Examining differences in menstrual and intimate care product use by race/ethnicity and education among menstruating individuals.

Introduction: United States consumers spend over two billion dollars a year on intimate care products. These products, along with scented menstrual products, are marketed for odor control, perceived "freshness," and vaginal/vulvar cleanliness. However, these scent-altering products may increase exposure to carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Effects of Corsi-Rosenthal boxes on indoor air contaminants: non-targeted analysis using high resolution mass spectrometry.

Background: In response to COVID-19, attention was drawn to indoor air quality and interventions to mitigate airborne COVID-19 transmission. Of developed interventions, Corsi-Rosenthal (CR) boxes, a do-it-yourself indoor air filter, may have potential co-benefits of reducing indoor air contaminant levels.

Objective: We employed non-targeted and suspect screening analysis (NTA and SSA) to detect and identify volatile and semi-volatile organic contaminants (VOCs and SVOCs) that decreased in indoor air following installation of CR boxes.

An international investigation of chlorinated paraffin concentrations and homologue distributions in indoor dust.

In this study, very short-, short-, medium-, and long-chain chlorinated paraffins (vSCCPs, SCCPs, MCCPs and LCCPs, respectively) were measured in 40 indoor dust samples from four countries including Japan (n = 10), Australia (n = 10), Colombia (n = 10) and Thailand (n = 10). Homologues of the chemical formula CHCl ranging C and Cl were analysed using liquid chromatography coupled to Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-Orbitrap-HRMS) and integrated using novel custom-built CP-Seeker software. CPs were detected in all dust samples with MCCPs the dominant homologue group in all countries.

Identifying Toxic Consumer Products: A Novel Data Set Reveals Air Emissions of Potent Carcinogens, Reproductive Toxicants, and Developmental Toxicants.

Consumer products are important sources of exposure to harmful chemicals. Product composition is often a mystery to users, however, due to gaps in the laws governing ingredient disclosure. A unique data set that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) uses to determine how volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) from consumer products affect smog formation holds a partial solution.

Does Using Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes to Mitigate COVID-19 Transmission Also Reduce Indoor Air Concentrations of PFAS and Phthalates?

The COVID-19 pandemic brought new emphasis on indoor air quality. However, few studies have investigated the impact of air filtration, a COVID-mitigation approach, on indoor air concentrations of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs). Using a quasi-experimental design, we quantified the impact of a relatively low-cost "do-it-yourself" air filter (Corsi-Rosenthal Box; CR Box) on indoor air concentrations of 42 PFAS and 24 other SVOCs.

Lifestyle interventions to reduce endocrine-disrupting phthalate and phenol exposures among reproductive age men and women: A review and future steps.

Non-persistent endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including phthalates and phenols, are ubiquitous in both the environment and human body. A growing body of epidemiologic studies have identified concerning links between EDCs and adverse reproductive and developmental health effects. Despite consistent evidence, risk assessments and policy interventions often arrive late.

Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and persistent chemical mixtures in dust from U.S. colleges.

Indoor spaces contain several classes of persistent organic chemicals, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). However, concentrations of PFAS and persistent chemical mixtures and their associations with building characteristics on college campuses are understudied. We collected dust from 43 nonresidential spaces on four U.

Influence of living in the same home on biomonitored levels of consumer product chemicals.

Background: Individuals living in the same home may share exposures from direct contact with sources or indirectly through contamination of the home environment.

Objective: We investigated the influence of sharing a home on urine levels of ten phenolic chemicals present in some consumer products.

Methods: We used data from Silent Spring Institute's Detox Me Action Kit (DMAK), a crowdsourced biomonitoring program in the US.

Personal care product use among diverse women in California: Taking Stock Study.

Background: Personal care product use may contribute to elevated body burdens of consumer product chemicals among women of color; however, racial/ethnic differences in product use has been understudied. Community-engaged research can support the recruitment of diverse participants.

Objective: To document personal care product use among a diverse group of women (aged 18-34 years) living in California.

Do flame retardant concentrations change in dust after older upholstered furniture is replaced?

Upholstered furniture has been a major source of chemical flame retardant (FR) exposures in US homes since the 1970s. FRs are a large group of chemicals, many of which are associated with adverse health effects, including cancer, reproductive toxicity, and neurotoxicity. California homes have some of the highest dust concentrations of FRs, due to Technical Bulletin 117 (TB117), California's outdated flammability standard for furniture foam that was generally followed across the US and Canada.

Acculturation and endocrine disrupting chemical-associated personal care product use among US-based foreign-born Chinese women of reproductive age.

Background: Personal care products (PCPs) are an important source of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) linked to adverse reproductive health outcomes.

Objective: We evaluated EDC-associated PCP use and acculturation among Asian women.

Methods: Our study included 227 foreign-born Chinese women ages 18-45 seeking obstetrics-gynecology care at community health centers (Boston, MA).

Consumer behavior and exposure to parabens, bisphenols, triclosan, dichlorophenols, and benzophenone-3: Results from a crowdsourced biomonitoring study.

Nearly all Americans have detectable concentrations of endocrine disrupting chemicals from consumer products in their bodies, and expert panels recommend reducing exposures. To inform exposure reduction, we investigated whether consumers who are trying to avoid certain chemicals in consumer products have lower exposures than those who are not. We also aimed to make exposure biomonitoring more widely available.

Wrangling environmental exposure data: guidance for getting the best information from your laboratory measurements.

Background: Environmental health and exposure researchers can improve the quality and interpretation of their chemical measurement data, avoid spurious results, and improve analytical protocols for new chemicals by closely examining lab and field quality control (QC) data. Reporting QC data along with chemical measurements in biological and environmental samples allows readers to evaluate data quality and appropriate uses of the data (e.g.

Pruning chemicals from the green building landscape.

Green building design has substantially minimized environmental impacts by reducing energy consumption compared with traditional buildings. Yet, it is not uncommon for a green building to meet the highest criteria for energy efficiency and be built with materials that contain chemicals hazardous to occupant health. Because of this discrepancy in achieving holistic sustainability, the architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) industry has never been more interested in occupant health and well-being than it is today.

Health Toll From Open Flame and Cigarette-Started Fires on Flame-Retardant Furniture in Massachusetts, 2003-2016.

To evaluate the risk of death and injury in residential fires started on upholstered furniture, with a focus on open flame and cigarette-related heat sources. We used civilian death and injury data from 34 081 residential fires in the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System from 2003 to 2016. We compared outcomes associated with fires that started on upholstered furniture ignited by smoking materials versus open flames.

Intervention to reduce gymnast exposure to flame retardants from pit foam: A case study.

Gymnasts can have high exposures to flame retardants (FRs), which are used in gymnastics safety equipment such as the loose foam pit. Therefore, we aimed to reduce gymnast exposure to FRs by replacing the foam in the pit using foam free of additive FR and measuring personal exposure during practice using hand-wipes. To assure maintenance of fire safety we first conducted a flammability study and facilitated a fire inspection for our partner gym.

Advancements in Life Cycle Human Exposure and Toxicity Characterization.

Background: The Life Cycle Initiative, hosted at the United Nations Environment Programme, selected human toxicity impacts from exposure to chemical substances as an impact category that requires global guidance to overcome current assessment challenges. The initiative leadership established the Human Toxicity Task Force to develop guidance on assessing human exposure and toxicity impacts. Based on input gathered at three workshops addressing the main current scientific challenges and questions, the task force built a roadmap for advancing human toxicity characterization, primarily for use in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA).

Passive indoor air sampling for consumer product chemicals: a field evaluation study.

Innovative exposure measurement methods are needed for large environmental health studies, particularly for semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs). Active air sampling methods are costly to implement, but passive air sampling presents a viable method. To expand and improve the use of passive air samplers (PAS) for indoor SVOC monitoring, we designed a unique, compact sampler using commercially available polyurethane foam (PUF) disks housed within durable, easy-to-setup, low-profile enclosures.

Measurement of endocrine disrupting and asthma-associated chemicals in hair products used by Black women.

Background: Personal care products are a source of exposure to endocrine disrupting and asthma-associated chemicals. Because use of hair products differs by race/ethnicity, these products may contribute to exposure and disease disparities.

Objective: This preliminary study investigates the endocrine disrupting and asthma-associated chemical content of hair products used by U.

Phthalate metabolite exposures among immigrants living in the United States: findings from NHANES, 1999-2014.

Phthalates exposure has been linked to multiple health risks, and US immigrants may have different exposures to phthalates due to lifestyle differences. Urinary concentrations of eight phthalate metabolites (mono-ethyl phthalate [MEP], mono-n-butyl phthalate [MnBP], mono-isobutyl phthalate [MiBP], mono-(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate [MCPP], mono-benzyl phthalate [MBzP], mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate [MEHP], mono-(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate [MEHHP], mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate [MEOHP]) were measured in 10318 US-born and 3511 foreign-born individuals from NHANES 1999-2014. Using multivariate adjusted linear regression, we assessed whether phthalate metabolite levels differed by nativity in the whole population, within racial/ethnic groups, and by years in the US.

Chemical exposures in recently renovated low-income housing: Influence of building materials and occupant activities.

Health disparities in low-income communities may be linked to residential exposures to chemicals infiltrating from the outdoors and characteristics of and sources in the home. Indoor sources comprise those introduced by the occupant as well as releases from building materials. To examine the impact of renovation on indoor pollutants levels and to classify chemicals by predominant indoor sources, we collected indoor air and surface wipes from newly renovated "green" low-income housing units in Boston before and after occupancy.