Commissioners urged DHHS and partners to compile health data and engage academic authors after a University of Arizona PFAS study; DHHS said staffing and federal grant uncertainty limit immediate public-facing work and recommended academic partnerships and inviting the study authors to explain methods.

(Beyond Pesticides, June 14, 2018) With nearly 40% of Americans diagnosed as clinically obese, leading to health care costs estimated at over $200 billion, researchers are focusing on ways individuals can reduce their exposure to chemicals that contribute to weight gain regardless of diet or exercise. These chemicals, known as “obesogens,” include a range of consumer products, from pesticides to plastics and flame retardants. While diet and exercise remain critically important to fighting the ongoing obesity epidemic, obesogens may be working to increase appetite, fat storage, or make it more difficult for the body to shed fat once it is gained. In a presentation at the European Society for Endocrinology in Barcelona, researchers from the Universities of Aveiro and Beira Interior, Portugal identified ways these chemicals are entering our environment, and good habits to employ in order to reduce obesogen exposure. “Obesogens can be found almost everywhere, and our diet is a main source of exposure, as some pesticides and artificial sweeteners are obesogens. Equally, they are present in plastics and home products, so completely reducing exposure is extremely difficult – but to significantly reduce it is not only feasible, but also very simple”, lead researcher Ana Catarina Sousa, PhD, […]

Using Raman spectroscopy and based on extrapolated concentrations measured in residential and car cabin environments, researchers found that adults may inhale up to 68,000 microplastic particles daily...

A large international study published in Nature Health reports a strong association between environmental exposure to mixtures of agricultural pesticides and increased cancer risk. Researchers from institutions including Institut Pasteur, IRD, and the University of Toulouse analyzed environmental data, national cancer registries, and biological evidence to better reflect real-world exposure conditions, where people encounter multiple chemicals simultaneously rather than individually. Focusing on Peru, a country with diverse ecosystems and intensive agricultural activity, the team mapped pesticide dispersion across regions between 2014 and 2019 and compared it with cancer data from over 150,000 patients recorded from 2007 to 2020. They examined 31 commonly used pesticides, none of which are individually classified as carcinogenic by the World Health Organization. However, areas with higher combined exposure levels showed significantly higher cancer incidence, with an average increase in risk of about 150%. The study highlights that vulnerable populations, particularly Indigenous and rural farming communities, are exposed to multiple pesticides simultaneously—often around a dozen at elevated levels. This cumulative exposure appears to produce biological changes long before cancer develops. Laboratory findings suggest pesticides can disrupt cellular processes that maintain normal cell identity, especially in the liver, which plays a key role in processing environmental toxins. These early disruptions may make tissues more susceptible to additional stressors such as infections or inflammation, potentially contributing to cancer development over time. The findings challenge current regulatory approaches, which typically assess chemical safety on a substance-by-substance basis and may underestimate the risks of combined exposures. Researchers also note that environmental factors like climate events, including El Niño, may influence how pesticides spread and accumulate. While the study focuses on Peru, its implications are global, emphasizing the need for updated risk assessment models and more comprehensive public health strategies that reflect real-world environmental conditions.