Latest news with #MCCPs
Newsweek
a day ago
- Science
- Newsweek
'Unintended Consequences' Put Forever Chemical in US Air for First Time
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Scientists have made the first documented airborne detection of a toxic chemical pollutant known as Medium Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCPs) in the Western Hemisphere. The findings, published in ACS Environmental Au, came during a month-long field campaign in Oklahoma by researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, who used a high-resolution chemical ionization mass spectrometer designed to study how aerosol particles form in the atmosphere. While the team expected to observe known compounds, the instruments instead registered isotopic patterns that led to the identification of MCCPs—pollutants previously detected in Asia and Antarctica, but never before in North American air. File image: PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, used in a range of applications. File image: PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, used in a range of applications. Photo by Tunatura / Getty Images "When we first realized that we had measured MCCPs, we were intrigued and cautious," Ellie Browne, CU Boulder chemistry professor, CIRES Fellow, and co-author of the study, told Newsweek in an email. "Since we had not planned on measuring these compounds, we first had to learn about them and also make sure that our measurements were of high-quality," Browne said. "Once we determined that we indeed were detecting these compounds in the atmosphere, we recognized the importance of these measurements and were excited to contribute to the understanding of how these compounds move through the environment and ultimately impact peoples' lives." Why It Matters MCCPs are used in metalworking, PVC plastics and textiles. "MCCP emissions occur across the entire lifecycle of those products including manufacture, use and disposal," Browne said. Like their chemical cousins—short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs), which are already regulated—they resist degradation and can travel long distances in the environment. Because SCCPs have been phased out under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Stockholm Convention regulations, MCCPs have become more common. Browne said MCCPs have previously been difficult to find in tests, even though researchers expected them to be present in North America. "We always have these unintended consequences of regulation, where you regulate something and then there's still a need for the products that those were in," Browne said in a university release, "So they get replaced by something." What To Know Researchers suspect the MCCPs they found originated from biosolid fertilizers—waste byproducts from sewage treatment—applied to nearby farmland. "While one exposure might not be harmful, because these chemicals can travel long distances and last a long-time in the environment and in living organisms, repeated and continued exposure becomes worrisome," Browne told Newsweek. "Measurements such as ours are critical for evaluating and predicting how these chemicals move through and build-up in the environment. They also inform when and how people are exposed to them. This knowledge is then used to protect people and the environment." While their presence was unexpected, MCCPs share structural traits with PFAS, or "forever chemicals", now banned in Oklahoma's biosolid fertilizers due to persistence and health risks. What's Next The team wants to continue studying how MCCPs end up in the atmosphere and where they are most prevalent, although future studies depend on funding, according to Browne. "Understanding how our health is impacted by the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat requires measuring what compounds are present in air, water and food," she told Newsweek. "Our measurements enhance the understanding of how MCCPs move through the environment and how we may be exposed to these compounds, however, more measurements and investigations are required to understand the problem. "We are excited to see how our measurements contribute to awareness of and investigation into MCCPs. It is important to remember that keeping our communities healthy requires investment in science funding so that studies such as this one can continue."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
This airborne toxin was discovered in the US for the first time
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission. A new study from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder included a shocking revelation. According to this new paper, published in ACS Environmental Au, researchers detected an unexpected airborne toxin in US air for the first time. The toxins in question are known as Medium Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCPs). These toxins are considered toxic organic pollutants, and this is the first time they've been discovered in the air in the Western Hemisphere. The reason these toxins are considered organic is because they tend to be found around wastewater. Today's Top Deals Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Ring Video Doorbell deals Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98 As a result, these airborne toxins can end up being released when wastewater is removed from liquid in a treatment plant. It can also end up in biosolid fertilizer, which is likely the reason that the researchers detected it, as they were set up near fields that utilize the fertilizer to help grow its crops. The researchers say they can't guarantee that is where the toxins came from. However, they believe that it is a reasonable explanation for why the MCCPs are ending up in the air. Because as the 'sewage sludges,' which is how the researchers referred to the biosolid fertilizers, are spread across the fields, the toxins could very easily be released into the air. The smaller cousins of these airborne toxins, known as Short Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (SCCPs), are currently policed by the Stockholm Convention, and the EPA in the United States since 2009, though it's unclear how much longer the EPA will continue to police these types of toxins following massive changes under the Trump administration. The toxins are known to travel long distances and remain in the atmosphere for long periods of time, making them harmful to human health. The researchers believe that by regulating the SCCPs, though, we may have inadvertently increased the amount of MCCPs in the environment. It is currently just a hypothesis, but the researchers note that regulating one thing often ends up with another product filling that space, as the item is still needed in products where it was useful. The researchers detailed their findings in the new study, highlighting that they measured the air near the fields 24 hours a day for one month. They found that there were new patterns that looked different from the standard chemical compounds found in the fertilizer. With some additional research, they discovered they were airborne toxins known as chlorinated paraffins. MCCPs are similar in makeup to PFAS, which are often known as 'forever chemicals' because of how long they take to break down. Now that researchers have measured MCCPs in the wild, it's time to dig deeper and see just how widespread the toxins have spread, and whether or not the concentration within the air changes each season. The researchers say that despite identifying them and knowing they exist, we still don't know much about what MCCPs do when in the atmosphere, or even how they might affect human health long-term. More research will be needed to figure out just how dangerous these airborne toxins are. More Top Deals Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2025: Get $2,000+ free See the
Gizmodo
5 days ago
- Health
- Gizmodo
Traces of Toxic Industrial Chemical Found in U.S. Air for the First Time
Americans' air is teeming with all sorts of known toxin pollutants—now scientists have found a new one to add to the list. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder detailed their discovery in a study published earlier this month. They sampled agricultural sites in Oklahoma and found clear traces of medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs) in the surrounding air. The health effects of MCCPs on people are still being studied, though countries are already planning to debate whether these chemicals should be regulated. 'It's very exciting as a scientist to find something unexpected like this that we weren't looking for,' said lead author Daniel Katz, a chemistry PhD student at CU Boulder, in a statement from the university. 'We're starting to learn more about this toxic, organic pollutant that we know is out there, and which we need to understand better.' While environmental regulations in recent decades have greatly reduced levels of certain pollutants in the air and environment, such as lead, there are still many other lingering airborne toxins out there. Scientists have detected compounds like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) phenylcyclohexene (PCH), and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the air, for instance—many of which have the potential to disturb our hormones. MCCPs and other chlorinated paraffins are common industrial chemicals. They're regularly used as flame retardants and plasticizers (substances that improve flexibility and softness) in a variety of applications. But research has started to suggest that much like short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs), MCCPs aren't without their risks. They appear to be toxic to marine and other aquatic environments, for instance. They might also persist in the environment and our bodies for a very long time, similar to so-called forever chemicals like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The CU Boulder researchers weren't aiming to find MCCPs in the air—they were simply trying to document the general identity, distribution, and behavior of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. They planted a nitrate chemical ionization mass spectrometer at the study site for a month, 24 hours a day. To their surprise, they came across compounds with different patterns than expected, which they eventually determined were actually MCCPs. Their findings, published in ACS Environmental Au, represent not only the first detection of airborne MCCPs in the U.S., but in the Western Hemisphere as a whole. MCCPs have been regularly found in wastewater, which can be recycled into biosolid fertilizer. So in this particular case, the researchers suspect that the chemicals came from the biosolid fertilizer used in the field near their study site. 'When sewage sludges are spread across the fields, those toxic compounds could be released into the air,' Katz said. 'We can't show directly that that's happening, but we think it's a reasonable way that they could be winding up in the air. Sewage sludge fertilizers have been shown to release similar compounds.' SCCPs have been regulated in the U.S. and other countries for several years now. But experts argue that this regulation has spurred manufacturing industries to rely more on MCCPs as an alternative, leading to increased pollution. Members of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, a UN-led international treaty that meets biannually to address potential threats to the environment and human health, are set to discuss this year whether MCCPs should be added to the list of organic chemicals that warrant regulation. Whatever the verdict of the Stockholm Convention, the CU Boulder researchers say that much remains unknown about MCCPs. And they're hoping they and other scientists can continue to study these chemicals. 'We identified them, but we still don't know exactly what they do when they are in the atmosphere, and they need to be investigated further,' Katz said. 'I think it's important that we continue to have governmental agencies that are capable of evaluating the science and regulating these chemicals as necessary for public health and safety.' Unfortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may not be up to such a task currently. The renewed Trump administration has started to defang the EPA in all sorts of ways, from telling staffers to ease up on the fossil fuel industry to repealing already-created regulations on greenhouse emissions. MCCPs may be a real public health threat, but there's little indication that U.S. regulators will be interested in tackling them, at least under President Donald Trump.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists Found an Unexpected Toxin Floating in the Oklahoma Sky
Similar to 'forever chemical' PFAS, medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs)—often found in textiles and PVC products—are toxins that can take a long time to breakdown in the environment and negatively impact human health. Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder have now, in a first for North American, detected these toxins in the air while researching aerosol formation. These airborne MCCPs particles likely entered the atmosphere through biosolids—a fertilizer developed from treated wastewater. One of the downsides of modern life is the proliferation of chemicals in the natural environment. Arguably the most well-known of these chemical culprits are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are used for stuff like non-stick surfaces on frying pans. They are also known as 'forever chemicals' for their tendency to linger in the environment. But this environmental scourge is only one of many similar substances. Of the others, one of the most concerning is a type of toxin known as medium-chain chlorinated paraffins, or MCCPs. Like PFAS, these chemicals take a longtime to break down, and have been shown to be the driver behind health issues like liver and kidney toxicity, thyroid malfunction, and certain neurological issues. MCCPs have been detected in the atmosphere on other continents (including Asia and even Antarctica) but a new study from the University of Colorado Boulder claims that North America has now joined that unlucky list. In setting out to detect how aerosols form and grow in an agricultural region of Oklahoma, the team of scientists behind this recent study stumbled across trace amounts of MCCPs in the atmosphere. They detected these particles using a technique known as nitrate ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry, and the results were published last week in the journal ACS Environmental AU. MCCPs start their lives within things like metalworking fluids, textiles, and PVC, which is why they can often find themselves in wastewater. That's a problem, because a fertilizer known as biosolids (which is made from treated sewar sludge) is often spread across agricultural crops. 'When sewage sludges are spread across the fields, those toxic compounds could be released into the air,' Daniel Katz, lead author of the study, said in a press statement. 'We can't show directly that that's happening, but we think it's a reasonable way that they could be winding up in the air. Sewage sludge fertilizers have been shown to release similar compounds.' The creation of this synthetic chemical was in large part due to the regulation of its toxic cousin, Short Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (SCCPs), which have been regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Stockholm Convention (an international body formed in 2001 to protect human health against persistent organic pollutants). Earlier this year, the Stockholm Convention also marked MCCPs for global elimination. Who knows if this will spawn the creation of another toxic chemical, but this regulatory game of whack-a-mole is similar in the truly Sisyphean task of trying to eliminate PFAS from the environment. 'We always have these unintended consequences of regulation, where you regulate something, and then there's still a need for the products that those were in,' Ellie Browne, a co-author of the study, said in a press statement. 'So they get replaced by something.' Luckily, there is some good news. The Oklahoma Senate passed a bill earlier this year eliminating biosolids as a fertilizer, and a newly established environmental group called The Coalition for Sludge-Free Land aims to make the ban a national one (the EPA currently regulates, but doesn't ban, the substance). Now that MCCPs have been found in the atmosphere, the UC Boulder team hopes that future efforts will be able to discern their airborne impact. 'We identified them, but we still don't know exactly what they do when they are in the atmosphere, and they need to be investigated further,' Katz said in a press statement. 'I think it's important that we continue to have governmental agencies that are capable of evaluating the science and regulating these chemicals as necessary for public health and safety.' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
