Environmental Health

"It’s a consequential week for President Joe Biden’s agenda, as Democratic leaders delicately trim back his $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better” package to win over remaining lawmakers and work to quickly pass legislation to avoid a federal shutdown."

"A longtime expert adviser to EPA on air issues and an outspoken critic of the Trump administration is President Biden’s choice for leading the agency’s science office."

"Nations, companies and foundations pledged billions of dollars to feed the world in connection with an ambitious United Nations food summit Thursday, while some grassroots anti-hunger groups and food experts blasted the event as too corporate, tech-focused and top-down."

"The day after Wilma Banks lost power, the stale summer air inside her New Orleans apartment became suffocating."

"The World Health Organization has cut its recommended limits for air pollution and urged nations to tackle dirty air and save millions of lives. In the first update for 16 years, the guideline limit for the most damaging pollution – tiny particles from burning fossil fuels – has been halved."

"As climate change amplifies the health risks of extreme heat and pollution from wildfires, researchers scramble to protect farmworkers."

"A study at the University of Zurich in Switzerland shows that a large proportion of existing medicinal plant knowledge is linked to threatened Indigenous languages. In a regional study on the Amazon, New Guinea and North America, researchers concluded that 75% of medicinal plant uses are known in only one language."

"Scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency have provided The Intercept with new information showing that senior staff have made chemicals appear safer — sometimes dodging restrictions on their use — by minimizing the estimates of how much is released into the environment."

"COVID-19 has now killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic did — approximately 675,000."