A new study by an international team of researchers estimates that 23 million people may be affected by potentially dangerous concentrations of toxic waste from metal mining contamination on rivers and floodplains across the world. A paper on the study is published in the journal Science. Firefighters from Minas Gerais... Read more →

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a new review of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). EPA Administrator Michael Regan reached this decision after considering advice provided by the independent Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). EPA established the current standards at a level of 70 parts per... Read more →

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a method that can reduce the levels of mercury in sulfuric acid by more than 90%, even from low levels. An open-access paper on the method is published in ACS ES&T Engineering. Sulfuric acid is an important reagent used in many... Read more →

Stellantis N.V. and NioCorp Developments Ltd. have signed a rare earth offtake term sheet. The objective is to enter into a definitive rare earth supply agreement to support Stellantis’ commitment to build resilient supply chains and reach carbon net zero by 2038 and to help accelerate NioCorp’s path to commercial... Read more →

In an open letter, Nick Molden, CEO, Emissions Analytics and Dr Andreas Mayer, Chairman of the Scientific Committee, VERT Association, call on European regulators to apply the same approach they have applied to the tailpipe to the growing issue of tire emissions. The authors urge the inclusion of particle mass,... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued proposed rules under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 18 chemicals made from plastic waste-derived feedstocks that would ensure they are free from unsafe contaminants before they can be used to make transportation fuels. The proposed Significant New Use Rules (SNURs) would... Read more →

New research from the Keck School of Medicine of USC shows that air pollution particles activate a cellular defense mechanism known as autophagy, which may reduce the ability of cells to fight off other harms. The findings were published in the journal Autophagy Reports. We know that diseases, especially lung... Read more →

Coal trains and terminal operations add a significant amount of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution to urban areas—more so than other freight or passenger trains—according to a study conducted in Richmond, California, by the University of California, Davis. The open-access paper, published in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health,... Read more →

In an open access paper in the Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, researchers at the University of Surrey (UK) have investigated the effect of group riding on cyclists’ exposure to vehicle pollutants. For major cycle lanes cutting thorough many large cities, cars and bicycles share the same stretch... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a ban under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) on most uses of methylene chloride (CH2Cl2). Methylene chloride, also known as dichloromethane and DCM, is a volatile chemical used in a wide range of industrial, commercial, and consumer applications such as adhesives,... Read more →

Replacing all of the oldest, highly polluting school buses in the US could lead to 1.3 million fewer daily absences annually, according to a University of Michigan study. The suspected cause of these preventable absences is exposure to high levels of diesel exhaust fumes, which can leak into school bus... Read more →

Drivers in the United States struck and killed 3,434 people in the first half of 2022—up 5%, or 168 more deaths, from the same period the year before, according to a new analysis from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). This projection follows a 40-year high in pedestrian deaths in... Read more →

A new briefing paper from Imperial College London estimates that in 2021, 52% of all small particle pollution from road transport came from tires and brakes. The researchers, from Imperial College London’s Transition to Zero Pollution (TZP) initiative, warn that even though electric vehicles remove the problem of fuel emissions,... Read more →

A team from University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany examined the various aspects of e-scooter associated injuries using one of the largest cohorts to date, and reported their findings and recommendations in an open-access paper in Scientific Reports. E-scooter rentals became widely available in Hamburg starting in June 2019;... Read more →

The Health Effects Institute (HEI) has launched two new studies funded under RFA 21-1, Quantifying Real-World Impacts of Non-Tailpipe Particulate Matter Emissions. Emissions from automobile exhaust systems have decreased in recent years due to the introduction of cleaner fuels and new control technologies on internal combustion engines, as well as... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to to revise the primary (health-based) annual PM2.5 standard from its current level of 12.0 µg/m3 to within the range of 9.0 to 10.0 µg/m3. EPA is taking comment on the full range (between 8 and 11 10 µg/m3) included in... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Vienna (Austria) have demonstrated that tire wear particle (TWP)-derived compounds are readily taken up by lettuce with measured maximum leaf concentrations between ∼0.75 for N-phenyl-N′-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD) and 20 μg g–1 for hexamethoxymethyl melamine (HMMM). In an open-access paper in the ACS journal Environmental Science &... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized revisions to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk determinations for n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and 1-bromopropane (1-BP). The EPA determined that NMP and 1-BP, as whole chemical substances, present an unreasonable risk of injury to human health when evaluated under their conditions of use.... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposed determination that emissions of lead from aircraft that operate on leaded fuel cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health and welfare. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA reviews information on air pollutants and... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a new effort under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to implement a streamlined and efficient process under the New Chemicals Program to assess risk and apply mitigation measures, as appropriate, for new chemicals with applications in batteries, electric vehicles, semiconductors and renewable... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board today approved a statewide plan for attaining the federal health-based standard for ozone, typically experienced as smog. The 2022 State Implementation Plan Strategy identifies the state’s control strategy for meeting the federal 70 parts per billion, 8-hour ozone standard over the next 15 years. The... Read more →

Nissan Motor has jointly developed a technology with Tohoku University’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences that inactivates viruses using catalyst active species for aerobic oxidation. The technology has potential applications for inactivating viruses by oxidizing, denaturing and degrading proteins and other substances on the virus surface. With oxygen in the air... Read more →

An anti-pollution helmet developed by a Delhi-based startup can help 2-wheeler riders breathe cleaner air. The helmet developed by Shellios Technolabs has a Bluetooth-enabled app that lets the rider know when the helmet requires cleaning. The helmet titled PUROS is integrated with air purifying accessories which include the patented innovations... Read more →

The world’s biggest cities and urban areas face some of the worst air quality on the planet, according to a new report published by HEI (Health Effects Institute). The report, Air Quality and Health in Cities, released by HEI’s State of Global Air Initiative, provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis... Read more →

Chile is the world’s top copper producer (27% of global production) and exporter. In Chile, copper is mostly found in sulfide ores, especially in chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), bornite (Cu5FeS4) and chalcocite (Cu2S). The continual exploitation of ore reserves leads to the necessity of mining ores from deeper parts of deposits, often... Read more →

Improving road safety by adopting proven interventions targeting four key risk factors for road injuries (speeding, drunk driving, lack of helmet, and seatbelt use) in 185 countries could save between 347,000 and 540,000 lives worldwide every year, and offers enormous potential to improve the health and development of individuals and... Read more →

The health of residents living alongside a bus route in Gothenburg, Sweden, improved when hybrid buses were replaced by buses fully powered by electricity. Accompanying the lower noise levels from bus traffic was a reduction of fatigue, day time sleepiness and low mood, a study at the University of Gothenburg... Read more →

BASF has launched UpCore, a new service providing a cost-effective and sustainable technology upgrade from a standard ozone converter to an ozone-VOC (volatile organic compounds) converter for cleaner and healthier aircraft cabin air. UpCore replaces the catalyst core of an ozone-only converter with an ozone-VOC catalyst, a sustainable solution as... Read more →

Toyochem Co., Ltd., the polymers and coatings arm of Japan’s Toyo Ink Group, launched a new low-odor, low-VOC acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA), the Oribain EXK 21-046, for use in enclosed spaces such as vehicles and building interiors. EXK 21-046 PSAs not only demonstrate good bonds to metals, plastics, textiles and... Read more →

Small particles from tires inhibit the growth and cause adverse behavioral changes in organisms found in freshwater and coastal estuary ecosystems, according to two new Oregon State University studies. The findings are part of a continued effort by scientists to unravel the impacts of microplastics and nanoplastics on aquatic ecosystems... Read more →

Every time it rains, fish living downstream of storm drains are exposed to pollutants, including the tire-derived compound 6PPD-quinone, in the runoff. Recently, this substance has been linked to massive die-offs of coho salmon across the US West Coast. Now, researchers in Canada report that exposure to 6PPD-quinone at environmentally... Read more →

Manufacturers add synthetic antioxidants to plastics, rubbers and other polymers to make them last longer. However, the health effects of these compounds, and how readily they migrate into the environment, are largely unknown. Now, researchers have detected a broad range of emerging synthetic antioxidants, called hindered phenol and sulfur antioxidants,... Read more →

Cellforce Group (CFG)—the joint venture between Porsche and CUSTOMCELLS (earlier post)—has partnered with PPG, a global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. PPG will supply cathode binder systems which are free of N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP) solvent, to the Cellforce Group. NMP, which is widely used in electrode manufacturing, has been... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will evaluate whether emissions from piston-engine aircraft operating on leaded fuel contribute to air pollution that endangers public health and welfare. The agency plans to issue a proposal for public review and comment in 2022 and take final action in 2023. EPA has been... Read more →

A new modeling study led by researchers from George Washington Universit (GWU) finds that 86% of people living in cities worldwide (~2.5 billion people) are exposed to annual average levels of fine particulate matter exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline from 2005, leading to 1.8 million excess deaths in... Read more →

Ammonium is one of the specific components of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) that has been linked to a higher risk of death compared to other chemicals found in it, according to a new study in the journal Epidemiology. This finding stems from the largest global analysis of its kind, led... Read more →

Fossil fuel combustion, a major source of air pollution, contributed to more than one million deaths globally in 2017, more than 27% of all deaths from outdoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5), according to a new report published by the Health Effects Institute (HEI). Coal combustion alone was responsible for half... Read more →

An international team of scientists, led by NTU Singapore, has linked increased air pollution to an uptick in cases of lung adenocarcinoma (LADC) worldwide. Lung adenocarcinoma—an aggressive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)—is a type of cancer for which research strongly suggests that genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors play a part.... Read more →

Air pollution was responsible for 1.1 million deaths across Africa in 2019, with household air pollution—driven largely by indoor cookstoves—accounting for 697,000 fatalities (64%), while increased outdoor air pollution claimed 394,000 lives (36%), a team of researchers led by Boston College and the UN Environment Programme report in an open-access... Read more →

New WHO has issued new Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) that reduce levels of key air pollutants, some of which also contribute to climate change. Since WHO’s last 2005 global update, there has been a marked increase of evidence that shows how air pollution affects different aspects of health. For... Read more →

A major new Health Effects Institute (HEI) report presents a study examining associations between exposures to relatively low levels of air pollution and several health outcomes among participants in 22 European cohorts. In the report, the investigators describe the development of new exposure models for all of Europe for four... Read more →

When service stations in Algeria stopped providing leaded gasoline in July, the use of leaded gasoline in cars ended globally. This development follows an almost two-decades-long campaign by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)-led global Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV). Tetraethyl lead was used as a gasoline additive to... Read more →

Air pollution monitoring by the Houston Health Department in 2019 and 2020 recorded levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, along the Houston Ship Channel that pose potential health risks to surrounding neighborhoods. The analysis, funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency, found that from 27 September 2019 to 26 September... Read more →

Some of the world’s cities suffer disproportionate economic losses because of the health consequences of in-car air pollution, according to a new study by an international team led by researchers at the University of Surrey (UK). Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) set out to investigate whether the... Read more →

Lead levels in London’s atmosphere have dropped significantly since lead additives in gasoline were phased out, and currently meet UK air quality targets. However, despite this drop, airborne particles in London are still highly lead-enriched compared to natural background levels, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the... Read more →

Soot particles from oil and wood heating systems as well as road traffic can pollute the air in Europe on a much larger scale than previously assumed. This is what researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) conclude from a measurement campaign in the Thuringian Forest in Germany.... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will reconsider the previous administration’s decision to retain the particulate matter (PM) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) (earlier post), which were last strengthened in 2012. EPA is reconsidering the December 2020 decision because it says that available scientific evidence and... Read more →

Using naturalistic driving data and machine learning techniques, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed highly accurate algorithms for detecting mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older drivers. Naturalistic driving data refer to data captured through... Read more →

Exposure to air pollution, even over the course of just a few weeks, can impede mental performance, according to a new study led by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. However, these adverse effects were lessened in people taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin. The... Read more →

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have for the first time observed photochemical processes inside organic aerosol particles containing iron. In doing so, they discovered that additional oxygen radicals that can be harmful to human health are formed in these aerosols under everyday conditions. They report on their results... Read more →