Pollution News and Research

Latest Pollution News and Research

Experts call for a greater focus on health risks of plastic pollution

Plastic pollution is an underrecognized threat to health, experts warn as they launch a project to track plastics' health impacts and monitor progress.

4 Aug 2025

Experts call for stricter rules on plastic to protect human health

With the latest round of negotiations to finalize a United Nations global plastics treaty set to begin, a group of international researchers, writing in the most recent edition of The Lancet, have called for greater vigilance and regulation to curb the health impacts of plastic pollution and have announced a new project to track these impacts.

4 Aug 2025

Mapping microbiomes across the food system to restore health

Researchers have mapped how microbes underpin healthy food systems—and how we can stop their decline.

1 Aug 2025

Greener cities reduce dementia risks linked to air pollution

Boosting greenery may protect against air pollution's impact on dementia, revealing a potential strategy to reduce Alzheimer's disease burden globally.

29 Jul 2025

Living near the ocean breeze may extend life expectancy

Living within miles of the ocean breeze may be linked to a longer life, but you shouldn't count on the same benefits if you live in a riverside city, suggests a recent study.

28 Jul 2025

Long-term air pollution exposure triggers allergic immune responses in the lungs

Air pollution is a global health concern, with over 90% of the world's population breathing air that exceeds World Health Organization safety standards.

23 Jul 2025

Cleaner air after industrial plant closure improves lung health in local residents

A new study by NYU Langone Health researchers found that the shutdown of a significant fossil fuel pollution source near Pittsburgh, PA, resulted in immediate improvements in respiratory health.

22 Jul 2025

Study identifies mechanism that helps prevent cancer, neurodegeneration, and premature aging

Researchers at the University of Oxford and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have uncovered the mechanism by which cells identify and repair a highly toxic form of DNA damage that causes cancer, neurodegeneration, and premature aging.

21 Jul 2025

Agricultural dust exposure may pose significant risks to gut health

Inhaling agricultural dust may pose significant risks to gut health for workers in animal agriculture, a University of California, Riverside, study has found.

18 Jul 2025

Microplastics found to trigger cancer-linked changes in lung cells

Although the respiratory system is one of the main entry points for microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) from the air into the body, little is known about the effects of these tiny particles on the lungs.

15 Jul 2025

Monoclonal antibody delivered through the nose blocks hay fever in mice

Approximately 40% of the European population are allergic to pollen, and their symptoms cause an estimated loss of 100 million school- and workdays every year.

11 Jul 2025

Toxic metals in breast milk linked to infant growth problems in Guatemala

Research led by the University of Arizona Health Sciences found a potential link between growth problems among infants and high levels of toxic metals and other elements in the breast milk of Mayan women in Guatemala's Lake Atitlán watershed region.

11 Jul 2025

Lead exposure in early life linked to faster memory loss in children

A study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai shows that exposure to lead during pregnancy and early childhood may accelerate the rate at which children forget information-a critical marker of memory impairment that may have implications for learning and development.

9 Jul 2025

Research reveals Ghanaian children face high cancer risk from local fish

Researchers found that most fish sampled from Ghana’s Keta Lagoon had arsenic and mercury levels exceeding World Health Organization limits. Health risk assessments show these contaminants pose significant cancer and non-cancer risks, especially for children.

8 Jul 2025

Multi-contaminant water treatment could prevent tens of thousands of cancer cases

Drinking water treatment that pursues a multi-contaminant approach, tackling several pollutants at once, could prevent more than 50,000 lifetime cancer cases in the U.S., finds a new peer-reviewed study by the Environmental Working Group.

8 Jul 2025

Prenatal exposure to air pollution and climatic factors associated with adverse birth outcomes in India

Prenatal exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and climatic factors, such as temperature and rainfall, are associated with adverse birth outcomes in India, according to a study published July 2nd, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Mary Abed Al Ahad from the University of St Andrews, U.K.

3 Jul 2025

‘MAHA Report’ calls for fighting chronic disease, but Trump and Kennedy have yanked funding

‘MAHA report’ calls for fighting chronic disease, but Trump and Kennedy have yanked funding

2 Jul 2025

Long-term exposure to air pollution associated with early signs of heart damage

Researchers using cardiac MRI have found that long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with early signs of heart damage, according to a study that was published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

1 Jul 2025

Global effort enters an active growth phase to preserve the Earth's microbial heritage

A global effort to create a "microbial Noah's Ark" to preserve the world's diverse collection of healthy microbes before they disappear is now entering an active growth phase.

27 Jun 2025

Prenatal air pollution exposure linked to higher childhood obesity risk

Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy, specifically to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), may increase the risk of childhood overweight or obesity.

25 Jun 2025