16 h. ago Experts urge UK to ban cigarette filters to protect health and environment

Researchers say filters do not reduce toxicant exposure and are major contributor to plastic waste crisisCigarette filters do not work and are a major source of plastic pollution that should be banned by the UK government, experts have said.In an editorial in Addiction, the journal for the Society for the Study of Addiction, researchers argue that ministers should use a forthcoming tobacco and vapes bill to “ban filters in the interests of public health and the environment”. Continue reading...

Science

6 d. ago Surprising reasons why you can't buy coloured toilet rolls in supermarkets anymore

Health and environment concerns, as well as changing fashions, impacted demand, but it was something else that delivered the knockout blow to pastel loo rolls

Economics

7 d. ago Gogglebox star, 80, is on the hit Channel 4 show while signed off with stress from his £62,000

Sid Siddiqui, 80, has continued to take part on the fly-on-the-wall series while absent from his taxpayer-funded role as a health service environmental manager.

Economics

1 week ago Advocates raise alarm over Pfas pollution from data centers amid AI boom

Tech companies’ use of Pfas gas at facilities may mean data centers’ climate impact is worse than previously thoughtData centers’ electricity demands have been accused of delaying the US’s transition to clean energy and requiring fossil fuel plants to stay online, while their high level of water consumption has also raised alarm. Now public health advocates fear another environmental problem could be linked to them – Pfas “forever chemical” pollution.Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon often need data centers to store servers and networking equipment that process the world’s digital traffic, and the artificial intelligence boom is driving demand for more facilities. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Advocates raise alarm over Pfas pollution from datacenters amid AI boom

Tech companies’ use of Pfas gas at facilities may mean datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thoughtDatacenters’ electricity demands have been accused of delaying the US’s transition to clean energy and requiring fossil fuel plants to stay online, while their high level of water consumption has also raised alarm. Now public health advocates fear another environmental problem could be linked to them – Pfas “forever chemical” pollution.Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon often need datacenters to store servers and networking equipment that process the world’s digital traffic, and the artificial intelligence boom is driving demand for more facilities. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Vaccine breakthrough for virus that killed seven elephant calves at Chester Zoo

The results of a vaccine trail have been hailed as a ‘landmark’ moment in the fight against elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus.

Events

2 w. ago ‘Planetary health diet’ could save 40,000 deaths a day, landmark report finds

Diet allows modest meat consumption and would also slash food-related climate emissions by half, says report by 70 leading experts from 35 countriesAdoption of a plant-rich “planetary health diet” could prevent 40,000 early deaths a day across the world, according to a landmark report.The diet – which allows moderate meat consumption – and related measures would also slash the food-related emissions driving global heating by half by 2050. Today, a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from the global food system and taming the climate crisis is impossible without changing how the world eats, the researchers said. Food production is also the biggest cause of the destruction of wildlife and forests and the pollution of water. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Which one of these young footballers do you identify with? Amit Lennon’s best photograph

‘It captures a certain adolescent awkwardness. It’s fun as a viewer to think about which of the boys is most like your younger self. I wouldn’t be the one manspreading!’These boys were playing for Colebrook Royals, a football club in Chigwell, Essex. It was 2019 and they were in the dressing room before team practice for a photoshoot arranged by the charity YoungMinds. The plan was that, after the photos, the boys would speak to two dads – Nick Easey and Ryan Smith – who had lost their teenage sons to suicide. The fathers wanted the boys to share their own feelings about mental health, to normalise such conversations, even in a very male environment such as football training.This shot was taken before the main shoot. I’d set up my lights and chose what part of the dressing room to shoot in and let the boys sit where they wanted. As we waited for the dads to arrive, I noticed something interesting going on and I took a single shot. Continue reading...

Culture

2 w. ago Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains

Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’Scientists have linked the impact of living in an unequal society to structural changes in the brains of children – regardless of individual wealth – for the first time.The study of more than 10,000 young people in the US discovered altered brain development in children from wealthy and lower-income families in areas with higher rates of inequality, which were also associated with poorer mental health. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘It’s actually a superfood!’ Why tempeh is suddenly on every menu – and coming to a supermarket near you

Tofu’s close relative can be sliced, smoked, marinated, deep fried, turned into mince, burgers, or ‘bacon’ and it’s high in protein and other vital nutrients. Here’s how to make the most of itPeople seem to have had their fill of mock-meat burgers, veggie sausages and fake chicken. Last month, the Grocer reported that Quorn and Linda McCartney’s, the UK’s leading meat-free brands, lost a combined £15.7m in 2024. Overall sales of meat substitutes fell by 6%, or £30m.But that doesn’t mean meat is back on the menu. According to Eating Better, an alliance of environmental, animal welfare, public health and social justice charities, meat consumption in the UK has been on a downward trend for more than a decade. Its 2024 survey found that fewer people eat meat every day, 61% are willing to eat less and 24% reduced their consumption in the past year. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Popular Welsh butcher convicted for selling out of date food

Environmental health officers found 'numerous' products for sale which had passed their use by date

Politics

3 w. ago World’s oceans fail key health check as acidity crosses critical threshold for marine life

Scientists call for renewed global effort to curb fossil fuels as seven of nine planetary boundaries now transgressedThe world’s oceans have failed a key planetary health check for the first time, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels, a report has shown.In its latest annual assessment, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said ocean acidity had crossed a critical threshold for marine life. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Fossil fuel burning poses threat to health of 1.6bn people, data shows

New interactive map tracking PM2.5 air pollution reveals 900m people in path of ‘super-emitting’ industrial facilitiesFossil fuel burning is not just damaging the world’s climate; it is also threatening the health of at least 1.6 billion people through the toxic pollutants it produces, data shows.Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from fossil fuel burning, does not directly damage health, but leads to global heating. However, coal and oil burning for power generation, and the burning of fossil fuels in industrial facilities, pollute the air with particulate matter called PM2.5, which has serious health impacts when breathed in. Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago Trump’s war on science leaves US public health experts reeling: ‘They’re sidelining science’

Career experts warn of decades of progress lost as administration fires staff, slashes budgets and buries dataDonald Trump’s second presidency has spelled upheaval or worse for multiple spheres of US government. But for science – long a key driver of the US’s global preeminence – it has heralded the perfect storm.In public health, climate science, environmental protection and nuclear safety, seasoned career specialists have been left bewildered and often jobless under a ferocious onslaught from the president, apparently aimed at gaining control over a sector about which he has displayed strongly-held views, if frequently flawed understanding. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Trump’s war on science leaves US public health experts reeling: ‘There will be lasting damage’

Career experts warn of decades of progress lost as administration fires staff, slashes budgets and buries dataDonald Trump’s second presidency has spelled upheaval or worse for multiple spheres of US government. But for science – long a key driver of the US’s global pre-eminence – it has heralded the perfect storm.In public health, climate science, environmental protection and nuclear safety, seasoned career specialists have been left bewildered and often jobless under a ferocious onslaught from the president, apparently aimed at gaining control over a sector about which he has displayed strongly held views, if frequently flawed understanding. Continue reading...

Events