Medical News Roundup June 2025
The Defender’s Big Chemical NewsWatch delivers the latest headlines, from a variety of news sources, related to toxic chemicals and their effect on human health and the environment
The views expressed in the below excerpts from other news sources do not necessarily reflect the views of The Defender.
The Surprising Ways Food Packaging Is Exposing Us to Microplastics
New research shows that microplastics from paint and food processing are seeping into our food and drink. At this point, most people know that microplastics are everywhere. Scientists have shown that tiny particles, amounting to the weight of a plastic spoon, can be found in our brains; hundreds of fragments of plastic are in each breath we take.
But the exact origins of those tiny pieces of plastic have been unclear. Are they coming from plastics discarded in landfills and decomposing over dozens of years? Or are they spilling out of the plastic water bottles and containers we seal our food in? The answer matters — for individuals hoping to avoid the particles and politicians who may want to restrict the microplastics we eat, drink and breathe.
Several comments highlight surprising sources of microplastics in our food and beverages, such as glass bottles, which can lead to increased plastic ingestion. Additionally, plastic linings in cans and plastic fabrics in clothing are noted as significant contributors.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Delivers Win for Environmentalists in Fight Over ‘Forever Chemicals’
The Wisconsin Supreme Court delivered a victory for environmentalists on Tuesday in the fight over “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, issuing a ruling that advocates said will hold polluters accountable.
The liberal-controlled court ruled that state regulators can force landowners to clean up emerging pollutants such as PFAS before they are officially designated as hazardous substances.
The 5-2 ruling is a defeat for the state’s powerful group representing businesses and manufacturers, which had argued the state couldn’t enforce regulations on substances before they were officially designated as hazardous. It is the latest development in a yearslong battle in Wisconsin and nationally involving regulators, environmentalists, politicians and businesses over how to deal with PFAS contamination.
Lawsuit Seeks List of Polluters Asking Trump for Clean Air Act Exemptions
The Center for Biological Diversity reported:
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration on June 25 for failing to release the names of fossil fuel companies and other polluters seeking exemptions from life-saving Clean Air Act safeguards against hazardous pollution.
In March President Trump invited industrial polluters to apply for an exemption from rules that limit dangerous air pollutants, including mercury, lead and ethylene oxide.
“Trump has encouraged the nation’s dirtiest polluters to line up for a political handout and put their profits ahead of the health of millions of people,” said Ryan Maher, an attorney at the Center. “The polluter-in-chief is trying to sneak through this blatant law violation by hiding which industrial polluters are cashing in and increasing dangerous air pollution that Americans are forced to breathe.”Past uses of this presidential exemption power included a detailed application process to determine whether the request was justifiable under the law. But Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency required polluters only to submit a simple emailed request for exemptions — many of which have already been approved.
A rarely used provision of the Clean Air Act allows the president to exempt industrial facilities from certain air pollution standards under narrow circumstances. The president has to determine that a polluting facility cannot meet the standard using presently available technology and that it would be harmful to national security interests to impose the standard on the facility.
Disposable Vapes May Be More Toxic Than Cigarettes, Study Finds
The San Francisco Chronicle reported:
Some popular disposable e-cigarettes emit toxic metals at levels that surpass those found in traditional cigarettes and earlier generations of vapes, according to a new study by researchers at UC Davis. The study, published Wednesday in ACS Central Science, found that a single day’s use of one disposable device released more lead than nearly 20 packs of conventional cigarettes.
Researchers also identified hazardous concentrations of nickel and antimony — metals linked to cancer, nerve damage and respiratory illness — in the aerosol emitted by seven devices from three widely used disposable vape brands.
UC Davis researchers Mark Salazar, left, and Brett Poulin in a lab with disposable vape pods. Their study found some disposable vapes emit more toxic metals — including lead and nickel — than traditional cigarettes.
“Our study highlights the hidden risk of these new and popular disposable electronic cigarettes — with hazardous levels of neurotoxic lead and carcinogenic nickel and antimony — which stresses the need for urgency in enforcement,” Brett Poulin, assistant professor of environmental toxicology at UC Davis and the study’s senior author, said in a statement.
Map Shows States With Highest Use of Harmful Pesticides
Midwestern and Southern states use much higher rates of the potentially harmful pesticide 2,4-D, according to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data. A map by USGS, based on the latest data, collected in 2019, shows that use is most prevalent across Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, with other states also using the herbicide in certain areas.
2,4-D was found to be “possibly carcinogenic to humans” in a 2015 report by International Agency for Research on Cancer in the World Health Organization, although the report states there was “inadequate evidence” at the time to determine the extent of its harm. But there are justified concerns about potential harm, depending on exposure levels to 2,4-D.
Newsweek has contacted the Department of Agriculture (USDA) via email for comment.
2,4-D has been used as a pesticide since the 1940s, and gained notoriety as one of the components of Agent Orange, the defoliant used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War to destroy forestry and crops. While the other component of Agent Orange, 2,4,5-T, contained high levels of dioxin which was found to cause cancer and other health problems, dioxins are reportedly not found at detectable levels in 2,4-D products sold and used in the U.S., USDA said.
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