Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have uncovered new evidence of the potential health risks of chemicals in tobacco and marijuana smoke.

[T]he researchers report that people who smoked only marijuana had several smoke-related toxic chemicals in their blood and urine, but at lower levels than those who smoked both tobacco and marijuana or tobacco only. Two of those chemicals, acrylonitrile and acrylamide . . .

Less Stress Hormone Found in Children with Access to Green Spaces, Clean Air, Quality Grocery Stores

While poverty has long been linked with poor health, a study from UC San Francisco has found that simply living in a more desirable neighborhood may act as a health booster for low-income children.

UCSF researchers compared levels of the stress hormone cortisol in 338 kindergartners whose families’ annual incomes ranged from less than $10,000 to $200,000-plus. The research team found . . .

Toxins: Understanding the Risk for Cognitive Decline

In today’s world, we are all exposed to some level of toxins. These appear in our food, water, air, as well as in everyday items found around the home . . . 

Researchers have linked low-level toxin exposure to many diseases including cancer, cardiovascular, and kidney disease. [There is a] . . . growing body of medical literature that demonstrates that certain toxins increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

According to researchers . . .

Prenatal exposures are linked to learning and behavioral problems including attention disorders.

In a peer-reviewed article published . . . in the American Journal of Public Health, leading scientists and health professionals of Project TENDR identify ortho-phthalates as neurotoxic chemicals that increase children’s risks for learning, attention, and behavioral disorders. In particular, prenatal exposures to phthalates can contribute to attention problems in children. 

Risk remains high after accounting for people who may have switched from traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes because of health issues.

A growing body of evidence points to the health risks of using e-cigarettes (or “vaping”).

[A] study by researchers from the School of Public Health and School of Medicine [Boston University] is one of the first to look at vaping in a large, healthy sample of the population over time, independently from other tobacco product use.

[T]he study found . . .

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of aluminum-free antiperspirants and deodorants on the market. 

This market shift is driven in part by a hotly disputed link between aluminum-based antiperspirants and breast cancer. Medical experts initially dismissed that link almost 20 years ago due to a lack of scientific studies. Several studies have been done since then, but there is still no scientific consensus. From EWG scientists, here’s a summary of the current state of the science.  

How is it that exposure to biotoxins such as toxic mold can affect hormones? What are some simple steps to re-create balance? You can start with cleaning your nose and make sure you’re pooping every day! Let’s explore why….

Exposure to toxic molds and the many bacterial fragments that come with it, can disrupt multiple interacting systems in the body. Often people with exposure to mold experience chronic fatigue, cognitive and mood disorders, as well as many disruptions in their hormones . . . 

Digital devices can interfere with everything from sleep to creativity

Whether we like it or not, digital devices are everywhere. . . .While these devices can enhance learning and build community, they can also interfere with everything from sleep to creativity. . . .

“It’s not how long we’re using screens that really matters; it’s how we’re using them and what’s happening in our brains in response,” says Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s Hospital . . .

CU Boulder study shows high bodily emissions during workouts, intensified by chemical reactions with cleaners

One sweaty, huffing, exercising person emits as many chemicals from their body as up to five sedentary people, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study. And notably, those human emissions, including amino acids from sweat or acetone from breath, chemically combine with bleach cleaners to form new airborne chemicals with unknown impacts to indoor air quality.

Is the air you breathe the same air your ancestors did? Your immune system was designed to deal with the natural elements faced by your early ancestors: bugs, parasites, viruses, molds, fungi, and bacteria. It was not created to deal with off gassing from plastic blinds, exhaust from cars, or the chemicals in the “cleaners” used today. There were no toxic chemicals like we inhale every day in our polluted air. Yet, your body is still the same design . . .

It’s no secret that we live in an increasingly toxic world. The food we eat, the air we breathe, the products we come into contact with – they’re all harboring potentially harmful toxins. One such harmful toxin is a chemical known as benzene. . . .

Benzene . . . is a chemical found and used abundantly in the United States. Benzene starts out as a liquid, but when exposed to air, it evaporates very quickly. Once evaporated, its dense vapors can accumulate in low-lying areas. It can also dissolve in water . . .

[O]ur collective use of cleaning chemicals is skyrocketing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the daily number of calls to poison control centers for incidents involving exposures to cleaners and disinfectants increased sharply at the beginning of March 2020, just as COVID-19 was escalating.

The unfortunate news is that many of the cleaning products we use . . . pose significant risks to our health . . .

If people switch to an all-organic diet, the levels of the most widely used weedkiller in the world swiftly and dramatically plummet in their bodies, according to a new study reported on today by Environmental Health News. 

Researchers with the Health Research Institute and the national nonprofits Commonweal Institute and Friends of the Earth tested urine samples . . .

Technology can offer us incredible benefits, including better physical and emotional health.

Some of the best parts of our modern lives revolve around technology—but, of course, there is a limit to what it can (and should) do for us. When it becomes a crutch or an obsession, tech becomes a problem. If you’re unhappy with your relationship with technology, a digital detox may be in order.

Plastic revolutionized the world, but it did so with consequences. In recent years, more attention has been given to the potential dangers of plastic to human health and the environment. However, plastic remains one of the most widely used materials for everything from packaging to construction to consumer goods to manufacturing.

Because it’s virtually “everywhere,” this makes it extremely difficult for one to live a life without exposure to plastic, even for those . . .

Long-term exposure to air pollution has been linked to an increased risk of dying from COVID-19 and, for the first time, a study has estimated the proportion of deaths from the coronavirus that could be attributed to the exacerbating effects of air pollution for every country in the world.

Surprisingly, indoor air can often be more polluted than outdoor air. Particles from home heating and cooling systems, tobacco smoke, off-gassing from furniture and building materials, and mold spores can all contaminate indoor air. Of course, outdoor air pollution can also make its way indoors when windows are open – traffic pollution particles in built-up areas and next to roads, chemical pesticide sprays . . .

Most Americans, including children, use electronic devices like cellphones, tablets and smartwatches, for hours every day – and many have developed symptoms that look like addictive behavior.

But frequent use of electronic devices may pose health risks beyond addiction.

Research from the National Toxicology Program reveals troubling evidence that cellphone radiation could cause brain and heart cancer.

Frequent use of household cleaning products during a child’s early life was associated with increased risk of wheeze and asthma—but not atopy—by the age of 3, according to study findings published in CMAJ.

Investigators from Canada collected parental responses from 2022 children in the form of questionnaires between 2008 and 2015. The study authors wanted to determine which cleaning products were used in the home . . .

We’ve come a long way in our understanding chronic inflammatory response syndrome, also known as CIRS. Though we still have more to understand, living with mold toxicity and CIRS is no longer without solutions.  I have some great tips for surviving and thriving after a mold exposure.

Though it may take more time for some doctors to fully recognize this condition . . . 

We are being exposed to air fresheners more and more in our shared-ride economy.

Many people are connecting the dots, recognizing that that air “fresheners” give them headaches, itchiness, and coughs. But what exactly are in air fresheners?

It’s not easy to find the answer to this question. Generally, air fresheners are made of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which are synthetic chemicals that can float through the air. I tried hunting down the ingredients in Febreze Car Vent Clips . . .

Wildfires are burning thousands of acres in California . . . The result is devastating, not only for the deaths of people and animals trapped by the fire and the destruction of homes, businesses, forests, farmland. The effects of wildfire smoke also take a huge toll on air quality. . . .

Thankfully, there are concrete actions we can take to protect ourselves from the health effects of wildfire smoke on our bodies.

There’s a toxin in your house that’s harming you.

And you probably don’t even know about it.

Certain plastic chemicals are the culprits. And they are attacking our thyroids. . . .

In a recent study by Columbia University, researchers followed 319 families with young children and found dangerous levels of phthalates in the blood of 3-year-olds. And they found that these plastic chemicals are destroying their thyroids!

Yes, eating out of cans that have a BPA lining can actually kill you! A study published last month in JAMA showed that people over age 20 with high levels of BPA in their urine have about a 50% greater risk of death than people with low levels.

Researchers tested nearly 4,000 adults for BPA levels in their urine and followed them for more than 9 years and noted that there was a 49% higher rate for all-cause mortality and was 46% higher for deaths related to heart disease.

EMF exposure is something all of us are encountering every day. Cell phones, computers, tablets, WiFi routers, microwaves, and other appliances are part of our modern life conveniences. While these tools and gadgets can be certainly handy and even necessary, you may wonder if they are safe. These appliances are sending out electric and magnetic fields (EMFs), or radiation that may affect your and your family’s health.

In recent years, green juices have become the poster child for the wellness movement. . . . If you’re a green juice fan, your recipe probably includes a combination of green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, and grasses, among other ingredients. . . . So you might be thinking — these are all healthy ingredients, so green juice must be healthy, right? Well, not necessarily. Some of the star superfoods in green drinks, like kale and broccoli, may be hiding a dangerous secret . . .

Toxic flame retardants can move from your TV to your cell phone to your hands and then you, caution scientists

Harmful flame retardants may be lurking on your hands and cell phone, according to a peer-reviewed study published today in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

The researchers found that halogenated flame retardants added to plastic TV cases can move from the TV to indoor air and dust, to hands, and then to cell phones . . .

The Environmental Working Group released its 2020 Dirty Dozen list, a “Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce” . . . This year, the report found that almost 70 percent of non-organic samples tested positive for at least one pesticide.

EWG’s report also features a “Clean 15” list, which identifies the non-organic produce least likely to be contaminated with pesticide levels. [T]hese lists help you focus your attention on avoiding the most contaminated fruits and veggies.

Amid the debate over man-made climate change, we’re missing an important point: environmental devastation is taking a toll on mankind whether or not we’re doomed to swelter in fossil-fuel induced heat waves by mid-century.

The battle lines are formed between Green New Deal advocates who call for the abolition of combustibles and climate change denialists who claim the data is rigged. This is unfortunate, because it allows for little common ground on how to protect human health.

An epidemic of childhood behavioral disorders is sweeping the globe. . . .

Recent research indicates that one in six children in the United States is afflicted with developmental and behavioral disorders, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), anxiety disorder, learning disorders, and conduct disorders.

According to neurology experts . . .