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Record flooding, drought part of range of weather extremes in US this summer

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released its 2022 Summer Climate Report, which outlines the extreme weather events from June to August in the U.S.

The report also describes where this year ranked compared to previous summers, using data from dozens of weather stations in each state.

US record temperatures

The summer of 2022 ranks third-warmest on record, with an average temperature across the contiguous United States at 73.9 degrees, according to the report. That’s 2.5 degrees above average, coming in only 0.01 degrees behind 1936 (when the dust bowl was in full swing) for the No. 2 spot. The hottest summer on record was in 2021.

It wasn’t just the highs that were sweltering, it was often the lows. The average minimum temperature across the country hit a record of 62.3 degrees this August, meaning there wasn’t much relief during the overnight hours. Houston broke several records for warmest low temperature, only bottoming out at 86 degrees after reaching highs above 100 degrees on multiple occasions. Without any cooler temperatures at night, the cumulative heat can be dangerous.

Heat is the No. 1 weather-related cause of death each year, and communities have recently taken it more seriously by opening cooling shelters to those most at-risk during heat waves.

Rainfall

While some parts of the country suffered from serious to exceptional drought, others dealt with major flooding. Taking the whole country into account, the precipitation turned out average, but how much rain you saw heavily depended on which region you were in. For example, Arizona had its seventh wettest summer, while Nebraska came in at third driest, according to NOAA.

Monsoon season in the Southwest is a typical occurrence during the summer months, but it started earlier than normal this year and brought flash floods to highly populated areas at times. Las Vegas experienced major flooding across the city in late July and again in early August, flooding casinos and leaving two dead.

August also brought a relentless surge of rainfall to northern Louisiana and Mississippi.

The several-day deluge caused major flash flooding in Jackson, Mississippi, where cars were submerged and people were left standing on their roofs waiting for rescue. More than 153,000 residents didn’t have clean drinking water for weeks after the water treatment facility went offline in the flood.

1,000-year floods

A 1,000-year rainfall event means that there is a 1 in 1,000 chance that a flood of that magnitude will occur in any given year. Three such events happened in August.

On Aug. 2, southern Illinois picked up a foot of rain in only 12 hours. Near Newtown, Illinois, an incredible 14 inches fell in those 12 hours, according to the National Weather Service.

Death Valley isn’t known for its rainfall, but on Aug. 5, the National Park was drenched with 1.70 inches of rain, leading to damaging flooding and trapped visitors. That rainfall broke a record that had stood for more than 34 years.

Then, on the morning of Aug. 22, the rain began in Dallas and didn’t stop. Hefty downpours led to catastrophic flooding across the city, with many nearby towns recording more than a foot of rainfall.

The governor declared a disaster for 23 counties in Texas due to the rainfall. Although it was destructive for many, it was bittersweet because it helped alleviate the exceptional drought that plagued that area for months. Water reservoirs rose significantly after being at record low levels just a week before, and the U.S. Drought Monitor noted major improvement in its update following the flood event.

Drought

Even though there were several drought-busting rain events across the country, the U.S. finished up the summer with 45.5% of its land mass in drought conditions, the NOAA report said.

The northeast was one region that saw the drought ramp up during the summer months. Lawns that were a healthy shade of green in May were crunchy and yellow by August, as the rain stayed away for weeks. As a result, Massachusetts saw extreme drought spread across the eastern half of the state, and severe drought expanded to Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Meanwhile, the intense drought set the stage for a supercharged wildfire season in the west. Gusty winds helped easily spread these fires that had no resistance from the weather.

Tropics

In the tropical Atlantic, there was only one word to describe the situation: quiet. From July 3 to Sept. 1, there were no named storms in the Atlantic basin. That stretch of 60 days was the longest stormless stretch since 1941, according to the National Hurricane Center.

In September, the tropics began to heat up. Several named storms formed right around the historical peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic. The strongest of which was Hurricane Fiona, which peaked as a Category 4 storm after dropping catastrophic rainfall on Puerto Rico.

Roasting in Europe

Across the pond, records were just as prevalent as they were in America this summer. Europe experienced its hottest summer on record, with several countries roasting in a mid-summer heat wave that shattered long-standing records. It peaked on July 19, when dozens of weather stations across the U.K. topped 100 degrees. London soared to an incredible 104 degrees that day, according to the U.K. Met Office.

Around the world

Globally, the June-August period tied for the fifth warmest in the 143 years of records.

“The five warmest June-August periods on record have occurred since 2015,” according to NOAA,

Both hemispheres came in above average, and while June-August is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures were not nearly as cold as they typically are. Antarctic sea ice during that time frame ended up at record low levels, according to climate scientists at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab.

In terms of rain, Pakistan dealt with some of the worst floods in recent history. Extreme monsoon rainfall in August is estimated to have killed more than 1,500 people and destroyed more than 1.7 million homes.

Connection to climate change

While not every weather event can be attributed to climate change, some are undoubtedly enhanced by our warming world, as explained in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2022 Assessment.

An example of this is the extreme flooding rain events. With ocean temperatures significantly higher than average, there is more moisture in the air due to evaporation. Also, higher temperatures can hold more water content, so the likelihood of heavy rain events rises with the temperature.

Women affected disproportionately by Russia-Ukraine war: UN report

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(UKRAINE) — Woman and girls in Ukraine and around the world have suffered disproportionately as the men of the country fight against the invasion by Russia, a new report by the United Nations has found.

The policy paper, published as the U.N. Security Council meets to discuss the war in Ukraine, reveals how the war and its global impacts on food, energy and finance have caused women in Ukraine and globally to suffer numerous hardships.

The report states that 265,000 Ukrainian women who were pregnant when the war broke out in February either had to flee or give birth in a time of conflict.

It also highlights how the crisis in Europe is exacerbating existing inequalities around the world, especially surrounding the scarcity of food.

The war-induced food price hikes and shortages have widened the global gender gap in food insecurity, the report shows. Many women have even reduced their own food intake to provide for other household members.

The report states that spiraling energy prices have caused families to return to using less clean fuels and technologies, exposing women and girls to household air pollution, which already kills 3.2 million people per year — the majority of whom are women and children.

Women-headed households in Ukraine were already more food insecure prior to the war, with 37.5% experiencing moderate or severe levels of food insecurity, compared to 20.5% of male-headed households, according to the report.

The fate of women in rural territories occupied by the Russian military remains dire. The women are increasingly unable to perform agricultural work due to high insecurity and lack of resources, but they continue to rise to the challenge of accommodating and feeding internally displaced people, which then multiples their unpaid care and domestic work responsibilities, according to the report.

In addition, school-aged girls are even more at risk of being obliged to drop out of school to get married for dowry or bride-price income for desperate families, officials stated. The report shows that there are alarming increases in gender-based violence, transactional sex for food and survival, sexual exploitation and trafficking, and early child marriage and forced marriage as a result of these worsened living conditions in conflict, crisis and humanitarian contexts worldwide.

“Systemic, gendered crises require systemic, gendered solutions,” Sima Sami Bahous, the executive director of U.N.-Women, said in a statement. “That means ensuring that women and girls, including from marginalized groups, are part of all the decision-making processes. That is simply the only way to be certain that their rights and needs are fully taken into account as we respond to the clear facts before us.”

The policy brief calls for solutions from the international community to prioritize women’s and girls’ voice agency, participation and leadership in conflict response, recovery and peacebuilding as well as to enhance gender statistics and sex-disaggregated data to build the evidence base for gender-responsive policy.

The U.N. also recommended that international communities promote and protect the right to food by targeting the specific nutrition needs of women and girls and accelerate the transformation towards more equitable, gender-responsive and sustainable food systems, equitable access to access to inputs, technologies and markets by women.

Maddie & Tae’s Maddie Font once held Taylor Dye’s baby for a whopping eight hours: “I’m a baby hog”

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Maddie & Tae are more than just bandmates — they’re also best friends. So when Maddie Font first met Taylor Dye’s baby girl Leighton, she immediately slipped into aunt mode.

“I’m such a baby hog,” Maddie admits in an interview the duo recently gave to ET Online.

“The first time she met Leighton … [she] held her for eight hours straight,” Taylor adds. “Eight hours!” Maddie agrees.

Eventually, the bandmates hope they’ll be raising families side by side. “When my husband and I have kids, our kids are gonna grow up like siblings almost,” Maddie continues. “Because we’re almost like siblings. And they’re always gonna have another family. Such a gift.”

As a confirmed “baby hog,” Maddie says she would love to have “a hundred babies, like, yesterday,” but the logistics are tough — especially as they are busily expanding their musical careers.

“You gotta plan it, you know, a little more, because you’re having babies on a tour bus,” Maddie says.

Right now, the tour bus in question is for Maddie & Tae’s CMT Next Women of Country Presents: All Song No Static Tour, a trek that will continue throughout this month. It’s also a busy time for the pair in terms of new music releases, as their Through the Madness: Vol. 2 project drops Friday.

Beasley and Demings show how ‘unique’ swing-state Democrats are embracing law enforcement

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — During an August campaign event in Durham, North Carolina, former state Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, the Democratic candidate for Senate, proudly proclaimed that she does not support defunding the police.

“It’s important that they have the resources to make sure that law enforcement officers stay safe,” she said.

As Republicans have hammered President Joe Biden and his party as, in their words, soft on crime and insufficiently supportive of law enforcement, Beasley and other Democrats in swing-state races have been pushing back, running advertisements touting their support for police and appearing with local law enforcement officials on the trail.

For Beasley and Florida’s Democratic Senate hopeful Val Demings, a state lawmaker and former Orlando police chief running against Sen. Marco Rubio, that also means touting their credentials.

“I’ve been a judge for over two decades,” Beasley said at that Durham event. “I served as a judge and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. And as a judge, I have always worked hard to uphold the rule of law as well as upholding the Constitution.”

“As chief of police [in Orlando], I had to manage people, resources, and balance a $130 million budget during good times and bad times,” Demings told ABC News in a statement

“The buck stopped with me,” she added. “I always chose tough jobs and I know I made a difference in my community. I am proud to tell that story.”

Both Beasley and Demings have either proposed changes to policing or, in Demings case, co-sponsored a major bill that Democrats said would overhaul the system in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. But Demings has also stressed her support for increasing law enforcement funding — with her website describing her as “tough-on-crime.”

During the Durham campaign event, Beasley detailed how as a senator she would lobby for protecting due process rights for officers, increasing funding for training, addressing staff shortages and providing mental health services for law enforcement officers

Beasley and Demings’ Republican opponents have also branded themselves as law enforcement supporters. Rep. Ted Budd, running in the North Carolina Senate race, has touted his endorsement from the state’s trooper association. Meanwhile, Rubio has run ads featuring some law enforcement officers attacking Demings for her record on policing while in Congress.

Why Democrats are cautious about ‘defund the police’

Broadly speaking, the “defund the police” movement is skeptical of law enforcement’s accountability and effectiveness. It encourages divesting funds from police departments and allocating the money to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as expanding mental health and social services for people in crisis rather than tasking officers with responding.

The movement reached new heights following Floyd’s murder by a police officer in Minneapolis in 2020.

While “defund the police” quickly became prominent among activists and many parts of the Democratic base — and was embraced by some progressive lawmakers — leaders in the party have long cautioned against the slogan, saying it’s not their view or that it’s reductive. On CNN in December of 2020, when asked if Democrats being tied to “defund” contributed to their losing House seats in the 2020 election, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said that he had come out before the election against “sloganeering.”

“John [Lewis] and I sat on the House floor and talked about that ‘defund the police’ slogan, and both of us concluded that it had the possibilities of doing to the Black Lives Matter movement and current movements across the country what ‘Burn, baby, burn’ did to us back in 1960,” Clyburn said.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., likewise said in May 2021, during a caucus call, that Republicans’ attacks on the defund the police movement proved to be more damaging in the 2020 election than anticipated.

In his first State of the Union address, earlier this year, President Joe Biden made clear his stance on law enforcement, saying they need to be funded.

“The answer is not to defund the police,” he said.

Some progressives disagree: “All our country has done is given more funding to police. The result? 2021 set a record for fatal police shootings,” Missouri Rep. Cori Bush wrote on Twitter in March, rebutting Biden.

During an interview on “This Week” earlier this year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked about the rise in certain kinds of crime and Democrats’ division on the issue. Pelosi said defunding police is “not the position of the Democratic Party.”

The Pew Research Center released a poll in October 2021 which showed that 47% of adults said that spending on policing in their area should be increased.

Beasley and Demings’ messaging on law enforcement reflects both their values, they say, and what strategists call a campaign season calculation to appeal to voters. The two are major Senate candidates in battleground states, in a cycle in which Democrats need almost every victory in order to retain their majority in Congress from a resurgent GOP.

“There were allegations made that Democrats support defunding the police and it took a bit of time for Democrats to finally respond,” said Xochitl Hinojosa, a Democratic strategist unaffiliated with either race. “And they responded forcefully because it is not true and Democrats do not support defunding the police. So now you’re seeing Democrats tackle that issue head-on, which I think is smart to do.”

Hinojosa told ABC News that Beasley and Demings are in a “unique situation” to discuss supporting police while still voicing support for some changes.

“I think that because of their backgrounds in law enforcement, they’re able to not only talk about what they would do if they were to be elected, but they’re talking about what they have done and their experience that puts them in a unique situation to tackle the issue head-on,” Hinojosa said.

The issue of crime could be impactful in battleground races across the country. A Marquette University Law School Poll released earlier this month analyzing Wisconsin’s Senate and governor race showed that 61% of registered voters were concerned about crime. The issue ranked among the top five issues for voters in the state.

When broken down by political affiliation, 71% of state Republicans were concerned compared with 47% of Democrats and 61% of independents.

Charles Franklin, the director of the Marquette University Law School Poll, told ABC News that the GOP had seized on crime as an issue to use against Democrats in the midterm elections.

“In the [Wisconsin’s] Senate race, early negative ads and now current negative ads try to link [Lt. Gov.] Mandela Barnes to crime,” Franklin said, referring to the Democratic challenger to incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson. (A Barnes aide told ABC News in response to the ads, “He [Johnson] loves to point fingers about crime, but then voted against police funding while Lt. Governor Barnes and Governor Evers actually invested in public safety and law enforcement.)

Hinojosa, the outside strategist, said that Democrats need to make clear their messaging on law enforcement, given voters’ feelings. House Democrats — mindful of the midterm elections and at the request of moderates sensitive to GOP attacks — on Thursday worked to pass a package of police funding bills.

“They are talking more about tackling crime and community policing and ensuring that our law enforcement is trained and has the resources to be trained,” Hinojosa said.

Demings, too, is keeping her credentials in focus on the trail. Her campaign emails still refer to her as “chief.”

Fugitive ‘Fat Leonard’ caught in Venezuela

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(CARACAS, VENEZUELA) — The military contractor known as ‘Fat Leonard’ – real name Leonard Francis — has been caught, the U.S. Marshals Service told ABC News late Wednesday night.

He was found after an Interpol notice went out and was found in Caracas, Venezuela, while trying to board a flight.

The arrest was made by Venezuelan authorities based on a “Red Notice” from Interpol. The arrest was made on Tuesday but is just now becoming known.

“A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action,” according to the Interpol website.

Leonard was set to be sentenced on Sept. 22 after being found guilty in 2015 for bribing Navy officials with lavish gifts, prostitutes and cash. Authorities say he cut off his ankle monitor last week and had not been seen since.

In one instance, according to the Justice Department, Francis was able to have a ship moved to a port he owned in Malaysia.

To date it remains one of the biggest naval scandals in United States history.

On Sept. 6, U.S. Marshals showed up at Francis’ home after being alerted that his GPS ankle monitor was being tampered with, according to a press release from the agency.

Since 2013, there have been more than 30 U.S. Navy officers charged in connection with his case. A judge ruled that Francis had to forfeit the $35 million he was convicted of defrauding the U.S. government by when he over-billed government contracts and bribed naval officials.

The Marshals were offering a $40,000 reward for any information leading to Leonard’s arrest.

John Mayer salutes the late Bob Saget at Scleroderma Research Foundation

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

John Mayer paid tribute to his late friend, comedian Bob Saget, at the Scleroderma Research Foundation on Wednesday. Saget tirelessly supported the organization after his sister, Gay, lost her battle with the disease in 1994.

The Hollywood Reporter says John teamed with the Full House star’s other pals Jimmy Kimmel, Jeff Ross and Dave Chappelle for the “Cool Comedy, Hot Cuisine” fundraiser. Saget had been a part of the annual event since 1991 and in recent years, helped produce and organize the event.

Kimmel took Saget’s place to introduce the event and joked “these bookings have really improved vastly since Bob passed away.” He then brought on Mayer, who also paid tribute to the late actor.

“This is the first time I’ve come to a Scleroderma benefit where Bob hasn’t — as Jimmy said — asked me to do this event but then profusely apologized while asking me to do this event,” Mayer remarked.

The “Daughters” singer continued, “What’s so fun about tonight, the only thing that’s fun about it, is we get to show Bob we wanted to do this, we always wanted to do this.”

Mayer closed out the fundraiser by playing “Bob’s favorite songs.” He explained that he’s struggling to say goodbye to his friend, even though Saget passed nine months ago, because he doesn’t want to believe he’s gone.

He also revealed the guitar he was playing was the same one Saget used on stage before his untimely death.

According to Mayo Clinic, scleroderma, otherwise known as systemic sclerosis, causes the skin to tighten and harden. It also can affect one’s internal organs, blood vessels and ability to digest. There is no cure for the ailment.

“What a fantastic human being”: Dave Chappelle, John Stamos salute Bob Saget at scleroderma benefit

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Many of the late Bob Saget‘s comedian friends were on hand in Los Angeles Wednesday night to salute him at the annual Scleroderma Research Foundation benefit he’d been involved with for more than 30 years.

Saget, who died in January, lost his sister Gay to the life-threatening autoimmune disease in 1994.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Saget’s longtime friend and Full House co-star John Stamos introduced a video tribute to Saget. “I’ve spoken so much about him, written so much about him, and I just love him so dearly I would give anything to have him back,” an emotional Stamos expressed.

Dave Chappelle, Kevin Nealon, Bill Burr, Kathy Griffin, Joel McHale, Rosie O’Donnell, Jeff Ross and Jimmy Kimmel also took the stage at various points.

Jeff Ross noted, “Tonight’s a tribute but it’s also a celebration that we all got to know that guy, that he got to have this influence on our lives.”

He added, “You didn’t really know Bob until you saw him host a Scleroderma Research dinner — that was the true Bob Saget. He was emotional, he was the most sincere I’ve ever seen him onstage other than when he was acting on Broadway or something.”

Chappelle introduced a tribute to his friend, telling the crowd, “Tonight I got drunk because I love Bob so much. Bob, I can feel you in this room tonight.”

He also said of Saget, “What a fantastic human being.”

Bob Saget’s widow, Kelly Rizzo, was a co-chair of the event, which also featured music and tributes from another one of Saget’s close friends, musician John Mayer.

Demi Lovato admits they once thought they wouldn’t live to see 30

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Demi Lovato recently celebrated turning 30, and the Grammy nominee says the milestone was special in more ways than one.

The singer, who nearly died of an overdose in 2018, admits they once thought they wouldn’t live long enough to see themselves turn 30.

“That’s something I thought was impossible to do,” the singer told SPIN. “Even in bouts of sobriety, my depression was so strong that I didn’t think I’d get here today. But here I am. I’m in a new chapter in my life, and I don’t know what my 30s have in store for me, but hopefully a family one day.”

Demi reflected on their previous album, Dancing with the Devil… the Art of Starting Over, which chronicled their near-fatal overdose. “I felt like I was trying to explain myself so much,” the “29” singer said of the work. “It became more about telling the story of myself rather than just creating art that I’m proud of.”

When discussing the new album Holy Fvck, Demi said, “It was so cathartic for me to get all of these songs out.”

“It was me experiencing anger and honoring my anger, not ignoring it anymore because that’s what I think is healthy to do,” they added.

Demi also opened up about the pronouns they go by, saying, “I still feel very comfortable with they/them.”

“I’ve made a few headlines by saying I’m accepting of the pronouns she/her. It’s not that I’m changing anything about myself. I’m just accepting my femininity back,” Demi continued. “I felt like I had to reject it for a minute because that’s how I was feeling at the time, and because I wanted to escape that feminine popstar role that I was playing. I had to get away from that.”

Alex Jones takes stand in 2nd defamation trial over Sandy Hook hoax claims

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WATERBURY, CT) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is testifying in a Connecticut courtroom Thursday in a second defamation trial to determine what the InfoWars host should pay to Sandy Hook families.

The tempestuous testimony was so frequently interrupted by objections and sidebar conferences at the bench, Judge Barbara Bellis at one point told the jury, “You’re going to get your exercise in today, those of you who wear Fitbits.”

Jones, who has suggested the families who successfully sued him for defamation have a political agenda because they’ve done work on gun control, acknowledged the risks involved in his profession as a conspiracy theorist and provocateur.

“The world isn’t an easy place. When people become political figures they get in the arena,” Jones said.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Chris Mattei, pounced.

“Were you just trying to suggest that my clients, these families, deserve what they got because they stepped into the arena?” Mattei asked.

Jones answered “no” as his lawyer objected to the question.

Jones’ testimony will resume this afternoon following a lunch break.

Bellis last year found Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, liable in a defamation lawsuit for calling the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School a hoax.

The jury will decide how much in damages Jones should pay to an FBI agent who responded to the scene and eight families of victims that Jones called actors.

Prior to testifying, Jones has spoken out amid the trial outside the Waterbury courthouse this week, calling the judge a “tyrant” and the trial a “political hit job.” In a press briefing Wednesday, he told reporters did not “premediatively question Sandy Hook,” and that he apologizes if he has caused anyone pain but “didn’t create the story” of Sandy Hook being a hoax.

He repeatedly said he would not perjure himself by saying he’s guilty.

“You can’t have a judge telling you to say that you’re guilty when you’re not. That is insane,” he said.

There is no guilt in civil trials like this one. The plaintiffs successfully sued Jones for defamation in November 2021 over his comments, which included calling them “crisis actors,” saying the massacre was “staged” and “the fakest thing since the three-dollar bill.”

Bellis found Jones liable for damages by default because he and his companies, like Infowars, showed “callous disregard” for the rules of discovery. The jury will now determine much Jones and Free Speech Systems will have to pay the families of children killed in the massacre.

The jury so far has heard from several parents, including Jennifer Hensel, whose 6-year-old daughter, Avielle Richman, was among the 20 children killed in the massacre. She told the jury Wednesday that she still fears for her family’s safety after years of receiving hate mail from people questioning that her daughter had died and checks the backseat of her car before getting in.

After her husband, Jeremy Richman, died by suicide in 2019, she started receiving emails from people calling his death fake as well, she said.

“People were in the cemetery around Avielle’s grave marker looking for evidence that Jeremy had died,” Hensel said.

Other parents have also testified about death threats, rape threats and confrontations outside their homes.

The Connecticut trial comes a month after a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the victims.

In that defamation trial, Jones was successfully sued by the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre after he claimed that the shooting — where 20 children and six adults were killed — was a hoax, a claim he said he now thinks is “100% real.”

Some school uniforms were found to have high levels of potentially harmful PFAS chemicals

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — High levels of chemicals called per-and polyfluoroalky substances (PFAS) were detected in water-proof or stain-resistant school uniforms in the United States and Canada, according to a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology.

PFAS chemicals, often called “forever chemicals” because of their slow breakdown, are widely used for their non-stick properties. They are ubiquitous and found in a range of everyday products such as non-stick cookware, stain and water repellants on carpets, food packaging and personal care products such as shampoos and cosmetic products.

Researchers studied more than 72 products from nine different brands, finding that school uniforms had high amounts of these potentially harmful chemicals. The highest levels were detected in clothing that was labeled as 100% cotton or cotton/spandex.

Due to widespread use and their slow breakdown, these chemicals can build up in humans and the environment over time. Current scientific research suggests that exposure to high levels of certain PFAS may cause a range of health problems, from delays in development in children to increased risk of some cancers, with the highest risk associated with drinking or eating contaminated food over an extended time. Scientists, however, are continuing to learn about the health effects of exposure to different types and levels of PFAS.

Researchers are especially concerned about possible high exposure, especially for children.

“Our findings are concerning as school uniforms are worn directly on the skin for about eight hours per day by children, who are particularly vulnerable to harmful chemicals,” said Dr. Arlene Blum, a study co-author and the executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute.

It’s not clear if PFAS chemicals cause health problems if exposed on the skin, but researchers who led the study said that they may end up in children’s bodies through skin absorption, eating with unwashed hands, hand-to-mouth behaviors and mouthing of fabric by younger children.

“These chemicals are not well studied. We still have a lot to learn and we are not sure what harmful effects, if any, these chemicals have by skin exposure and clothing,” said Dr. Stephanie Widmer, a medical toxicologist and an emergency medicine physician.

According to the study, the PFAS levels in some uniforms exceeded the tolerable daily intake set by European regulators. In the United States, regulators have yet to set similar allowable limits for clothing. But given these concerns, bills in New York and California that require the phasing out of PFAS in textiles, including school uniforms, by Jan. 1, 2025, were passed by state lawmakers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said exposure to PFAS chemicals may be associated with increased cholesterol levels, changes in liver enzymes, decreases in infant birth weights, decreased vaccine response in kids, increased risk of birth complications in pregnant women and increased risk of some cancers.

“The reality is the health concerns that have been reported in association with PFAS cannot be ignored, and while we are learning more about PFAS and their potential dangers, we should all try to limit our exposures as much as reasonably possible,” said Widmer.

Added Blum: “Concerned parents should check if any of their children’s uniforms are labeled ‘stain-resistant.’ If so, they should ask school administrators to update their uniform policies and when purchasing new uniforms, specify PFAS-free uniform options.”

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