It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, September 01, 2021
Paleofjords that drained glaciers 300 million years ago still preserved in the desertic landscape of NW Namibia
New Geology Science published online ahead of print
IMAGE: FJORD MORPHOLOGIES AND ASSOCIATED GLACIAL EROSION FEATURES ATTESTING THAT GLACIERS FLOWED THROUGH THE DESERTIC LANDSCAPE OF NW NAMIBIA 300 MILLION YEARS AGO. THIS U-SHAPED VALLEY IS CARVED INTO HARD BEDROCK AND REPRESENTS AN INTACT FJORD MORPHOLOGY, CARVED 300 MILLION YEARS AGO, AND SUBSEQUENTLY FILLED UP WITH SEDIMENT AND LATER EXHUMATED. AT THE FOREGROUND, ONE CAN OBSERVE REMNANTS OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS (MUDSTONES AND SANDSTONES).view more
CREDIT: CREDIT: PIERRE DIETRICH.
31 August 2021 The Geological Society of America Release no. 21-50 Contact: Kea Giles +1-303-357-1057 kgiles@geosociety.org
For Immediate Release
Paleofjords That Drained Glaciers 300 Million Years Ago Still Preserved in the Desertic Landscape of NW Namibia
Boulder, Colo., USA: The Kaokoland region of northwest Namibia is a desertic land: Vast barren plateaus are deeply dissected by several hundred-meter-deep U-shaped valleys in which ephemeral streams flow. The hard floors and walls of these valleys surprisingly display abundant glacial erosion features characteristic of flowing glaciers such as scratches, striae, grooves, and smooth, elongated hills called whalebacks.
Such features are usually found in Canada or Scandinavia that were recently (20,000 years) covered by huge ice sheets. Discovering such marks of ice flow in Namibia, which did not undergo any recent glaciation, is therefore thrilling and challenging.
These glacial erosion features are sealed in place by remnants of less-resistant sedimentary rocks—conglomerate, sandstones, and mudstones encompassing large, far-traveler lonestones—which indicate that these valleys were inundated by the sea, on which icebergs drifted, after the flowing glaciers retreated.
Glacial scratches and striations (IMAGE)
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
CAPTION
Glacial scratches and striations carved by direct glacial action onto the vertical walls of the U-shaped valleys seen above. At the background, reddish sedimentary rocks lie upon these vertical straited walls.
CREDIT
Credit: Pierre Dietrich.
The dating of these sedimentary rocks indicates an age of 300 million years, corresponding to an icehouse period. Africa, and therefore Namibia, was at that time part of the Gondwana Supercontinent located close to the south pole. Thus, as foreseen as early as the 1950s by the German geologist Henno Martin, famous for having shared his experience of his two years spent in the Namibian desert (Sheltering Desert), a French-American-Austrian joint team demonstrated yesterday in the journal Geology that 300-million-year-old glaciers drained through—and likely carved—these valleys, which, after glaciers vanished, were inundated by the sea and therefore turned into fjords.
These fjords were subsequently filled with sediments for 130 million years before being exhumed in more recent times. Owing to preferential erosion of the less-resistant sedimentary rocks filling up the valleys, these ancestral fjord morphologies are now shaping the desertic landscape of NW Namibia.
Although modern fjords are abundant on continental shelves at high latitude, these Namibian fjords are the unique example of preserved ancient fjord morphologies and therefore serve for tackling climate changes associated to the penultimate icehouse our planet experienced.
FEATURED ARTICLE Fjords network in Namibia: A snapshot into the dynamics of the late Paleozoic Glaciation Pierre Dietrich and colleagues Contact: pierre.dietrich@univ-rennes1.fr, Université de Rennes 1–CNRS, Géosciences Rennes UMR 6118, Rennes, France
GEOLOGY articles are online at http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/content/early/recent. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary articles by contacting Kea Giles at the e-mail address above. Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
IMAGE: PRESENT CONDITION OF ST.MARK'S SQUARE DURING PARTIAL FLOODING OF ITS LOWEST AREAS (ESTIMATED SEA LEVEL: 80CM) AND HISTORICAL PICTURE CLOSE TO THE TIME OF HIGHEST WATER ON THE 4 NOVEMBER 1966 FLOOD (BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO COURTESY OF GIANFRANCO TAGLIAPIETRA)view more
CREDIT: PIERO LIONELLO AND GIANFRANCO TAGLIAPIETRA
MUNICH — A new assessment of flood risk in Venice indicates that the impact of higher emissions on relative sea level rise during this century will be critical in planning future defence infrastructure for Venice and other coastal cities, state the authors of a new special issue published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences today.
One of the key factors when considering the serious threat of flooding in Venice and other coastal cities, is the importance of projected relative sea level rise. Relative sea level rise is the sea level’s change relative to the local solid Earth’s surface, and incorporates aspects of ground sinking as well as the mean sea level itself increasing.
Long-term future projections indicate a large uncertainty in the relative sea level of Venice of between 17 and 120 cm by 2100, which lead author Davide Zanchettin attributes to the challenges of projections based on the wide range of emission scenarios, and to insufficient understanding of relevant physical processes, both acting remotely and inside the Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea. “For a projection to be useful, it must be well constrained” Zanchettin says “There are important feedbacks in the climate system, for instance related to polar ice sheet dynamics, that we need to understand and better simulate to make more reliable projections.”
“Small increases can have a large impact” The importance of accurate projections of the steady and inevitable rise in sea level for coastal cities like Venice is brought into focus when you consider the combination of that increase with extreme events that precipitate serious flooding. The extreme events that cause flooding in Venice have so far been attributed mainly to storm surges caused by sirocco winds, but a greater variety of factors will involved in future extreme events, including meteotsunamis and massive planetary atmospheric waves that affect sea level at multiple scales. “When you are this close to the upper limit of the tidal range, any meteorological event can be hazardous and cause an extreme flood,” says lead author Piero Lionello, “Small increases can have a large impact.”
CAPTION
This art installation, called 'Support', was created by artist Lorenzo Quinn in Venice’s world-famous Grand Canal to raise awareness about climate change (source: imaggeo.egu.eu).
CREDIT
Hung Vuong Pham
In the short-term, the protection of Venice from flooding mostly depends on the effective and timely deployment of the new MoSE (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico) coastal defence system, which has already been operated several times since October 2020 to protect the city. The design relies on being able to predict the water level 4-6 hours ahead of the maximum and open or close the barriers, in order to protect the vulnerable low-lying city from flooding at some times, and provide access to the port and maintain the environmental balance of the lagoon at others.
“The MoSE system will be operated on the forecast,” says Georg Umgiesser. “If the forecast is wrong, the operation of the MoSE becomes wrong—and that is very important both economically and ecologically.” Reducing the uncertainty that exists in any forecasting model is critical and Umgiesser suggests this is particularly effective when combining multiple independent models to account for differences in the numerical models.
Giving governments time to plan The wide ranging impacts of a high emissions scenario on the operation of the new MoSE system and flooding in Venice are made clear in this special issue, both in the short and longer term, with the possibility of a year-round closure of the lagoon needed as early as 2075 to keep up with rising relative sea levels, in a plausible but unlikely scenario.
Such an extreme closure of the coastal defence system would have serious environmental and economic impacts on the city of Venice and the lagoon, but there are ways coastal cities can adapt. “Sea level is a nasty beast; we could stop global warming completely by stopping the use of fossil fuels and the sea level would continue to rise in spite of this, though at a much reduced pace.” Lionello notes. “But we have the information with studies like these to identify the future risk to coastal cities like Venice. Although we don’t know exactly when, the present evidence is that we will need to change our adaption strategies. It’s clear that we need to be prepared to act.”
CAPTION
Projected sea level change in Venice in the context of historical observations. Observations are annual-mean tide gauge relative sea-level height anomalies with respect to the 2000-2007 average. Projections are based on two reference scenarios of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission, namely RCP2.6 (low emission scenario) and RCIP8.5 (strong emission scenario), and a high-end scenario illustrating a plausible evolution obtained by combining the highest estimates of all individual contributions to relative sea level rise. The horizontal blue lines shows the annual persistence of the sea level above the present safeguard level as a function of future relative mean sea level. These time intervals approximately correspond to the annual duration of the expected closures of MoSE.
CREDIT
Piero Lionello, Robert Nicholls, Georg Umgiesser and Davide Zanchettin
KINGSTON, R.I.—The air we breathe in our homes, schools, and workplaces can be polluted with harmful PFAS chemicals, according to a study published today in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. A new measurement technique developed by the research team detected PFAS chemicals in the air of kindergarten classrooms, university offices and laboratories, and a home—some with levels as high as those measured at an outdoor clothing company and carpet stores selling PFAS-treated products. The results suggest indoor air is an underestimated and potentially important source of exposure to PFAS, particularly for children.
“Food and water are known to be major sources of PFAS exposure,” said Rainer Lohmann, senior author of the study and professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island. “Our study shows that indoor air, including dust, is another source of exposure to potentially harmful forever chemicals. In fact, for children in homes or schools with old PFAS-treated carpets, inhalation may be even more important than dust as an exposure pathway to volatile PFAS that eventually could biotransform to more persistent and harmful PFAS.”
Well-studied PFAS have been associated with a wide range of serious health harms, from cancer to infertility to immune system problems. All PFAS are either extremely persistent in the environment or break down into extremely persistent PFAS.
By affixing polyethylene sheet samplers to ceilings, the scientists measured volatile PFAS chemicals in the air of nine carpeted kindergarten classrooms, one home, and the storage room of an outdoor clothing store in California; as well as two laboratories, five offices, one classroom, one storage room, and one elevator at the University of Rhode Island; and two carpet stores, also in Rhode Island. PFAS were detected in the air of nearly every location.
Several kindergarten classrooms and rooms at the university had higher indoor air concentrations of PFAS than the storage room of the outdoor clothing store, which was full of jackets and gear treated with PFAS. The highest concentrations were found in the two carpet stores. “PFAS were formerly used as stain and water repellents in most carpets," according to the paper’s lead author Maya Morales-McDevitt. “Fortunately, major retailers including The Home Depot and Lowe’s now only sell PFAS-free carpets. We believe that slowly smaller retailers will do so as well.”
While families, schools, and workplaces can reduce indoor air levels of PFAS by replacing carpets, there are still many other products that can emit volatile PFAS into indoor air, including clothing, shoes, building products, and furnishings.
“As long as they continue to be used in products, we’ll all be eating, drinking, and breathing PFAS,” said Tom Bruton, a co-author and senior scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute. “We need to turn off the tap and stop all unnecessary uses of PFAS as soon as possible.”
Watercoolers have become a staple in homes, offices and schools, but their tanks and parts are made of materials that could release unwanted or potentially harmful compounds into drinking water. In a preliminary study, researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters report that organophosphate esters (OPEs) were found in water dispensed from these systems, but they estimated that daily consumption would be far below the levels associated with health problems.
As drinking water from freestanding dispensers has become wildly popular, some concern has been raised about the quality of the water coming out of these systems. For example, OPEs have been found in various types of drinking water, including tap, well and bottled water, in some locations in the U.S., South Korea and China. These compounds are used widely worldwide, replacing harmful brominated flame retardants and as additives in plastics, and now researchers are finding that OPEs are also associated with poor health outcomes. Because these substances are applied to materials or used as additives, which are not strongly bonded to plastic polymers, they can easily contaminate dust or leach into water. So, Yali Shi, Guangshui Na and colleagues wanted to see if water dispensers could contribute to OPE exposure, estimating the amount someone would consume on a daily basis if they only drank water from these types of systems.
The researchers collected water from 53 water dispensers in office buildings in China, both from the storage tanks and dispensed through room temperature and hot water taps. They analyzed the samples for 22 OPEs and detected eight of them in the majority of samples, with tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP) being the most abundant. The water dispensed from the hot and room temperature taps had higher amounts of these compounds than water held in the tanks. Upon closer inspection, the researchers found that the plastic dispenser and the tubing contained these compounds, and the tubing could accumulate OPEs from the air. Finally, the team calculated that if people drank water dispensed solely from these systems, their total daily exposure to TCIPP — a potential carcinogen and endocrine disruptor — was far less than is considered to cause harm to humans. The researchers say that while their study was small, it identifies a need for future research to examine whether silicone is the most suitable tubing material for watercoolers.
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
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Increased Human Exposure to Organophosphate Esters via Ingestion of Drinking Water from Water Dispensers: Sources, Influencing Factors, and Exposure Assessment
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
1-Sep-2021
Exposure to persistent environmental toxins in everyday products may increase diabetes risk in Latina adolescents
Study by researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC finds link between “forever chemicals” and changes in glucose metabolism
A new USC study finds that a class of environmental pollutants known as “forever chemicals” may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in Latino girls. The pollutants, called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are a group of man-made chemicals used across the United States in a wide range of industrial and consumer products, including cookware, stain repellant and pizza boxes.
“Because PFAS are in such widespread use and they don’t break down, they have made their way into the drinking water of roughly 200 million Americans,” said researcher Leda Chatzi, a professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and director of the new USC Center for Translational Research on Environmental Health. “This is the first study to measure their potential impact on glucose metabolism over time among adolescents and young adults.”
Researchers looked more than 310 Latino children between the ages of eight and 13 from SOLAR (Study of Latino Adolescents at Risk of Type 2 Diabetes). Each participant was tested for levels of certain PFAS at the start of the study and then followed for up to 12 years, with annual check-ups on how their bodies metabolized glucose.
PFAS and glucose metabolism
Data from the study showed that, starting in late puberty, girls who had high levels in childhood of a PFAS called perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) tended to have poorer metabolism of glucose than girls who had low levels of PFHxS as children. The association between high levels of PFHxS and dysregulated glucose metabolism increased after puberty and persisted through 18 years of age. The researchers replicated their findings in a separate group of young adults from the Southern California Children’s Health Study, showing that this link may persist into adulthood.
The study found no consistent association between high levels of PFAS and dysregulated glucose metabolism in boys.
“We saw the biggest changes in glucose metabolism in puberty, and there are lots of differences in puberty between boys and girls,” said Jesse Goodrich, a postdoctoral scholar at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and first author of the study. “One hypothesis is that PFAS may interact with sex hormones. We plan to follow up on this study by examining the biological mechanism behind the association of PFAS with type 2 diabetes.”
Young Latinos at higher risk of type 2 diabetes
Rates of diabetes in Latino children in the U.S. are five times higher than that of non-Hispanic whites; in Latino adults, the rate is 80% higher than that in non-Hispanic whites. Yet diet and lifestyle alone don’t account for the difference.
“Type 2 diabetes is potentially preventable, and one key area of focus should be environmental influences,” said Chatzi. “PFAS exposures are modifiable through individual behaviors, like avoiding non-stick cookware and plastic containers for food storage. But we are not just exposed in one place or one source - PFAS are everywhere. Government can play a major role in regulating the use of PFAS.”
Although certain PFAS chemicals are no longer manufactured in the United States, they are still produced internationally and can be imported into the U.S. in consumer goods such as carpet, leather and apparel, textiles, paper and packaging, coatings, rubber and plastics, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. A few weeks ago, the House passed the PFAS Action Act, which would require the Environmental Protection Agency to establish national drinking water standards for these so-called “forever chemicals.”
About the Study
In addition to Chatzi and Goodrich, other authors of the study include Brittney Baumert, Zhangua Chen, Frank Gilliland, Katerina Margetaki, Sarah Rock, Nikos Stratakis and David Conti from USC; Tanya Alderete from the University of Colorado Boulder; Kiros Berhane from Columbia University; Michael Goran from Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles; Xin Hu and Dean Jones from Emory University School of Medicine; Damaskini Valvi and Douglas Walker from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
The study was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R01-ES029944, T32-ES013678, R00-ES027853, R00-ES027870, R21-ES029328, P30-ES023515, P01-CA196569, P30-ES007048, P30-CA014089, R01-ES030691, R01-ES030364, R21-ES028903, R21-ES029681).
About Keck School of Medicine
Founded in 1885, the Keck School of Medicine of USC is one of the nation’s leading medical institutions, known for innovative patient care, scientific discovery, education and community service. Medical and graduate students work closely with world-renowned faculty and receive hands-on training in one of the nation’s most diverse communities. They participate in cutting-edge research as they develop into tomorrow’s health leaders. With more than 900 resident physicians across 50 specialty and subspecialty programs, the Keck School is the largest educator of physicians practicing in Southern California.
IMAGE: IN A NEW STUDY, TEENAGERS FROM CALIFORNIA’S SALINAS VALLEY WORKED ALONGSIDE UC BERKELEY SCIENTISTS ON RESEARCH SHOWING THAT SWITCHING TO GREEN CLEANING PRODUCTS CAN REDUCE USERS’ EXPOSURE TO A VARIETY OF TOXIC CHEMICALS. THE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM ALSO CREATED A SERIES OF ANIMATED PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS, IN BOTH ENGLISH AND SPANISH, TO SHARE THE RESULTS WITH THEIR COMMUNITY. THIS IMAGE IS A SCREENSHOT FROM THEIR PSAS.view more
CREDIT: LUCIR STUDY IMAGE
Berkeley — Jessica Cabrera knows the recipe for homemade window cleaner by heart — and is more than happy to share it.
“All you have to do is mix vinegar, water and dish soap, and there you have it,” Cabrera said.
Cabrera, who grew up in California’s Salinas Valley, just started her first year as an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. And while it may seem unusual for a new college student to have a passion for window cleaner, Cabrera has good reason for knowing the ins and outs of DIY cleaning products.
For the past three years, Cabrera has been part of a group of Salinas Valley teens working alongside UC Berkeley researchers to investigate whether housecleaning products expose their users to potentially harmful chemicals — and whether making the switch to cleaning products marketed as lower chemical, or “green,” can help reduce these exposures.
Cabrera is now a co-author of a peer-reviewed study, published Sept. 1 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, showing that making the switch to green cleaning products can reduce users’ exposure to up to 17 different carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, including chloroform and benzene.
“What I found the most interesting was that there was an 86% decrease in chloroform exposure after switching from conventional cleaning products to green cleaning products,” Cabrera said. “And it really put into perspective how cleaning products can serve as potential carcinogens and hormone disruptors. It's something that you don't really think about when you clean because you think cleaning is a good thing. And it is, but it also can have some detrimental effects to your health in the long term.”
Cabrera and her peers carried out the research as part of the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) Youth Council, a group of 10 to 15 high school students who gain hands-on experience in environmental health research by helping to design and carry out their own studies under the guidance of UC Berkeley public health experts.
Study lead author Kim Harley, associate director of the UC Berkeley Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health (CERCH), said that the youth council was originally created to give teens a voice in the CHAMACOS study, a long-term investigation into the impact of pesticides and other chemical exposure on pregnant women and their children. However, she and her colleagues quickly realized the potential of teaching and engaging the youth in conducting rigorous public health research, empowering them to become the next generation of environmental health leaders in their community.
According to Harley, the council’s interest in cleaning products grew out of conversations about the importance of housecleaning in Latinx culture, as well as the fact that 81% of professional housecleaners and janitors in California are Latinx.
“For the CHAMACOS study, we asked people how often they clean their homes, and 40% of our population said that they do substantial housecleaning every day — and by substantial, they mean things like mopping their floors or vacuuming every day,” Harley said. “So, the youth council really felt like this was an environmental justice issue that was affecting their Latino community and particularly Latina women in California.”
One of the youth council’s main missions is to share the results of their research with their community. Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of most in-person events, the council decided to work with the group Artists Ink to create a series of animated public service announcements in both English and Spanish to help spread awareness about how people can protect themselves from potentially harmful chemicals in cleaning products. The students have also presented their results to regulators at the California Safer Consumer Products program.
“I’ve always been passionate about making an impact on my community, and I think the youth council is great because it targets the future of the community — the youth,” said study co-author Stephanie Mayo-Burgos, a recent member of the council who is now starting her first year as an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz. “It starts off by educating us and then helps us educate our community.”
Finding safer ways to shine
Cabrera remembers being a sophomore in high school, hungry and ready for lunch, when she first learned about the CHAMACOS Youth Council.
“My math teacher announced that there was a new research opportunity through CHAMACOS, and told us how the original mission of CHAMACOS was investigating the health impacts of pesticides among farmworkers and their children,” Cabrera said. “This hit home to me, because I come from a family of farmworkers. Both my grandfathers, my dad and even my mother all worked in the fields.”
Cabrera joined the youth council, and one of her first tasks, along with Mayo-Burgos, was to help choose the name and logo for the new project. They ended up deciding on LUCIR, which stands for Lifting Up Communities by Intervening with Research.
“LUCIR means ‘to shine,’ in Spanish, and we thought that name worked well because when you clean, you can make things look shiny and nice,” Cabrera said.
To conduct the study, the council worked closely with Harley and CERCH community science manager James Nolan to recruit 50 Latinas from their Salinas Valley community. Each woman was asked to spend 30 minutes cleaning her kitchen and bathroom using her normal cleaning products, and then repeat the process a week later using her choice of a selection of green cleaning products that the students had found at local stores.
While they cleaned, each woman wore a backpack outfitted with personal air monitoring equipment created by collaborators at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The backpacks, originally designed as hydration packs, had tubes that could collect samples of air near the women’s faces as they cleaned.
“The backpacks were important because we wanted to know what people's actual exposure to the chemicals was,” Harley said. “The backpack can take little sips of air through tubes that sit on the shoulder, and we put the tubes close to the breathing zone of the mouth. We felt like this was a better way to gauge human exposure than just analyzing what was in the product because what we really care about is how much of these chemicals are going into the air that we are breathing in.”
The women’s measurements showed that the switch to green cleaning products decreased their exposure to a variety of chemicals that may cause cancer, disrupt hormones in the body or act as reproductive toxins. However, the switch also increased the women’s exposure to some potentially harmful fragrance compounds.
Switching to green
While the study results showed that making the switch to green cleaning products can help reduce exposure to certain harmful chemicals, Mayo-Burgos points out that not everyone is in a position to change up their routines.
For one, it’s not always easy to identify which products are actually safer. Though a 2017 California law now requires that cleaning product manufacturers list their products on the label, there remains no standard definition for what products qualify as “green.” Concerned consumers can start by looking for the Safer Choice Label or consulting consumer databases, such as the Environmental Working Group Guide to Healthy Cleaning. However, not everyone has the time or money for to follow these guidelines.
“I would love to push people to get the green cleaning products, but I can tell that a lot of people in my community don't believe in them or don’t have the time to buy them online,” Mayo-Burgos said. “So, I feel like it's just as important to educate people about the amount of exposure that they experience and to teach them ways to reduce that exposure, like opening up windows, opening up doors and using a microfiber cloth that can clean surfaces without the need for cleaning products.”
Other ways to protect yourself while cleaning include wearing protective gear, like gloves and goggles, and not mixing products that could potentially react to form even more dangerous chemicals, Mayo-Burgos added.
Nolan said that this connection to the community is one of the reasons why the youth council is so important.
“The youth voice really brings this energy and creativity to the work, and they are also really approachable,” Nolan said. “One of our side missions has been to highlight other opportunities that they might not have thought about and think about ways that we can open as many doors as possible for them.”
Mayo-Burgos and Cabrera both said that they hope to pursue college degrees that will allow them to continue to help their community: Mayos-Burgos wants to major in environmental studies, while Cabrera would like to double major in public health and computer science.
“One of my long-term goals is to bring technological access back to my community because I believe that technology is also a major factor as to why people from my community aren’t always as informed as they can be,” Cabrera said. “My community really inspires me to want to continue learning and to bring what I learn back, so we can all benefit from it.”
Co-authors of the study also include Lucia Calderon and Asa Bradman of UC Berkeley, Randy Maddalena and Marion Russell of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Katherine Roman of the CHAMACOS Youth Council, and Norma Morga of the Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas.
The LUCIR Study was funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program. The CHAMACOS Youth Council has been supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the California Breast Cancer Research Program.
Changes in Latina Women’s Exposure to Cleaning Chemicals Associated with Switching from Conventional to “Green” Household Cleaning Products: The LUCIR Intervention Study
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
1-Sep-2021
After leaked videos, Iran opens cases against prison guards
In this undated frame grab taken from video shared with The Associated Press by a self-identified hacker group called "The Justice of Ali," a guard looks at surveillance screens taken over by the group, at Evin prison in Tehran, Iran. The alleged hackers said the release of the footage was an effort to show the grim conditions at the prison, known for holding political prisoners and those with ties abroad who are often used as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. The caption on the screens reads in Farsi: "Cyberattack: Evin prison is a stain on (Iranian President Ebrahim) Raisi's black turban and white beard. General protest until the freedom of political prisoners." (The Justice of Ali via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian prosecutors opened criminal cases against six guards at the country’s notorious Evin prison, the judiciary reported on Tuesday, after footage showing the widespread abuse of detainees at the facility leaked out last week.
The judiciary’s three-day investigation into mistreatment and grim conditions at Tehran’s Evin prison had landed “some” prison guards in detention, said judiciary spokesman Zabihollah Khodaeian. Authorities also summoned two guards and punished others, Khodaeian said, without elaborating on the penalties or identifying the suspects.
The revelation comes days after The Associated Press published parts of the videos and a report about the abuse at the facility in northern Tehran, long known for holding political prisoners and those with ties to the West whom Iran uses as bargaining chips in international negotiations. An online account, purportedly by a self-described hacker group, shared footage of the incident, as well as parts of other surveillance video it seized.
FILE - In this undated file frame grab taken from video shared with The Associated Press by a self-identified hacker group called "The Justice of Ali," guards drag an emaciated prisoner, at Evin prison in Tehran, Iran. Iranian prosecutors opened criminal cases against six guards at the country's notorious Evin prison, the judiciary reported on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, after footage showing the widespread abuse of detainees at the facility leaked out last week. (The Justice of Ali via AP, File)
“The scenes shown in the published films were against the law and it is not justifiable under any circumstances,” said Khodaeian, noting that the leaked clips had been selected and edited from different scenes over the course of years.
In one part of the footage, a man smashes a bathroom mirror to try to cut open his arm. Prisoners — and even guards — beat each other in scenes captured by surveillance cameras. Inmates sleeping in single rooms with bunk beds stacked three high against the walls, wrapping themselves in blankets to stay warm.
Iran’s judiciary ordered an investigation into the abuse last week after the head of the country’s prison system acknowledged the videos were real, expressing contrition and saying he took responsibility for the “unacceptable behaviors.”
Since its construction in 1971 under Iran’s shah, the prison has seen a series of abuses that continued into the Islamic Republic.
Shocking report says air pollution is cutting years off the lives of billions of people
“Air pollution is the greatest external threat to human health on the planet,” said a researcher for the Air Quality Life Index.
By Jenna Romaine | Sept. 1, 2021
THE HILL
(Максим Шмаков/iStock) Story at a glance
Researchers at the University of Chicago created the Air Quality Life Index, which calculates how the concentration of air pollutants impacts life expectancy.
According to the September 2021 data, air pollution takes 2.2 years off the average global citizen’s life.
Addressing air pollution can reverse the effects and add years back onto the lives of citizens.
A new report has found that air pollution is cutting years off the lives of billions of people.
Researchers at the University of Chicago created the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), which calculates how the concentration of air pollutants impacts life expectancy.
According to the September 2021 data, air pollution takes 2.2 years off the average global citizen’s life.
“Air pollution is the greatest external threat to human health on the planet, and that is not widely recognized, or not recognized with the force and vigor that one might expect,” Michael Greenstone, one of the researchers who developed the index, told The Guardian.
But the impact is far more detrimental in areas suffering the worst pollution.
In India, where the air pollutant particulate matter concentration is seven times higher than the World Health Organization’s guideline, the average Indian life expectancy is cut by 5.9 years. In some areas of the country, such as in Uttar Pradesh where pollution is even higher, life expectancy is shortened up to 11.1 years.
However, addressing air pollution can reverse the effects and add years back onto the lives of citizens.
In China, a “war against pollution” was launched in 2013. Since then, its particulate pollution has been reduced 29 percent and added an average of 1.5 years back onto the population’s lives.
“Fossil-fuel driven air pollution is a global problem that requires strong policies at every front—including from the world climate negotiators who are meeting in the coming months,” said Ken Lee, director of the AQLI. “The AQLI’s latest data provides leaders and citizens alike with the justification for strong clean air policies in the form of longer lives.”
