Environmental Health

"On May 6, 2014, as I read through the morning's incoming email, a Food Safety Alert from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcing a "voluntary recall of mangoes due to possible health risk" from the bacteria Listeria caught my eye. This grabbed my attention because at the time, a handsome sunset-hued mango, purchased several days before at my neighborhood market in Portland, Oregon, was ripening on the kitchen counter."

"Climate change poses risks to human health just as pollution and lack of sanitation did a century ago, says a medical journal editorial that details the potential harmful health effects and the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed stricter requirements to avoid exposure to pesticides on farms, leaving farmers and officials divided about whether they go too far or provide needed protection."

"Indications are growing that some of the most comfortable resting places in your home – your couch, your bed’s mattress – could be a health hazard."

"The Obama administration on Thursday announced measures to tackle the growing threat of antibiotic resistance, outlining a national strategy that includes incentives for the development of new drugs, tighter stewardship of existing ones, and improvements in tracking the use of antibiotics and the microbes that are resistant to them."

Researchers are finding increasing evidence that environmental factors -- ranging from exposure to toxic chemicals to physical and mental exercise -- can have important effects on aging brains. While older people may have a surprising capacity for neurological regeneration, chemical exposures (even exposures earlier in life) have been linked to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

"New York City children exposed in the womb to moderate levels of two plasticizers had a 72 to 78 percent higher chance of developing asthma, according to a new study published [Wednesday]."

"Government inspectors all over the country are supposed to ensure the meat we eat is safe. But according to a growing chorus of current and former inspectors - and a number of watchdog groups - the U-S meat inspection system isn’t doing its job."

"Coal miners in Kentucky and other parts of Appalachia are contracting serious cases of black lung disease at rates not seen since the early 1970s — just after preventive regulations were enacted, according to a study published Monday."