The debate regarding dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in malaria prevention and human health is polarized and can be classified into three positions: anti-DDT, centrist-DDT, pro-DDT. The authors attempted to arrive at a synthesis by matching a series of questions on the use of DDT for indoor residual spraying (IRS) with literature and insights, and to identify options and opportunities.

Taken at face value, the results of the fourth edition of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA), released 11 March 2011 are sobering. Every person in the country is at 10 times or greater risk for getting cancer from outdoor air pollutants than the agency’s general goal of 1 in 1 million the average risk is 50 times greater than the goal, and about 5% of the population is at more than 100 times the risk.

High cadmium (Cd) concentrations have recently been found in some inexpensive jewelry. In response, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued five recalls of children’s jewelry products for Cd contamination. However, there is no formal standard for Cd in jewelry and few data exist regarding potential exposures.

Diesel exhaust, which is emitted from on- and off-road sources, is a complex mixture of toxic gaseous and particulate components that results in triggered adverse cardiovascular effects like arrhythmias.

Pitched battles are a regular occurrence in northern Alberta, Canada, as development of the province’s oil sands continues to expand. One ongoing battle—with another salvo launched in February 2011 with the leak of a European Commission report—concerns how dirty oil sands are, relative to other fuels.

As Royal Dutch Shell and other oil companies prepare to drill offshore in the Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a new report commissioned by the Washington, DC–based Pew Environment Group concludes current response capabilities aren’t adequate to contain and clean up a major spill in the area.1 Marilyn Heiman, who directs the group’s U.S. Arctic program, says drilling on the Alaskan OCS requires a science-based precautionary approach. “And right now, we don’t know enough about the potential consequences of a spill to the ecosystem,” she says.

Global climate change will have multiple effects on human health. Vulnerable populations—children, the elderly, and the poor—will be disproportionately affected. The researchers reviewed projected impacts of climate change on children’s health, the pathways involved in these effects, and prevention strategies.

Industrial food animal production employs many of the same antibiotics or classes of antibiotics that are used in human medicine. These drugs can be administered to food animals in the form of free-choice medicated feeds (FCMF), where animals choose how much feed to consume.

The purpose of this review is to evaluate the impact of recent epidemiologic literature on the National Research Council (NRC) assessment of the lung and bladder cancer risks from ingesting low concentrations (< 100 µg/L) of arsenic-contaminated water.

Mechanisms of cardiovascular injuries from exposure to gas and particulate air pollutants are unknown. We sought to determine whether episodic exposure of rats to ozone or diesel exhaust particles (DEP) causes differential cardiovascular impairments that are exacerbated by ozone plus DEP.