News by Subject Medicine & Health

New findings of a multi-university research team show the pesticide DDT persists in remote lakes at concerning levels half a century after it was banned, affecting key aquatic species and potentially entire lake food webs.

To control pest outbreaks, airplanes sprayed more than 6,280 tons of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) onto forests in New Brunswick, Canada, between 1952 and 1968, according to Environment Canada. By 1970, growing awareness of the harmful effects of DDT on wildlife led to curtailed use of the insecticide in the area. However, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have shown that DDT lingers in sediments from New Brunswick lakes, where it could alter zooplankton communities.

A new study by Imperial Brands, owners of leading vape brand blu, contributes to the increasing evidence base substantiating vaping's harm reduction potential compared to smoking. The research, presented at the 58th annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology earlier this year, compared the in-vitro toxicological responses of a 3D model of human lung tissue to myblu vapour and cigarette smoke across a range of biological endpoints.

The sea water, beaches and sediments on the Tarragona coast contain quantities of plastic similar to those in a big city like Barcelona. And more than half are clothing fibres from washing machines. This is one of the main findings of a study carried out by researchers from the URV's research group Tecnatox and presented at a congress in Helsinki.

A study by the FAPESP-funded Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center shows that toxins produced by young female stingrays cause more pain, whereas toxins produced by adult stingrays cause tissue necrosis.