PFAS

June 28, 2025

“PFAS are everywhere” – Fears growing about PFAS in pesticides

By Meg Wilcox

Vicki Blazer has studied the health of the smallmouth bass in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for more than 20 years. As a research fishery biologist for the United States Geological Survey (USGS), she keeps a close eye on pollutants and other environmental factors that could be causing diseases and die-offs plaguing the popular sportfish.

Increasingly, her findings – and her fears – are focused on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and how pesticides containing types of PFAS chemicals appear to be accumulating in the fish.

June 20, 2025

Maryland residents search for answers as community struggles to overcome PFAS contamination

By Shannon Kelleher

Rick Wawrzeniak is tired of worrying about “forever chemicals.”

FDA researcher Dr. Sara Handy pours pine nuts into a container for examination.

June 16, 2025

FDA must fix food packaging rules for MAHA to matter, scientists say

By Brian Bienkowski

A grim assessment of children’s health released by the Trump administration last month that pointed to several types of chemicals as contributors to chronic disease has scientists renewing calls for changes in regulatory oversight, particularly at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

June 10, 2025

Alarm sounded over effort to redefine PFAS chemicals

By Shannon Kelleher

Efforts by an international chemistry industry group to create a new, narrower definition for PFAS chemicals appear to be politically motivated, and could lead to weaker regulations of hazardous compounds, according to a group of international scientists.

May 28, 2025

Congress urged to address PFAS crisis threatening Great Lakes, public health

By Brian Bienkowski

A Wednesday congressional briefing, led by the nonprofit Northeast-Midwest Institute, was aimed at giving lawmakers and their staff a deeper understanding of the impacts of — and solutions for — PFAS in the Great Lakes region.

May 22, 2025

Health advocates applaud MAHA report for calling out chemical harms, but say it falls short

By Carey Gillam

Exposures to pesticides and other chemicals, ultra-processed foods and over prescription of medications are among the factors contributing to an epidemic of chronic disease in America’s children, according to a government report issued Thursday by the Trump administration’s controversial “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission.

May 16, 2025

Chemical exposure from ultra-processed foods may contribute to health issues

By Shannon Kelleher

Toxic synthetic chemicals that migrate into ultra-processed foods from packaging, processing equipment and other sources may explain why these foods are so bad for our health, according to a new review article.

May 14, 2025

EPA dropping drinking water limits on four toxic PFAS

By Shannon Kelleher

US regulators said Wednesday they will do away with limits on certain types of toxic chemicals in US drinking water, a move that critics warn could expose millions of Americans to dangerous contaminants.

Aerial_view_of_Kalamazoo_Vegetable_Parchment_Company_(c.1920)

May 10, 2025

Even long after close of polluting paper mill, study finds area residents with high levels of toxins in their blood

By Carey Gillam

Residents of a Michigan community whose drinking water was polluted with toxic chemicals from a long-shuttered paper mill continue to have high levels of the compounds in their bodies, even years after the community switched to alternate water supplies, according to a new study.

May 9, 2025

Maryland residents demand Perdue stop discharging PFAS that pollutes their water

By Shannon Kelleher

Residents of a Maryland community afflicted with contamination from harmful chemicals are demanding that a local soybean processing plant immediately stop releasing toxic PFAS into their drinking and groundwater, violating a federal law that governs the disposal of hazardous waste.