Vulnerable populations exposed to more PFAS in drinking water
Hundreds of millions of Americans are regularly exposed to “forever chemicals” in their drinking water. But people of color and other vulnerable populations are more likely to have higher levels than their fellow residents, according to a new study.
Released April 24 by Environmental Health Perspectives, the research examined levels of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, in community water systems in New Jersey. Over three years, PFAS were detected in 63% of the state’s water systems, which together served more than 6.6 million residents.
New Jersey’s vulnerable communities — which have higher rates of people of color, residents with limited English skills and people with low incomes — were significantly more likely to have PFAS in their water. And levels of PFAS in those communities were much more likely to be above the state’s maximum limits for the contaminants.
Vulnerable communities are more likely to be located near sites that use PFAS, such as airports, industrial facilities and military bases, the study noted.
About 200 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have drinking water that has been contaminated by PFAS. The chemicals are used in products such as nonstick coatings, plastics and firefighting foams, and often end up in waterways that can serve as sources for drinking water.
New Jersey is one of 11 states — and the first in the nation — that limits how much PFAS contamination is allowed in drinking water. In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a new standard that sets maximum levels for six common types of PFAS in drinking water nationwide. All U.S. water systems are required to begin monitoring for the chemicals within three years.
Higher levels of CO2 allow viruses to live longer in air
Increasing levels of carbon dioxide aren’t just raising global temperatures. They may also make it easier for airborne viruses to survive and infect people, new science shows.
In a study published April 26 in Nature Communications, researchers measured how long SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — could survive in the air when subjected to varying levels of CO2.
Researchers increased the amount of CO2 in the air from 400 parts per million — the level commonly found in outdoor air — to 800 parts per million — the level in a well-ventilated room. They found that airborne droplets of the virus stayed infectious longer at the higher concentration.
At a CO2 level of 3,000 parts per million, the level of a crowded room, 10 times as much virus remained infectious as compared to outdoor CO2 levels.
The findings suggest that as CO2 increases in the atmosphere, fueling climate change, airborne viruses could stay infectious longer. While the study focused on a single virus, the researchers said the effect could apply to other respiratory viruses as well.
Due to fossil-fuel emissions from power plants, transportation and other industrial sources, CO2 concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere have been increasing rapidly for more than a century. Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels reached record levels in 2023, according to estimates from the Global Carbon Project.
Previous research has projected that atmospheric levels of CO2 could reach more than 700 parts per million by the end of the century, raising temperatures, worsening extreme weather and threatening human health.
Hospital closures more common in Black communities
U.S. hospitals that predominantly serve Black communities are more likely to be closed, reflecting social inequities, a new study finds.
University of Chicago researchers reviewed data on hospitals that shut down between 2007 and 2018, finding that communities with the highest proportion of Black residents faced four times the odds of hospital closure compared to those with the fewest Black residents.
While higher levels of socioeconomic disadvantage in a community — such as low incomes, education levels or access to transportation — also raised risks for hospital closures, the odds of hospitals closing their doors remained highest in Black communities, according to the study, which was published April 26 in Annals of Epidemiology.
Even in high- and middle-income areas, hospitals that served communities with higher rates of Black residents were more likely to close than those that primarily served other racial and ethnic populations. Similar results were not found for communities with high proportions of Hispanic residents, the study said.
More than 320 hospitals closed during the study period, reflecting a three-decade trend across the U.S. From 1990-2000, nearly 8% of all rural hospitals and 11% of urban U.S. hospitals were shuttered. The closures have been associated with delays in medical care, higher transport times and increased deaths from surgical conditions, among other harms.
Maternal deaths remain high for Black women
Maternal death rates fell considerably for U.S. Black women in 2022, but remained disproportionately high compared to other populations, new federal research shows.
In 2022, overall maternal deaths fell from to 22.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with 32.9 per 100,000 in 2021, according to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
Released May 2, the research found maternal deaths — defined as those that occurred during pregnancy or within 42 days from the end of a pregnancy — fell significantly for white, Black and Hispanic people. Deaths fell almost 29% for both Black and white women and nearly 40% for Hispanic women.
While white women had a death rate of 19 per 100,000 live births in 2022 and Hispanic women had a rate of 16.9 per 100,000, deaths among Black women were more than twice as high, at 49.5 per 100,000. Maternal deaths did not decrease significantly for Asian women, who had a rate of 13.2 per 100,000 live births in 2022.
The disparities reflect continuing barriers to care for Black women, such as racism, lower access to quality care and higher rates of underlying chronic diseases.
Other public health news of note this week includes:
• Nearly 40% of people across the U.S. — 131 million — live in areas with heavy air pollution, with people of color disproportionately exposed, according to a new report from the American Lung Association.
• Poor communities in North Carolina with higher rates of people of color are at increased risk for wildfires, says a new study in Frontiers in Public Health.
• The EPA has finalized its new power plant pollution rules, which will regulate carbon and mercury air pollution, wastewater pollutants and management of coal ash.
• Food delivery workers who are dependent on gig work are 61% more likely to be injured and 36% more likely to experience assault on the job than those who do it as a side job, a study of New York City workers finds.
• The U.S. Department of Labor’s new farmworker protection rule has been finalized. Announced April 29, the rule addresses transportation safety, labor exploitation, human trafficking and other measures aimed at protecting temporary foreign agriculture workers.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public health journalist.
