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

California's pesticide-reduction plan; PFAS in toilet paper; EPA's climate pollution grants; glyphosate and young adults; Shell plant's violations; redefining "healthy" food; hunters and conservation.

California pushes ahead with its new pesticide-reduction plan

Amid mounting evidence of the risks some synthetic pesticides pose to human and environmental health, California regulators this week were pushing ahead with a recently announced “roadmap” aimed at transitioning the state to more sustainable options for managing weeds and insects, 

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), in partnership with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), held two public webinars on Thursday seeking to explain the details of the plan – and bolster support for it – as the state nears the March 13 close of the public comment period on the proposal.

State officials announced the plan in January, saying the goal is to eliminate the use of “high-risk pesticides” by 2050 to “better protect the health of our communities and environment, while supporting agriculture, food systems and community well-being.”

That message was underscored in Thursday’s event: “The evolving science about risks and impacts from certain pesticide uses on our health and our environment, which too commonly impacts communities already overburdened by other environmental hazards, point to the importance of accelerating this system-wide shift,” Clare Mendelsohn deputy secretary for public policy at California Environmental Protection Agency, said in the evening webinar. 

State officials say the Sustainable Pest Management (SPM) plan is visionary and will significantly overhaul harmful agricultural practices in the state, helping protect farmworkers and others put at risk through exposure to pesticides known to be harmful to human health.

CDFA Secretary Karen Ross has said that once implemented, the recommendations would “ensure an abundant and healthful food supply, protect our natural resources, and create healthy, resilient communities.”

But some say the plan falls short in many respects, and that faster and more aggressive actions are needed to protect and enhance soil health, adapt to climate change, and protect human health. (Read the rest of the story.)

Chemicals in toilet paper are clogging up our bodies

What we flush down the toilet could be making us sick, according to a new study.

Toilet paper could be a significant source of toxic “forever chemicals” in wastewater, according to research published this week in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters. The findings raise public health concerns since wastewater and its by-products are frequently spread on agricultural fields to help grow crops.

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, are a class of chemicals used for their waterproofing and stain-resistant properties. They have been linked to certain cancers, reproductive problems, and developmental issues, and are known as “forever chemicals” since they don’t break down in the environment.

Scientists have known for years that wastewater is a slurry of PFAS from all different sources — soaps, makeup, and residues on clothing can all contain PFAS, which is washed down the drain every time someone showers or washes their clothes. But though PFAS are used in toilet paper manufacturing, toilet paper’s contribution to PFAS contamination in wastewater has been under-studied, according to the paper’s authors.

“When people think about wastewater and wastewater sludge, they’re thinking about maybe industrial discharges, or they might be thinking about all these personal care products. Our point here is just don’t neglect the very one thing that is going down into the sewer system everywhere,” said Timothy Townsend, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Florida and an author on the study.

According to one 2018 study, toilet paper makes up about 72% of the solid material in wastewater, so it’s not surprising that it could be a big contributor to PFAS in wastewater, too.

In the new study, researchers in Townsend’s lab tested the PFAS levels in 21 different toilet paper samples from across the globe. They found concentrations of PFAS in all 21 samples. One type of PFAS, called 6:2 diPAP, was most prevalent, making up 91% of the PFAS chemicals in the samples. The results did not show much difference in PFAS concentration between the toilet paper samples, or between recycled and regular toilet paper. (Read the rest of the story.) 

EPA announces $250 million for states, local communities to fight climate pollution

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that is offering $250 million in grants for states, cities, tribes, and territories to further US goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, promoting clean energy, and supporting environmental justice.

The grants, which will be administered through the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), mark the first wave of funding for states and local communities from the $5 billion Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program, a part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Later this year, EPA plans to  announce $4.6 billion in competitive grants to implement projects that recipients begin planning now.

“The climate and clean energy investments in [the Inflation Reduction Act] will drive, and in fact are already driving, new economic growth and creating good, high-paying jobs by reinvigorating American manufacturing, strengthening our clean energy supply chains, and building a clean energy future that will benefit all of us,” Kristina Costa, a deputy assistant to the president, said at at a press briefing.

States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico will be eligible to receive as much as $3 million in climate planning grants. The 67 most heavily populated US metropolitan areas will each be eligible for $1 million in grants, while the territories of Guam, American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands are each eligible for up $500,000 and tribes are eligible for a total of $25 million.

“We know that eligible states, local governments, territories, and tribes are at different starting points in planning to address the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change,” Janet McCabe, EPA deputy administrator, said at the briefing. “This funding can be used to start work on a brand-new plan or to enhance work on an existing plan.”

These plans could include greenhouse gas emissions inventories, emissions projections and reduction targets, meeting workforce needs to support decarbonization and clean energy efforts, and strategies for leveraging other sources of federal funding.

The EPA wants recipients to prioritize environmental justice efforts that support low-income and disadvantaged communities, McCabe said. (Read the rest of the story.)

California researchers link popular weedkiller to health problems in young adults

Children exposed to a weedkiller commonly used in farming, as well as on residential yards and school playgrounds, appear to be at increased risk for liver inflammation and metabolic disorders in young adulthood and more serious diseases later in life, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. 

The paper was authored by 12 California scientists and health researchers – most from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health – and is the latest of many studies linking glyphosate herbicide to human health problems. 

Glyphosate is better known as the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup products as well as scores of other weedkilling brands sold around the world. The chemical is considered the most widely used herbicide in history, and residues are commonly present in food and water, as well as in human urine. The chemical is so pervasive that government researchers have documented it in rainfall.

Monsanto and Bayer AG, which bought Monsanto in 2018, maintain that Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides are safe when used as directed, and say the weight of scientific evidence demonstrates that safety. But more than 100,000 people in the US have alleged exposure to the weedkiller caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Many independent scientific studies have linked glyphosate to cancers as well as liver disease, endocrine disruption and other health problems.

In the new study, researchers tracked 480 “mother-and-child duos” who live in the Salinas Valley of California, a key agricultural area, analyzing levels of glyphosate weed killer used in the area and levels of the weedkiller present in the urine of the mothers while they were pregnant and in the children as they grew. They also took into account levels of a degradation product of glyphosate known as AMPA in the urine of the study subjects. The researchers then assessed the liver and metabolic health of the children at the age of 18.

They concluded that higher levels of glyphosate residue and AMPA in urine in childhood and adolescence were associated with higher risk of liver inflammation and metabolic disorders in young adulthood. In addition, they found that agricultural use of glyphosate near participants’ homes from birth and up through age five was associated with metabolic disorders at age 18. Metabolic disorders in youth can lead to heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and liver disease later in life.

The children could have been exposed to glyphosate through a variety of routes, including their proximity to areas where glyphosate is used and also through consumption of cereal, snacks and other foods that commonly contain glyphosate residues. (Read the rest of the story.)

Across state line from East Palestine, repeated air permit violations at a petrochemical plant

On the afternoon of February 13, just 10 days after a Norfolk Southern train transporting hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, a Shell petrochemical plant located less than 30 miles away in Pennsylvania began spewing black smoke into the air – an event that lasted several hours and sparked questions and concerns in the community.

The fiery orange flare that raised alarm among local residents and watchdog groups was one of multiple  such events that have occurred at the facility since it became full operational in November, underscoring doubts about the plant’s safety and compliance with air quality rules.

About an hour after the Feb. 13 flaring started, Shell posted an update on Facebook explaining that such flares come in response to equipment malfunctions, adding that flaring was “expected to continue through the evening as equipment is returned back to normal operation.”

Shell has yet to submit an official malfunction report for the February incident, which appears to be a violation of legal prohibitions on visible emissions from the plant’s flares and incinerators.

“Shell’s illegal pollution, continued flaring events, and atrocious disregard for environmental regulations in just its first 100 days of operations pose an unacceptable risk to workers and communities living near the petrochemical complex,” Anais Peterson, petrochemical campaigner at the community advocacy group Earthworks, said in a statement.

Shell’s 386-acre facility, located on the banks of the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania near the town of Monaca, is the largest plastics production plant in the Northeast and Shell’s largest petrochemical facility outside of the Gulf Coast. The plant uses a process called “cracking” to convert the natural gas liquid ethane into the petrochemical ethylene, a building block for fossil fuel-derived plastic production. (Read the rest of the story.)

In debate over new “healthy” food labeling rules, researchers propose novel metric to guide consumers

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should redefine how it measures “healthy” food as it sets new rules governing the claims manufacturers make on product labels, a nonprofit research group asserts.

The Heartland Health Research Alliance (HHRA), an organization that studies the health effects of food and farming, recently submitted comments to the FDA calling on the agency to adopt a metric HHRA has developed that conveys a food’s healthiness in a single, color-coded number. This metric, called “NuCal,” aims to capture the relationship between a food’s essential nutrients and its caloric content, according to HHRA.

“There are a lot of people whose daily diet is grossly deficient in multiple essential nutrients despite the fact that they think they’re buying perfectly healthy food because a lot of it’s packaged as healthy for you,” said Charles Benbrook, an agricultural economist and policy expert who serves as executive director of HHRA. Benbrook said NuCal could help consumers make purchasing choices that lower their risk for obesity, diabetes, and other diseases.

The scoring system focuses on the essential nutrition value found in individual foods rather than food groups.

“What we wanted to do was to try to lay out… a system that has a much greater chance of delivering to consumers [a clear and compelling] message about what’s healthier and what’s not,” he said.

The HHRA proposal comes in response to a plan by the FDA to revise the rules that define food products that can be labeled as “healthy.” Products labeled “healthy” would need to meet certain food group benchmarks recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Food products would also need to follow limits for saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars. (Read the rest of the story.)

Wisconsin residents clash over influence of hunting groups on conservation

Tracking and killing bears, wolves, and other animals in Wisconsin may be getting easier for hunters after recent rule changes to the state’s advisory process — moves that underscore clashes underway in many states between conservation groups and pro-hunting interests.

The rule changes in Wisconsin limit the resolutions an advisory group can present to the state’s department of natural resources, upsetting citizens who fear that protections for wildlife are weakening as pro-hunting interests gain ever more power.

In the latest skirmish, the advisory group has been blocked from recommending to the state resolutions that would have prohibited the use of dogs for wolf hunting and the use of chocolate bear bait. They also are blocked from putting forward a resolution that would have required hunters to register their bear-baiting sites.

Residents and advisory group members say the changes infringe on the democratic process, shutting out non-hunters from important decisions, and allowing harmful hunting practices to continue.

“By making these changes, they are really showing just how desperate they are to cling to the status quo,” said Amy Mueller, a volunteer with the Wisconsin Chapter of the Sierra Club, a nationwide environmental organization.

According to Mueller, the advisory group membership is disproportionately made up of members of pro-hunting groups, such as the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, an organization “dedicated to the future of hunting, fishing, trapping and the shooting sports.” (Read the rest of the story.)