Articles 2020

Extreme heat ‘the new normal’, says UN chief, as authorities across the continent issue health warnings

When a small Swedish town discovered their drinking water contained extremely high levels of Pfas, they had no idea what it would mean for their health and their children’s future

Repeatedly mass infecting kids with COVID is not a public health strategy. It's a fast pass to declining population health

Repeated damage from extreme heat over time seems to be a leading factor causing kidneys to fail. Repeated damage from extreme heat over time seems to be a leading factor causing kidneys to fail.

Des études citées par l'administration Trump n'existent en réalité pas, ont fait savoir les auteurs à qui elles ont été attribuées.

A microplastics and toxic chemicals expert says her family doesn't wear shoes at home. Microplastics from car tires and garbage, as well as street runoff, can be tracked indoors on shoes. The researcher thinks her kids' Japanese heritage helped them adopt the habit.

Springtails illustrate in new research how global warning and antibiotic resistance creates synergistic effects: warming increases pesticide toxicity, triggering antibiotic resistance which spreads through horizontal gene transfer and predation.

For hundreds of millions of people living in India and Pakistan the early arrival of summer heatwaves has become a terrifying reality that’s testing survivability limits and putting enormous strain on energy supplies, vital crops and livelihoods. Both countries experience heatwaves during the summer months of May and June, but this year’s heatwave season has arrived sooner than usual and is predicted to last longer too. Temperatures are expected to climb to dangerous levels in both countries this week.

Metals and metalloids are ubiquitous in soils, originating from bedrock and from human activities and infrastructure. These compounds can be toxic to humans and other organisms, and their soil distribution and concentrations at global scale are not well known. Hou et al. analyzed data from more than 1000 regional studies to identify areas of metal toxicity and explore drivers of these trends. They estimate that 14 to 17% of cropland exceeds agricultural thresholds for at least one toxic metal.

Microplastics have been found for the first time in human ovary follicular fluid, raising a new round of questions about the ubiquitous and toxic substances’ potential impact on women’s fertility. The new peer-reviewed research published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety checked for microplastics in the follicular fluid of 18 women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment at a fertility clinic in Salerno, Italy, and detected them in 14.

Eat-Lancet report recommended shift to more plant-based, climate-friendly diet but was extensively attacked online [...] The report recommended that if global red meat eating was cut by 50%, the “planetary health diet” would provide nutritious food to all while tackling the harms caused by animal agriculture, which accounts for over 14% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. It suggested individuals – particularly in wealthy countries – should increase their consumption of nuts, pulses and other plant-based foods while cutting meat and sugar from their diets.

While NGOs and Members of the European Parliament are calling for a ban on so-called "forever chemicals" in pesticides, only a few kilometres from Brussels, in Flanders, contamination is in full swing, even affecting organic farmers. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are chemicals used mainly for their water-repellent properties. Recent studies suggest that pesticide products may contain PFAS and that some active ingredients may meet the definition of a PFAS. This group of chemicals is a known threat to human health. Once in the environment, they are extremely persistent, earning them the nickname "forever chemicals".

Bayer, the corporation behind Roundup herbicide, has paid out nearly $11 billion in lawsuits. Trump’s EPA might move to block the suits.

Donald Trump’s administration is to reconsider the official finding that greenhouse gases are harmful to public health, a move that threatens to rip apart the foundation of the US’s climate laws, amid a stunning barrage of actions to weaken or repeal a host of pollution limits upon power plants, cars and waterways.

The exponential rise in microplastic pollution over the past 50 years may be reflected in increasing contamination in human brains, according to a new study. It found a rising trend in micro- and nanoplastics in brain tissue from dozens of postmortems carried out between 1997 and 2024. The researchers also found the tiny particles in liver and kidney samples.

There are increasing concerns that continued economic growth in high-income countries might not be environmentally sustainable, socially beneficial, or economically achievable. In this Review, we explore the rapidly advancing field of post-growth research, which has evolved in response to these concerns. The central idea of post-growth is to replace the goal of increasing GDP with the goal of improving human wellbeing within planetary boundaries. Key advances discussed in this Review include: the development of ecological macroeconomic models that test policies for managing without growth; understanding and reducing the growth dependencies that tie social welfare to increasing GDP in the current economy; and characterising the policies and provisioning systems that would allow resource use to be reduced while improving human wellbeing. Despite recent advances in post-growth research, important questions remain, such as the politics of transition, and transformations in the relationship between the Global Nort

Pour comprendre l’importance du concept « One Health » et ses liens cruciaux avec l’alimentation durable, nous sommes allés à la rencontre de Nicolas Antoine-Moussiaux, professeur à l’ULiège et vétérinaire de formation. Grâce à son expérience sur le terrain, notamment dans le secteur de l’élevage, il met en lumière les connexions profondes entre alimentation, santé et environnement. A travers cet article d’information, découvrez l’approche « One Health » et les clés proposées pour repenser dès aujourd’hui nos systèmes alimentaires comme leviers d’actions en matière de santé.

Microplastics are ubiquitous environmental contaminants for which there are documented human exposures, but there is a paucity of research evaluating their impacts on human health. We conducted a rapid systematic review using the “Navigation Guide” systematic review method. We searched four databases in July 2022 and April 2024 with no restriction on the date.

L’assassinat du PDG de United Healthcare, la principale compagnie d’assurances médicales privée des États-Unis, relance le débat sur les dysfonctionnements de la couverture médicale et la violence des rapports sociaux.

Voor het eerst hebben Vlaamse wetenschappers uit verschillende vakgebieden hun krachten gebundeld om de cruciale link tussen de gezondheid van de oceaan en die van de mens in kaart te brengen. Deze zogenaamde 'Ostend Working Group on Ocean and Human Health' vat hun bevindingen en praktische aanbevelingen voor beleidsmakers nu samen in een nieuw rapport.

Months of scorching temperatures sometimes over 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in parts of India this year left hundreds dead or ill. Official government records put the number of heat-related deaths this year as 110, but public health experts say that number is more likely in the thousands. Poor data collection methods and reporting are stopping the country from getting a more accurate picture of how deadly the heat is. Experts are concerned that it's hindering efforts to better prepare for future heat waves.

Research shows climate change carries greater risks for unborn babies than previously thought. Some of the alarming effects of global warming may include worsening health and wellbeing in later life.

The contaminants have also recently been found in testes and semen amid concerns about falling male fertility

Record-breaking temperatures were recorded across the globe in 2023. Without climate action, adverse climate-related health impacts are expected to worsen worldwide, affecting billions of people. Temperatures in Europe are warming at twice the rate of the global average, threatening the health of populations across the continent and leading to unnecessary loss of life. The Lancet Countdown in Europe was established in 2021, to assess the health profile of climate change aiming to stimulate European social and political will to implement rapid health-responsive climate mitigation and adaptation actions. In 2022, the collaboration published its indicator report, tracking progress on health and climate change via 33 indicators and across five domains.

Texans have long endured scorching summer temperatures, so a global warming increase of about 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 Celsius) might not sound like much to worry about. But a new study concludes that the heat index — essentially how hot it really feels — has increased much faster in Texas than has the measured temperature: about three times faster.

Ce cadre de travail, qui envisage les questions de santé à l’intersection du monde humain, du monde animal et des écosystèmes, prend en compte des interconnexions du vivant pour prendre soin de la planète et de tous ses habitants.

This report written by the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Oliver Wyman, provides an in-depth economic analysis of how climate change will reshape health landscapes over the next two decades. It highlights increased risks from new pathogens, pollution and extreme weather events and shows how these will exacerbate current health inequities, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable populations.

A chemical that takes thousands of years to break down is found in England's freshwater fish at 1,000 times above safe levels – and could end up on our dinner tables

Without a phase out of fossil fuels, by 2100, 1 in 12 hospitals worldwide will be at high risk of total or partial shutdown from extreme weather events — a total of 16,245 hospitals. Without a phase out of fossil fuels, all of these 16,245 hospitals will require adaptation, where suitable. Even with this enormous investment, for many, relocation will be the only option.

Joint action is essential for planetary and human health Over 200 health journals call on the United Nations, political leaders, and health professionals to recognise that climate change and biodiversity loss are one indivisible crisis and must be tackled together to preserve health and avoid catastrophe. This overall environmental crisis is now so severe as to be a global health emergency. The world is currently responding to the climate crisis and the nature crisis as if they were separate challenges. This is a dangerous mistake. The 28th UN Conference of the Parties (COP) on climate change is about to be held in Dubai while the 16th COP on biodiversity is due to be held in Turkey in 2024. The research communities that provide the evidence for the two COPs are unfortunately largely separate, but they were brought together for a workshop in 2020 when they concluded: “Only by considering climate and biodiversity as parts of the same complex problem … can solutions be developed that avoid maladaptation and max

The world’s first study of the increase in pollution from landscape fires across the globe over the past two decades reveals that over 2 billion people are exposed to at least one day of potentially health-impacting environmental hazard annually – a figure that has increased by 6.8 per cent in the last ten years.

Scientists have raised concerns about whether high-income countries, with their high per-capita CO2 emissions, can decarbonise fast enough to meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement if they continue to pursue aggregate economic growth. Over the past decade, some countries have reduced their CO2 emissions while increasing their gross domestic product (absolute decoupling). Politicians and media have hailed this as green growth. In this empirical study, we aimed to assess whether these achievements are consistent with the Paris Agreement, and whether Paris-compliant decoupling is within reach.

Access to robust and current information is essential for ensuring evidence-based policy and practice and identifying research gaps. For these purposes, more than 90 authors from about 30 national public authorities and institutions contributed to a comprehensive synthesis of the current evidence in Germany, published as 14 articles in the Journal of Health Monitoring.

ibrio are bacteria that cause an estimated 80,000 illnesses each year in the United States. About a dozen species of Vibrio are pathogenic to humans. V. parahaemolyticus causes the most infections in the United States, accounting for about 40% of reported cases of vibriosis, followed by V. alginolyticus, which accounts for about 20%. Most people with Vibrio infection have diarrhea. Some people might also have stomach cramping, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills. One species, V. vulnificus, is known to cause life-threatening infections. About 150–200 V. vulnificus infections are reported to CDC each year and about one in five people with this infection die—sometimes within 1–2 days of becoming ill.

In het Congolese park Kahuzi-Biega zijn interacties tussen dieren en mensen schering en inslag. Om de risico’s van overdraagbare ziektes te beperken, werd het project One health gelanceerd. Daarbij wordt gepleit voor een holistische aanpak: de gezondheid van mens, milieu en dier vormt één geheel.

I'm an independent healthcare analyst with more than 24 years of experience analyzing healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Specifically, I analyze the value (costs and benefits) of biologics and pharmaceuticals, patient access to prescription drugs, the regulatory framework for drug development and reimbursement, and ethics with respect to the distribution of healthcare resources. I have approximately 110 publications in peer-reviewed journals, in addition to hundreds of articles in newspapers and periodicals. I have also presented my work at numerous trade, industry, and academic conferences. From 1999 to 2017 I was a research associate professor at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. Prior to my Tufts appointment, I was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, and I completed my PhD in economics at the University of Amsterdam. Before pursuing my PhD I was a management consultant at Accenture in The Hague, Netherlands. Currently, and for the past 6 years, I work on a freelance ba

Going beyond climate disruption, the report by the Earth Commission group of scientists presents disturbing evidence that our planet faces growing crises of water availability, nutrient loading, ecosystem maintenance and aerosol pollution. These pose threats to the stability of life-support systems and worsen social equality.

In early May, a groundbreaking study from the University of California, San Francisco of 171 pregnant women found more than 9 in 10 had measurable amounts of 19 different chemicals and pesticides in their bodies. Researchers said many of those substances pass through the placenta and into developing fetuses, adding evidence to a National Institutes of Health report that warned babies are born "pre-polluted" with chemicals.

Recycled and reused food contact plastics are “vectors for spreading chemicals of concern” because they accumulate and release hundreds of dangerous toxins like styrene, benzene, bisphenol, heavy metals, formaldehyde and phthalates, new research finds.

Read the latest news headlines and analysis about politics, sports, business, lifestyle and entertainment from award winning Irish and British journalists.

World is on track for 2.7C and ‘phenomenal’ human suffering, scientists warn. Up to 1 billion people could choose to migrate to cooler places, the scientists said, although those areas remaining within the climate niche would still experience more frequent heatwaves and droughts. However, urgent action to lower carbon emissions and keep global temperature rise to 1.5C would cut the number of people pushed outside the climate niche by 80%, to 400 million.

Humans prospered in a stable climate. But conditions are changing. Research out today shows 2 billion people will be pushed out of the habitable zone by 2.7C warming. Why? What does this mean for us?

The 21-year-old Iraqi, who lived by a smoke-choked oilfield, died of cancer. His message must be heard, says journalist Jess Kelly

Those with higher levels of PFAS in their blood had 40% lower chance of conceiving within a year of trying

Tiny plastic particles can travel worldwide, ending up in urban, rural, and remote areas. They take an even faster transport pathway than oceanic currents: the atmosphere.

Heat and cold are now established health risk factors, with several studies reporting important mortality effects in populations around the world.1, 2, 3 The associated health burden is expected to increase with climate change, especially under the most extreme scenarios of global warming.4, 5 However, robust estimates of excess mortality in the current and future periods are still challenging to obtain due to the numerous factors influencing vulnerability to heat and cold, including climatic, environmental, and socioeconomic conditions.6 These factors represent the main drivers of variation in mortality risks, which have been shown to differ geographically and across age groups.

Only 13 of the world's countries and territories had "healthy" air quality last year, according to a new report, as air pollution surged to alarming levels in 2022.

A train derailed and flooded a town with cancer-causing chemicals. But something larger, and more troubling, is at work.

abs_empty

Wheat is an important global crop, but new research suggests that fungal toxins have contaminated half of all European wheat produced for food. the widespread presence of vomitoxin in our food is concerning. It is not yet known how constant, low-level dietary exposure to mycotoxins can affect human health in the long term. This is compounded by the fact that one-quarter of the wheat contaminated with vomitoxin also contained other FHB mycotoxins, raising concerns of synergism, where toxins interact with each other and cause greater harm than the sum of the individual toxins acting alone.

As part of a major reform of the EU’s anti-pollution legislation, the European Commission said it planned to tighten air quality standards, including on one of the most dangerous pollutants, fine particulate matter. Water standards are also going to be stricter, with 25 substances added to a control list, such as the category of PFAS (also known as “forever chemicals”), the substance Bisphenol A, pesticides including glyphosate, and antibiotics.

Healthy teenagers are more prone to irregular heartbeats after breathing in fine particulate air pollution, according to the first major study of its impact on otherwise healthy young individuals. The findings have raised concern among researchers because heart arrhythmias, which can increase the risk of heart disease and sudden cardiac death, appear to be triggered even when air pollution is within common air quality limits.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and almost 200 other health associations have made an unprecedented call for a global fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. A call to action published on Wednesday, urges governments to agree a legally binding plan to phase out fossil fuel exploration and production, similar to the framework convention on tobacco, which was negotiated under the WHO’s auspices in 2003. “The modern addiction to fossil fuels is not just an act of environmental vandalism. From the health perspective, it is an act of self-sabotage,” said the WHO president, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Pennsylvania children living near fracking sites at birth are two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with leukemia during early childhood than those who did not live near such facilities, a new study has found.

Two of the UK’s leading hospitals have had to cancel operations, postpone appointments and divert seriously ill patients to other centres for the past three weeks after their computers crashed at the height of last month’s heatwave.

New analysis says that particulate pollution is the greatest threat to human health in India.

L'Union européenne prépare des achats groupés de vaccins et autres traitements contre la variole du singe, a indiqué jeudi à l'AFP la commission européenne, précisant que les détails seraient finalisés dans les "prochains jours". Le porte-parole de la Commission européenne pour les questions de santé, Stefan De Keersmaecker, a précisé que l'organisme européen HERA (Health Emergency Response Authority) "travaille avec les Etats membres et les fabricants pour se procurer des vaccins et des traitements contre la variole du singe".

Deaths from exposure to emissions from vehicles, smoke stacks and wildfires have increased by more than 50 percent this century, with poorer countries bearing the brunt of the impacts.

Could we face a mass extinction of human beings in our lifetime? As global temperatures rise and this summer's bushfires devastate the Australian landscape, it's a worst-case scenario that is beginning to be seriously discussed. The rapid spread of the coronavirus in recent weeks has also escalated the anxiety that people feel about their mortality. However, there seems to be a difference in the way the public has reacted to these two threats. Global warming and potential mass extinction are seen as a vague threat somewhere out there in the distant future, whereas coronavirus is viewed as a clear and imminent danger. The growing fear of a coronavirus pandemic appears to have quickly motivated Australian health authorities and governments into immediate and appropriate action.

Seul environ un patient hospitalisé pour Covid-19 sur quatre était totalement rétabli après un an, indique dimanche une étude britannique qui précise qu'être une femme ou obèse accroît le risque de conserver des problèmes de santé. Cette étude, présentée au Congrès européen de microbiologie clinique et des maladies infectieuses à Lisbonne et publiée dans The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, a utilisé les données de patients adultes de 39 hôpitaux du National Health Service (NHS) du Royaume-Uni entre le 7 mars 2020 et le 18 avril 2021.

The term 'microplastic' was coined just 18 years ago, but already they seem to be just about everywhere. Each year, the average human consumes an estimated 74,000 particles of plastic with unknown health effects. In March of this year, scientists announced they'd found microplastics flowing through our very veins.

As Earth’s climate warms, incidences of extreme heat and humidity are rising, with significant consequences for human health. Climate scientists are tracking a key measure of heat stress that can warn us of harmful conditions.

Climate change has important implications for the health and futures of children and young people, yet they have little power to limit its harm, making them vulnerable to climate anxiety. This is the first large-scale investigation of climate anxiety in children and young people globally and its relationship with perceived government response.

Several terms have been used to describe the negative mental health implications of environmental degradation, including ecological grief, solastalgia, climate and eco-anxiety. The American Psychological Association defines eco-anxiety as a “chronic fear of environmental doom”. Some psychiatrists describe this as an anticipated trauma or a “pre-traumatic stress disorder”.

Chronic kidney disease linked to heat stress could become a major health epidemic for millions of workers around the world as global temperatures increase over the coming decades, doctors have warned.

A new study by Environmental Working Group scientists found almost 42,000 potential sources of toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS could be polluting surface water or drinking water in communities across the U.S. The scientists called for more testing and stricter PFAS regulations.

At least eight types of bird flu, all of which can kill humans, are circulating around the world’s factory farms – and they could be worse than Covid-19

The case for cutting meat consumption is so compelling that you would think politicians would be less shy about making it. Yet while campaigners warn with increasing urgency that global livestock production is accelerating climate breakdown and causing devastating damage to nature and human health, governments remain reluctant to tackle meat-eating.

Les chercheurs de l'université britannique de Bath, en collaboration avec d'autres institutions, ont mené une enquête auprès de 10.000 jeunes âgés de 16 à 25 ans dans dix pays différents. Leur étude, financée par l'ONG Avaaz, est encore en cours d'évaluation pour être publiée dans la revue Lancet Planetary Health. En interrogeant les jeunes sur leurs opinions et sentiments à l'égard du réchauffement climatique, les chercheurs ont mis en évidence l'étendue des conséquences psychologiques du changement climatique.

L’anxiété des jeunes liée aux changements climatiques est un phénomène global, partagé par la jeunesse de pays du Nord comme du Sud de la planète. C’est le résultat inquiétant d’une vaste étude de l’Université de Bath (UK), approuvée pour publication dans la revue The Lancet Planetary Health et relayée par Le Monde. Les auteurs ont collecté des données auprès de 10.000 jeunes gens de 16 à 25 ans. Les jeunes ont été invités à intervalle régulier à compléter des enquêtes, entre le 18 mai et le 7 juin 2021. Ils étaient au courant de la durée de l’enquête, mais n’en connaissaient pas le sujet.

Le changement climatique trouble aussi la santé mentale, surtout chez la jeune génération. Mais à quel point ? Neuf chercheurs en psychologie issus d’universités britanniques, américaines et finlandaise se sont penchés sur la question. Ils publient ce mardi dans le journal scientifique The Lancet Planetary Health l’étude la plus large jamais réalisée sur ce nouveau mal qu’est l’écoanxiété, la détresse liée aux crises climatiques et écologiques.

As the effects of climate change continue to intensify, parching the land, fueling fires, and blanketing The City with smoke-choked air, San Franciscans are seeking outlets to channel their eco-anxiety. In response, grief groups and mental health professionals specializing in eco-distress have surfaced to help people cope with these complex emotions.

The UN General Assembly in September, 2021, will bring countries together at a critical time for marshalling collective action to tackle the global environmental crisis.

Beware summer! The season we used to anticipate as the lightest, brightest, balmiest time of the year now comes with a health warning.

Many of the world’s plastic containers and bottles are contaminated with toxic PFAS, and new data suggests that it’s probably leaching into food, drinks, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, cleaning products and other items at potentially high levels.

les chercheures de l’INED ont prévu la hausse contemporaine des décès en France, mais ils l’ont finement modélisé et clairement analysé. Dans un article de 2016 au titre explicite « Le nombre de décès va augmenter en France dans les prochaines années », Gilles Pison et Laurent Toulemon présentent des scénarios d’évolution des décès

Meurtri par la pandémie de coronavirus, le Brésil vit un drame sans fin, avec la menace d'une troisième vague dévastatrice en raison de la lenteur de la vaccination, du relâchement précoce des restrictions et de la circulation effrénée des variants.

The root cause of pandemics – the destruction of nature – is being ignored, scientists have warned. The focus of world leaders on responding to future outbreaks overlooks the far cheaper and more effective strategy of stopping the spillover of disease from animals to humans in the first place, they have said. The razing of forests and hunting of wildlife is increasingly bringing animals and the microbes they harbour into contact with people and livestock. About 70% of new infectious diseases have come from animals, including Covid-19, Sars, bird flu, Ebola and HIV.

La Chine a rapporté ce mardi un premier cas mondial chez l’être humain de grippe aviaire H10N3, un virus de la famille influenza frappant les oiseaux sauvages. Les autorités chinoises assurent que le risque d’une épidémie est "extrêmement faible".

Les tout premiers résultats de la Campagne Glyphosate sont alarmants : près de 7 000 personnes ont participé à l’action débutée en 2018 en urinant dans un bocal. Et 99,7 % d’entre eux présentent des traces importantes de cet herbicide dangereux.