Must-read recap: The New Lede's top stories

Study highlights long-lasting impact of early TCDF exposure; pressure grows to close controversial Napa Valley landfill; movement to limit CAFO pollution seen strengthened by Michigan court ruling.

Early exposure to toxic TCDF messes with gut bacteria later in life, finds study in mice

Early-in-life exposure to a common toxic chemical found in some foods and in breastmilk may disrupt healthy bacteria in the gut and increase a person’s risk for developing various diseases later in life, according to a new animal study.

The findings, published Aug. 14 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, may shed light on the link between childhood exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and widespread obesity and diabetes in adults, according to the authors.

More than 460 million people worldwide have diabetes, while global obesity levels have tripled since 1975. One in three US adults and one in six children are considered obese, according to a 2023 report.

“This study emphasizes the importance of the microbiome as a key target of early life environmental pollutant exposure,” the paper states. Exposure to the children can occur before birth when pregnant women are exposed to the chemicals as well as after birth through breastfeeding. (Read the rest of the story.)

Pressure grows to close controversial Napa Valley landfill

A coalition of environmental groups are pushing California officials to close a Napa Valley-area landfill that has been the site of repeated regulatory violations and is suspected of sending toxic chemicals into local waterways, which drain into the river that irrigates the valley’s famous vineyards.

In a letter finalized Aug. 14, seven local nonprofit organizations called on officials overseeing waste management and water quality to shut down the Clover Flat Landfill and the related garbage collection recycling and composting operation called Upper Valley Disposal Services (UVDS).

The landfill is “long overdue to move its waste operations to a safer, less environmentally sensitive location,” the groups wrote.

The letter was signed by Sierra Club Redwood Chapter, Non-Toxic Neighborhoods, Napa Vision 2050, Institute for Conservation Advocacy Research & Education, Preserve Rural Sonoma County, the Save Napa Valley Foundation and the Suscol Intertribal Council, a group that works to preserve Native American culture in the Napa Valley area. The letter was also signed by Geoff Ellsworth, the former mayor of the St. Helena community, and local activist Anne Wheaton. (Read the rest of the story.)

Movement to limit CAFO pollution seen strengthened by Michigan court ruling

A recent state court decision could transform how animal agriculture is regulated in Michigan, and potentially influence how other state and federal regulators oversee the industry’s mammoth waste stream, according to environmental lawyers and activists. 

The optimism from environmental advocates comes after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled on July 31 that the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has full authority to require industrial animal agriculture to take much stronger actions to manage the torrent of manure waste polluting waterways. The closely watched case pit the administration of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer against the powerful agricultural industry, led by the Michigan Farm Bureau.

Michigan is one of many US states contending with rampant ground and surface water pollution caused by agricultural production. A key source of the pollution are the nation’s more than 21,000 large dairy, cattle, hog, and poultry operations, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs. (Read the rest of the story.)