So why are Southern California officials releasing more of them?

Vector control officials in Southern California are starting to release sterilized male mosquitoes to combat the summertime onslaught of ankle biters.

Jennifer Castellon shook, tapped and blew on a box to shoo out more than 1,000 mosquitoes in a quiet, upscale Inland Empire neighborhood.The insects had a job to do, and the pest scientist wanted every last one out. Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science. Their task? Find lady mosquitoes and mate.But these were no ordinary mosquitoes. Technicians had zapped the insects, all males, with radiation in a nearby lab to make them sterile. If they achieve their amorous quest, there will be fewer baby mosquitoes than there would be if nature ran its course. That means fewer mouths to feed — mouths that thirst for human blood. “I believe, fingers crossed, that we can drop the population size,” said Solomon Birhanie, scientific director for the West Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, which released the mosquitoes in several San Bernardino County neighborhoods this month. Sterilized male Aedes mosquitoes are released from a box in Rancho Cucamonga. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) Controlling mosquitoes with mosquitoes Mosquito control agencies in Southern California are desperate to tamp down an invasive mosquito — called Aedes aegypti — that has exploded in recent years. Itchy, unhappy residents are demanding it. And the mosquitoes known for fierce ankle biting aren’t just putting a damper on outdoor hangouts — they also spread disease. The low-flying, day-biting mosquitoes can lay eggs in tiny water sources. A bottle cap is fair game. And they might lay a few, say, in a plant tray and others, perhaps, in a drain. Tackling the invaders isn’t easy when it can be hard to even locate all the reproduction spots. So public health agencies increasingly are trying to use the insects’ own biology against them by releasing sterilized males. The West Valley district, which covers six cities in San Bernardino County, rolled out the first program of this kind in California last year. Now they’re expanding it. Next month, a vector district covering a large swath of Los Angeles County will launch its own pilot, followed by Orange County in the near future. Other districts are considering using the sterile insect technique, as the method is known, or watching early adopters closely. Newsletter Toward a more sustainable California Get Boiling Point, our newsletter exploring climate change, energy and the environment, and become part of the conversation — and the solution. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. On the plus side, it’s an approach that doesn’t rely on pesticides, which mosquitoes become resistant to, but it requires significant resources and triggers conspiracy theories.“People are complaining that they can’t go into their backyard or barbecue in the summer,” Birhanie said at his Ontario lab. “So we needed something to strengthen our Aedes control.” Of particular concern is the Aedes aegypti, which love to bite people — often multiple times in rapid succession.Releasing sterilized male insects to combat pests is a proven scientific technique, but using it to control invasive mosquitoes is relatively new. Vector control experts often point to the success of a decades-long effort in California to fight Mediterranean fruit flies by dropping enormous quantities of sterile males from small planes. That program, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, costs about $16 million a year. That’s nearly four times West Valley’s annual budget.So rather than try to tackle every nook and cranny of the district, encompassing roughly 650,000 residents, West Valley decided to use a more targeted approach. If a problem area reaches a certain threshold — over 50 mosquitoes counted in an overnight trap — it becomes a candidate. And it’s still a big lift. About 10,000 mosquitoes are reared at a time at West Valley’s facility, about half of which will be males. The males are separated out, packed into cups and placed into an X-ray machine that looks like a small refrigerator. The sterilizing process isn’t that different from microwaving a frozen dinner. Zap them on a particular setting for four to five minutes and they’re good to go. Equipment purchased for the program costs roughly $200,000, said Brian Reisinger, spokesperson for the district. He said it was too early to pin down a cost estimate for the program, which is expanding. Some districts serving more people are going bigger. The Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District plans to unleash up to 60,000 mosquitoes a week in two neighborhoods in Sunland-Tujunga from mid-May through November.With the sterile-insect program, “the biggest hurdle we’re up against really is scalability,” said Susanne Kluh, general manager of the L.A. County district, which is responsible for nearly 6 million residents across 36 cities. In part to save money, Kluh’s district has partnered with the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District. They’re sharing equipment and collaborating on studies, but L.A. County’s releases will move forward first, said Brian Brannon, spokesperson for the O.C. district. Orange County expects to release its “ankle biter fighters,” as Brannon called them, in Mission Viejo this fall or next spring. So far, the L.A. County district has shelled out about $255,000 for its pilot, while O.C. has spent around $160,000. It’s a relatively small portion of their annual budgets: L.A. at nearly $25 million and O.C. at $17 million. But the area they’re targeting is modest.Mosquito control experts tout sterilization for being environmentally friendly because it doesn’t involve spraying chemicals, and it may have a longer-lasting effectiveness than pesticides. It can also be done now. Other methods involving genetically modified mosquitoes and ones infected with bacteria are stuck in an approval process that spans federal and state agencies. One technique, involving the bacteria Wolbachia was recently approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and is now heading to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to review, said Jeremy Wittie, general manager for the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. “Using pesticides or insecticides, resistance crops up very quickly,” said Nathan Grubaugh, associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. Vector control experts hope the fact that the sterilization technique doesn’t involve genetic modification will tamp down conspiracy theories that have cropped up around mosquito releases. One erroneous claim is that a Bill Gates-backed effort to release mosquitoes was tied to malaria cases in Florida and Texas. Reputable outlets debunked the conspiracy theory, pointing out that Gates’ foundation didn’t fund the Florida project and that the type of mosquito released (Aedes) does not transmit malaria. To get ahead of concerns, districts carrying out the releases say they’ve engaged in extensive outreach and education campaigns. Residents’ desire to rid themselves of a scourge may overcome any anxieties.“I think if you have the choice of getting eaten alive by ankle biters or having a DayGlo male X-rayed mosquito come by looking for a female to not have babies with, you’d probably go for the latter,” Brannon said. (“DayGlo” is a riff on the fluorescent pigment product of the same name — the sterilized mosquitoes were dusted with bright colors to help identify them.) Sterilized male mosquitoes buzz around vector ecologist Jennifer Castellon as they are released in Rancho Cucamonga earlier this month. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) Disease at our doorstep As the climate warms and some regions become wetter, dengue is expanding to areas it’s never been seen before — and surging in areas where it’s established. Florida has seen alarming spikes in the viral infection in recent years, and Brazil and Puerto Rico are currently battling severe outbreaks. While most people infected with dengue have no symptoms, it can cause severe body aches and fever and, in rare cases, death. Its alias, “breakbone fever,” provides a grim glimpse into what it can feel like.In October of last year, the city of Pasadena announced the Golden State’s first documented locally transmitted case of dengue, describing it as “extremely rare” in a news release. That same month, a second case was confirmed in Long Beach. Local transmission means the patient hadn’t traveled to a region where dengue is common; they may have been bitten by a mosquito carrying the disease in their own neighborhood. Surging dengue abroad means there’s more opportunity for travelers to bring it home. However, Grubaugh said it doesn’t seem that California is imminently poised for a “Florida-like situation,” where there were nearly 1,000 cases in 2022, including 60 that were locally acquired. Southern California in particular lacks heavy rainfall that mosquitoes like, he said. But some vector experts believe more locally acquired cases are inevitable. Ale Macias releases sterilized male mosquitoes in Upland this month. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) Set them free In mid-April, a caravan of staffers from the West Valley district traveled to five mosquito “hot spots” in Chino, Upland and Rancho Cucamonga — where data showed mosquito levels were particularly high — to release their first batches of sterilized male mosquitoes for the year. Peak Aedes season is months away, typically August to October in the district, and Birhanie said that’s the point. The goal is to force down the numbers to prevent an itchy tsunami later.Males don’t bite, so the releases won’t lead to more inflamed welts. But residents might notice more insects in the air. Sterilized males released by West Valley will outnumber females in the wild by at least 100 to 1 to increase their chances of beating out unaltered males, spokeperson Reisinger said. “They’re not going to be contributing to the biting pressure; they’re just going to be looking for love,” as Reisinger put it. Eggs produced by a female after a romp with a sterile male don’t hatch. And female mosquitoes typically mate only once, meaning all her eggs are spoiled, so to speak. Vector experts say the process drives down the population over time.Interestingly, the hot spots were fairly spread out across the district, indicative of the bloodsuckers’ widespread presence and adaptive nature. A picturesque foothills community in Upland was “especially interesting” because of its relatively high elevation, Birhanie said.It was once inhabited primarily by another invasive mosquito that prefers colder, mountainous climates. Construction and deforestation in the area has literally paved the way for its humidity- and heat-loving brethren to move in.Another neighborhood, in Rancho Cucamonga, posed a mystery. For the last two years, mosquito levels were consistently high. Door-to-door inspections, confoundingly, didn’t reveal the source.“That’s one of the things about invasive Aedes mosquitoes — you can’t find them,” he said. Next steps Some vector control experts want to see a regional approach to sterile mosquito releases, similar to the state Medfly program. Jason Farned, district manager for the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, believes a widespread effort “would be much more effective” and thinks that will come in time. There are no talks underway to make it happen, and it’s not yet clear how it would work. Vector control agencies are set up to serve their local communities.Fears of a bad mosquito year ahead are bubbling as the weather warms. Rain — which there was plenty of this spring — can quickly transform into real estate for mosquito reproduction.When the swarms come, mosquito haters can take typical precautions: dump standing water and wear repellent. And they can root for the sterile males to get lucky.

Agriculture

Chemicals

Climate

Ancient DNA Decoded: Tracing Neurodegenerative Diseases to Prehistoric Herders

A significant study reveals that genes associated with multiple sclerosis were introduced to north-western Europe 5,000 years ago by migrating livestock herders, impacting modern susceptibility...

The new study has found the genes that significantly increase a person’s risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) were introduced into north-western Europe around 5,000 years ago by sheep and cattle herders migrating from the east. Credit: SayoStudioA significant study reveals that genes associated with multiple sclerosis were introduced to north-western Europe 5,000 years ago by migrating livestock herders, impacting modern susceptibility to the disease.Researchers have created the world’s largest ancient human gene bank by analyzing the bones and teeth of almost 5,000 humans who lived across Western Europe and Asia up to 34,000 years ago.By sequencing ancient human DNA and comparing it to modern-day samples, the international team of experts mapped the historical spread of genes – and diseases – over time as populations migrated. The ‘astounding’ results have been revealed in four trailblazing research papers published in the journal Nature and provide new biological understanding of debilitating disorders.The extraordinary study involved a large international team led by Professor Eske Willerslev at the Universities of Cambridge and Copenhagen, Professor Thomas Werge at the University of Copenhagen, and Professor Rasmus Nielsen at University of California, Berkeley, and involved contributions from 175 researchers from around the globe.The scientists found:The startling origins of neurodegenerative diseases including multiple sclerosisWhy northern Europeans today are taller than people from southern EuropeHow major migration around 5,000 years ago introduced risk genes into the population in north-western Europe – leaving a legacy of higher rates of MS todayCarrying the MS gene was an advantage at the time as it protected ancient farmers from catching infectious diseases from their sheep and cattleGenes known to increase the risk of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and type 2 diabetes were traced back to hunter gatherersFuture analysis is hoped to reveal more about the genetic markers of autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depressionNorthern Europe has the highest prevalence of multiple sclerosis in the world. A new study has found the genes that significantly increase a person’s risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) were introduced into north-western Europe around 5,000 years ago by sheep and cattle herders migrating from the east.By analyzing the DNA of ancient human bones and teeth, found at documented locations across Eurasia, researchers traced the geographical spread of MS from its origins on the Pontic Steppe (a region spanning parts of what are now Ukraine, South-West Russia, and the West Kazakhstan Region).They found that the genetic variants associated with a risk of developing MS ‘traveled’ with the Yamnaya people – livestock herders who migrated over the Pontic Steppe into North-Western Europe.These genetic variants provided a survival advantage to the Yamnaya people, most likely by protecting them from catching infections from their sheep and cattle. But they also increased the risk of developing MS.“It must have been a distinct advantage for the Yamnaya people to carry the MS risk genes, even after arriving in Europe, despite the fact that these genes undeniably increased their risk of developing MS,” said Professor Eske Willerslev, jointly at the Universities of Cambridge and Copenhagen and a Fellow of St John’s College, an expert in analysis of ancient DNA and Director of the project.He added: “These results change our view of the causes of multiple sclerosis and have implications for the way it is treated.”The age of specimens ranges from the Mesolithic and Neolithic through the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Viking period into the Middle Ages. The oldest genome in the data set is from an individual who lived approximately 34,000 years ago.The findings provide an explanation for the ‘North-South Gradient’, in which there are around twice as many modern-day cases of MS in northern Europe than in southern Europe, which has long been a mystery to researchers.From a genetic perspective, the Yamnaya people are thought to be the ancestors of the present-day inhabitants of much of North-Western Europe. Their genetic influence on today’s population of southern Europe is much weaker.Previous studies have identified 233 genetic variants that increase the risk of developing MS. These variants, also affected by environmental and lifestyle factors, increase disease risk by around 30 percent. The new research found that this modern-day genetic risk profile for MS is also present in bones and teeth that are thousands of years old.“These results astounded us all. They provide a huge leap forward in our understanding of the evolution of MS and other autoimmune diseases. Showing how the lifestyles of our ancestors impacted modern disease risk just highlights how much we are the recipients of ancient immune systems in a modern world,” said Dr William Barrie, a postdoc in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology and co-author of the paper.Multiple sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the ‘insulation’ surrounding the nerve fibres of the brain and spinal cord. This causes symptom flares known as relapses as well as longer-term degeneration, known as progression.Professor Lars Fugger, a co-author of the MS study professor and consultant physician at John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, said: “This means we can now understand and seek to treat MS for what it actually is: the result of a genetic adaptation to certain environmental conditions that occurred back in our prehistory.”Professor Astrid Iversen, another co-author based at the University of Oxford, said: “We now lead very different lives to those of our ancestors in terms of hygiene, diet, and medical treatment options and this combined with our evolutionary history means we may be more susceptible to certain diseases than our ancestors were, including autoimmune diseases such as MS.”The Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre – the resource underpinning the discoveriesThe new findings were made possible by the analysis of data held in a unique gene bank of ancient DNA, created by the researchers over the past five years with funding from the Lundbeck Foundation.This is the first gene bank of its kind in the world and already it has enabled fascinating new insights in areas from ancient human migrations, to genetically-determined risk profiles for the development of brain disorders.By analyzing the bones and teeth of almost 5,000 ancient humans, held in museum collections across Europe and Western Asia, the researchers generated DNA profiles ranging across the Mesolithic and Neolithic through the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Viking period into the Middle Ages. They compared the ancient DNA data to modern DNA from 400,000 people living in Britain, held in the UK Biobank.“Creating a gene bank of ancient DNA from Eurasia’s past human inhabitants was a colossal project, involving collaboration with museums across the region,” said Willerslev.He added: “We’ve demonstrated that our gene bank works as a precision tool that can give us new insights into human diseases, when combined with analyses of present-day human DNA data and inputs from several other research fields. That in itself is amazing, and there’s no doubt it has many applications beyond MS research.”The team now plans to investigate other neurological conditions including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, and psychiatric disorders including ADHD and schizophrenia.They have received requests from disease researchers across the world for access to the ancient DNA profiles, and eventually aim to make the gene bank open access.The research was funded by a €8M grant from the Lundbeck Foundation, and conducted at the Lundbeck Foundation Geogenetics Centre at the University of Copenhagen.Jan Egebjerg, Director of Research at the Lundbeck Foundation, said: “The rationale for awarding such a large research grant to this project, as the Lundbeck Foundation did back in 2018, was that if it all worked out, it would represent a trail-blazing means of gaining a deeper understanding of how the genetic architecture underlying brain disorders evolved over time. And brain disorders are our specific focus area.”References:“Elevated genetic risk for multiple sclerosis emerged in steppe pastoralist populations” by William Barrie, Yaoling Yang, Evan K. Irving-Pease, Kathrine E. Attfield, Gabriele Scorrano, Lise Torp Jensen, Angelos P. Armen, Evangelos Antonios Dimopoulos, Aaron Stern, Alba Refoyo-Martinez, Alice Pearson, Abigail Ramsøe, Charleen Gaunitz, Fabrice Demeter, Marie Louise S. Jørkov, Stig Bermann Møller, Bente Springborg, Lutz Klassen, Inger Marie Hyldgård, Niels Wickmann, Lasse Vinner, Thorfinn Sand Korneliussen, Morten E. Allentoft, Martin Sikora, Kristian Kristiansen, Santiago Rodriguez, Rasmus Nielsen, Astrid K. N. Iversen, Daniel J. Lawson, Lars Fugger and Eske Willerslev, 10 January 2024, Nature.DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06618-z“The selection landscape and genetic legacy of ancient Eurasians” by Evan K. Irving-Pease, Alba Refoyo-Martínez, William Barrie, Andrés Ingason, Alice Pearson, Anders Fischer, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Alma S. Halgren, Ruairidh Macleod, Fabrice Demeter, Rasmus A. Henriksen, Tharsika Vimala, Hugh McColl, Andrew H. Vaughn, Leo Speidel, Aaron J. Stern, Gabriele Scorrano, Abigail Ramsøe, Andrew J. Schork, Anders Rosengren, Lei Zhao, Kristian Kristiansen, Astrid K. N. Iversen, Lars Fugger, Peter H. Sudmant, Daniel J. Lawson, Richard Durbin, Thorfinn Korneliussen, Thomas Werge, Morten E. Allentoft, Martin Sikora, Rasmus Nielsen, Fernando Racimo and Eske Willerslev, 10 January 2024, Nature.DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06705-1“Population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia” by Morten E. Allentoft, Martin Sikora, Alba Refoyo-Martínez, Evan K. Irving-Pease, Anders Fischer, William Barrie, Andrés Ingason, Jesper Stenderup, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Alice Pearson, Bárbara Sousa da Mota, Bettina Schulz Paulsson, Alma Halgren, Ruairidh Macleod, Marie Louise Schjellerup Jørkov, Fabrice Demeter, Lasse Sørensen, Poul Otto Nielsen, Rasmus A. Henriksen, Tharsika Vimala, Hugh McColl, Ashot Margaryan, Melissa Ilardo, Andrew Vaughn, Morten Fischer Mortensen, Anne Birgitte Nielsen, Mikkel Ulfeldt Hede, Niels Nørkjær Johannsen, Peter Rasmussen, Lasse Vinner, Gabriel Renaud, Aaron Stern, Theis Zetner Trolle Jensen, Gabriele Scorrano, Hannes Schroeder, Per Lysdahl, Abigail Daisy Ramsøe, Andrei Skorobogatov, Andrew Joseph Schork, Anders Rosengren, Anthony Ruter, Alan Outram, Aleksey A. Timoshenko, Alexandra Buzhilova, Alfredo Coppa, Alisa Zubova, Ana Maria Silva, Anders J. Hansen, Andrey Gromov, Andrey Logvin, Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen, Bjarne Henning Nielsen, Borja González-Rabanal, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Catriona J. McKenzie, Charleen Gaunitz, Concepción Blasco, Corina Liesau, Cristina Martinez-Labarga, Dmitri V. Pozdnyakov, David Cuenca-Solana, David O. Lordkipanidze, Dmitri En’shin, Domingo C. Salazar-García, T. Douglas Price, Dušan Borić, Elena Kostyleva, Elizaveta V. Veselovskaya, Emma R. Usmanova, Enrico Cappellini, Erik Brinch Petersen, Esben Kannegaard, Francesca Radina, Fulya Eylem Yediay, Henri Duday, Igor Gutiérrez-Zugasti, Ilya Merts, Inna Potekhina, Irina Shevnina, Isin Altinkaya, Jean Guilaine, Jesper Hansen, Joan Emili Aura Tortosa, João Zilhão, Jorge Vega, Kristoffer Buck Pedersen, Krzysztof Tunia, Lei Zhao, Liudmila N. Mylnikova, Lars Larsson, Laure Metz, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Lisbeth Pedersen, Lucia Sarti, Ludovic Orlando, Ludovic Slimak, Lutz Klassen, Malou Blank, Manuel González-Morales, Mara Silvestrini, Maria Vretemark, Marina S. Nesterova, Marina Rykun, Mario Federico Rolfo, Marzena Szmyt, Marcin Przybyła, Mauro Calattini, Mikhail Sablin, Miluše Dobisíková, Morten Meldgaard, Morten Johansen, Natalia Berezina, Nick Card, Nikolai A. Saveliev, Olga Poshekhonova, Olga Rickards, Olga V. Lozovskaya, Olivér Gábor, Otto Christian Uldum, Paola Aurino, Pavel Kosintsev, Patrice Courtaud, Patricia Ríos, Peder Mortensen, Per Lotz, Per Persson, Pernille Bangsgaard, Peter de Barros Damgaard, Peter Vang Petersen, Pilar Prieto Martinez, Piotr Włodarczak, Roman V. Smolyaninov, Rikke Maring, Roberto Menduiña, Ruben Badalyan, Rune Iversen, Ruslan Turin, Sergey Vasilyev, Sidsel Wåhlin, Svetlana Borutskaya, Svetlana Skochina, Søren Anker Sørensen, Søren H. Andersen, Thomas Jørgensen, Yuri B. Serikov, Vyacheslav I. Molodin, Vaclav Smrcka, Victor Merts, Vivek Appadurai, Vyacheslav Moiseyev, Yvonne Magnusson, Kurt H. Kjær, Niels Lynnerup, Daniel J. Lawson, Peter H. Sudmant, Simon Rasmussen, Thorfinn Sand Korneliussen, Richard Durbin, Rasmus Nielsen, Olivier Delaneau, Thomas Werge, Fernando Racimo, Kristian Kristiansen and Eske Willerslev, 10 January 2024, Nature.DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06865-0“100 ancient genomes show repeated population turnovers in Neolithic Denmark” by Morten E. Allentoft, Martin Sikora, Anders Fischer, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Andrés Ingason, Ruairidh Macleod, Anders Rosengren, Bettina Schulz Paulsson, Marie Louise Schjellerup Jørkov, Maria Novosolov, Jesper Stenderup, T. Douglas Price, Morten Fischer Mortensen, Anne Birgitte Nielsen, Mikkel Ulfeldt Hede, Lasse Sørensen, Poul Otto Nielsen, Peter Rasmussen, Theis Zetner Trolle Jensen, Alba Refoyo-Martínez, Evan K. Irving-Pease, William Barrie, Alice Pearson, Bárbara Sousa da Mota, Fabrice Demeter, Rasmus A. Henriksen, Tharsika Vimala, Hugh McColl, Andrew Vaughn, Lasse Vinner, Gabriel Renaud, Aaron Stern, Niels Nørkjær Johannsen, Abigail Daisy Ramsøe, Andrew Joseph Schork, Anthony Ruter, Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen, Bjarne Henning Nielsen, Erik Brinch Petersen, Esben Kannegaard, Jesper Hansen, Kristoffer Buck Pedersen, Lisbeth Pedersen, Lutz Klassen, Morten Meldgaard, Morten Johansen, Otto Christian Uldum, Per Lotz, Per Lysdahl, Pernille Bangsgaard, Peter Vang Petersen, Rikke Maring, Rune Iversen, Sidsel Wåhlin, Søren Anker Sørensen, Søren H. Andersen, Thomas Jørgensen, Niels Lynnerup, Daniel J. Lawson, Simon Rasmussen, Thorfinn Sand Korneliussen, Kurt H. Kjær, Richard Durbin, Rasmus Nielsen, Olivier Delaneau, Thomas Werge, Kristian Kristiansen and Eske Willerslev, 10 January 2024, Nature.DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06862-3

Nature

Exposure to chemicals in plastics linked to cancer diagnoses: Study

There’s an association between higher levels of phenols and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” and previous diagnoses of different types of cancer, researchers from the University of South California found. The study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, looked at data from 10,000 people who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2005 and 2018, digging into people’s environmental exposures to both types of chemicals and history of cancer diagnoses. The team found that women who had higher levels of PFAS and phenols in their blood were more likely to have had a previous diagnosis of melanoma, ovarian cancer or uterine cancer. PFAS “are found in everyday products like non-stick cookware or food containers and in some cases, even in drinking water,” said Max Aung, an assistant professor in the Division of Environmental Health at the University of Southern California and co-author of the new study. Phenols, like BPA, are mixed into plastics to make them more durable. Even if people can take individual actions to minimize risk, Aung advocates for better regulations and policy change. “As public health researchers, it is our duty to address these realized public concerns and conduct studies to better inform insight about PFAS exposure and associated health risks,” he said last year in a press conference hosted by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. See the video above to learn more about the new study.

Chemicals

Food

Science

"Our lives might be on the line"

HOUSTON — This week EHN is publishing letters from eighth grade students at YES Prep Northbrook Middle School in the Houston-area neighborhood of Spring Branch, Texas.English educators Cassandra Harper and Yvette Howard incorporated the environment into a series of lessons in December last year. Each student conducted their own research to begin drafting letters to EHN about their concerns or hopes. EHN reporter Cami Ferrell visited their classrooms to share information about her personal reporting experiences in Houston. The collection of letters, some of which were lightly edited, do not represent the opinions of YES Prep Northbrook or EHN, but are offered here as a peek into the minds of children and their relationship with environmental issues. Read the first, second and third set of letters.Farith JuarezI want to discuss global pollution because it is a severe problem and challenge we all face daily and it does not only affect people, but animals and the environment too. Animals lose their homes due to how much trash we produce and just throw it into places without thinking, whether it is a cup or a plastic bag, it takes months and years for it to decompose. The issue of pollution can affect my community because places like rivers, lakes, ponds, and even sewers are full of trash, making It hard for people to enjoy a day swimming when all the water is dirty and full of trash everywhere you step. Not only is it hard on us, it is especially hard on animals. Imagine having to live in a place where you are constantly surrounded by trash, not only that but animals like turtles can confuse plastic bags with jellyfish and eat them, causing them to choke or suffer health problems in the future. Sometimes in the apartments where I live, the sewers get too full of trash and they start to (spew) all the trash out, making it hard for people who live on the first floor because their apartment may flood, or they cannot get out because of all the water. This problem personally makes me feel hurt because not all manufactured items decompose quickly, it could take years. And by the time that trash is gone, there will be more trash. I am personally worried about our future and the future of our kids because by the time more children are born, they won't be able to know the beautiful Earth we once had because everything will be dirty and full of trash. They won't believe that we once enjoyed life without trash and animals suffering in the dirty water. The government also needs to stop allowing items that take a long time to decompose into the market as well as to stop throwing trash in the water or burning it because it can release harmful chemicals as well as make the earth's atmosphere hotter. I want people to understand that a plastic cup may be the downfall of a whole community or it is one singular trash (item) that (can) take an animal’s life. A thing that all American citizens should be doing is recycling. People need to understand that you can reuse everything, and you will feel better knowing you did not contribute to pollution.- Farith JuarezLucy ElyI am writing to discuss how severe the issue of climate change is, and how we can work to lessen the problem. This is a complex matter that can be made worse by simple decisions we make every day.The main problem is people are producing too much carbon dioxide, causing the planet to heat up, and basically making life more challenging. It harms absolutely everyone on this planet. It personally affects me by making me worry about the future for myself, family, friends, and strangers across the world. In the city of Houston, where I live, there has been an extended drought during spring, summer, and fall. Being just one of the many impacts of climate change.All this terrifies me and makes me feel bad for any ways I’ve possibly contributed to this issue. I’m scared the future won’t be a safe place for all who live here on Earth. I’m worried about future generations suffering, because of the people now and then not doing better. This makes it so important that people can be aware of what is happening, so more things can be done to make the world safer.For example, if climate change were talked about more the government could in theory use someone’s idea to act. I think they could try to make it a requirement to have carbon capture facilities at every place that releases carbon emissions. I want the readers to understand that climate change is real and needs to be taken seriously. - Lucy ElyKeyla CactzoyI am writing to discuss that I have been noticing that summer by summer it is getting hotter and hotter. I am concerned why this is happening. I have also noticed that there have been lots of wildfires which makes me wonder what will happen to the animals' homes? I have been reading articles about animals going to become extinct because of us.Because of people acting like it is not a big deal and not caring about the poor world I feel hopeless as if one day the world would look dead. But it does not have to be this way. We can all put a little effort into the situation, any good little thing you do would be helpful. If people could start learning how to save the world like for example: eat less meat, start using electric cars, and stop leaving trash everywhere. These examples would be more than enough to start taking care of our world, animals, and people.We all have an option to keep hiding from reality like nothing is going on or to be a good person to society and start helping the world out by putting a little effort into the situation. It is your choice in the end just remember that you are doing it for a better future and community and if you think that doing these things will not make a difference just know that it will make a good impact to the world.- Keyla Cactzoy Jessica GodinezRecently we had extreme temperatures in the summer which caused plants to dry up and some people to get heat fevers or skin allergies. Although this keeps happening people don't seem to pay much attention, thinking that soon over time their sickness will wear off, which is obviously not true. If we don't make a change there will be a lot of deaths for animals, plants, and us humans. I feel disappointed (that) people always make their mess not caring who they might put at risk, and they expect other people to clean after them. We can't continue this. We have to keep trying for the better. You might ask, what kind of things do we do to cause climate change? Well, humans like to drive cars because it’s way faster than walking to get to their destination faster. What (some) people don't know is that the back of the car releases carbon dioxide, which is caused by burning gasoline and fuel. That causes air pollution and is one of the major reasons for climate change. We should start making a change by starting to recycle and not throw our trash in our environment like oceans because it can cause animals and plants to suffer. Another thing we can do is protest about climate change to the government and act for ourselves and for the better of our planet.- Jessica Godinez Javier CarrilloThis could affect my community. If climate change gets any worse then that would mean that the weather we know today could get even worse and put thousands if not millions of people’s lives at risk. One example of climate change contributing to the weather is the maximum and minimum temperature in Texas have risen by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit. This personally makes me feel strange of what is to come, and our lives might be on the line. Who knows, someday if climate change is still a problem, then maybe the sun may be too unbearable to even be in. The most important thing I am worried about is the safety of others today and in the future.To address climate change, it is important that everyone in our community does the bare minimum. Everyone, including you, makes an enormous difference. One way the government should protect the climate is to limit the amount of smoke or smog that is released from smokestacks that are built inside factories. But what can you do? Mostly you can do some simple but highly effective things such as recycling or buying electric cars! It might seem as if you are not doing much but you can make a dramatic difference.- Javier Carrillo

Animals

Chemicals

Climate

Republican attorneys general mount a new attack on the EPA’s use of civil rights law

23 states want the Biden administration's EPA to curtail its approach to environmental justice.

For much of its 53-year history, the Environmental Protection Agency let civil rights complaints languish. From Flint, Michigan to the industrial corridors of the Deep South, communities attempting to use federal civil rights law to clean up the pollution in their neighborhoods were largely met with years of silence as their cases piled up in the agency’s backlog. That changed in 2020, after a federal judge ruled that the EPA must conduct timely investigations of civil rights complaints, and staffers began looking into cases where they identified potential discrimination. Now, a slate of red-state attorneys generals are trying to stop the EPA from taking race into account at all. Twenty-three Republican attorneys general filed a petition with the Biden administration’s EPA last week asking the agency to stop using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to regulate pollution. Advocates described the move, spearheaded by Florida’s Ashley Moody, as an attempt to strip the EPA of an avenue for tackling environmental justice, which the agency defines as “the just treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of income, race, color, national origin, Tribal affiliation, or disability, in agency decision-making.” In their petition, the Republican attorneys general argued that in practice, environmental justice “asks the States to engage in racial engineering.” The petition “reads as the next step in a series of actions designed to undermine our civil rights laws,” said Debbie Chizewer, an attorney at Earthjustice leading the organization’s efforts on Title VI. She described petitions to the EPA as important legal mechanisms to compel the agency to act. “It’s a real tool,” she said. “This is an abuse of that tool.” Moody’s office told the Associated Press that the attorneys general would sue the EPA if it didn’t change its ways. The most recent high profile civil rights complaint submitted to the EPA came from residents of Cancer Alley, the stretch of land on the lower Mississippi River in southeast Louisiana home to hundreds of industrial facilities, including a notorious plant owned by the Japanese chemical giant Denka. Starting in the fall of 2022, the EPA spent months negotiating with Louisiana’s environmental and health regulators about how to ease the toxic pollution around Denka and other plants that surround the region’s predominantly Black towns. But the whole process was called off after then Louisiana attorney general Jeff Landry (now the state’s governor) filed suit in May 2023. Landry’s lawsuit attacked decades-old policies on environmental racism, challenging the EPA’s authority to regulate under Title VI. Even though the EPA dropped the complaint in June, the state pursued its litigation, and a federal judge ruled in Louisiana’s favor in January. Judge James Cain said that Louisiana and its “sister states” had found themselves “at the whim of the EPA and its overreaching mandates.” Considered one of the most important provisions of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act, Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in any program that receives funding from the federal government. This includes state agencies, which use federal dollars to administer pollution prevention laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Chizewer described the provision as vital because “our environmental laws are not protecting all communities. Zip codes determine your exposure to environmental harms and Title VI provides a backstop to eliminate that.” Recent attacks on the EPA’s use of Title VI can be traced back to the final days of the Trump administration, when the Department of Justice attempted to push through a rule that would have changed the interpretation of Title VI to only cover intentional discrimination. For decades, federal agencies like the EPA have interpreted Title VI to include in their definition of discrimination “disparate impacts,” the idea that a policy or agency decision can disproportionately hurt a specific group of people, regardless of whether it’s deliberate. The legal argument underpinning the Trump administration’s rule, as well as the Louisiana lawsuit and the most recent petition, is based on the Supreme Court case Alexander vs. Sandoval. The 2001 decision, written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, said that private citizens do not have the right to sue parties under Title VI, meaning the law’s protections could only be advanced by agencies like the EPA. The Republican attorneys general now want to peel back the agency’s ability to use Title VI, too. Claire Glenn, a criminal defense attorney with a background in civil rights law, told Grist that the disparate impact interpretation of Title VI is necessary for keeping communities safe, since companies are wary of appearing discriminatory. “We’re in an era where intentional discrimination is increasingly hard to prove, but discriminatory impacts are not going away,” Glenn said. Title VI is one of a handful of federal regulations that can be used to protect communities from toxic pollution. The Clean Air Act requires states to regulate plants by industry, with each type of facility required to abide by certain standards that limit their emissions. But when companies try to build plants in already polluted areas, Title VI can be used to stop local governments from granting them permits. Over the past five years, the chemical industry has made a concerted effort to expand its footprint in Louisiana. Since the EPA dropped its Title VI case there, residents and advocates have had to find new ways to fight the expansion. The EPA has not yet acknowledged Florida’s petition publicly. Chizewer said that the agency could choose to reject it out of hand, or accept it and start a process to change its own regulations. “I think it’s a test for the EPA,” Chizewer said. “The EPA needs to stand firm and show the importance of this tool.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Republican attorneys general mount a new attack on the EPA’s use of civil rights law on Apr 25, 2024.

Chemicals

Government

Health

Rewiring the Brain: Poverty Linked With Neurological Changes That Affect Behavior, Illness, and Development

Research connects low socioeconomic status to brain alterations impacting educational achievement, mental health, and language development. What influences mental health, academic achievement, and cognitive growth?...

A new review highlights how poverty and low socioeconomic status significantly influence cognitive development, mental health, and educational outcomes, suggesting that these factors contribute to a cycle of generational poverty. It calls for comprehensive interventions to address these far-reaching impacts.Research connects low socioeconomic status to brain alterations impacting educational achievement, mental health, and language development.What influences mental health, academic achievement, and cognitive growth? A recent review published in De Gruyter’s Reviews in the Neurosciences indicates that poverty and low socioeconomic status (SES) are significant contributing factors. While previous research has explored the individual impacts of poverty on the brain and behavior, this review introduces the first integrated framework. It synthesizes evidence from various studies to directly connect brain alterations caused by low SES with behavioral, pathological, and developmental outcomes.SES refers to the social standing of an individual or family, and involves factors such as wealth, occupation, educational attainment, and living conditions. As well as affecting day-to-day life, perhaps surprisingly SES can also have far-reaching consequences for our brains that begin in childhood and persist into adulthood.So, how can poverty and low SES change the brain? The review examines the negative effects of poor nutrition, chronic stress, and environmental hazards (such as pollution and inadequate housing conditions), which are more likely to affect low-SES families. These factors can impair the brain development of children, which in turn can influence their language skills, educational attainment, and risk of psychiatric illness. Stress and Its Impact on LearningFor instance, families with low SES are more likely to experience increased stress levels, and these can affect their children from an early age. Sustained stress can reduce levels of neurogenesis — the growth of new neurons — in the hippocampus, which may impair learning abilities and negatively affect educational attainment and career opportunities in later life.A framework of poverty-related factors and future consequences, such as delay language development, poor educational attainment, and neural abnormalities. Credit: Eid Abo Hamza et al./De GruyterThe unified framework proposed by the researchers also helps to explain generational poverty, which can leave the children of SES families unable to escape their situation when they grow up and become parents themselves. This vicious cycle can be hard to break.Interestingly, the researchers provide an extensive list of proposed studies that could test the validity of their framework and find new ways to break the generational poverty cycle. These include focusing on the effects of low SES in specific brain regions, and identifying techniques to enhance the performance of affected children in school.The review is timely, as inequalities in society widen. Identifying specific mechanisms behind generational poverty could help researchers and policymakers to develop new early interventions. The new framework takes account of the multifactorial nature of generational poverty, and could pave the way for more holistic and sophisticated societal interventions that acknowledge this complexity.“This research sheds light on the profound ways in which poverty and SES affect not just the present living conditions of individuals, but also their cognitive development, mental health, and future opportunities,” said Dr. Eid Abo Hamza of Al Ain University in the United Arab Emirates, who is first author of the review. “By understanding these relationships, society can better address inequalities and support those in disadvantaged situations, potentially leading to interventions that can help break the cycle of poverty.”Reference: “The impact of poverty and socioeconomic status on brain, behaviour, and development: a unified framework” by Eid Abo Hamza, Richard Tindle, Simon Pawlak, Dalia Bedewy and Ahmed A. Moustafa, 15 April 2024, Reviews in the Neurosciences.DOI: 10.1515/revneuro-2023-0163

Education

Health

Pollution

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Rewiring the Brain: Poverty Linked With Neurological Changes That Affect Behavior, Illness, and Development

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Flint residents grapple with water crisis a decade later: ‘If we had the energy left, we’d cry’

How cleaning product chemicals called ‘quats’ may affect the brain

We might be closer to changing course on climate change than we realized

10 times as much of toxic pesticide could end up on your tomatoes and celery under new EPA proposal

Mosquito season is upon us. So why are Southern California officials releasing more of them?

Ancient DNA Decoded: Tracing Neurodegenerative Diseases to Prehistoric Herders

Exposure to chemicals in plastics linked to cancer diagnoses: Study

&quot;Our lives might be on the line&quot;

Republican attorneys general mount a new attack on the EPA’s use of civil rights law

Rewiring the Brain: Poverty Linked With Neurological Changes That Affect Behavior, Illness, and Development

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