HOUSTON — It was just after noon on August 26, 2024, when Shiv Srivastava recorded the skyline of Houston’s East End while an industrial flare from TPC Group roared in the distance after power loss. Srivastava is the policy director at Fenceline Watch, an environmental nonprofit based in Houston’s East End. As the cloud of black smoke expanded over the downtown skyline, he worked with Yvette Arellano, Fenceline Watch’s executive director, to research air quality updates to share with community members on social media. It was not the first time they responded to air pollution problems like thi ..read more

PITTSBURGH — Nine in ten Pennsylvanians support stricter regulations on the fracking industry, while 42% would support an outright ban on fracking, according to a new poll. During a U.S. presidential election cycle where it’s been assumed that presidential candidates must be pro-fracking to win votes in the swing state of Pennsylvania, these results highlight that Pennsylvania voters have a more nuanced view of the industry. “Pennsylvanians are deeply ambivalent about fracking,” Sean O’Leary, a senior researcher with the Ohio River Valley Institute, the progressive think tank that commission ..read more

Wellington Onyenwe joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast to discuss using an environmental justice lens in looking at chemical exposure, and his passion for food and cooking. Onyenwe, a current fellow and a Health Scientist, Environmental Toxicologist and Public Health Emergency Responder at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also talks about being a Nigerian immigrant and his interest and career path in toxicology The Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast is a biweekly podcast featuring the stories and big ideas from past and present fello ..read more

This Dec. 3, 2024 webinar features Dr. Kyla Taylor of NIEHS who will discuss the results of a National Toxicology Program monograph review that concluded there is "moderate confidence" in the scientific evidence that showed an association between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in children ..read more

In this Oct. 10 webinar, Professor Grandjean will present his work on the impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on vaccine responses, and the implications for immunity against infectious diseases. Sponsored by Europe's Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL ..read more

Sponsored by the National Academies, this Oct. 15 virtual public workshop will address fundamental concepts and methods pertinent to cumulative impacts assessment ..read more

This Oct. 17 webinar features Dr. Anne-Louise Ponsonby discussing a study that found higher prenatal BPA levels are associated with increased autism spectrum disorder symptoms (ASD) at age 2 and an ASD diagnosis by age 9 in males with low aromatase genetic pathway activity scores. Sponsored by the EDC Strategies Partnership ..read more

Mokshda Kaul joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast to discuss the clean energy transition and how policymakers and other leaders can avoid mistakes of the past. Kaul, a Ph.D. candidate in the sustainable energy program at the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, also talks about the crucial role of coalitions in a just energy transition. The Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast is a biweekly podcast featuring the stories and big ideas from past and present fellows, as well as others in the field. You can see all of the past episodes here. L ..read more

An estimated 189 compounds linked to breast cancer are found in food packaging and tableware, according to a new study. The study, published today in the Frontiers in Toxicology journal, comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — which is responsible for regulating potentially harmful substances in food and packaging — is reassessing how they manage chemicals in food additives and packaging, something that health researchers have long called for. In the new study, researchers compared the Food Packaging Forum’s database on potentially harmful chemicals that can migrate out of food pack ..read more

As people from around the world are gathering in New York for the UN-sponsored Climate Week, it is past time the world focused on the threats to climate from plastics. For decades the fossil fuel industry has rightly been a target for climate action. It was major news last year when the UN climate change conference for the first time in decades agreed on calling for a transition away from fossil fuels. But many missed the loophole in that statement: fossil-fuel producing countries only agreed to this language with the caveat that the transition would be away from fossil fuels “in energy syst ..read more