Publisher Health

Leading environmental health experts have called for a comprehensive review of the UK’s fire safety regulations, with a focus on the environmental and health risks of current chemical flame retardants.
The health dangers of substances meant to improve fire safety have prompted experts to demand a range of new measures to reduce risk.
Flame retardants are widely used to slow down or stop the spread of fire. They are used regularly in a range of products — from sofas and textiles, to building materials. However, hundreds of studies have reported on the adverse effects of these chemicals, many of which are bioaccumulative and have been linked to wide-ranging health risks including cancer, developmental disorders, and DNA damage.
The UK has some of the highest use of flame retardants in the world and we are all being exposed in our daily lives. Retardants have been found in a range of places — including homes, schools, offices, and vehicles. They have been found in air and dust, in food and drinking water, and on indoor surfaces and textiles, where they can be absorbed through contact with the skin. The authors add this exposure is particularly noted in young children, who crawl around and pick up objects.
They are also found in natural environments, including rivers, lakes, oceans and sediments, as well as in fish, mammals and birds.
Such widespread use has in part been attributed to the flame ignition tests that are a primary focus of current fire safety regulations. Experts have questioned whether these tests are fit for purpose in reducing fire risk and believe the government’s emphasis on these tests incentivises the addition of large amounts of fire retardants to products.

The experts say there is also “significant uncertainty” about the extent flame retardants contribute to fire safety, and that there is evidence that flame retardants exacerbate smoke and fire toxicity.
Dr Paul Whaley, from Lancaster University and a corresponding author of the statement, said: “There are longstanding concerns about the effectiveness of flame retardants and the health risks associated with them, which the UK Government has never adequately reconciled. This needs to change: there has to be a proper balancing of the harms and benefits of flame retardants, that includes a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of flame retardants as a fire safety measure, with serious attention paid to unintended harms of UK fire safety policy.”
The evidence-based call to action, by a group of 13 experts, comes in the form of “A New Consensus on Reconciling Fire Safety with Environmental & Health Impacts of Chemical Flame Retardants,” published today (February 28) in the journal Environment International.
The authors set out six measures for the Government to urgently take in a thorough review of the need for chemical flame retardants, including an end to incentivising their use.
The authors instead call for incentivising industry to develop “benign-by-design” furniture and materials that are inherently less flammable.

They also call for developing a labelling system to track retardants’ use, allowing them to be identified and disposed of safely.
Also among their recommendations is the need to adopt a systemic approach to fire safety rather than a reductionist approach relying on ignition tests.
Professor Ruth Garside, from the University of Exeter said: “The use of flame retardants is problematic at all stages of the lifecycle, potentially even exacerbating smoke and toxicity during the fires when they are supposed to provide a safety measure. With no clear labelling system, these substances are not disposed of correctly, which means they end up in recycled products.
“A significant proportion of fire deaths are caused by inhaling toxic fumes, so there’s no time to delay in reviewing the fire safety regulations. We urge the government to take prompt action for the benefit of all our health.”
UK Furnishing and Fire Regulations have been under review since 2014 but no revised policy has yet been formally proposed.
Professor Frank Kelly of Imperial College London, and co-author of the paper, said: “There is understandable concern surrounding the weakening of existing fire regulations, especially in the wake of tragedies such as the Grenfell Tower fire.
“However, it is vital that the use of these chemicals and their effectiveness in preventing fires is balanced with the serious long-term impacts on our health and environment.”
Jamie Page of the Cancer Prevention & Education Society said: “Fire safety is a complex, multidisciplinary issue, but processes are largely dominated by industry. Well-reasoned challenges to current approaches need to be heeded. This will require more inclusive and transparent public consultation processes that will bring together views of different stakeholders.”

Loneliness can often contribute to depression in expectant and new mothers, finds a new review of evidence led by UCL researchers.
The researchers say people working with expectant mothers, such as in antenatal classes or consultations, should be aware of the importance of loneliness and the value of encouraging new mothers to develop and maintain good social connections. The findings suggest that increased support from family and healthcare professionals can be helpful in reducing the mental health impacts of loneliness.
Published in BMC Psychiatry, the meta-synthesis (an evidence review using a systematic method) of qualitative research pulled together accounts from 537 women, from 27 research papers on four continents.
Lead author Dr Katherine Adlington (UCL Psychiatry and East London NHS Foundation Trust) said: “We found that loneliness was central to the experiences of expectant and new mothers with depression. We know that depression and loneliness are often interconnected — each one can lead to the other — and this may be particularly true for perinatal depression.
“Having a baby is a period of huge transition and upheaval, that can involve losing touch with people and existing networks, such as work colleagues. This research suggests that loneliness is a major risk for mental health problems during pregnancy and for new mothers.”
Depression is common during the perinatal period, affecting one in six pregnant women and one in five women during the first three months after birth, and can significantly affect new parents’ quality of life and can have long-term adverse impacts on their child’s cognitive and emotional development.

For this review of evidence, the authors found that while very little research has been conducted specifically investigating loneliness in perinatal depression, loneliness came through prominently across the studies as a key contributing factor.
Some of the causes of loneliness included stigma, self-isolation, emotional disconnection and not receiving enough support. Many women reported a fear of judgement as a ‘bad mother’, and both perceived and experienced mental health stigma, which contributed to them hiding symptoms of mental ill-health and often led to self-isolation and withdrawal.
Many women also reported a sudden sense of emotional disconnection after birth, from their previous lives before getting pregnant, from other mothers, and from the baby. Others also reported a mismatch between expected and actual support provided by their partner, their family, and their community more broadly. The researchers also identified a double burden faced by mothers from disadvantaged communities, due to increased stigma and decreased social support, highlighting the need for more targeted support that is culturally appropriate and without language barriers.
The review also shed light on potential solutions. Many women reported that validation and understanding from healthcare professionals was helpful and may alleviate their loneliness, suggesting that clinical staff may have a greater than expected impact on reducing loneliness.
Peer support from other mothers with experience of perinatal depression was also helpful — but only if those mothers had similar stories to share, as speaking to mothers who appeared to be doing well could in fact make loneliness worse.
Senior author Professor Sonia Johnson (UCL Psychiatry and Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust), who co-leads the Loneliness and Social Isolation in Mental Health Network at UCL, said: “Helping women to understand early on in pregnancy how common loneliness is, and how it can lead to mental health problems, and that it’s okay to feel such feelings, could be an important way to reduce the impact of perinatal mental ill health.
“We found that healthcare professionals also have an important role to play in helping women to feel heard and validated in their experiences of loneliness, so we would suggest that asking expectant and new mothers about potential feelings of loneliness could be highly beneficial, in addition to signposting them to peer support.
“Peer, social and family support are likely to be crucial in reducing perinatal depression; this study helps understand the importance of social connection at this time, but there is a lot more to be done to understand why loneliness is so important in the perinatal period, and to develop effective ways of preventing or reducing it.”

Maternal obesity alters the structure of the placenta (a vital organ that nourishes the baby during pregnancy) more than gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM; a condition is diagnosed by poor glucose control in pregnancy). The new insight, published in The Journal of Physiology, enhances understanding about the mechanisms underlying poor pregnancy outcomes and the subsequent greater risk of poor neonatal and offspring health. The identification of specific changes in the placenta could lead to the potential development of future placenta-targeted treatments or screening tests that may improve the health outcomes of the mother and offspring, particularly in low-middle income countries.
The research conducted by scientists in South Africa in alliance with those in England is the first study to investigate the effects of maternal obesity and GDM simultaneously and to be carried out in a low-middle income country, where obesity and GDM during pregnancy have a substantial health and economic impact. Previous studies have investigated obesity and GDM separately and have only been carried out in high-income countries.
The rates of obesity and GDM, the development of poor glucose handling during pregnancy, are increasing worldwide. Both are linked to multiple maternal and foetal complications, such as increased risk of foetal death, stillbirth, infant death and higher infant birth weight. It is not known how these complications arise.
The researchers found that maternal obesity more than GDM reduced the formation of the placenta, its blood vessel density and surface area, and its capacity to exchange nutrients between the mother and developing child. Both obesity and GDM impact placental hormone production and inflammation markers, suggesting that the placenta is indeed functioning abnormally.
The study looked at 71 women who were black or of mixed ancestry. 52 were obese and 38 had developed GDM. The researchers conducted the study using clinical profiling, deep structural examination and molecular analysis of the placenta, and biochemical measurements of maternal and infant cord blood to examine the effect of obesity and GDM in this group of expectant women.
Lead author Professor Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri of the University of Cambridge said,
“For the first time we have looked at the effects of both obesity and GDM on the placenta in black and mixed-ancestry woman, who are an understudied group, and what effect that these conditions might have on them and their children. It was important to discover that obesity has more of an influence than GDM on pregnancy outcomes for both the mother and the child.”
The study limitation is that with a small sample size of 71 women, it was not possible to determine what impact the sex of the foetus has on these placental changes. The non-obese group of women also included women who would be termed overweight. The researchers would like to carry out further research in obese, overweight and lean women with and without GDM, and explore the impact of the sex of the foetus. They would then like to study how obesity, GDM and treatments, like metformin a drug that lowers blood glucose levels, interact to determine pregnancy outcomes and the long-term health of the child.
Lead co-author Professor Mushi Matjila of the University of Cape Town said,
“South Africa is burdened by a quadruple disease burden of communicable and non-communicable disease, along with high maternal and child morbidity and mortality, and deaths related to violence and injuries. Additionally, we have one of the highest rates of female obesity globally, which undoubtedly fuels the non-communicable disease burden and contributes to maternal, neonatal and child morbidity. As obesity and GDM often co-exist, the study highlights the importance of obesity over GDM in modulating placental structure and function, and begins to piece together how these placental changes may explain observed complications (e.g., intrauterine death and stillbirths) and increased future non-communicable disease risk for both mother and baby.”

Not all pollution comes from people. When global temperatures increase by 4 degrees Celsius, harmful plant emissions and dust will also increase by as much as 14 percent, according to new UC Riverside research.
The research does not account for a simultaneous increase in human-made sources of air pollution, which has already been predicted by other studies.
“We are not looking at human emissions of air pollution, because we can change what we emit,” said James Gomez, UCR doctoral student and lead author of the study. “We can switch to electric cars. But that may not change air pollution from plants or dust.”
Details of the degradation in future air quality from these natural sources have now been published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. About two-thirds of the future pollution is predicted to come from plants.
All plants produce chemicals called biogenic volatile organic compounds, or BVOCs. “The smell of a just-mowed lawn, or the sweetness of a ripe strawberry, those are BVOCs. Plants are constantly emitting them,” Gomez said.
On their own, BVOCs are benign. However, once they react with oxygen, they produce organic aerosols. As they’re inhaled, these aerosols can cause infant mortality and childhood asthma, as well as heart disease and lung cancer in adults.

There are two reasons plants increase BVOC production: increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide and increases in temperatures. Both of these factors are projected to continue increasing.
To be clear, growing plants is a net positive for the environment. They reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which helps control global warming. BVOCs from small gardens will not harm people.
“Your lawn, for example, won’t produce enough BVOCs to make you sick,” Gomez explained. “It’s the large-scale increase in carbon dioxide that contributes to the biosphere increasing BVOCs, and then organic aerosols.”
The second-largest contributor to future air pollution is likely to be dust from the Saharan desert. “In our models, an increase in winds is projected to loft more dust into the atmosphere,” said Robert Allen, associate professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UCR and co-author of the study.
As the climate warms, increased Saharan dust is likely to get blown around the globe, with higher levels of dust in Africa, the eastern U.S., and the Caribbean. Dust over Northern Africa, including the Sahel and the Sahara, is likely to increase due to more intense West African monsoons.

Both organic aerosols and dust, as well as sea salt, black carbon, and sulfate, fall into a category of airborne pollutants known as PM2.5, because they have a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less. The increase in naturally sourced PM2.5 pollution increased, in this study, in direct proportion to CO2 levels.
“The more we increase CO2, the more PM2.5 we see being put into the atmosphere, and the inverse is also true. The more we reduce, the better the air quality gets,” Gomez said.
For example, if the climate warms only 2 degrees Celsius, the study found only a 7% increase in PM2.5. All of these results only apply to changes found in air quality over land, as the study is focused on human health impacts.
The researchers hope the potential to improve air quality will inspire swift and decisive action to decrease CO2 emissions. Without it, temperatures may increase 4 degrees C by the end of this century, though it’s possible for the increase to happen sooner.
Gomez warns that CO2 emissions will have to decrease sharply to have a positive effect on future air quality.
“The results of this experiment may even be a bit conservative because we did not include climate-dependent changes in wildfire emissions as a factor,” Gomez said. “In the future, make sure you get an air purifier.”

Published2 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingBy Ashitha NageshCommunity affairs correspondentRace should be made a central part of the UK’s independent public inquiry into the pandemic, campaigners say.A letter seen by BBC News, sent to the chairwoman of the Covid-19 inquiry, calls for it to look at “racism as a key issue” at every stage. Ethnic minorities were significantly more likely to die with Covid-19, according to official figures.An inquiry spokesperson said the unequal impacts of the pandemic would be at the forefront of its work.People from ethnic minority backgrounds who lost loved-ones during the pandemic also told BBC News they felt “sidelined” by the process so far.The letter to Baroness Hallett, who is chairing the inquiry, has been co-ordinated by the group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice and race equality think tank Runnymede. It calls for ethnic minority communities to be “placed firmly at the centre” of the inquiry.It has been signed by 26 other organisations – a mix of equality campaigners, such as the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and the Ubele initiative, and health bodies, including the NHS BME Network and London-based Guys and St Thomas’s Foundation.Loss and suffering at heart of Covid inquiryHow coronavirus tore through Britain’s ethnic minoritiesLearn lessons before next pandemic, inquiry pledgesThe letter has been sent ahead of a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, which is looking at the role of the healthcare system in the pandemic. The inquiry will begin hearing evidence in June. Before then, preliminary sessions are being held to agree which issues should be examined in each section of the inquiry.’We’ve seen it first-hand’The Covid inquiry told BBC News that it is committed to looking at inequalities, and that their impact on the pandemic will be at the forefront of its investigations.For those who’ve lost family members, this promise to look at inequalities generally doesn’t go far enough. They believe ethnicity should be examined separately.Lobby Akinnola, whose father, Femi, died with Covid in April 2020 at the age of 60, said “there’s no way [race] couldn’t have” played a role in his dad’s death.His father was a regular gym-goer, with no underlying health conditions, he said.”He was a black man in England,” Lobby said. “Racism is pervasive in every aspect of life. My dad really highlights why it’s so important to look at this as a systemic and structural problem, because he did everything right.”As a carer, Femi was a “key worker”. At the time, people from minority ethnic communities were statistically more likely to be classified as key workers – particularly in people-facing jobs that left them more exposed to the virus.”He was going to work with his winter gloves and scarves as makeshift PPE. There’s nothing more this man could have done to try and stay alive,” Lobby said.At a hearing on 14 February, the inquiry’s barrister said looking at racism in the first part of the inquiry – which will examine how prepared the UK was for a pandemic – would be “an impossible task”. The Covid inquiry told BBC News it had instructed “two world-leading inequalities experts” to contribute to the first module.Lobby wants stories like his father’s to be heard in the inquiry “because we’ve seen first-hand the consequences” of racial inequality. “As a black man from a black family, it feels like race and the impact that race had in the pandemic has also… just been sidelined, too. It feels like it’s more of an afterthought than being a priority for the inquiry.”Image source, Rabinder SherwoodThe inquiry has set up a listening exercise to gather people’s experiences. The letter sent to Lady Hallett also alleges that the listening exercise appears to be an “entirely separate process” to the main inquiry.Rabinder Sherwood, whose parents both died with Covid in January 2021, took part in the exercise two weeks ago by filling in an online survey.She said the form was “really cold”, with some “brutal” questions including: “When did your experience start?” and “When did your experience end?”After submitting it, she said: “That’s it, an abrupt end – thank you, goodbye, no signposting to any support you may need.”Asked about the listening exercise, the Covid-19 Inquiry told BBC News it had appointed specialists in research and communications to “enable thousands of people across the UK to share their experiences of the pandemic”. Jean Adamson, whose father died in a care home during the pandemic’s first wave, said she felt voices like hers have not been heard so far.She said Lady Hallett had “promised us that bereaved families would be front and centre of the inquiry”. “I feel a sense of betrayal, because that isn’t happening. Nobody is listening to us.”More on this storyLoss and suffering at heart of Covid inquiry4 October 2022Ethnic minority Covid death gap closes – ONS5 days agoHow coronavirus tore through Britain’s ethnic minorities2 June 2020