Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are the largest identified complex group of environmental pollutants reported in the scientific literature. These chemicals have many uses in the marketplace. However, their strong carbon–fluorine bonds keep them from degrading, and they bind to blood proteins, hindering their elimination from the body. More:

That was 2016. Since then, the Defense Department has admitted that it allowed a firefighting foam to slip into at least 55 drinking water systems at military bases around the globe, sometimes for generations. This exposed tens of thousands of Americans, possibly many more, to per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of man-made chemicals known as PFAS that have been linked to cancers, immune suppression and other serious health problems. More:

• Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Drinking Water Leave Military Families Reeling – The New York Times
• Court sets precedent, rules Navy can be sued for PFAS claims – The Intelligencer
• DoD: At least 126 bases report water contaminants linked to cancer, birth defects – Military Times
• The U.S. military is spending millions to replace toxic firefighting foam with toxic firefighting foam – The Intercept
• These toxic chemicals are everywhere — even in your body. And they won’t ever go away. – The Washington Post
• TOXIC LEGACY: Air Force studies dating back decades show danger of foam that contaminated local water – The Gazette
• EPA and 3M announce phase out of PFOS – US EPA
• CDC/ATSDR to Assess PFAS Exposure in Communities Near U.S. Military Bases – US CDC
• The C8 Science Panel – Website
• An Overview of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Interim Guidance for Clinicians Responding to Patient Exposure Concerns – US ATSDR
• PFAS: What are the health effects? – US ATSDR
• Southeast El Paso County: Perfluorinated Chemicals Preliminary Assessment of Cancer and Birth Outcomes – US Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment

Children who live in homes with certain types of flooring and furniture may be exposed to higher concentrations of potentially harmful chemicals, known as semi-volatile organic compounds, or SVOCs, according to research. More:

• Toxins from vinyl flooring and flame-retardant sofas found in children – Newsweek
• Vinyl flooring, flame-retardant foam expose children to harmful SVOCS – Duke University

Insects are important wildlife often overlooked in urban habitats. What we do notice are the cockroaches, ants and mosquitoes in and around our homes. All too often we reach for the insect spray. More:

• The battle against bugs: it’s time to end chemical warfare – The Conversation
• Integrated pest management – US EPA
• Conserving herbivorous and predatory insects in urban green spaces (Research article)
• Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers (Research article)
• Conservation biological control in urban landscapes: Manipulating parasitoids of bagworm (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) with flowering forbs (Research article)
• Engaging urban stakeholders in the sustainable management of arthropod pests (Research article)

This peer-reviewed study helps answer a question many of us ask when deciding whether to reach for the conventional or organic option at the store: does organic really make a difference? The results say yes, a big difference. Choosing organic can protect you from exposure to toxic pesticides. More:

• What the pesticides in our urine tell us about organic food – The guardian
• Organic diet intervention significantly reduces urinary pesticide levels in U.S. children and adults (Research article)

The state Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency knew that Chemours was shipping wastewater containing GenX from the Netherlands to North Carolina at least a year before the shipments were publicly disclosed by the media. More:

• Environmentalists bemoan regulators’ lack of transparency on imported shipments of GenX wastewater – North Carolina Health News
• Another Unwelcome Contaminant in the Cape Fear River – North Carolina Health News
• Questions Prevail After EPA GenX Meeting – North Carolina Health News

A new study confirms the presence of a gnarly group of substances in tap water in 24 states. More:

• EPA Scientists: The Toxic Chemicals Our Agency Won’t Regulate Are Definitely in Our Drinking Water – Mother Jones
• The Horrible Chemicals That Make Your Winter Gear Waterproof – Mother Jones
• The Nasty Ingredient in Fast-Food Wrappers – Mother Jones
• PFASs in Popcorn Bags and Pizza Boxes – Toxic Free Future
• Worrisome nonstick chemicals are common in U.S. drinking water, federal study suggests – Science
• EPA Acting Administrator Announces First-Ever Comprehensive Nationwide PFAS Action Plan – US EPA
• PFAS Laws and Regulations – US EPA
• Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) Factsheet – US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• An Overview of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substancesand Interim Guidance for Clinicians Responding to PatientExposure Concerns – US ASTDR
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in source and treated drinking waters of the United States (Research article)

A decades-long study in California is shining a light on the impact of pesticides on childhood brain development, while getting young people directly involved in the research. While the research remains the primary aim of CHAMACOS a large part of their outreach has been disseminating the study’s key findings to the public. More:

• How a team of researchers and high school students in California are working together to reduce pesticide exposure in children – Ensia
• CHAMACOS Study – UC Berkeley
• Silicone Wristbands Used As Personal Sampling Devices – Oregon State University
• Effects of Pesticides on Children’s Neurodevelopment – UC Berkeley
• Prenatal pesticide exposure linked to attention problems in preschool-aged children – UC Berkeley
• DPR 16-004 Pesticide Use Near Schoolsites – California Department of Pesticide Regulation
• Prenatal Exposure to Common Insecticide Linked to Decreases in Cognitive Functioning At Age Seven – U Columbia
• Prenatal Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure and Traits Related to Autism Spectrum Disorders in a Population Living in Proximity to Agriculture (Research article)
• Association between in utero organophosphate pesticide exposure and abnormal reflexes in neonates (Research abstract)

Researchers are struggling to assess the dangers of nondegradable compounds used in clothes, foams and food wrappings. The water looks unremarkable, but it is contaminated with synthetic compounds called fluorochemicals, which have been generating increasing concern around the world. More:

• Tainted water: the scientists tracing thousands of fluorinated chemicals in our environment – Nature
• Toward a new comprehensive global database of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs): Summary report on updating the OECD 2007 list of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) – OECD Series on Risk Management No. 39
• Toxic Substances Portal - Perfluoroalkyls ‐ US ATSDR
• C8 Science Panel ‐ www.c8sciencepanel.org

Study of more than 1,000 mothers and children in Europe links common chemicals to reduced lung function. Children exposed to three different chemical classes — parabens, phthalates and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—before birth and shortly after had reduced lung function at 6 and 12 years old, according to a study. More:

• PFAS and phthalate chemical exposure early in life may hamper kids’ lungs – EHN
• Early-life exposome and lung function in children in Europe: an analysis of data from the longitudinal, population-based HELIX cohort (Research article)

DuPont-spinoff Chemours is sending industrial waste from the Netherlands to North Carolina. The waste in question comes from the production of the toxic chemical GenX, DuPont’s replacement for the surfactant PFOA, which was long used in the production of Teflon and many other products. More:

• Chemours is using the U.S. as an unregulated dump for Europe's toxic GenX waste – The Intercept
• New Teflon toxin causes cancer in lab animals – The Intercept
• PFOA and PFOS cause lower sperm counts and smaller penises, study finds – The Intercept
• PFOA and PFOS are only the best known members of a very dangerous class of chemicals – The Intercept
• Chemours in the Netherlands exporting GenX waste to Fayetteville Works, says EPA letter – The Progressive Pulse

They want financial aid, medical facilities, schools for their disabled children and a tribunal to book those responsible for the pesticide tragedy. More:

• ‘We want justice’: Victims of endosulfan poisoning in Kerala set to start hunger strike – Scroll.in
• India's children reap the bitter harvest of endosulfan – The Guardian

Globally, 255 different weeds have developed resistance to 163 different herbicides. These weeds compete with crops for space, water, and nutrients in the soil—and they’re beginning to impact many farmers’ yields. More:

• Australia Might Have the Answer to Herbicide-Resistant ‘Superweeds’ – Civil Eats
• Where Corn Is King, the Stirrings of a Renaissance in Small Grains – YaleEnvironment 360
• Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative – University of Western Australia
• Harvest Weed Seed Control as a Tactic for Weed Management – No-Till Farmer
• The International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds – WeedScience.org

Detection of a toxic chemical in a northeastern Wisconsin wastewater treatment plant’s sludge has prompted a halt to application of the material on nearby farms and raised broader concerns about how public sewer systems across the state may be spreading the chemical across the landscape. More:

• Wisconsin case shows how sewage plants spread unregulated toxins across landscape – Wisconsin State Journal
• Three years later, Wisconsin hasn't stopped toxic chemical flow – Wisconsin State Journal
• EPA Actions to Address PFAS – US EPA

the U.S. military is moving ahead with plans to collect and destroy unused firefighting foam that contains the hazardous chemicals PFOS and PFOA. But in trying to solve one environmental problem related to these persistent chemicals, which have caused massive drinking water contamination, the Defense Department may be creating another. More:

• The U.S. military plans to keep incinerating toxic firefighting foam, despite health risks – The Intercept
• The Teflon Toxin – The Intercept
• The Teflon Toxin. DuPont and the Chemistry of Deception – The Intercept
• Poisoning the Well. Toxic Firefighting Foam Has Contaminated U.S. Drinking Water – The Intercept
• The U.S. military is spending millions to replace toxic firefighting foam with toxic firefighting foam – The Intercept
• Perfluoroisobutylene – PubChem
• Long-term sampling emission of PFOS and PFOA of a Waste-to-Energy incinerator (Research article)

A concentrated formula, diluted with water, forms a heat-resistant foam blanket that rapidly cools and smothers most hydrocarbon-fueled fires. The fluorine content helps create a low-surface-tension film that rapidly spreads across the surface of a flammable liquid. A foam’s quick action in a fire can mean the difference between life and death. As lawsuits pile up and government pressure rises, firefighting-foam makers reconsider the environmental cost of fluorosurfactants. More:

• What is the price of fire safety? – C&EN
• Washington moves to ban poly- and perfluorinated chemicals in food packages, firefighting foams – C&EN
• Perfluorinated chemicals linked to military bases, airports – C&EN
• Aqueous Film Forming Foam -Report to Congress – US DOD
• Perfluorohexanoic acid toxicity, part I: Development of a chronic human health toxicity value for use in risk assessment (Research article)

A new study suggests certain types of consumer behaviors, including flossing with Oral-B Glide dental floss, contribute to elevated levels in the body of toxic PFAS chemicals. PFAS are water- and grease-proof substances that have been linked with numerous health problems. The findings provide new insight into how these chemicals end up in people's bodies and how consumers can limit their exposures by modifying their behavior. More:

• Oral-B Glide floss tied to potentially toxic PFAS chemicals, study suggests – USA Today
• Dental flossing and other behaviors linked with higher levels of toxic chemicals in the body – Medical Xpress
• Certain environmental pollutants may contribute to poor kidney health – Medical Xpress
• Serum concentrations of PFASs and exposure-related behaviors in African American and non-Hispanic white women (Research article)
• Perfluorinated Chemicals as Emerging Environmental Threats to Kidney Health (Research article)

A purported "eco-friendly" flame retardant breaks down into smaller, possibly harmful chemicals when exposed to heat and ultraviolet light, according to a study from German researchers. The study, published today in Environmental Science and Technology, is the first to show that a popular insulation flame retardant degrades into dozens of smaller chemicals and casts doubt that the "green" flame retardant is as harmless as touted. More:

• “Environmentally friendly” flame retardants break down into potentially toxic chemicals – EHN
• Degradation of the Polymeric Brominated Flame Retardant “Polymeric FR” by Heat and UV Exposure (Research article)

In eastern Washington, a push to clean PCBs from its namesake river faces a dirty legacy and global pollution problem. More:

• A toxic past and present on the Spokane River – High Country News

Synthetics created in the 20th century have become an evolutionary force, altering human biology and the web of life. Today, PCBs are a notorious class of global pollutants and carcinogens capable of interfering with human fertility, development, cognition and immunity. Though human-made, biology recognises and can even interact with them. PCBs are everywhere, and by design, they endure. Scientists now call most PCBs legacy contaminants – enduring poisons from the past. More:

• Time-bombing the future – aeon
• Evidence that there are Two Forms of Fluoride in Human Serum – Nature
• Perfluorooctanoic acid – IARC Monographs-110
• Immunotoxicity Associated with Exposure to Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) or Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) – U.S. National Toxicology Program