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Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a contested environmental illness that can be debilitating and life limiting. Those with MCS develop an array of physical symptoms to doses of chemicals in everyday life that are currently considered safe for human health by scientific and political actors. (1) Background: The purpose of this project is to understand how people with MCS practice chemical avoidance, describe MCS as a "relational illness", and understand the interactional strategies for navigating relational chemical exposures. (2) Methods: This is an ethnographically embedded interview project that consists of two field trips, thirty-three interviews, and content analysis of MCS materials such as newsletters, books, and websites. (3) Results: This article finds that personal protection strategies for chemical avoidance are insufficient in the case of MCS. By redefining the hazards posed by spaces and other people's bodies, those with MCS transform chemicals into an object of relational concern. This creates opportunities for other people to reevaluate their own chemical relationships and accommodate those with MCS, but it can also lead to denial, dismissal, and social exclusion. (4) Conclusions: This work on demonstrates that chemical contamination is an issue of interactional concern and adds to the literature on contested illness and relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Objective To evaluate the influence of environmental factors and prematurity relating to juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM), its course and refractoriness to treatment. Methods A case-control study with 35 patients followed up at a tertiary hospital and 124 healthy controls, all residents of São Paulo. Patients were classified according to monocyclic, polycyclic or chronic disease courses and refractoriness to treatment. The daily concentrations of pollutants (inhalable particulate matter-PM10, sulfur dioxide-SO2, nitrogen dioxide-NO2, ozone-O3 and carbon monoxide-CO) were provided by the Environmental Company of São Paulo. Data from the population were obtained through a questionnaire. Results Fifteen patients had monocyclic courses, and 19 polycyclic/chronic courses. Eighteen patients were refractory to treatment. Maternal occupational exposure to inhalable agents (OR = 17.88; IC 95% 2.15–148.16, p = 0.01) and exposure to O3 in the fifth year of life (third tertile > 86.28µg/m3; OR = 6.53, IC95% 1.60–26.77, p = 0.01) were risk factors for JDM in the multivariate logistic regression model. The presence of a factory/quarry at a distance farther than 200 meters from daycare/school (OR = 0.22; IC 95% 0.06–0.77; p = 0.02) was a protective factor in the same analysis. Prematurity, exposure to air pollutants/cigarette smoke/sources of inhalable pollutants in the mother’s places of residence and work during the gestational period were not associated with JDM. Prematurity, maternal exposure to occupational pollutants during pregnancy as well as patient’s exposure to ground-level pollutants up to the fifth year of life were not associated with disease course and treatment refractoriness. Conclusion Risk factors for JDM were maternal occupational exposure and exposure to O3 in the fifth year of life.

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a contested environmental illness that can be debilitating and life limiting. Those with MCS develop an array of physical symptoms to doses of chemicals in everyday life that are currently considered safe for human health by scientific and political actors. (1) Background: The purpose of this project is to understand how people with MCS practice chemical avoidance, describe MCS as a “relational illness”, and understand the interactional strategies for navigating relational chemical exposures. (2) Methods: This is an ethnographically embedded interview project that consists of two field trips, thirty-three interviews, and content analysis of MCS materials such as newsletters, books, and websites. (3) Results: This article finds that personal protection strategies for chemical avoidance are insufficient in the case of MCS. By redefining the hazards posed by spaces and other people’s bodies, those with MCS transform chemicals into an object of relational concern. This creates opportunities for other people to reevaluate their own chemical relationships and accommodate those with MCS, but it can also lead to denial, dismissal, and social exclusion. (4) Conclusions: This work on demonstrates that chemical contamination is an issue of interactional concern and adds to the literature on contested illness and relationships.

From past to present human populations effort to adopt the world to their own life patterns. As a result of this, they have caused environmental changes and deterioration. These environmental changes threaten advances in human health, deepen existing inequalities, and pose new health risks. Climate change, which is considered one of the most important of these environmental degradations is predicted to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050. Especially the most vulnerable individuals or groups will be affected by this situation. Therefore, taking action towards these changes is an urgent necessity. In this context, it is extremely important to accept approaches that define health from a broader perspective, such as planetary health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant research has established that low-wage workers of color are at higher risk for occupational exposures. While the medical sociology literature regarding contested illness provides insights into the dynamics surrounding workplace exposures, some environmental illnesses such as lupus have gotten scant analytical attention. This is a significant gap because women of color, who are more likely to hold these high-risk jobs, are disproportionately affected by the disease. We examine a case of pesticide exposure among Black women farmworkers in Florida. We investigate how race and occupation intersect to shape lived experiences with toxics and what role race plays in the process of contesting exposures and illness. Our data include in-depth interviews (N = 36), media coverage, and archival materials. Our findings indicate that race-related factors played an important part in shaping the farmworkers' experiences with exposures, illness, and interaction with elite actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electromagnetic signals from everyday wireless technologies are an ever-present environmental stressor, affecting biological systems. In this article, we substantiate this statement based on the weight of evidence from papers collated within the ORSAA database (ODEB), focusing on the biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields and radiation. More specifically, the experiments investigating exposures from real-world devices and the epidemiology studies examining the effects of living near mobile phone base stations were extracted from ODEB and the number of papers showing effects was compared with the number showing no effects. The results showed that two-thirds of the experimental and epidemiological papers found significant biological effects. The breadth of biological and health categories where effects have been found was subsequently explored, revealing hundreds of papers showing fundamental biological processes that are impacted, such as protein damage, biochemical changes and oxidative stress. This understanding is targeted toward health professionals and policy makers who have not been exposed to this issue during training. To inform this readership, some of the major biological effect categories and plausible mechanisms of action from the reviewed literature are described. Also presented are a set of best practice guidelines for treating patients affected by electromagnetic exposures and for using technology safely in health care settings. In conclusion, there is an extensive evidence base revealing that significant stress to human biological systems is being imposed by exposure to everyday wireless communication devices and supporting infrastructure. This evidence is compelling enough to warrant an update in medical education and practice.

Evidence continues to emerge that the social determinants of health play a role in adverse outcomes related to COVID-19, including increased morbidity and mortality, increased risk of long COVID, and vaccine adverse effects. Therefore, a more nuanced understanding of the biochemical and cellular pathways of illnesses commonly associated with adverse social determinants of health is urgently needed. We contend that a commitment to understanding adverse outcomes in historically marginalized communities will increase community-level confidence in public health measures. Here, we synthesize emerging literature on mast cell disease, and the role of mast cells in chronic illness, alongside emerging research on mechanisms of COVID illness and vaccines. We propose that a focus on aberrant and/or hyperactive mast cell behavior associated with chronic underlying health conditions can elucidate adverse COVID-related outcomes and contribute to the pandemic recovery. Standards of care for mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), as well as clinical reviews, experimental research, and case reports, suggest that effective and cost-efficient remedies are available, including antihistamines, vitamin C, and quercetin, among others. Primary care physicians, specialists, and public health workers should consider new and emerging evidence from the biomedical literature in tackling COVID-19. Specialists and researchers note that MCAS is likely grossly under-diagnosed; therefore, public health agencies and policy makers should urgently attend to community-based experiences of adverse COVID outcomes. It is essential that we extract and examine experiential evidence of marginalized communities from the broader political–ideological discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research on legal repression shows how elites use criminal law to demobilize collective challenges, yet social control efforts based in civil law have received inadequate attention. In this study, we develop the concept of elite legal framing to examine how corporations deploy "soft" forms of repression within the civil justice system. Drawing on court, government, and media documents, we analyze a series of transnational civil litigation cases over pesticide exposure on Dole-contracted banana plantations in Nicaragua. Results highlight how the corporate defendants promoted a corruption narrative that diffused through the media and legal system to successfully discredit farmworker claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Across the globe, diseases secondary to environmental exposures have been described, and it was also found that existing diseases have been modified by exposure to environmental chemicals or an environmental factor that has been found in their pathogenesis. The Institute of Medicine has shared a permanent concern related to the nations environmental health capacity since 1988. Main body Contemporary imaging methods in the last 15 years started reporting alterations in different human systems such as the central nervous system, cardiovascular system and pulmonary system among others; evidence suggests the existence of a human environmental disease network. The primary anatomic regions, affected by environmental diseases, recently assessed with imaging methods include Brain (lead exposure, cerebral stroke, pesticide neurotoxicity), uses MRI, DTI, carotid ultrasonography and MRS; Lungs (smoke inhalation, organophosphates poisoning) are mainly assessed with radiography; Gastrointestinal system (chronic inflammatory bowel disease), recent studies have reported the use of aortic ultrasound; Heart (myocardial infarction), its link to environmental diseased has been proved with carotid ultrasound; and Arteries (artery hypertension), the impairment of aortic mechanical properties has been revealed with the use of aortic and brachial ultrasound. Conclusions Environmental epidemiology has revealed that several organs and systems in the human body are targets of air pollutants. Current imaging methods that can assess the deleterious effects of pollutants includes a whole spectrum: radiography, US, CT and MRI. Future studies will help to reveal additional links among environmental disease networks.

Recent environmental humanities scholarship has argued that environmental illness memoirs perform important cultural work by recasting health as an environmental issue. In this article, I show how EI autobiography hearkens back to a longer tradition of health travel with deep colonial resonances. I explore such connections by means of a comparative analysis of two health travel narratives: The first, A winter in the West Indies and Florida, is an anonymous tract by a self-described 'northern invalid' dealing with his travels to the Caribbean as a remedy for his chronic pulmonary problems during the late 1830s. The second, drawn from a collection by disability activist Aurora Levins Morales, details the author's healing journey to Cuba during the summer of 2009. I argue that, while A Winter points forward to modern sociobiology, Levins Morales's narrative should be read as issuing from a biosocial community of EI sufferers. Finally, attending to the continuities and differences between EI autobiographies may deepen current debates on trans-corporeality, which tend to assume a direct relation between non-dualistic epistemologies and somatic ethics. In this sense, the article can be read as a commentary on overly rights-based approaches to illness and Q1 disability in the present biochemical age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundCOPD is the third most frequent cause of death globally, with much of this burden attributable to household biomass smoke exposure in developing countries. As biomass smoke exposure is also associated with cardiovascular disease, lower respiratory infection, lung cancer, and cataracts, it presents an important target for public health intervention.MethodsLung function in Guatemalan women exposed to wood smoke from open fires was measured throughout the Randomized Exposure Study of Pollution Indoors and Respiratory Effects (RESPIRE) stove intervention trial and continued during the Chronic Respiratory Effects of Early Childhood Exposure to Respirable Particulate Matter (CRECER) cohort study. In RESPIRE, early stove households received a chimney woodstove at the beginning of the 18-month trial, and delayed stove households received a stove at trial completion. Personal exposure to wood smoke was assessed with exhaled breath carbon monoxide (CO) and personal CO tubes. Change in lung function between intervention groups and as a function of wood smoke exposure was assessed using random effects models.ResultsOf 306 women participating in both studies, acceptable spirometry was collected in 129 early stove and 136 delayed stove households (n = 265), with a mean follow-up of 5.6 years. Despite reduced wood smoke exposures in early stove households, there were no significant differences in any of the measured spirometric variables during the study period (FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC ratio, and annual change) after adjustment for confounding.ConclusionsIn these young Guatemalan women, there was no association between lung function and early randomization to a chimney stove or personal wood smoke exposure. Future stove intervention trials should incorporate cleaner stoves, longer follow-up, or potentially susceptible groups to identify meaningful differences in lung function.

Household air pollution from biomass fuel use affects 3 billion people worldwide; however, few studies have examined the relationship between biomass fuel use and blood pressure. We sought to determine if daily biomass fuel use was associated with elevated blood pressure in high altitude Peru and if this relationship was affected by lung function. We analyzed baseline information from a population-based cohort study of adults aged ≥ 35 years in Puno, Peru. Daily biomass fuel use was self-reported. We used multivariable regression models to examine the relationship between daily exposure to biomass fuel smoke and blood pressure outcomes. Interactions with sex and quartiles of forced vital capacity were conducted to evaluate for effect modification. Data from 1004 individuals (mean age, 55.3 years; 51.7% women) were included. We found an association between biomass fuel use with both prehypertension (adjusted relative risk ratio, 5.0; 95% confidence interval, 2.6-9.9) and hypertension (adjusted relative risk ratio, 3.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-7.0). Biomass fuel users had a higher systolic blood pressure (7.0 mm Hg; 95% confidence interval, 4.4-9.6) and a higher diastolic blood pressure (5.9 mm Hg; 95% confidence interval, 4.2-7.6) when compared with nonusers. We did not find interaction effects between daily biomass fuel use and sex or percent predicted forced vital capacity for either systolic blood pressure or diastolic blood pressure. Biomass fuel use was associated with a higher likelihood of having hypertension and higher blood pressure in Peru. Reducing exposure to household air pollution from biomass fuel use represents an opportunity for cardiovascular prevention.

AimTo estimate average infant daily intake of chlorinated persistent organic pollutants (POPs) through the consumption of breast milk in New Zealand.MethodBreast milk of 39 first-time mothers aged 20-30 years was collected during 2007-2010 and analysed for persistent organic pollutants including dioxin-like compounds and organochlorine pesticides. The quantity of POPs consumed by infants assuming exclusive breast feeding was estimated by calculating the Estimated Daily Intake (EDI) expressed as amount consumed through breast milk per kilogram of body weight per day.ResultsOf all POPs quantified, the EDI of DDT (principally in the form of its metabolite p,p'-DDE) was the highest (1.6 mcg/kg/day), and above the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 0.5 mcg/kg/day. The mean EDI for dioxin-like compounds (including PCDD/Fs and PCBs) was 19.7 pg TEQ(toxic equivalency)/kg/day, which is among the lowest reported worldwide, yet above the TDI of 1 pg TEQ/kg/day. The EDI of HCH, HCB, dieldrin, heptachlor and mirex were 32.9, 37.9, 39.4, 2.0, and 0.9 ng/kg/day respectively, all of which were below the current TDI. Age of the mother was positively associated with higher EDIs for the infant, particularly for total-TEQ and total-DDT.ConcluisonInfant daily intakes of chlorinated POPs through breast milk estimated for New Zealand are low or average by international comparison, and 5 times lower than 25 years ago. Future breast milk monitoring will determine whether this diminishing trend is continuing as well as providing monitoring information on other POPs.

Over the past decade, there has been widespread concern about environmental contamination linked to an emerging class of compounds known as PFAS [Poly‐ and per‐fluorinated alkyl substances]. PFAS contamination has been found in drinking water across the United States. Despite the increased interest within the scientific community, little research has been conducted on community environmental health concerns related to this emerging contaminant. This article analyses the case of PFAS water contamination in eastern North Carolina stemming from industrial production. Drawing from in‐depth interviews, newspaper articles and government documents, we examine how uncertainty has permeated the case and influenced both official and community responses. Specifically, we analyse corporate and political officials' production of "coerced ignorance" surrounding PFAS and residents' perception of environmental and health concerns under conditions of uncertainty. Implications for future research on PFAS contamination and other emerging contaminants are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Some endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC), are "obesogens" and have been associated with overweight and obesity in children. Daily exposure to different classes of EDCs demands for research with mixtures approach., Objectives: This study evaluates the association, considering sex-specific effects, between prenatal exposure to EDC mixture and children's body fat at seven years of age., Methods: A total of 26 EDCs were assessed in prenatal urine and serum samples from first trimester in pregnancy from 737 mother-child pairs participating in the Swedish Environmental Longitudinal, Mother and child, Asthma and allergy (SELMA) study. An indicator for children's "overall body fat" was calculated, using principal component analysis (PCA), based on BMI, percent body fat, waist, and skinfolds measured at seven years of age. Weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression was used to assess associations between EDC mixture and children's body fat., Results: Principal component (PC1) represented 83.6 % of the variance, suitable as indicator for children's "overall body fat", with positive loadings of 0.40-0.42 for each body fat measure. A significant interaction term, WQS*sex, confirmed associations in the opposite direction for boys and girls. Higher prenatal exposure to EDC mixture was borderline significant with more "overall body fat" for boys (Mean β = 0.20; 95 % CI: -0.13, 0.53) and less for girls (Mean β = -0.23; 95 % CI: -0.58, 0.13). Also, higher prenatal exposure to EDC mixture was borderline significant with more percent body fat (standardized score) for boys (Mean β = 0.09; 95 % CI: -0.04, 0.21) and less for girls (Mean β = -0.10 (-0.26, 0.05). The chemicals of concern included bisphenols, phthalates, PFAS, PAH, and pesticides with different patterns for boys and girls., Discussion: Borderline significant associations were found between prenatal exposure to a mixture of EDCs and children's body fat. The associations in opposite directions suggests that prenatal exposure to EDCs may present sex-specific effects on children's body fat., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hearing loss (HL) is the most common sensory impairment and is caused by a broad range of inherited to environmental causes. Inherited HL consists 50-60% of all HL cases. The inherited form of HL is further classified to different categories. More than 300 syndromes and 40 genes have been identified to result in different levels of HL. Although several diagnostic or screening tests have been developed, yet there are controversies around their use.

Background: Across the globe, diseases secondary to environmental exposures have been described, and it was also found that existing diseases have been modified by exposure to environmental chemicals or an environmental factor that has been found in their pathogenesis. The Institute of Medicine has shared a permanent concern related to the nations environmental health capacity since 1988. Main body: Contemporary imaging methods in the last 15 years started reporting alterations in different human systems such as the central nervous system, cardiovascular system and pulmonary system among others; evidence suggests the existence of a human environmental disease network. The primary anatomic regions, affected by environmental diseases, recently assessed with imaging methods include Brain (lead exposure, cerebral stroke, pesticide neurotoxicity), uses MRI, DTI, carotid ultrasonography and MRS; Lungs (smoke inhalation, organophosphates poisoning) are mainly assessed with radiography; Gastrointestinal system (chronic inflammatory bowel disease), recent studies have reported the use of aortic ultrasound; Heart (myocardial infarction), its link to environmental diseased has been proved with carotid ultrasound; and Arteries (artery hypertension), the impairment of aortic mechanical properties has been revealed with the use of aortic and brachial ultrasound. Conclusions: Environmental epidemiology has revealed that several organs and systems in the human body are targets of air pollutants. Current imaging methods that can assess the deleterious effects of pollutants includes a whole spectrum: radiography, US, CT and MRI. Future studies will help to reveal additional links among environmental disease networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their genomic variants, some individuals are more highly affected by toxicants than others. Toxicant metabolizing and activating variants have been linked with a wide variety of health issues including an increased risk of miscarriages, birth defects, Alzheimer's, benzene toxicity, mercury toxicity and cancer. The study of genomics allows a clinician to identify pathways that are less effective and then gives the clinician the opportunity to counsel their patients about diet, supplements and lifestyle modifications that can improve the function of these pathways or compensate to some extent for their deficits. This article will review a few of these critical pathways relating to phase I and phase 2 detox such as GSTP1, GPX1, GSTT1 deletions, PON1 and some of the CYP 450 system as examples of how an individual's genomic vulnerabilities to toxicants can be addressed by upregulating or downregulating specific pathways via genomically targeted use of foods, supplements and lifestyle changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxicant increase and chemical consumption are normalized in industrial and neoliberal capitalism. Within this context, bodies with environmental illness [EI], also known as multiple chemical sensitivity [MCS] intolerant to common chemicals, are rendered illegitimate because the bodies expose illusionary safe zones delineated by the dominant society. To explore the subjectivities of people with EI, this article looks into U.S. Latina feminist writer Aurora Levins Morales's narratives on her multiple illnesses and disabilities collected in Kindling: Writings on the Body (2013). This article argues that Levins Morales adopts resistant storytelling to turn herself from an object of biomedical diagnosis to a subject of decolonial diagnosis. On the one hand, Levins Morales uses her bodily knowledge to reveal a toxic landscape that subjects bodies with EI to epistemic invalidation. On the other hand, she points to a healing politics that is guided by radical co-presence of bodies with various materializations. In the context of EI, healing is not about strengthening one's ability to tolerate more toxins but to undergo cosmopolitical re-worlding. To re-world is to dare to think and live with different bodies side by side and contemporaneously by decolonizing the compartmentalization of differences imposed by structures of domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chang-Rae Lee's 2014 novel On Such a Full Sea uses the genre of speculative fiction to reflect on longstanding healthcare debates in the United States that have recently crystalized around the Affordable Care Act. The novel imagines the political economy of healthcare in a future America devastated by environmental illness. What kind of care is available and to whom? Who provides it? Who pays for it? What about distribution and access? The different healthcare systems governing each of three geo-social zones in Lee's future society represent exaggerated versions of the scenarios participants in the ACA debate claim their opponents' health policies would produce. The essay argues that Lee's novel ultimately favors a version of universal government-funded care over a system based on supposed free-market principles, even as the novel also tries to make room for conservative Americans' fears about the specter of so-called "socialized medicine." More broadly, the essay contends that the health humanities should devote more attention to literary and artistic engagements with healthcare as a system: a complex set of financial models, public and private institutions, government policies, and actors whose roles range well beyond patient and care provider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Ice, or freezing rain storms have the potential to affect human health and disrupt normal functioning of a community. The purpose of this study was to assess acute health impacts of an ice storm that occurred in December 2013 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Methods Data on emergency department visits were obtained from the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System. Rates of visits in Toronto during the storm period (December 21, 2013 – January 1, 2014) were compared to rates occurring on the same dates in the previous five years (historical comparison) and compared to those in a major unaffected city, Ottawa, Ontario (geographic comparison). Overall visits and rates for three categories of interest (cardiac conditions, environmental causes and injuries) were assessed. Rate ratios were calculated using Poisson regression with population counts as an offset. Absolute counts of carbon monoxide poisoning were compared descriptively in a sub-analysis. Results During the 2013 storm period, there were 34 549 visits to EDs in Toronto (12.46 per 1000 population) compared with 10 794 visits in Ottawa (11.55 per 1000 population). When considering year and geography separately, rates of several types of ED visits were higher in the storm year than in previous years in both Toronto and Ottawa. Considering year and geography together, rates in the storm year were higher for overall ED visits (RR: 1.10, 95 % CI: 1.09-1.11) and for visits due to environmental causes (RR: 2.52, 95 % CI: 2.21-2.87) compared to previous years regardless of city. For injuries, visit rates were higher in the storm year in both Toronto and Ottawa, but the increase in Toronto was significantly greater than the increase in Ottawa, indicating a significant interaction between geography and year (RR: 1.23, 95 % CI: 1.16-1.30). Conclusions This suggests that the main health impact of the 2013 Ice Storm was an increase in ED visits for injuries, while other increases could have been due to severe weather across Ontario at that time. This study is one of the first to use a population-level database and regression modeling of emergency visit codes to identify acute impacts resulting from ice storms.

Gulf War illness (GWI) research has generated an abundance of interesting but diverse data. While increased molecular mechanisms have been identified, the high levels of heterogeneity for initial trigger factors, cellular defects, and symptoms continuously challenge the efforts of clinical implications of the research, including the search for biomarkers and the common mechanism of GWI. In this analysis, I consider GWI as an adaptive illness condition where system stresses and genome instability-mediated cellular evolution play an important role. By further defining GWI as an environmental illness caused by extremely high levels of specific Gulf War (GW) stresses, the challenges for GWI research are briefly reviewed, with comparisons to other common and complex diseases such as cancer. Based on the new discovery that many GWI patients display elevated genome instability coupled with increased cellular stress, a general model of GWI is proposed to unify GW-specific stress, cellular damage, and genome-heterogeneity-mediated cellular adaptation and evolution, as well as diverse-related symptoms. Finally, some new strategies are suggested based on the general model of GWI.

Background: Prenatal exposure to mixtures of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) has the potential to disrupt human metabolism. Prenatal periods are especially sensitive as many developmental processes are regulated by hormones. Prenatal exposure to EDCs has inconsistently been associated with children's body mass index (BMI) and obesity. The objective of this study was to investigate if prenatal exposure to a mixture of EDCs was associated with children's BMI and overweight (ISO-BMI ≥ 25) at 5.5 years of age, and if there were sex-specific effects., Methods: A total of 1,105 mother-child pairs with complete data on prenatal EDCs concentrations (e.g., phthalates, non-phthalate plasticizers, phenols, PAH, pesticides, PFAS, organochlorine pesticides, and PCBs), children's measured height and weight, and selected covariates in the Swedish Environmental Longitudinal, Mother and child, Asthma and allergy (SELMA) study were included in this analysis. The mixture effect of EDCs with children's BMI and overweight was assessed using WQS regression with 100 repeated holdouts. A positively associated WQS index with higher BMI and odds of overweight was derived. Models with interaction term and stratified weights by sex was applied in order to evaluate sex-specific associations., Results: A significant WQS*sex interaction term was identified and associations for boys and girls were in opposite directions. Higher prenatal exposure to a mixture of EDCs was associated with lower BMI (Mean β = -0.19, 95%CI: -0.40, 0.01) and lower odds of overweight (Mean OR = 0.72, 95%CI: 0.48, 1.04) among girls with borderline significance. However, the association among boys did not reach statistical significance. Among girls, the possible chemicals of concern were MEP, 2-OHPH, BPF, BPS, DPP and PFNA., Conclusion: Prenatal exposure to a mixture of EDCs was associated with lower BMI and overweight among girls, and non-significant associations among boys. Chemicals of concern for girls included phthalates, non-phthalate plasticizers, bisphenols, PAHs, and PFAS., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Context: In France, cases of people self-reporting symptoms due to electromagnetic fields (EMF) or idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF) have emerged over the past 10 years. Several self-help and action groups have claimed an increasing number of members. However, little is known about this population in France.Aim: Our primary objective was to describe the reported symptoms and the sources that may induce these symptoms through a questionnaire-based study. Secondly, we discussed our results alongside those obtained from the existing literature and provide an overview of this physical condition.Subjects and methods: From April to November 2014, a self-questionnaire survey was conducted in France. With 52 participants, the average age of respondents was 50 ± 11 years and the majority of participants at 79% were women.Results: Our study results in the French population were consistent with findings in the literature conducted in other countries and also highlighted a number of emerging EMF sources such as wireless area networks, to be perceived as possible causes of symptoms.Conclusions: Despite methodological differences, we summarized facts from previous comparable investigations. We also provided an overview of people claiming EMF effects and briefly discussed possible avenues of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: This study is the first community engagement phase of a project to develop a residential formaldehyde detection system. The objectives were to conduct a feasibility assessment for device use, and identify factors associated with concerns about environmental exposure and community interest in this device. Design and Sample: A cross‐sectional, internet‐based survey employing community‐based participatory research principles was utilized. 147 individuals participated from a focused Waycross, Georgia (58.5%) and broader national sample (41.5%). Measures: Variables included acceptable cost and number of testing samples, interest in conducting tests, levels of concern over pollutants, health status, housing, and demographics. Results: The majority of participants desired a system with fewer than 10 samples at ≤$15.00 per sample. Statistically significant higher levels of concern over air quality, formaldehyde exposure, and interest in testing formaldehyde were observed for those with overall worse health status and living in the Waycross, Georgia geographic region. Significant differences in formaldehyde testing interest were observed by health status (OR = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.12–0.81 for home testing) and geographic location (OR = 3.16, 95% CI = 1.22–8.14 for home and OR = 4.06, 95% CI = 1.48–11.12 for ambient testing) in multivariate models. Conclusions: Geographic location and poorer general health status were associated with concerns over and interest in formaldehyde testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1970s the forested area of Klity Creek, northwest of Bangkok, suffered from one of the worst cases of industrial pollution in Thailand caused by a floating lead mine that operated in the area. Toxic waste found its way into the stream, used for daily food and water consumption by the local (Pwo-) speaking Karen villagers. After an NGO came to their aid, introducing the Karen villagers to the environmental justice movement of Thailand, the villagers came to seek redress. They demanded pharmacological intervention from the Ministry of Public Health. The intervention they received was "health surveillance," which led them to reject the treatment offered. This article focuses on the protest as well as the gap between medical intervention and the experiential needs of people suffering from environmental illness as well as the role of civic activism in framing the issue of illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]