Monday, July 26, 2021

Improving air quality reduces dementia risk, multiple studies suggest

ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION

DENVER, JULY 26, 2021 -- Improving air quality may improve cognitive function and reduce dementia risk, according to several studies reported today at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference® (AAIC®) 2021 in Denver and virtually.

Previous reports have linked long-term air pollution exposure with accumulation of Alzheimer's disease-related brain plaques, but this is the first accumulated evidence that reducing pollution, especially fine particulates in the air and pollutants from the burning of fuel, is associated with lower risk of all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Both increasing levels of air pollution and increasing cases of dementia are worldwide public health crises. While research has linked air quality and cognition previously, these new data at AAIC 2021 explore how air pollutants might impact dementia and what reducing them might mean for long-term brain health. Among the key findings are:

- Reduction of PM2.5 concentration over 10 years was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause dementia in French individuals by 15% and of Alzheimer's disease by 17% for every microgram of gaseous pollutant per cubic meter of air (μg/m3) decrease in PM2.5.

- Long-term exposure to air pollutants was associated with higher beta amyloid levels in the blood in a large U.S. cohort, showing a possible biological connection between air quality and physical brain changes that define Alzheimer's disease.

"We've known for some time that air pollution is bad for our brains and overall health, including a connection to amyloid buildup in the brain," said Claire Sexton, DPhil, Alzheimer's Association director of scientific programs and outreach. "But what's exciting is we're now seeing data showing that improving air quality may actually reduce the risk of dementia. These data demonstrate the importance of policies and action by federal and local governments, and businesses, that address reducing air pollutants."

Air Quality Improvement May Slow Cognitive Decline and Reduce Dementia Risk in Older U.S. Women

Although studies have found that improved air quality is associated with better respiratory health and longer life expectancy, it's unknown if improved air quality can also improve brain health. To investigate this further, Xinhui Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor of research neurology at University of Southern California, and colleagues investigated whether older women living in locations with greater reduction in air pollution may have slower decline in their cognitive function and be less likely to develop dementia.

Wang and team looked at a group of older women (aged 74-92) in the U.S. from the National Institutes of Health-funded Women's Health Initiative Memory Study-Epidemiology of Cognitive Health Outcomes (WHIMS-ECHO) who did not have dementia at the beginning of the study. Participants were followed from 2008-2018 and detailed cognitive function tests were done every year to determine whether they developed dementia. Participants' home addresses were noted and mathematical models were used to estimate the air pollution levels at these locations over time.

The researchers found that, in general, air quality greatly improved over the 10 years before the study began. During a median of six years of follow-up, cognitive functions tended to decline as women aged, as expected. However, for those living in locations with greater reduction per 10% of the EPA's current standard in both PM2.5 (fine particles that are 30 times thinner than a human hair) and NO2 (indicator of traffic-related pollutants), their risk of dementia decreased by 14% and 26%. This was similar to the lower level of risk seen in women two to three years younger.

Benefits were also seen for slower decline in overall cognitive function and memory, similar to women one to two years younger, and on specific tests of working memory, episodic memory and attention/executive function -- cognitive domains with early decline detectable in dementia at the preclinical stage. These benefits were seen regardless of age, level of education, the geographic region where they lived and whether they had cardiovascular disease.

"Our findings are important because they strengthen the evidence that high levels of outdoor air pollution in later life harm our brains, and also provide new evidence that by improving air quality we may be able to significantly reduce risk of cognitive decline and dementia," Wang said. "The possible benefits found in our studies extended across a variety of cognitive abilities, suggesting a positive impact on multiple underlying brain regions."

Reduction of Fine Particulates is Associated with Reduced Risk of Dementia in Older French Adults

In a similarly structured study, Noemie Letellier, Ph.D., postdoctoral scholar at University of California, San Diego, and colleagues worked with the French Three-City Study, a large cohort of more than 7,000 participants aged 65 or older, to investigate the links between air pollution exposure and dementia risk. The researchers observed reduction of PM2.5 concentration between 1990-2000, which was associated with a 15% reduced risk of all-cause dementia and a 17% reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease for every microgram of gaseous pollutant per cubic meter of air (μg/m3) decrease in PM2.5, independent of socio-demographic and health behaviors factors, and APOE genotype.

"These data, for the first time, highlight the beneficial effects of reduced air pollution on the incidence of dementia in older adults." Letellier said. "The findings have important implications to reinforce air quality standards to promote healthy aging. In the context of climate change, massive urbanization and worldwide population aging, it is crucial to accurately evaluate the influence of air pollution change on incident dementia to identify and recommend effective prevention strategies."

Long-Term Air Pollution is Associated with Increased Beta Amyloid Plaques

Accumulation of beta amyloid plaques is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. While a relationship between air pollution and increased beta amyloid production has been found in animal and human studies, relatively little is known about the effects of long-term exposure to air pollution on beta amyloid.

Christina Park, doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at University of Washington, and colleagues examined associations between exposure to air pollutant levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), larger particles (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and levels of Aβ1-40 (one of the major protein components of plaques) in more than 3,000 individuals who were dementia-free at the beginning of the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory Study. The study evaluated and averaged air pollution levels at participant residential addresses for time periods up to 20 years prior to taking blood tests to measure individuals' beta amyloid.

People who were in the study longer (eight years) showed a strong link between all three air pollutants and Aβ1-40. These are some of the first human data suggesting long-term exposure to air pollutants is associated with higher Aβ1-40 levels in the blood.

"Our findings suggest that air pollution may be an important factor in the development of dementia," Park said. "Many other factors that impact dementia are not changeable, but reductions in exposure to air pollution may be associated with a lower risk of dementia. More research is needed."

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

No excuse to continue reliance on fossil fuels, says leading nano-technologist

UNIVERSITY OF SURREY

Research News

One of the leading thinkers in nano-science has called on the energy materials community to help finally put an end to the world's reliance on fossil fuels.

In a hard-hitting editorial published by Energy and Environmental Materials, Professor Ravi Silva, Director of the Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) at the University of Surrey, argues that there are no coherent excuses left to justify the use of fossil fuels. In his paper, Professor Silva challenges the scientific community to lead the world away from a reality where fossil fuels still account for 80 per cent of the energy mix.

While the cost of clean energy generation has plummeted over recent years, Professor Silva argues that significant innovations in advanced batteries and energy storage technologies are needed to meet the International Energy Agency's goal of the planet being carbon net-zero by 2050.

For example, the transportation sector would need to see a 15-fold rise in electric vehicle sales from 10m in 2020 to 145m in 2030 - a goal entirely dependent on a leap in battery and energy storage technology, according to Professor Silva.

Professor Silva concludes that these unprecedented but much-needed goals are only possible if the scientific community usher in a new wave of energy materials that are cheap, easily deployable and have short payback times.

Professor Ravi Silva, Director of the ATI at the University of Surrey, said:

"The pandemic has been a truly horrific experience. However, one of the few positives that I can gather from the past two years is that it has allowed me to take stock and refocus on the incredible challenge of combatting climate change. It is increasingly clear that the energy materials community has a crucial role to play in weaning the world off fossil fuels.

"The cost of green energy is falling all the time - in the UK, solar and wind generation is competitive with fossil fuels. But we need to look at improvements in thin-film technologies, new polymers and other hybrid materials that can boost energy capture capabilities while reducing the cost of production if we are to have a genuine green energy revolution."

Over 1/3 of US Congress members hold healthcare-related financial assets

Over 1/3 of US Congress members hold healthcare-related financial assets, with a median value of $43,000, according to analysis of healthcare conflicts of interest using 11 years of data.

Background

Revelations that some members of Congress, including members of key health care committees, hold substantial personal investments in the health care industry have raised concerns about lawmakers’ financial conflicts of interest (COI) and their potential impact on health care legislation and oversight.

Aims

1) To assess historical trends in both the number of legislators holding health care-related assets and the value and composition of those assets. 2) To compare the financial holdings of members of health care-focused committees and subcommittees to those of other members of the House and Senate.

Methods

We analyzed 11 years of personal financial disclosures by all members of the House and Senate. For each year, we calculated the percentage of members holding a health care-related asset (overall, by party, and by committee); the total value of all assets and health care-related assets held; the mean and median values of assets held per member; and the share of asset values attributable to 9 health asset categories.

Findings

During the study period, over a third of all members of Congress held health care-related assets. These assets were often substantial, with a median total value per member of over $43,000. Members of health care-focused committees and subcommittees in the House and Senate did not hold health care-related assets at a higher rate than other members of their respective chambers.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that lawmakers’ health care-related COI warrant the same level of attention that has been paid to the COI of other actors in the health care system.

Hundreds of chemicals, many in consumer products, could increase breast cancer risk

List includes potential carcinogens that act by stimulating production of hormones that fuel breast tumors

SILENT SPRING INSTITUTE

Research News

Every day, people are exposed to a variety of synthetic chemicals through the products they use or the food they eat. For many of these chemicals, the health effects are unknown. Now a new study shows that several hundred common chemicals, including pesticides, ingredients in consumer products, food additives, and drinking water contaminants, could increase the risk of breast cancer by causing cells in breast tissue to produce more of the hormones estrogen or progesterone.

"The connection between estrogen and progesterone and breast cancer is well established," says co-author Ruthann Rudel, a toxicologist and research director at Silent Spring Institute. "So, we should be extremely cautious about chemicals in products that increase levels of these hormones in the body."

For instance, in 2002, when the Women's Health Initiative study found combination hormone replacement therapy to be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, women stopped taking the drugs and incidence rates went down. "Not surprisingly, one of the most common therapies for treating breast cancer is a class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors that lower levels of estrogen in the body, depriving breast cancer cells of the hormones they need to grow," adds Rudel.

To identify these chemical risk factors, Rudel and Silent Spring scientist Bethsaida Cardona combed through data on more than 2000 chemicals generated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s ToxCast program. The goal of ToxCast is to improve the ability of scientists to predict whether a chemical will be harmful or not. The program uses automated chemical screening technologies to expose living cells to chemicals and then examine the different biological changes they cause.

Reporting in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, Rudel and Cardona identified 296 chemicals that were found to increase estradiol (a form of estrogen) or progesterone in cells in the laboratory. Seventy-one chemicals were found to increase levels of both hormones. The chemicals included ingredients in personal care products such as hair dye, chemical flame retardants in building materials and furnishings, and a number of pesticides.

The researchers don't yet know how these chemicals are causing cells to produce more hormones. It could be the chemicals are acting as aromatase activators, for instance, which would lead to higher levels of estrogen, says Cardona. "What we do know is that women are exposed to multiple chemicals from multiple sources on a daily basis, and that these exposures add up."

The Silent Spring researchers hope this study will be a wakeup call for regulators and manufacturers in how they test chemicals for safety. For instance, current safety tests in animals fail to look at changes in hormone levels in the animal's mammary glands in response to a chemical exposure. And, although high throughput testing in cells has been used to identify chemicals that activate the estrogen receptor, mimicking estrogen, the testing has not been used to identify chemicals that increase estrogen or progesterone synthesis.

"This study shows that a number of chemicals currently in use have the ability to manipulate hormones known to adversely affect breast cancer risk," says Dr. Sue Fenton, associate editor for the study and an expert in mammary gland development at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. "Especially concerning is the number of chemicals that alter progesterone, the potential bad actor in hormone replacement therapy. Chemicals that elevate progesterone levels in the breast should be minimized."

The researchers outlined a number of recommendations in their study for improving chemical safety testing to help identify potential breast carcinogens before they end up in products, and suggest finding ways to reduce people's exposures, particularly during critical periods of development, such as during puberty or pregnancy when the breast undergoes important changes.

The project is part of Silent Spring Institute's Safer Chemicals Program which is developing new cost-effective ways of screening chemicals for their effects on the breast. Knowledge generated by this effort will help government agencies regulate chemicals more effectively and assist companies in developing safer products.

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Walmart Thumbs Nose at Connecticut’s Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban

July 15, 2021

]Mr. Doug McMillon,

CEO Walmart Inc.

702 SW 8th St. Bentonville, AR 72712

Re: Connecticut’s Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban

Dear Mr. McMillon,

Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization working to advance sound science and good environmental policy at the state and local levels. We do this work through public education, research, and lobbying, and are supported by more than 120,000 members in Connecticut and New York. CCE and our allies in Connecticut are troubled by Walmart’s decision to provide its CT retail locations with slightly thicker plastic bags. This is a blatant work-around to the statewide plastic bag ban that went into effect on July 1.

Single-use plastic bags are a wasteful, unnecessary habit, they are detrimental to our environment, present a hazard to human health and cost taxpayers money. For these reasons, CCE supports policies that reduce our dependence on single-use plastics and promote the use of safer, more environmentally friendly reusable bags. The intent of the CT bag ban is to create a shift in consumer behavior –the objective is to incentivize shoppers to bring their own bags when they go to the store. In other states, this common-sense approach has dramatically reduced single-use plastics that unnecessarily pollute our environment, threaten marine ecosystems, and create costly infrastructure problems.

Walmart’s ill-advised policy of offering customers a bag that just barely exceeds the limits of the ban defeats the purpose of this law and sets an irresponsible and damaging example for other retailersto follow. It is very concerning that Walmart’s brand promotes itself publicly as a “zero-waste” company, acknowledges the need to reduce plastic pollution and claim to have taken strides to provide safer, healthier alternatives to shoppers. In practice, Walmart’s policy of continuing to offer plastic bags stands in direct conflict with your branding. By exploiting loopholes in several bag bans (including in the States of Connecticut, Colorado, and South Carolina), you undermine your environmental credibility and put our environment at risk.

CCE is a member of the Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Connecticut, and an active participant in the national “Mind the Store” campaign. We were pleased to see Walmart receive an A grade in the 2021 retailer report card, putting it among the top 5 scores out of 50 retailers ranked1 . However, Walmart has much work to do to maintain that position. We believe that this new policy damages your company’s standing as a leader on safer products, and we are calling Walmart publicly to embrace Connecticut’s efforts to eliminate disposable checkout bags. Connecticut is a coastal state with a deep cultural connection to the Long Island Sound. It was the first state to prohibit plastic microbeads in personal care products in 2015, in an effort to protect our precious waterways from toxic plastic pollution. This policy was replicated and adopted at the national level later that year.

In 2018, the CT General Assembly created a Microfiber Working Group, to study the issue of how plastic microfibers impact the marine environment, and to recommend strategies to limit the release of microplastics from household products. The movement to combat plastic ocean pollution in our state has grown by leaps and bounds, culminating in the passage of a budget measure which set a timeline to phase-out conventional plastic checkout bags in 2019. While the letter of this law only applies to plastic bags up to 4 mils in thickness, the spirit of the policy is to create a lasting, meaningful change in consumer behavior. Walmart’s decision to provide so-called “reusable” plastic bags threatens to undo the tremendous progress made in recent years towards changing consumer behavior/educating the public about the dangers of plastic pollution.

We are calling upon Walmart to be a good neighbor, and to establish itself as a leader among the retail community by doing away with wasteful plastic bags at the checkout counter. We urge your company to not exploit a loophole, but rather to go above and beyond the requirements of the CT bag ban, which have largely been embraced by members of the retail community and consumers alike.

According to the CT Food Association, grocery stores in Connecticut have made significant progress in implementing this new policy and some stores are reporting 90% of their customers bringing reusable bags2 . In closing, we urge you to cease your practice of offering plastic bags in Connecticut and consider phasing-out the distribution of plastic checkout bags nationally.

After careful consideration of the impacts plastic pollution can have on our oceans and estuaries, we are confident you will agree that businesses and industry must do more to help in the fight against plastic pollution. We appreciate your time and careful consideration and look forward to working with your company to achieve this important goal. Respectfully, Louis Rosado Burch Connecticut Program Director 1 https://retailerreportcard.com/ 2 https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/single-use-plastic-bag-ban-to-soon-replace-fee-in-ct/2510656/

A Green New Deal for K–12 Public Schools

Complete Report

Public education in the United States has reached a critical point. Over the last 20 years, polling has shown that Americans are divided when it comes to their satisfaction with the K–12 public school system. There is a clear need for American schools to offer a broader portfolio of educational opportunities to students, to equip them for a full range of possible futures.

Beyond questions of curricula, recent polling also shows that nearly two thirds of Americans are in favor of federal investment in public school buildings. And schools need the investment. The American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated that the country’s public schools require $380 billion just to meet standards of good repair—never mind climate resiliency and decarbonization

In June 2020, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that about 54 percent of all public school districts in the US need at least two major systems updated or replaced in most of their school facilities, and about 26 percent of all districts need at least six systems updated or replaced. The report called out the severe health and safety risks to students, educators, and community members from the “hazardous conditions” of public school facilities, noting the number of schools that had to close even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. A June 2021 NBC news story detailed the scope and scale of these problems, particularly in low-income school districts.

A Green New Deal for K–12 Public Schools addresses these long-term issues of health and environmental inequity, educational inequity, economic inequity, and structural racism by offering equitable goals, priorities, and $1.4 trillion in funding for our K–12 schools through federal Climate Capital Facilities Grants, Resource Block Grants, and expansion in Title I funding over the next decade. Without it, we risk deepening these existing inequities between facilities conditions, per pupil spending, and teacher retention rates, that contribute to poor health, educational, and economic outcomes for majority BIPOC school districts and communities.

Thursday, July 1, 2021

New report sproposes critical policy reforms to unemployment insurance

National day of action being held in Washington, D.C. and six other cities

As 26 states cut pandemic unemployment benefits prematurely, a new report from a coalition of advocacy groups and think tanks, in partnership with workers who have experienced unemployment during COVID-19, proposes a stronger federal role in the unemployment insurance (UI) system and a slate of permanent reforms to unemployment benefits that will sustain families and the economy.

The report is a joint project of Center for American Progress, Center for Popular Democracy, Economic Policy Institute, Groundwork Collaborative, National Employment Law Project, National Women’s Law Center, and Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

“A successful unemployment system can be the centerpiece of economic recovery, particularly for those communities, such as workers of color, who bear the brunt of downturns and are left behind in the wake of recessions,” said Heidi Shierholz, Director of Policy and Senior Economist at the Economic Policy Institute, and contributor to the report. “In addition to sustaining working families through jobless spells, swift and adequate unemployment benefits are good for the broader economy because they allow workers to search for a job that is a good match to their needs, instead of being so desperate that they have to take the first job that comes along no matter how bad it is for them.”

The report includes key insights from workers who experienced unemployment during the pandemic, including Sharon Shelton Corpening, a media gig worker in Georgia who has supported herself and her mother on Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

“COVID unemployed workers like me are fighting to build a UI system that supports us until we can find good jobs that allow us to live in dignity and security. Next week, my financial lifeline will be yanked from under me because states like Georgia have too much power to reduce, restrict, or flat out deny benefits that are literally keeping us alive,” said Corpening, an Unemployed Action leader. “Unemployed people—especially Black people in the South who face systemic racism even as jobs return—want and need to work. But this current unstable unemployment insurance system hasn’t helped us get on our feet if we can’t even count on UI benefits. We need federal protections and we need them now.”

The report’s proposed structural changes include:

Guaranteeing universal minimum standards for benefits eligibility, duration, and levels, with states free to enact more expansive benefits;
Reforming financing of UI to eliminate incentives for states and employers to exclude workers and reduce benefits;
Updating UI eligibility to match the modern workforce and guarantee benefits to everyone looking for work but still jobless through no fault of their own;
Expanding UI benefit duration to provide longer protection during normal times and use effective measures of economic conditions to automatically extend and sustain benefits during downturns; and
Increasing UI benefits to levels working families can survive on.

“This report lays out the first steps toward transforming our unemployment insurance system, with racial equity concerns front and center. Black, Brown, and Indigenous workers in particular have borne the brunt of the pandemic and its unemployment crisis. They continue to grapple every day with workplace health and safety concerns, underpaid work, eroded transportation infrastructure, and lack of affordable child care options. The urgently needed unemployment reforms detailed in our report will be a win for everyone in our nation,” said Rebecca Dixon, Executive Director at the National Employment Law Project.

The report release coincides with a national day of action from the Center for Popular Democracy calling on Congress to act quickly and boldly to enact transformative changes for an equitable economy, including overhauling the UI system. Unemployed Action leaders from around the country will join excluded immigrant workers and others in Washington, D.C. for a 5,000-person march to the U.S. Capitol. Workers will also rally in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, and Pittsfield MA.

As the report explains, when state UI structures became overwhelmed during the onset of the COVID-19 recession, federal policymakers realized that benefit levels were too low and not available to enough workers. In part to offer stimulus to a sharply contracting economy, the federal government provided unemployed workers claiming standard UI benefits with a supplemental $600 per week in additional benefits, as well as extended the duration of benefits and provided benefits to some groups of workers left out of the regular UI system, such as the self-employed and temporary workers.

But even those emergency programs have proven inadequate, with already overstretched state systems failing to get out emergency benefits in a timely manner. Half of the states are now choosing to cut off their residents’ access to these programs early, causing extraordinary harm to vulnerable families and impeding the economic recovery. These attacks on critical emergency benefits are the most vivid and recent manifestation of recurring dysfunction in the UI system: The federal government has ceded so much control to states that it has failed to equitably protect working people.

“Unemployment benefits are critical to keep us going as we continue to look for work, but our broken system keeps throwing obstacles in our paths,” said Nate Claus, an Unemployed Action leader and theater worker in New York. “Federal protections are desperately needed to strengthen unemployment insurance.”