Category: Environmental Effects

Categories : Diet and Nutrition Environmental EffectsTags : Leave a comment

What the Public Protector’s Food Safety Investigation Reveals About Gauteng’s Public Health Early Warning System

On By ModernMedia
Environmental Health Practitioners regularly test drinking and recreational water to detect contamination and help prevent diseases such as cholera and typhoid. (Photo: Unsplash)

By Christina Pitt for Spotlight

From inspecting spaza shops to monitoring water quality, Environmental Health Practitioners help prevent disease before outbreaks occur. A Public Protector investigation reveals why Gauteng municipalities are struggling to deliver these essential public health services. The investigation also helps clarify what is at stake in South Africa’s local government elections in November.

Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) operate as the public health system’s early warning system. They are responsible for identifying and managing environmental health risks before they become public health emergencies.

Whether inspecting food premises, monitoring water quality or investigating environmental health hazards, their work is designed to avert illness. These preventative functions form part of the municipal health services that local governments are required by law to provide and what will be at stake in the local government elections in November.

The importance of these largely invisible health services came into sharp focus when Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka released preliminary findings of an investigation into Gauteng’s food safety system on 17 July 2026.

The probe followed a series of food poisoning incidents involving children in 2024. Among the most high-profile was the death of six children who allegedly consumed contaminated food bought from a spaza shop in Naledi, Soweto.

Rather than focusing only on the poisoning incidents themselves, the Public Protector’s office examined whether Gauteng’s municipalities were adequately delivering the municipal health services responsible for regulating food safety and hygiene standards in the informal business sector.

As the local government elections draw closer, we unpack how municipalities use environmental health services to prevent harm and protect public health, and find out what happens when that system comes under strain.

To start with, we need to understand what municipal health services are, the responsibilities assigned to municipalities by law, and how those services are intended to function.

What are municipal health services?

Food safety is just one of many municipal health services.

Professor Jaap de Visser, National Research Chair in Multilevel Government, Law and Development at the Dullah Omar Institute at the University of the Western Cape, points to the National Health Act for the full list.

The Act defines municipal health services by naming nine preventative functions, including food control, water quality monitoring, waste management, vector control, and environmental pollution control.

These services are primarily delivered by municipal officials called EHPs. How they perform this work is outlined by the National Environmental Health Norms and Standards.

For example, EHPs routinely collect drinking and recreational water samples for laboratory testing to detect contamination and reduce the risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

This table below illustrates the key functions they perform to prevent disease before people become ill.

The National Environmental Health Norms and Standards requires EHPs to adopt a preventative, risk-management approach. In practice, this means rather than inspecting every premises equally, they prioritise activities and facilities that pose the greatest risk to public health.

“Higher-risk premises, for example, those handling high-risk foods, with a history of non-compliance, would be inspected more frequently and receive more intensive oversight,” explained National Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale. “Conversely, lower-risk premises with a strong record of compliance may be inspected less frequently, allowing EHP resources to be directed where they are most needed.”

EHPs also have enforcement powers when they identify breaches of prescribed health standards. They can issue compliance notices, requiring owners or operators to correct a problem within a specified period.

Their work also includes routine inspections, environmental health surveillance, investigating complaints, and educating communities and businesses.

Who is responsible for municipal health services?

Schedule 4B of the Constitution assigns municipal health services to local government, explains De Visser.

Which municipality is responsible for delivering these services depends on where you live.

In metropolitan municipalities such as Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, the municipality is responsible for providing municipal health services within its boundaries.

In non-metropolitan areas, the Municipal Structures Act provides that district municipalities are generally responsible, while local municipalities perform the function only where they have been authorised to do so in terms of the Act.

Although municipalities deliver these services, the National Health Act requires them to work as part of a coordinated health system. It establishes District Health Councils to support coordination between national, provincial and local government.

According to Mohale, municipal health services are intended to function as an integrated three-tier system in which national, provincial and district environmental health units work together to deliver municipal health services.

“Working together, these structures are intended to create a coordinated system in which national government sets the policy and regulatory framework, provinces provide oversight and technical support, and district structures coordinate and strengthen implementation at municipal level,” he said.

Food safety provides a useful example of how that system operates in practice.

From farm to fork

Food microbiologist and food safety expert Professor Lucia Anelich says South Africa follows a “farm to fork” approach, with different institutions responsible for different stages of the food chain.

The Department of Agriculture oversees food safety at the production stage by regulating agricultural pesticides and veterinary medicines as well as food safety in abattoirs.

Once food enters the retail environment, the Department of Health, through municipal EHPs, is responsible for inspecting food premises, checking how food is prepared and enforcing food safety requirements.

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition provides an additional layer of oversight by inspecting certain imported food products at ports of entry, overseeing product recalls and investigating consumer complaints.

When food contamination is suspected, those responsibilities overlap as the relevant authorities work together to trace the source, remove contaminated products, and prevent further illness. The agencies involved depend on where the suspected source lies within the food chain.

The Public Protector’s Gauteng food safety investigation examined whether the preventative systems intended to identify and manage these risks before outbreaks occurred were functioning as intended.

A break in the chain

The level of coordination required for food safety is not the type of thing that happens by chance.

That is why District Health Councils are tasked with strengthening planning, oversight and coordination between national, provincial and local government.

According to Mohale, these structures are intended to provide a forum for regular engagement between stakeholders, monitor the implementation of environmental health programmes and “ensure that food safety risks are identified and managed proactively.”

Yet, the Public Protector identified a significant weakness in Gauteng’s food safety system with the absence of functioning District Health Councils.

Without them, coordination between different spheres of government becomes more difficult, weakening oversight, planning, and the implementation of municipal health services.

Delivering these services also depends on whether municipalities have enough EHPs to carry out routine inspections.

EHP employment gaps

One of the Public Protector’s clearest findings was that Gauteng municipalities lack sufficient EHPs to carry out their statutory functions.

As of October 2025, every municipality fell short of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Environmental Health Norms and Standards benchmark of one EHP for every 10 000 people.

Johannesburg had the largest absolute number of EHPs, with 240 practitioners serving a population of 4.8 million people. This gave it a ratio of one EHP for every 20 000 people, or 50% of the recommended benchmark.

Meanwhile, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane had fewer than one-quarter of the recommended number of EHPs.

According to City of Johannesburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane, its current staffing complement is 213 EHPs, with eight funded vacancies. Despite ongoing recruitment, the City estimates that each EHP is still responsible for about 28 000 residents — almost three times the benchmark.

City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the municipality now employs 98 EHPs, up from 94 during the Public Protector’s investigation. However, he acknowledged that the municipality still has a shortage of 309 EHP posts, leaving it well below the recommended staffing benchmark.

The City of Tshwane did not respond to Spotlight’s requests for updated staffing figures.

“The entire province is functioning at less than a third of the required EHP staffing capacity,” Gcaleka said about her findings, warning that the shortage threatens equitable access to environmental health services.

Anelich explained that staffing shortages are compounded by the breadth of EHPs’ responsibilities.

“EHPs are trained broadly, including water quality control and pollution monitoring — not only food,” she said.

“These people have multiple roles to play, which makes it very difficult for the system. We should have EHPs dedicated to food safety so municipalities can regulate food safety more effectively, particularly in the informal sector.”

The National Environmental Health Norms and Standards require EHPs to inspect high-risk food premises at least once every quarter. Maintaining those inspection frequencies becomes increasingly difficult when each practitioner is responsible for far more people than the recommended benchmark.

The capacity constraints extended beyond municipalities. The Public Protector found that the Department of Agriculture had filled only 27 inspector posts, which it described as insufficient to regulate agricultural pesticides effectively, weakening another part of the food safety chain.

But increasing staffing capacity depends on whether municipalities have the financial resources to create and sustain these posts.

Money troubles

The Public Protector also found that municipalities were not allocating enough funding to municipal health services, limiting their ability to recruit and retain EHPs.

Municipal health services are funded primarily through the local government equitable share. This is money allocated by National Treasury and transferred to municipalities to help provide basic services. Municipalities also use revenue from rates and taxes.

Because the equitable share is an unconditional grant, municipal councils decide how much funding is allocated to environmental health alongside their other constitutional responsibilities.

Although the National Department of Health is not responsible for funding municipal health services or employing EHPs, Mohale said it continues to support initiatives aimed at helping municipalities recruit, retain and train EHPs.

He also said the department engages with National Treasury and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to prioritise the appointment of EHPs and address staffing shortages.

The human cost

These system weaknesses had visible consequences on the ground. During blitz inspections cited by the Public Protector, EHPs repeatedly identified expired food, unlabelled products, poor hygiene, rodent infestations, and unsafe storage practices.

The Public Protector also found low levels of compliance with spaza shop licensing requirements.

Only 5% of spaza shops in Ekurhuleni were licensed or permitted, compared with 14% in Johannesburg and 30% in Tshwane, according to Gcaleka’s speaking notes. Across Gauteng, the compliance rate was 28%, meaning that for every licensed spaza shop, almost three were operating without the required license or permit.

“So many spaza shops aren’t licensed, so EHPs don’t even know where to look,” Anelich said.

“We can send EHPs into informal settlements to look for them, but that’s not a great use of resources that are already stretched.”

She also said the deaths highlighted what can happen when food safety systems fail. Adding that South Africa’s burden of foodborne disease remains poorly documented, making it difficult to understand the full scale of the problem.

A systemic failure

The Public Protector found that the problems extended beyond individual incidents.

In her speaking notes, Gcaleka says that the underlying governance weaknesses, severe staffing shortages, inadequate funding for municipal health services and capacity constraints in other parts of the food safety system were “not incidental, but systemic and far-reaching”.

She therefore made the preliminary finding that Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, Sedibeng and West Rand had failed to properly enforce food safety and hygiene standards in the informal food sector.

As voters prepare to elect new local governments in November, the findings highlight a core municipal responsibility: preventing public health risks before they become public health crises.

This article was first published by Spotlight – health journalism in the public interest. Sign up to the Spotlight newsletter.

Categories : Environmental EffectsTags : Leave a comment

Decades of Data Reveal Who’s Most at Risk of Snakebites, and How to Prevent Them

On By ModernMedia

Global patterns can guide prevention policies in homes, workplaces, and more

Hidden in plain sight, the Salazar’s pit viper melts effortlessly into the vibrant emerald tea bushes of Assam. Ramiz Ali, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Snakebites aren’t random, but instead are predictably correlated with a variety of environmental and socioeconomic factors, according to a study published August 6, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases by Jaideep Menon of Amrita University, India and colleagues.

Snakebite is considered a neglected tropical disease, responsible for as many as 1.4 million deaths per year and disproportionately affecting rural populations in low- and middle-income countries. However, limited information is available on the environmental and socioeconomic factors influencing snakebite incidence.

In this study, Janakiram and colleagues synthesised data from 142 studies documenting over 200 000 snakebites worldwide as far back as the 1800s. This review found that snakebite is strongly related to occupation, with nearly 70% of cases occurring during outdoor work such as farming and construction, and also to timing, with most cases occurring during rainy seasons and during the evening and early night hours. Snakebite cases were also found to be correlated with factors related to poverty, such as lack of adequate footwear, poorly secured homes, and limited access to healthcare education. 

These results highlight areas where targeted policies might significantly reduce the risk of snakebite, including the realms of workplace safety, rural development, housing improvement, and health education. The authors note that this dataset is limited, being mostly focused in South Asia and suffering from inconsistent reporting of variables involved in each snakebite incident, and that future studies should focus on filling these gaps to form a more comprehensive global understanding of factors related to snakebite. 

The authors say: “The scoping review told us something we needed to hear: limiting ourselves to antivenom will never address the behavioural and environmental factors that put people at risk in the first place.” They add: “The inverse care law is particularly relevant to snakebite; The people most exposed to snakes – because of where they live and the work, they do – are also the people furthest from a hospital that can treat them. You cannot fix that gap with antivenom alone; antivenom sits at the wrong end of the problem.”

Provided by PLOS

Categories : Environmental EffectsTags :

Two Weather Patterns Increase Headaches, Study Suggests

On By ModernMedia

Experts show which prescription medication reduces the likelihood of weather-associated headaches

Photo by Kindel Media

Two specific weather patterns have been identified as capable of increasing the risk of headaches and migraines, thanks to physicians at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, along with researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Errex Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals.

Headaches and migraines are often associated with weather variables such as barometric pressure, precipitation, humidity and temperature. As weather patterns vary around the world, evidence suggests their impacts vary across geographic regions, seasons and population groups. 

“Weather is one of the most common triggers for attacks of migraine headache,” said study author Vincent Martin, MD, a professor of clinical medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine and director of the Headache and Facial Pain Center at UC’s Gardner Neuroscience Institute. “Our investigation suggests that specific storm patterns may help explain why weather-related headaches and migraines are so frequent in Cincinnati and the Midwest region.”

For this study, researchers analysed weather patterns in the Northeast U.S. to determine whether any are associated with new-onset headaches in patients with episodic migraines.

“What is significant about this headache research is that we are one of the first to look at weather patterns with a combination of variables, instead of a single weather variable,” said Martin. “We further examined those weather patterns by region and season.”

Which weather patterns are linked to higher headache risk?

They found that two specific weather patterns were associated with a higher risk of new-onset headaches in the Northeastern region. One is an approaching cold front, or low-pressure system, with precipitation, which can occur in all seasons. The other is the Bermuda High, a high-pressure system that heavily dictates summer weather across the eastern half of the U.S. 

“This is one of the first studies to more closely implicate frontal passage in the onset of headache,” said Al Peterlin, a co-investigator and meteorologist from Errex Inc. 

This is one of the first studies to suggest that a preventive medication might reduce the likelihood of a weather-associated headache.

Brinder Vij, MDLead author, professor of clinical medicine & director of the Division of Headache Medicine in the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine

To determine their findings, researchers compared thousands of daily headache diary entries from participants at the Northeastern U.S. sites of the HALO-EM and HALO-LTS studies, both randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 clinical trials that established the safety and efficacy of the prescription medication fremanezumab (Ajovy) for the preventive treatment of episodic migraines. They linked the headache data to daily meteorological data from the National Climatic Data Center, tracking four years of weather patterns organised into three-day windows.

Researchers also confirmed that at least six months of treatment with fremanezumab significantly reduced the rate of new-onset headaches compared with no medication across all weather patterns, including conditions considered high risk for new headache onset. 

“We saw the weather and headache relationship wiped out with the use of this medication,” said Fred Cohen, MD, a co-investigator and faculty member at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “We started to notice its effectiveness as early as one month after the start of the medication.”

“This is one of the first studies to suggest that a preventive medication might reduce the likelihood of a weather-associated headache,” said lead author Brinder Vij, MD, a professor of clinical medicine and director of the Division of Headache Medicine in the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine. 

He further stated that this study offers new hope for the millions of people with migraine experiencing weather-associated headaches.  

By Megan Burgasser

Source: University of Cincinatti

Categories : Environmental EffectsTags :

Can Aerobic Exercise Lessen the Health Effects of Exposure to Nanoplastics?

On By ModernMedia
Photo by FLY:D on Unsplash

Using female zebrafish as a model, researchers have found that aerobic exercise may influence various connections in the body to lessen the damaging health impacts of environmental nanoplastics. In the study, which is published in The FASEB Journal, adult female zebrafish were exposed to polystyrene nanoplastics for 21 days, with or without moderate aerobic exercise.

“Once ingested, nanoplastics may cross epithelial barriers and accumulate in multiple organs, including the liver, heart, brain, and ovary, eliciting oxidative stress, inflammation, and endocrine disruption,” the authors wrote. “Among these targets, the ovary appears particularly susceptible, yet the mechanisms underlying nanoplastic-induced ovarian accumulation and toxicity remain poorly characterized.”

Exposure to nanoplastics alone caused significant ovarian accumulation of particle-like structures, elevated oxidative stress, increased follicular cell death, and disrupted reproductive hormones. It also induced anxiety‑ and depression-like behaviors in tank and shoaling tests, accompanied by elevated stress hormone levels. In contrast, concurrent aerobic exercise lessened these effects.

Investigators also found that aerobic exercise counteracted gut microbe imbalances caused by nanoplastics. Analyses linked these microbial shifts to enhanced fatty acid and tryptophan metabolism, which correlated with improved neuroendocrine health.

The findings indicate that aerobic exercise may mitigate nanoplastic-induced neuroendocrine dysfunction via gut–ovary–brain connections.

Source: Wiley

Categories : Environmental Effects PaediatricsTags :

Eczema and Asthma in Children: How Household Fuels are Harming Health in Poor South African Homes

On By ModernMedia
Photo by sena keçicioğlu

Mandla Bhuda, University of South Africa; Janine Wichmann, University of Pretoria, and Joyce Shirinde, University of Pretoria

In many households in Mabopane and Soshanguve – townships on the northern outskirts of South Africa’s City of Tshwane that are marked by high poverty, unemployment and informal economic activity – evenings follow a familiar pattern.

When electricity cuts occur or power becomes unaffordable, families turn to gas stoves, paraffin heaters, or wood and coal fires to cook meals and keep warm. These energy sources contribute to air pollution, but the most harmful exposure often happens indoors, where children spend much of their time. These choices, though often unavoidable, put young children’s health at risk.

Children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution. Their lungs are still developing, their airways are narrower, and they breathe faster than adults.

In 2021, exposure to air pollution was linked to more than 700 000 deaths of children under five years old globally.

They are exposed by inhaling polluted air, swallowing contaminated dust or food, and through skin contact. Household fuel combustion releases tiny particles and harmful gases that irritate the lungs and airways. These pollutants can also damage the skin, triggering immune responses that worsen allergic conditions such as eczema and asthma.

As public health specialists, we examined the association between household air pollution and eczema and severe asthma symptoms among children aged seven years and younger in Mabopane and Soshanguve. We found that the use of polluting household fuels and gas was associated with an increased likelihood of eczema, followed by severe asthma symptoms.

Eczema and its impact

Eczema, or atopic dermatitis, is a chronic skin condition that causes itching, redness and inflammation.

It can significantly affect a child’s life by disrupting sleep and increasing the risk of skin infections. It also raises the likelihood of developing asthma, hay fever, or food allergies later. Visible rashes can equally affect confidence, social interactions and participation in school or play. Exposure to cigarette smoke inside the home further increases the risk of developing or worsening eczema, especially when mothers or female caregivers smoke.

Severe asthma and its impact

Asthma is a long-term condition affecting the lungs and airways, making breathing difficult. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath. Global asthma prevalence ranges from 9.1% to 9.5% for children.

Severe asthma refers to frequent, hard-to-control, and sometimes life-threatening symptoms. Children with severe asthma may struggle to speak during attacks and are far more likely to need emergency care or hospitalisation. Young children are particularly vulnerable because their lungs, skin barrier and immune systems are still developing. Exposure to indoor air pollution during these early years increases the risk of long-term health problems.

Our study

To understand how household environments affect children’s health, we studied preschool-aged children in Mabopane and Soshanguve, in South Africa’s largely urban Gauteng province, between January 2022 and March 2023.

We randomly selected 42 preschools and collected health and household information from caregivers of 1840 children, including details on eczema, asthma symptoms, household fuel use, and exposure to cigarette smoke inside the home.

What we found

About one in eight children had experienced eczema at some point, and a similar proportion were currently experiencing symptoms. We also found that children from households using electricity for cooking and with no tobacco smoke exposure were less likely to have eczema than those who were exposed.

Children living in homes using open fires – such as paraffin, wood, or coal – for cooking or heating were more likely to have eczema. Exposure to cigarette smoke inside the home further increased this risk, particularly when mothers or female caregivers smoked.

Severe asthma symptoms were also common, affecting about one in six children. The use of gas for cooking or heating was strongly linked to severe asthma symptoms, even though gas is often viewed as a cleaner alternative during power cuts. Poor ventilation can increase indoor pollution, making these energy sources harmful to children.

The use of combined building materials in homes increased the likelihood of having eczema and corrugated iron significantly increased the likelihood of developing its symptoms. The frequency of trucks passing near the preschool children’s residences on weekdays was found to be associated with eczema and current symptoms. There was a significant association observed when trucks passed the children’s residences almost all day on weekdays. Children who walked to preschool had an increased risk of severe asthma symptoms compared with those using other modes of transport.

Why this matters

Although nearly 89% of residents in the study area have access to electricity, many households cannot rely on it consistently. Rising electricity costs and scheduled power cuts force families to use alternative fuels. These coping strategies, while understandable, increase children’s exposure to indoor air pollution during the most vulnerable stage of their development.

Eczema and severe asthma are not just medical issues but also social and environmental ones.

Our study confirmed that children in poorer communities face higher health risks due to their living environments, not just genetics. Susceptible groups, such as children, should be prioritised to reduce the adverse health effects of both outdoor and indoor air pollution.

What needs to change

Protecting children’s health requires more than asking parents to make better choices, as many families do not have safe, affordable alternatives.

Public health education on the dangers of cigarette smoke is crucial. Education campaigns, smoking cessation support and community-level interventions can help reduce children’s exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.

Stronger action on indoor and household air pollution is urgently needed. Evidence from this study can support the South African government in fast-tracking regulations and enforcing ambient air quality laws. It can also help in promoting safer household energy options.

Cleaner air inside homes is not a luxury. For South Africa’s children, it is a public health necessity.

Mandla Bhuda, Senior Lecturer: Public Health, University of South Africa; Janine Wichmann, Professor, University of Pretoria, and Joyce Shirinde, Associate Professor, University of Pretoria

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Categories : Ageing Environmental EffectsTags :

HEPA Air Purifiers May Boost Brain Power in Adults Over 40 – New Research

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Mari Lezhava on Unsplash

Nicholas Pellegrino, University of Connecticut; Doug Brugge, University of Connecticut, and Misha Eliasziw, Tufts University

Using an in-home HEPA purifier for one month spurs a small but significant improvement in brain function in adults age 40 and older. That’s the result of a new study we co-authored in the journal Scientific Reports.

HEPA purifiers – HEPA stands for high efficiency particulate air – remove particulate matter from the air. Exposure to particulate matter has been connected to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses as well as neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Environmental health researchers increasingly recommend that people use HEPA air purifiers in their homes to lower their exposure to particulate matter, but few studies have examined whether using them boosts mental function.

We analysed data from a study of 119 people ages 30 to 74 living in Somerville, Massachusetts. Somerville sits along Interstate 93 and Route 28, two major highways, resulting in relatively high levels of traffic-related air pollution. This makes it an especially good location for testing the health effects of air purifiers.

We randomly assigned participants to one of two groups. One used a HEPA air purifier for one month and then a sham air purifier – which looked and acted like the real thing but did not contain the air-cleaning filter – for one month, with a monthlong break in between. The second group used the real and sham purifiers in reverse order.

After each month, participants took a test that measured different aspects of their mental capacity. The test probed people’s visual memory and motor speed skills by measuring how quickly they could draw lines between sequential numbers, and it tested executive function and mental flexibility by asking them to draw lines between alternating sequential numbers and letters.

We found that participants 40 years and older – about 42% of our sample – on average completed the section testing for mental flexibility and executive function 12% faster after using the HEPA purifier than after using the sham purifier. That was true even when we accounted for factors like differences in the amount of time participants spent indoors, with either filter, as well as how stressful they found the test.

This improvement may seem small, but it is similar to the cognitive benefits that people experience from increasing their daily exercise. While you may not experience a sudden increase in clarity from a 12% boost, preventing cognitive decline is vital for long-term well-being. Even small decreases in cognitive functioning may be associated with a higher risk of death.

Studies increasingly show that air pollution can be detrimental to brain health.

Why it matters

Air pollution can negatively affect mental function after just a few hours of exposure. Studies show that air purifiers are effective at reducing particulates, but it’s unclear whether these reductions can prevent cognitive harm from ongoing pollution sources like traffic. Research has been especially lacking in people living near major sources of air pollution, such as highways.

People living near highways or major roadways are exposed to more air pollution and also experience higher rates of air pollution-related diseases. These risks aren’t encountered by all Americans equally: People of color and low-income people are more likely to live near highways or areas with heavy traffic.

Our study shows that HEPA air purifiers may offer meaningful health benefits under these circumstances.

What still isn’t known

Research shows that air pollution begins to affect cognitive function especially strongly around age 40. These effects may become increasingly prominent as people age.

HEPA air purifiers may therefore be especially beneficial for older adults. Our study did not explore this possibility, as fewer than 10 of our 119 participants were over the age of 60.

Also, our participants only used a HEPA air purifier for one month. It’s possible that longer durations of air purification may sustain or even increase the improvement in cognitive function we observed in our study.

Finally, it is unclear exactly how air purifiers improve cognition. Some studies suggest that exposure to particulate matter reduces the amount of the brain’s white matter, which helps brain cells conduct electrical signals and maintains connections between brain regions. The brain regions most harmed by air pollution are the ones that control mental flexibility and executive function, the same domains in which we saw improvements in our study.

We plan to study whether reducing particulate matter by using air purifiers is indeed protecting the brain’s white matter, and whether it could reverse some cognitive decline. We will explore that possibility by studying how levels of molecules called metabolites, which cells produce as they do their jobs, change in response to breathing polluted air and air cleaned by a HEPA filter.

The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

Nicholas Pellegrino, Research Associate in Public Health Sciences, University of Connecticut; Doug Brugge, Professor of Public Health Science and Community Medicine, University of Connecticut, and Misha Eliasziw, Associate Professor of Biostatistics, Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Categories : Environmental EffectsTags :

Fluoride in Drinking Water Does Not Harm Children’s IQ

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Johnny McClung on Unsplash

Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that has been shown to strengthen teeth and reduce cavities. Many municipalities add fluoride to their drinking water – called community water fluoridation – as a public health measure to support dental health. In recent years, however, some have claimed that ingesting fluoride can harm children’s IQ.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota led a team that investigated the connection between fluoride in drinking water and children’s IQ to see if these claims had merit. The study, published in PNAS, examined Wisconsin state testing records, archival information about when Wisconsin cities began to fluoridate their water, and data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which has followed a random sample of 10,317 high school seniors from 1957 through 2026. Key findings include:

  • There is no evidence supporting a connection between community water fluoridation and children’s IQ.
  • There is also no evidence supporting a connection between community water fluoridation and cognitive functioning at various points later in life.
  • Findings confirm evidence published in previous research which also used a national sample, but considered school achievement test scores instead of actual IQ scores.

“Utah, Florida and many municipalities have chosen to remove fluoride from drinking water based on flawed studies that considered the IQ effects of exposure to massive doses of fluoride,” said lead researcher John Robert Warren, a professor in the College of Liberal Arts. “Because levels of fluoride added to municipal drinking water in the U.S. are so much lower, almost all prior evidence from those international studies is not relevant to U.S. public policy debates.”

Future research will continue examining the benefits and harms of adding fluoride to community drinking water.

Study co-author Gina Rumore, co-director of the Demography and Economics of Aging Coordinating Center at the University of Minnesota, noted that these findings “provide no support for the claim that community water fluoridation has any harmful effect on children’s IQ or on adult cognition.”

Source: University of Minnesota

Categories : Environmental Effects Obstetrics & GynaecologyTags :

Plastic Additives Tied to Millions of Preterm Births Worldwide

On By ModernMedia
Photo by FLY:D on Unsplash

Exposure to a chemical commonly used to make plastic more flexible may have contributed to about 1.97 million preterm births in 2018 alone, or more than 8 percent of the world’s total, a new analysis of population surveys shows. The chemical was also linked to the deaths of 74 000 newborns, the researchers further estimate.

The toxin, di-2-ethylhexylphthalate (DEHP), is part of a group of chemicals called phthalates, which appear in cosmetics, detergents, bug repellents, and other household products. Experts have found that these substances can break down into microscopic particles and enter the body through food, air, and dust.

Led by NYU Langone Health researchers, the new study focused on preterm birth, which is a major risk factor for lasting learning and developmental issues and is a leading cause of infant death, according to the World Health Organization.

The new analysis provides the first global estimate of preterm births connected to exposure to DEHP and explores which parts of the world are most affected, according to the authors. A report on the findings published online March 31 in the journal eClinicalMedicine.

“By estimating how much phthalate exposure may contribute to preterm birth worldwide, our findings highlight that reducing exposure, especially in vulnerable regions, could help prevent early births and the health problems that often follow,” said study lead author Sara Hyman, MS.

Past studies have linked DEHP exposure to cancer, heart disease, and infertility, among many other health concerns, added Hyman, an associate research scientist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. There is also a large body of research connecting the chemical to preterm birth.

According to the new work, DEHP exposure may have contributed to 1.2 million years lived with disability, a measure of all the years that people have lived or will live with illnesses, injuries, and other health issues caused by being born prematurely.

Hyman said that while the phthalate is in widespread use, certain regions are estimated to bear a much larger share of the health impacts than others, with the Middle East and South Asia representing 54 percent of estimated illness from preterm birth. These areas have rapidly growing plastics industries and high levels of global plastic waste.

Africa, which accounted for 26 percent of health problems from DEHP-linked preterm birth, has a disproportionate share of deaths compared with its share of overall premature cases. The researchers said this reflects the region’s higher underlying death toll from preterm birth.

For the study, the research team estimated DEHP exposure in 2018 across 200 countries and territories by pulling data from large national surveys in the United States, Europe, and Canada. They also used estimates from earlier investigations to fill in regions that did not have their own data.

The team then drew on earlier research that assessed how phthalate exposure may affect preterm birth and combined those findings with their global exposure estimates. Finally, they combined this information with worldwide figures on preterm births and deaths to gauge what share of these outcomes might be linked to DEHP.

The scientists repeated these steps for another phthalate called diisononyl phthalate (DiNP), a common replacement for DEHP. According to the results, DiNP may pose a similar risk as DEHP, having contributed to about 1.88 million preterm births around the world. The financial costs associated with newborn deaths ranged from millions to hundreds of billions of dollars for both phthalates.

“Our analysis makes clear that regulating phthalates one at a time and swapping in poorly understood replacements is unlikely to solve the larger problem,” said study senior author Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, Professor of Pediatrics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “We are playing a dangerous game of Whac-A-Mole with hazardous chemicals, and these findings highlight the urgent need for stronger, class-wide oversight of plastic additives to avoid repeating the same mistakes.”

Dr Trasande, who is also a professor in the Department of Population Health and director of the Division of Environmental Pediatrics and the Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards, cautions that the investigation was not designed to establish that DEHP and DiNP directly or alone cause preterm birth, nor did it take into account other types of phthalates.

In addition, because there is some uncertainty in the data, the researchers looked at a range of possible values rather than just one estimate. This uncertainty range showed that the true impact of DEHP could be up to four times smaller than the main estimate or slightly higher. Even under the most conservative estimates, the results point to a substantial health burden, said Hyman.

Despite the limits of this kind of global modelling, added Hyman, the work lays important groundwork for future studies to confirm and refine these results and begins to fill a major gap in understanding the extent to which plastic chemicals affect preterm birth worldwide.

Source: NYU Langone Health

Categories : Environmental Effects Respiratory DiseasesTags :

High Prenatal Exposure to PFAS May Increase the Risk of Childhood Asthma

On By ModernMedia

City residents exposed to contaminated drinking water in Sweden had higher rates of asthma diagnoses

Photo by cottonbro studio from Pexels

Asthma can lead to childhood hospitalisations, missed school days, missed workdays for caregivers, and a lower quality of life for both children and their caregivers. The global prevalence of asthma has increased over the past fifty years. A study published April 9th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Annelise Blomberg at Lund University, Lund, Sweden and colleagues suggests that high prenatal PFAS exposure is associated with a higher incidence of asthma in childhood.

PFAS (Perfluoroalkyl substances) are widespread synthetic chemicals that impact the immune system and may play a role in the development of asthma. Previous epidemiological studies of PFAS and asthma only investigated low exposure levels and had inconclusive results. Due to decades-long contamination of a municipal waterworks in Ronneby, Sweden, researchers were able to study the impacts of high PFAS exposure. They accessed a register-based open cohort of all children born in Blekinge County between 2006 and 2013, including Ronneby. The researchers then linked maternal addresses during the exposure period to water distribution records to estimate prenatal exposure, and used asthma diagnosis data from the National Patient Register to assess individual asthma outcomes and prenatal exposure levels.

The researchers found that very high prenatal PFAS exposure was associated with a higher incidence of asthma in childhood. Future studies are needed to better understand exposure-response relationships and to address potential confounding variables, such as exposure beyond the prenatal period into early-childhood, exposure to other environmental contaminants or smoking among household members.

According to the authors, “PFAS contamination is a major source of high environmental exposure globally, and evidence from Ronneby offers important insights into the potential health effects of such contamination in affected communities. These results point to a substantial and previously unrecognized public health consequence of PFAS contamination.”

Blomberg adds, “We found that children whose mothers were exposed to very high levels of PFAS during pregnancy had a substantially higher incidence of clinically diagnosed asthma. The association was not observed at lower exposure levels, which may help explain why previous studies in general populations have reported mixed results.”

“Most previous research has examined populations exposed only to background levels of PFAS. In Ronneby, drinking water contamination resulted in exposure levels hundreds of times higher than the general population. This allowed us to evaluate potential health effects across a much broader exposure range.”

“Communities around the world have been affected by PFAS contamination from aqueous film-forming foams and other industrial sources. Our findings suggest that very high prenatal exposure may have lasting consequences for children’s respiratory health. At the same time, replication in other highly exposed populations will be important to confirm these results.”

Provided by PLOS

Categories : Environmental Effects Obstetrics & GynaecologyTags :

How One ‘Forever Chemical’ Can Disrupt Foetal Facial Development

On By ModernMedia

Researchers discovered perfluorodecanoic acid is the most toxic during foetal craniofacial development

Credit: Chemical Research in Toxicology (2026). doi:10.1021/acs.chemrestox.5c00468

Researchers have long associated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as “forever chemicals,” to certain severe birth defects but exactly how these pollutants harm a developing foetus has remained mostly a mystery. New research now provides the first clear molecular explanation, showing how one PFAS, called perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), can trigger craniofacial abnormalities before birth.

The research was published in ACS Chemical Research in Toxicology.

“Most people are exposed to small amounts of PFAS in everyday life but higher exposure can occur through contaminated water, living near manufacturing sites or certain jobs like firefighting and ski waxing, which is why it’s so important to understand the chemicals better,” said the paper’s senior author Jed Lampe, PhD, associate professor at University of Colorado Anschutz Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. “We wanted to understand which PFAS compounds are truly harmful during foetus development, especially for people with higher exposure, and how they cause damage.”

There are approximately 15 000 PFAS used in consumer and industrial products but scientists are increasingly finding that only some pose serious health risks. In this study, Lampe worked with the paper’s first author Michaela Hvizdak and co-author Sylvie Kandel to test 13 commonly found PFAS and discovered PFDA as the most toxic during foetal craniofacial development.

They demonstrated a possible link between PFDA and the extensive facial changes observed in humans and laboratory animals, with some estimates indicating a 10% increased risk at extremely low exposure levels. 

“This finding moves us beyond association by providing a clear explanation for how PFDA can interfere with foetal development. It’s a critical step toward understanding a vast and complex class of environmental chemicals,” said Lampe.

The cause of underdeveloped eyes and an abnormal jaw

They found that PFAS disrupts retinoic acid, a molecule essential for shaping the face and head during early pregnancy. Retinoic acid regulates hundreds of genes and its levels must be controlled. Because a foetus cannot produce or safely eliminate excess retinoic acid, it relies entirely on the mother to maintain the homeostatic balance of the hormone.

The researchers discovered PFDA blocks CYP26A1, a key enzyme responsible for breaking down excess retinoic acid. When this enzyme is inhibited, retinoic acid levels can rise too high, disrupting normal facial development. PFDA also suppresses the genes that produce this enzyme through a separate biological pathway, delivering a “double hit” to the system that regulates early development.

“As a result, severe craniofacial abnormalities can develop, including underdeveloped eyes and abnormal jaw formation, which were the most common effects of PFDA exposure during foetal development,” said Lampe.

The researchers hope by providing a molecular explanation for this abnormality that the research and scientific community can work to develop targeted laboratory assays and computer‑based screening tools to quickly rank PFAS by risk. They say this could help regulators and manufacturers distinguish more dangerous compounds from safer alternatives and guide the design of less toxic chemicals in the future.

They also hope the research can open the door to practical interventions for people with higher exposure, such as firefighters and ski wax technicians. This could include looking into how to reduce exposure levels and whether strategies can be developed to lower PFDA during pregnancy to protect foetal development.

By Julia Milzer

Source: CU Anschutz Medical Campus