Latest News from Environmental Health Sciences

Weather patterns driven by climate change are causing more severe flooding around the globe increasing the risk of potentially life-threatening diarrhea among children under the age of five, particularly among those living in low- and middle-income countries, according to a new study by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.

Researchers are looking at how artificial intelligence (AI), including large language models like ChatGPT, could be used to scenario plan for future epidemics.

There have been demonstrated differences in tumor cell metabolism between right-sided and left-sided colorectal tumors, which could explain the differences observed in their clinical behavior, especially in metastatic disease.

Central Florida’s 1-4 dioxane contamination has caught the attention of Yale School of Public Health researchers. Professor Vasilis Vasiliou and his team at the Yale Superfund Research Center want to hear concerns from residents who have been drinking water supplied by public utilities in Lake Mary, Sanford, and northwest Seminole County. Groundwater in these areas has been contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, an industrial solvent classified as a likely carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A new federally-funded study in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology has found that compounds called phenols, and the synthetic chemicals PFAS, were linked to different kinds of cancer in white women and women of color. PFAS were linked to ovarian and uterine cancers mainly in white women, and phenols were linked more to breast cancer in non-white women. Phenols and PFAS are found in hundreds of daily consumer products. The researchers stated that the racial differences are particularly impactful because of racial disparities in exposure to these chemicals. Nicole Deziel, member of the Yale Cancer Center and associate professor of epidemiology (environmental sciences) at Yale School of Public Health, who is not associated with the study, said the findings “provided a lot of new information suggesting that exposure to PFAS could be associated with a variety of hormonally related cancers, particularly in women.”

Yale School of Public Health PhD student Bryce Takenaka says the Maui wildfires did not result from a natural catastrophe nor a single incident but were a product of settler capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism. He's urging people to donate to help indigenous people rebuild after the fires.

Yale researchers identify diet-related metabolites associated with paraben concentrations in the urine of pregnant women. Parabens can disrupt endocrine activity in the body and they have been associated with changes in fertility in women.

A team at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine has uncovered that Black communities are especially vulnerable to harmful air pollutants, casting doubt on clean air policy.

Poor air quality has been a major concern this year in New England, but a new Yale-led study is highlighting how certain racial groups have suffered disproportionate health impacts from air pollution for years.