Key Publications on EDCs

HEEDS New Science

• New state law makes the case for class-based chemical regulation
  A recent paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives lays out the process behind Washington State’s new “Pollution Prevention” law, which aims to protect human health by regulating classes of hazardous chemicals. In short: The Pollution Prevention for Healthy People and Puget Sound Act was passed in 2019 and requires the assessment of chemical classes used […]
• Agricultural plastic linked to build up of harmful chemicals in wheat
  The use of plastic films in farming has been linked to an accumulation of phthalates - an endocrine disrupting chemical with serious health effects - in both soil and wheat, according to a new study published in Science of the Total Environment. In short: Residue left behind by the breakdown of plastic films in fields […]
• You’re inhaling flame retardants on your morning commute: Study
  The air inside our cars is full of harmful flame retardant chemicals — especially on hot days, according to a study published today in Environmental Science & Technology. Researchers found flame retardants in the cabin air of all 101 cars that they tested. All of the cars were from 2015 or newer and 99% contained […]
• Chemists can now separate four common plastics at once. Will it work as well outside their lab?
  Less than 10% of the world’s plastic is recycled, while about 12% enters incinerators, burn pits, and other systems that release enormous amounts of carbon and toxics into the atmosphere. But the vast majority of the nearly 350 million metric tons of plastic produced every year returns to the Earth, averaging 500 years of slow […]
• Current regulations miss threat of IQ loss from exposure to chemical mixtures
  Current methods for assessing hazardous chemicals fail to account for serious health threats - including IQ loss - posed by exposure to mixtures of different chemicals, according to a study published in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. In short: The chemical mixture examined in this study consisted of chemicals toxic to the […]
• PFAS exposure linked to higher cardiovascular mortality
  For the first time, researchers have demonstrated a clear link between PFAS exposure and an increased risk of cardiovascular-related deaths, a groundbreaking finding in environmental health studies.Tom Perkins reports for The Guardian.In short:A study in Veneto, Italy, has established a direct association between PFAS-contaminated drinking water and increased cardiovascular death rates.The study involved comparing health […]
• 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 […]
• Estrogenic endocrine disruptor exposure linked to erectile dysfunction in mice
  In young adult male mice, lifelong exposure to an estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) caused changes to erectile tissue function that are indicative of erectile dysfunction, according to a study recently published in Communications Biology.In short:Exposure to the estrogenic drug DES caused erectile tissue dysfunction in the tissues of exposed mice.Directly exposing erectile tissues to […]
• PlastChem: State-of-the-science of hazardous chemicals in plastic
  This new state-of-the science report from the PlastChem project addresses chemicals of concern in plastics and ways to address them.
• American Heart Association: Children must be protected from health threats of environmental toxics
  The American Heart Association (AHA) recently published a scientific statement in Circulation highlighting evidence that children’s exposure to environmental pollutants may be a key risk factor for developing cardiovascular conditions throughout their lifespan. In short: There’s a well-established association between cardiovascular diseases and exposure to climate change, air pollution and endocrine disrupting chemicals. Early life […]