Environmental Health

"Roughly one in four U.S. households have soil exceeding the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's lead screening levels of 200 parts per million (ppm), halved from the previous level of 400 ppm, a new study found. For households with exposure from multiple sources, the EPA lowered the guidance to 100 ppm; nearly 40% of households exceed that level, the study also found."

"The chemical plume from the February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, spread air pollutants to at least 16 states, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters."

"Hundreds of people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced intense high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials said Wednesday as people tried to claim their loved ones’ bodies."

"Nearly 2,000 children die every day from health problems linked to air pollution, which is now the second biggest risk factor for early death worldwide, a report said Wednesday."

"A number of wildfires in New Mexico and California have spawned evacuations, with intense blazes developing quickly and making damage assessments difficult for local officials."

"A scorching heat wave roasting the country and leading up to the summer solstice was expected to intensify in the coming days, potentially breaking records and impacting more than 135 million people, meteorologists warned Wednesday."

"Black communities are disproportionately impacted by Big Sugar's agricultural practices".

"Two months after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation preventing local governments from requiring heat protections for outdoors workers, Tampa Bay-area Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor is calling on the Biden administration to finalize federal workplace protections against heat-related injury and illness."

"Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s lawsuit seeking to shut down part of a petroleum pipeline that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac belongs in state court, a federal appellate panel ruled Monday."

"Nearly 73 million people in the United States were under extreme heat alerts Monday as a heat wave moved eastward, and the mid-Atlantic and New England were likely to see highs in the 90s as the week progresses. Excessive humidity will make it feel even more oppressive."