Wild Pigs Turning ‘Neon Blue’ in California Triggered Warnings + More
Source: Children’s Health Defense
Wild Pigs Turning ‘Neon Blue’ in California Triggered Warnings
Game hunters found startlingly ‘neon blue’ flesh inside wild pigs in California in 2025, prompting advisory statements about potential contamination. “I’m not talking about a little blue,” Dan Burton, owner of a wildlife control company, told Salvador Hernandez at The Los Angeles Times. “I’m talking about neon blue, blueberry blue.” An investigation by local authorities found that the dramatic color change was caused by rodenticide poisoning, prompting them to issue a warning throughout Monterey County.
Rat poisons containing the chemical compound diphacinone are often sold dyed blue for identification. The compound’s use has been highly restricted in California since 2024. “Hunters should be aware that the meat of game animals, such as wild pig, deer, bear, and geese, might be contaminated if that game animal has been exposed to rodenticides,” said pesticide investigations coordinator Ryan Bourbour from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).
“Rodenticide exposure can be a concern for non-target wildlife in areas where applications occur in close proximity to wildlife habitat.”
E.P.A. Moves to Weaken Limits on a Cancer-Causing Gas
The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed to weaken limits on emissions of ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing gas, from manufacturing facilities that use it to sterilize medical devices. The move revived a long-running debate about the paradoxical effects of ethylene oxide on public health. While it plays a crucial role in sterilizing lifesaving medical devices like pacemakers and syringes, long-term exposure can cause leukemia and other types of cancer among people who work in or live near medical sterilization facilities.
“The Trump E.P.A. is committed to ensuring lifesaving medical devices remain available for the critical care of America’s children, elderly and all patients without unnecessary exposure to communities,” Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, said in a statement.
The agency’s proposed rule would loosen limits on ethylene oxide emissions from around 90 commercial sterilization facilities across the country. Roughly 2.3 million people live within two miles of these facilities in what are often low-income neighborhoods or communities of color, according to an analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental group.
Cancer Alley Factory to Cease Production of Toxic Herbicide Banned in More Than 70 Countries
Multinational agriculture technology company Syngenta announced last Tuesday (March 3) that it will cease global production of the herbicide paraquat by the end of June, including at its facility in Iberville Parish. Banned in more than 70 countries, paraquat is repackaged and distributed in the United States from Syngenta’s manufacturing site in St. Gabriel, a small city that sits along a heavily-industrialized stretch of the Mississippi River. Nicknamed “Cancer Alley” residents in St. Gabriel face a higher risk of cancer from industrial air pollution than most of the country.
Syngenta did not respond to questions from Verite News about whether any workers will be laid off as a result of the decision or how operations may change at the St. Gabriel facility. In 2024, the facility employed 350 full-time staff and another 450 contractors, according to the company.
The decision comes as the company faces thousands of lawsuits for failing to inform users of paraquat’s many health risks. But a Syngenta representative said the move was made for “entirely a commercial reason,” citing high competition from other producers.
Microplastics May Be Disrupting the Body’s Immune System
In recent years, microplastics have been detected in all parts of the human body, including the blood, lungs, liver, testes, brain, placenta and breast milk, raising concerns about the potential health hazards of plastic contamination. According to a 2019 study by Newcastle University, humans may be ingesting as much as 5gm of microplastics per week. However, the detailed mechanisms by which plastic particles entering the body affect health at the cellular level have been largely unknown.
An international research team led by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has now identified the specific metabolic pathway by which polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) interfere with immune cell function. The human body has what are called immune cells or macrophages, which play the role of “cleaners”, swallowing dead cells and pathogens and disposing of them.
This process, of taking in and digesting dead cells, is called epherocytosis, occurs continuously in the human body to maintain tissue homeostasis. When epherocytosis does not function properly, unprocessed dead cells accumulate in tissues and are known to trigger chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases.
What Families Should Know About Forever Chemicals on California Fruit
A new analysis is raising fresh questions about what’s left behind on some of California’s most popular fruits and vegetables — and what that could mean for families who eat them every week.
The Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, reviewed California’s own pesticide testing data and found that 37% of tested samples of conventionally California-grown produce carried residues of at least one PFAS pesticide — a class of compounds often called “forever chemicals” because many persist in the environment and can build up in people.
In total, EWG said it identified 17 PFAS pesticide residues across 40 types of produce in the state’s 2023 monitoring data. EWG and outside scientists say the findings shouldn’t scare people away from eating fruits and vegetables — but should push regulators to take a harder look at a subset of pesticides that, in many cases, were designed to be durable and effective.
New Mexico Announces Agreement to Test Curry County Dairies’ Groundwater for Toxic Chemicals
New Mexico environment officials on Thursday announced agreements with four Curry County dairies to conduct tests of groundwater contaminated by a plume of so-called “forever chemicals” stemming from Cannon Air Force Base. The state says the agreement marks “a significant step toward full remediation.” Zachary Ogaz, the general counsel for the environment department, told Source NM the agreements grew out of environment officials “spending a lot of time out in Clovis with the folks who have been really impacted.”
The contamination was first discovered In 2015, when the state identified what is now a 4-mile-long plume of firefighting foams containing per-and-polyflouroalkyl substances, called PFAS. These manmade chemicals resist breaking down and can accumulate in water, soils and the bodies of humans and animals around the world — including in Clovis.
Since then, the U.S. Air Force says it has spent $74 million treating the contamination. Nonetheless, state environment officials said in a Thursday news release the Air Force has not responded to a request to jointly develop a clean-up plan, citing ongoing litigation.
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