By The Defender Staff
California Paraquat Spill Underscores Urgent Need for Nationwide Ban
The Environmental Working Group reported:
The Environmental Working Group today renewed its call for a total ban on paraquat following a dangerous spill of the herbicide in Siskiyou County, Calif. The incident triggered shelter-in-place orders and exposed hundreds of residents to one of the most toxic crop chemicals still used in the U.S. According to news reports, a large container of paraquat fell from a truck in the northern California town Dorris, spilling roughly 60 gallons of the chemical onto a major roadway and into the surrounding community.
Citing the risk of exposure to airborne paraquat releases, officials ordered a lockdown affecting about 600 residents, including those at a local elementary school. “This incident is a stark reminder that paraquat is simply too dangerous to be used anywhere near where people live, work or go to school,” said Geoff Horsfield, legislative director at EWG. “When a single spill can shut down a town, close highways and put hundreds of people at risk, it’s clear this chemical has no place in U.S. agriculture,” he added.
The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced a review of paraquat after a study submitted by the primary manufacturer found the chemical can drift in the air nearly 3 miles, significantly farther than previously thought.
Avoid Sea Foam — and Wash Yourself if You Touch It, Say PFAS Experts
People should avoid touching or swimming through sea and freshwater foam, and wash themselves if they do, according to a panel of experts assessing the risk of exposure to a chemical linked to various health conditions, including cancer, infertility and high cholesterol.
Sea foam — the white froth often seen on the waterline, especially on windy and stormy days — has been found to contain high concentrations of PFAS, a family of toxic chemicals which is present in Jersey, as it is worldwide. Following the concerns of residents, especially those living in an area of high contamination by the Airport, where firefighting foam containing the chemical was sprayed, the government formed a panel of scientific experts to guide its response.
That panel, which has just published a draft of its final report, has made dozens of recommendations – many of which have been taken on board, including blood-testing and PFAS-lowering treatments for eligible Islanders with high concentrations of the chemical in their system. Explaining the panel’s recommendation, its chair, Dr Steve Hajioff, said: “Sea foam is not caused by PFAS but because of the way that PFAS works, it tends to accumulate in the foam, and it can get really quite concentrated.
Tobacco Tax, Pesticide Monitoring Could Help Address Iowa’s High Cancer Rates, Researchers Say
Researchers told Iowa House lawmakers Wednesday that legislation raising taxes on tobacco and implementing more pesticide monitoring requirements could help lower the state’s high cancer rates and provide more information on its causes. The House Health and Human Services and Environmental Protection committees held a joint meeting Wednesday where they heard from speakers with the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health about key factors driving Iowa’s cancer rates.
These UI researchers and staff presented preliminary information gathered in a yearlong research project conducted through a UI partnership with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. Lawmakers had approved $1 million in funding last year for the project, seeking to identify the factors leading to Iowa’s ranking as having the second-highest rate of new cancer cases in the country, and as one of only two states with a rising rate of new cancers in 2025.
The preliminary data, first presented in a news conference with Gov. Kim Reynolds in February, identified that Iowa has higher rates of prostate, breast, lung cancer and melanoma, when compared to national trends. The initial study released did not examine environmental and genetic factors, but examined demographic and behavioral factors related to cancer incidences.
EPA Orders Colorado to Rewrite Six Oil and Gas Pollution Permits Over Venting Issues
The Environmental Protection Agency has slapped back six oil and gas air pollution permits to Colorado regulators, saying the state failed to require adequate monitoring of natural gas venting in the Garfield County systems and risked letting too much dirty air into the atmosphere. The environmental watchdogs who objected to two oil and gas companies’ permits called the rare Trump Administration rejection a victory in their ongoing campaign to force Colorado into more monitoring of gas leaks, intentional venting and flaring.
Repeated failures in any of those steps of natural gas gathering release harmful volatile organic compounds and methane that exacerbates carbon buildup in the atmosphere. “This is a huge issue. If companies aren’t accurately measuring and reporting the amount of gas vented, then permitted venting is basically a free pass to pollute,” said Jeremy Nichols of the Center for Biological Diversity, which brought the objections.
“It would be like the IRS letting people say they paid their taxes without requiring them to file a return.” While the permits in question now are on the Western Slope, Nichols said, “this is a statewide problem that the Division isn’t ensuring companies are, in fact, fully complying with emission limits.”
Microplastics in Your Body Are Secretly Making You Sick
As if the current state of the world hasn’t already filled you with enough anxiety, along comes Netflix’s new documentary The Plastic Detox to tell you there’s a threat closer to home — namely, the microplastics in your water bottle, sportswear, non-stick kitchenware, food wrappers, children’s toys, deodorants and countless other everyday objects. Even the seemingly harmless receipts you collect after a purchase are coated with chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) or its alternatives, which can transfer onto your skin. (Safety tip — don’t take that receipt unless you really need it.)
Microplastics, if you don’t know, are tiny fragments of plastic — often invisible to the naked eye — that break off from larger plastic objects and make their way into the air we breathe, the food we eat and the bodies we inhabit. Mainstream media has been reporting on microplastics for about a decade now, but the issue has gained urgency lately as studies have detected these particles in human blood, lungs, brains, and even placenta and breast milk.
Released on Monday (Mar 16), The Plastic Detox might seem alarmist if not for a growing body of research linking plastic-related chemicals — especially endocrine disruptors such as phthalates and bisphenols — to a range of health concerns.
People in North Yorkshire Town Found to Have ‘Alarming’ Levels of Toxic Pfas Chemicals in Blood
Alarming levels of toxic forever chemicals have been found in the blood of people living in a town previously revealed to be contaminated with the UK’s highest recorded level of Pfas. Pfas, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and commonly known as forever chemicals because of their persistence in the environment, have been linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, including some cancers.
They are used in a variety of consumer products but one of their most prolific uses is in firefighting foam. In May 2024, Ends Report and the Guardian published an investigation revealing that groundwater in the small rural town of Bentham in North Yorkshire was contaminated with the highest level of Pfas ever known to be recorded in the UK. This was found on land belonging to Angus Fire, a factory that between 1976 and 2024 legally produced Pfas-containing firefighting foam.
Blood testing conducted as part of a new ITV documentary that will be broadcast on Sunday night, produced in collaboration with Ends Report, has revealed that residents and former workers at the factory have “alarming” levels of these chemicals in their blood. In the UK, there are no guidelines indicating what constitutes a safe level of Pfas in blood. However in the US, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (Nasem) has said that if the sum of seven Pfas chemicals in blood is above 2 ng/ml, there is a potential for adverse health effects.
The post California Paraquat Spill Underscores Urgent Need for Nationwide Ban + More appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.
IPAK-EDU is grateful to The Defender as this piece was originally published there and is included in this news feed with mutual agreement. Read More
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