Environmental Health Featured Science Activities

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) uptake and bioconcentration by fish and mussels ─ housed in mobile laboratories at a legacy fire-training area contaminated by aqueous film-forming foams ─ varied by species, sex, and compound. PFAS in passive samplers deployed at the same time mimicked uptake by fish but not mussels indicating that passive samplers might prove useful as screening tools...

Potential reuse waters contained unique mixtures of organic contaminants with the greatest number detected in treated municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent, followed by urban stormwater, and agricultural runoff. This study provided information for decisions on reuse strategies to support freshwater supplies.

U.S. Geological Survey researchers and public health experts collaborated to determine what contaminants occur in bottled water, which is an increasingly common alternate drinking water source, to broaden their understanding of human exposure to contaminants in drinking water supply chains. Bottled water, like public-supply and private-well tap water supply chains, contained multiple organic...

Scientists provide an understanding of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) levels in sediments and the edible portions of fish within Florida’s Tampa Bay in a pilot study designed to understand the potential for human exposure and health risks through fish consumption.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists teamed up with public-health epidemiologists to probe for associations between arsenic in drinking water and human-birth outcomes. They reported a modest inverse relation between birth weight and arsenic exposure. Findings indicate that future research efforts using individual-level exposure data such as measured arsenic concentrations in tap water could...

Mike Focazio, the Environmental Health Program Coordinator, editor of the GeoHEALTH-USGS Newsletter, and research scientist retired from the USGS at the end of November. Throughout his 33-year career, Mike’s principle-based leadership focusing on transparency, accountability, and scientific integrity has carried environmental health science forward at USGS and for the Nation.

Wild prairie grouse residing in croplands had altered diets and gut microbiome imbalances characterized by a greater abundance of pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic-resistance genes in comparison to those residing in grasslands. Similar gut microbiome imbalances are rarely associated with lethal outcomes, but rather linked to sublethal health effects including growth, development, behavior, immune...

Scientists provide resources that review algal toxin data, explore links between avian mortality and toxin exposure, and identify future research needs to predict algal toxin health hazards and risks for birds and other wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay.

Low pathogenic avian influenza infections were directly correlated with blood mercury concentrations in wild waterfowl, indicating that mercury exposure may be related to pathogen susceptibility. Further study is needed to determine if and how mercury and other environmental contaminant exposures may affect disease susceptibility in wildlife.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists have developed a model that demonstrates how migratory wild birds in urban areas can acquire bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, including those used in clinics, and potentially disperse these bacteria between continents via migration.

Field study in California describes the potential for pollinator-attractive field borders in agricultural areas to become a pesticide exposure pathway to bees through soil, air, and plants.

USGS recently (2022) released a strategic vision document that identifies science gaps and opportunities for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) monitoring, assessment, and research activities (sampling protocols and analytical methods, environmental sources and source apportionment, environmental occurrence, environmental fate and transport, human and wildlife exposure routes...