Environmental Health
81 - 100 of 222 Results
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Toxic Gas Adds to a Long History of Pollution in Southwest Memphis
People across the nation claim cancer-causing emissions from local sterilizing plants are making them sick. It鈥檚 an example of environmental racism, say residents of one predominantly Black area in southwest Memphis, Tennessee, where life expectancy is much shorter than county and state averages.
By Andy Miller -
Exposed to Agent Orange at US Bases, Veterans Face Cancer Without VA Compensation
The Department of Veterans Affairs has long given vets who served in Vietnam disability compensation for illness connected to Agent Orange harm. But those exposed at U.S. bases are still waiting for the same benefits.
By Hannah Norman and Patricia Kime -
Tire Toxicity Faces Fresh Scrutiny After Salmon Die-Offs
Tires emit huge volumes of particles and chemicals as they roll along the highway, and researchers are only beginning to understand the threat. One byproduct of tire use, 6PPD-q, is in regulators鈥 crosshairs after it was found to be killing fish.
By Jim Robbins -
Newsom Offers a Compromise to Protect Indoor Workers from Heat
After rejecting proposed rules to protect millions of workers in sweltering warehouses, steamy kitchens, and other hot workplaces, California Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 administration has offered a compromise to allow the protections to take effect this summer. But state and local correctional workers 鈥 and prisoners 鈥 would have to wait even longer.
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As Bans Spread, Fluoride in Drinking Water Divides Communities Across the US
The broad availability of over-the-counter dental products containing fluoride has some community leaders arguing that its addition to public drinking water is no longer necessary. But public health experts worry that, much like vaccines, fluoridation may be a victim of its own success.
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Heat Protections for California Workers Are in Limbo After Newsom Abandons Rules
Proposed rules to protect millions of workers from potentially dangerous heat inside workplaces are dead after Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 administration refused to sign off. Labor advocates and state regulators are calling for emergency regulations before temperatures soar this summer.
By Angela Hart and Samantha Young -
Move to Protect California鈥檚 Indoor Workers From Heat Upended by Cost Questions
A years-long process that would have created heat standards for California workers in warehouses, steamy kitchens, and other indoor job sites catapulted into chaos Thursday when Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 administration pulled its support. Regulators, saying they felt 鈥渂lindsided,鈥 approved the regulation anyway. It鈥檚 unclear what happens next.
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A New Orleans Neighborhood Confronts the Racist Legacy of a Toxic Stretch of Highway
New federal funds aim to address an array of problems created by highway construction in minority neighborhoods. These are economic, social, and, perhaps above all, public health problems. In New Orleans鈥 Treme neighborhood, competing plans for how to deal with harm done by the Claiborne Expressway reveal the challenge of how to mitigate them meaningfully.
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Toxic Gas That Sterilizes Medical Devices Prompts Safety Rule Update
The Environmental Protection Agency is tightening regulation of ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic gas used to sterilize medical devices. The agency is trying to balance the interests of the health care industry supply chain with those of communities where the gas creates airborne health risks.
By Andy Miller and Sam Whitehead -
Back From COP28, California Climate Leaders Talk Health Impacts of Warming
Three leading California officials who represented the state at the United Nations climate talks late last year reflect on climate change鈥檚 growing threat to human health 鈥 and explain what the state is trying to do about it.
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What’s Indoor Air Quality Like in Long-Term Care Facilities During Wildfires? Worse Than You’d Think.
As climate change-driven wildfires increasingly choke large parts of the United States with smoke each summer, new research shows residents in long-term care facilities are being exposed to dangerously poor air, even those who don鈥檛 set foot outside during smoke events.
By Kylie Mohr -
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California Is Poised to Protect Workers From Extreme Heat 鈥 Indoors
Only a few states have rules to protect workers from the growing threat of extreme heat, either indoors or outdoors. California is expected to adopt heat standards for indoor workers in spring, even as federal legislation has stalled.
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Inside the Pentagon鈥檚 Painfully Slow Effort to Clean Up Decades of PFAS Contamination
Cost estimates balloon and complications mount as the Defense Department grapples with PFAS pollution at hundreds of its bases and surrounding communities.
By Hannah Norman and Patricia Kime -
鈥楩orever Chemicals鈥 Found in Freshwater Fish, Yet Most States Don鈥檛 Warn Residents
At least 17 states have issued PFAS-related fish consumption advisories, 吃瓜不打烊 found. But with no federal guidance, what is considered safe to eat varies significantly among states, most of which provide no regulation.
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鈥楩orever Chemicals鈥 in Thousands of Private Wells Near Military Sites, Study Finds
New research finds that private wells near more than 82% of select military sites were contaminated with PFAS chemicals.
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US Military Says National Security Depends on 鈥楩orever Chemicals鈥
PFAS chemicals are found in hundreds of products and weapons used by the U.S. military. Defense Department officials say a blanket ban on these man-made substances would threaten military readiness.
What Good Is a Vaccine When There Is No Rice?
Season 2, Episode 7What good is a vaccine when there is no rice? Episode 7 of 鈥淓radicating Smallpox鈥 explores the barriers public health workers face in communities where people鈥檚 basic needs aren鈥檛 being met.