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have different policies about retaining articles and providing access to archived material.
Thus some of the links, particularly older ones, may no longer be functional.
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Exposure to bisphenol A at levels commonly found in the general population may cut a woman's chance of getting pregnant if she is undergoing fertility treatment, a study from Harvard University finds.
Those with higher levels were less likely to get pregnant than women with lower levels. While animal studies show similar results, this is the first link reported in people. BPA is widely used in some plastics, most food can linings and certain receipt paper. 16 May 2012. More...
Women exposed to low levels of cadmium in their food have changes in DNA markers that alter gene regulation and increase their cancer risk.
This study for the first time suggests that cadmium may be turning genes on or off in a way that triggers disease. 14 May 2012. More...
Adults exposed to low levels of a toxic gas released by natural and industrial sources may experience wheezing, coughing and asthma attacks that require medication, finds a three-year study in Iceland.
This is one of the first studies to find a connection between hydrogen sulfide – best known for its rotten egg smell – and respiratory health effects. 9 May 2012. More...
A versatile and potentially valuable natural material could be easily collected from the abundant waste produced when leather is made from animal hides, according to researchers from Spain who explain their novel process in the journal Green Chemistry.
This new method to recycle or reuse the waste alleviates the dumping, produces a necessary product and increases sustainable manufacturing. 20 April 2012. More...
Pre-birth exposures to low doses of a compound-- PFOA -- that has been widely found in fast food packaging and household products, may increase body weight in women but not men, a new study finds.
This is the first time that this chemical, which has been used in the manufacturing of water and stain resistant compounds, has been linked to obesity in humans, although this study was initiated because of research with mice showing that low dose exposures to PFOA in the womb cause post-pubertal weight gain. 19 April 2012. More...
Life-long, low-level lead exposure is associated with increased reports of depression and anxiety that is related to phobias in older women, according to newly published research.
The associations were strongest for premenopausal and postmenopausal women who regularly took hormone replacement therapy. The results suggest that mental health may suffer from long term exposure to low levels of lead. 18 April 2012. More...
During heat waves, elderly people living in city areas where night temperatures remain higher are more likely to succumb to the heat than those in nearby suburban areas where temperatures dip when the sun goes down.
Older people living in the city had twice the risk of dying from the heat than those in the suburbs. 13 April 2012. More...
Children in Ecuador who live with flower plantation workers have lower levels of an essential nervous system enzyme than children who live with adults who do not work on flower farms, report researchers for the first time.
They attribute the difference to exposure to pesticides that hitchhike home on the plantation workers' clothing, tools and skin. 11 April 2012. More...
A study in Beijing finds that face masks can help protect those with coronary heart disease from symptoms and health effects triggered by exposure to polluted air. Heart disease symptoms and blood pressure were both reduced when older men and women diagnosed with CHD wore the masks while walking in the city.
The masks effectively filtered out almost all of the harmful fine and ultrafine particles released from cars and other traffic in the urban area. The results show that individual actions - in this case, wearing a special, high-efficiency mask - can alleviate some health effects linked to more serious cardiovascular problems in those susceptible to urban air pollution. 5 April 2012. More...
A new, large study of women in the US reports that women with high mercury exposures are more than twice as likely to have higher levels of antibodies that are associated with autoimmune disorders.
The findings may be the first evidence that mercury exposure in U.S. women affects the immune system through the thyroid. 21 March 2012. More...
New research by scientists from Boston University finds striking associations between chemical body burdens of two different types of chemicals and socioeconomic status. Poor people – especially young children dependent upon food assistance – were more likely to have higher levels of bisphenol A (BPA) while wealthier people were more likely to have higher levels of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs).
In contrast, the scientists found weaker and inconsistent associations between body burden and education or occupation. Mexican Americans had the lowest levels of both chemical types of any racial/ethnic group 14 March 2012. More...
An approach combining chemistry and biology improves the process to make important anti-clotting drugs known as heparins. The novel method described in the journal Science provides a realistic alternative to livestock for heparins and is likely to drop the cost of such pharmaceuticals.
The researchers mimicked the process animals use to make heparins. This approach is superior to collecting directly from an animal because the reactions are controlled. 29 February 2012. More...
Research shows for the first time that increased levels of organochlorine chemicals PCBs and a DDT breakdown product in men are associated with an extra sex chromosome in sperm that can contribute to reproductive problems.
An abnormal number of chromosomes in embryo or fetus is the largest known cause of failed pregnancies in people. It can also lead to birth defects. 28 February 2012. More...
Three common environmental chemicals - lead, organophosphate pesticides and methylmercury - may have effects on children's IQ in the overall population similar to the impacts of major medical conditions such as preterm birth or ADHD – two of the most prevalent in U.S. children.
The finding from this reanalysis of published data hints that the societal toll of exposures to these invisible yet widespread contaminants may be more severe than what previous studies of individual risk would suggest. 24 February 2012. More...
Higher prenatal exposure to an insecticide commonly used worldwide was associated with poorer motor development in the children at 2 years of age, suggesting that fetal carbamate pesticide exposures may have lasting consequences.
The study is one of the first to assess developmental affects of gestational exposure to the pesticide propoxur on children's growing nervous system. 23 February 2012. More...
Infertile couples are exposed to three to five times higher levels of phthalates compared to fertile couples who have naturally conceived a child, finds a study from Italy.
The couples had higher levels of four different classes of phthalates in their urine, including the phthalate compound most commonly used in plastics and the compound most commonly used in cosmetics. 22 February 2012. More...
Even relatively limited exposure to some common chemical solvents at work or through hobbies may increase the risk of having Parkinson's disease (PD), report researchers who found a higher risk regardless of the number of exposures, their duration or lifetime totals.
They also found that the first symptoms of the disease - the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the United States - may not surface until decades after exposure. 21 February 2012. More...
Older children have higher levels of Teflon-related chemicals called PFCs - used in products to prevent staining and sticking - than younger children, although their levels are lower than a decade ago.
PFCs have been used in food packages, non-stick coatings, fire-fighting foams, carpet coatings, and cosmetics and lotions. Children can be exposed via their mothers before birth and when breastfeeding. 16 February 2012. More...
Eating even relatively modest levels of rice - about a half a cup of cooked rice a day - can significantly contribute to arsenic exposure in the U.S. population, reports a study of pregnant women who live in New Hampshire.
Women who were exposed through both eating rice and drinking water had on average twice the level of arsenic in their urine than women who did not eat rice and were exposed only through water. 14 February 2012. More...
Overweight children tend to have higher levels of certain phthalate metabolites in their urine, according to a year-long study of minority children in New York City. Researchers found that a 10-fold increase in MEP concentrations was associated with subsequent increases in body mass index and waist size.
This is the first study to examine the association between phthalate exposure and body weight measures in children. Prior studies in teens and women find a similar association between the same phthalate - MEP - and the same two body measures. 7 February 2012. More...
Researchers from Boston University and Harvard University found more than 100 different prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements contain phthalates as inactive ingredients. That is, the chemicals do not act as medicines but instead carry and deliver the medicinal ingredients.
It's no secret that pharmaceuticals contain phthalates. What's surprising is the extent of their use in such different types of products, including nutritional supplements. 6 February 2012. More...
It takes just a single generation in captivity to genetically change a wild fish's offspring so they are less able to reproduce in the wild, report researchers who studied three generations of the endangered steelhead fish from Oregon's Hood River.
The more successful a wild caught fish is in captivity – by producing high numbers of offspring – the worse off the offspring are at reproducing successfully in the wild. This study is the first to explain the cause: unintentional genetic adaptation to captivity. 3 February 2012. More...
Women were more likely to be obese, have high blood pressure or have gestational diabetes during pregnancy if their mother smoked while pregnant, finds a study of more than 70,000 women in Norway.
This study is the first to identify an increased risk of gestational diabetes among women whose mothers smoked during pregnancy. Results here are consistent with other studies finding links between prenatal smoking and obesity in children as well as small increases in blood pressure. 1 February 2012. More...
PCBs may interfere with immune system development in infants exposed in the womb and early in life, report researchers from the United States and Slovakia. Infants with higher PCB exposure during gestation and as newborns had smaller thymus organs at birth and at 6 months of age but not at 13 months.
These results suggest that early life exposure to PCBs might impact the development of the immune system, but the effects seem to be limited to early infancy. The long-term implications of these changes remain to be determined. 31 January 2012. More...
Children and young adults from areas with highly polluted air in Mexico had physical and genetic changes in their brains akin to those found in adults with Alzheimer's disease. The changes seen are surprising because they are not supposed to occur in younger brains.
Over half of the brains from the urban areas showed signs of amyloid-B plaques and 40 percent had pretangle material. In contrast, none of the brains from the rural areas had either condition. 30 January 2012. More...
A new study from Spain reports that infants born to mothers who cooked with gas stoves had slightly lower intelligence scores at ages 1 and 2 than those in homes without gas cookers. In homes with gas, infant scores were better if there was an exhaust fan above the stove.
Gas stoves are so common that these small decreases in infant intelligence may lead to more children with lower IQs and fewer with higher IQs in the future. 26 January 2012. More...
Lead exposure may increase lifelong pessimism, according to a new study. Researchers found that lead levels in aging men were associated with increased pessimism even after controlling for other important factors such as socioeconomic status.
Lead is known to affect the nervous system and affect intelligence, memory and behavior. Research also shows it is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. 20 January 2012. More...
A new study raises concern about children's exposure to mercury through fish eating, tying it for the first time to hormone changes that increase chronic stress and associated immune system dysfunction. The highest mercury levels detected in the study had about 20-25 percent lower cortisol in saliva samples compared with lowest mercury levels.
Mercury levels measured in the children were well below the levels considered a health risk by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 19 January 2012. More...
A new study found that higher in utero and childhood exposure to a solvent known as PCE, or tetrachloroethylene, increased the risk of cigarette, drug, and alcohol use as a teenager and young adult.
These results are consistent with previous animal and human studies reporting that PCE can affect both behavior and cognition in animals and humans. This is the first study to evaluate the behavioral consequences of early life PCE exposure in adulthood. 16 January 2012. More...
In the first study of its kind, scientists in Denmark report that women exposed near the time of conception to relatively common levels of a particular phthalate are more likely to experience early pregnancy loss compared to women with lower exposures.
The phthalate associated with the losses, MEHP, is a breakdown product of a phthalate, DEHP, widely used in plastics. Only exposures around conception - and not in the prior month - were linked to the loss. 12 January 2012. More...
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