Category: Environment

Learning about environmental toxins can be frightening, but there’s also a lot of misinformation about what they are and how they affect humans. By definition, environmental toxins are substances that can negatively affect our health and include a variety of chemicals or organisms including carcinogens, BPA, and volatile organic compounds.

Given the wide range of substances out there, it’s not surprising that there’s a lot to unpack when you hear people discussing different toxins. What’s an exaggeration or piece of misinformation and what’s fact? Here are 9 myths and facts about environmental toxins you should know.

There is no question that illicit and prescription drugs pose an environmental risk that can quickly get out of hand before we know it. But how does this affect our water supply? Most importantly, is drug waste damage to our water supply reversible? Here’s what you should know about the connection between drug disposal and our water supply and the risks involved in this delicate but important topic.

A combination of dwindling oil reserves and increasing pollution means that the plastic industry must be urgently transformed before it’s too late. The efforts of researchers, including Dr. Jinwen Zhang and his colleagues at Washington State University, mean that solutions are becoming increasingly available. Through the development of malleable and self-healable plastics, created from both existing petrochemical and renewable chemical feedstocks, Dr. Zhang’s team is creating stronger, more resilient plastics that can be easily recycled.