Natalie Exum, PhD

Farmers Increasingly Rejecting Data Center Bids For Land Politico reported that “the tech industry’s relentless push for data centers is colliding with farmers who see the projects as a threat to their way of life, fueling unrest in Republican primaries and...

Farmers are the bellwether.

‘There’s no oversight, there’s no regulation, there’s no organization, there’s no guardrails of any kind,’ Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller
www.agriculture.com/partners-far...

Lots of poop talk today.

Microsoft Pledged to Save Water. In the A.I. Era, It Expects Water Use to Soar.

A major loophole.

“Few disclosure rules exist for data center water use, allowing companies to choose what to make public and to create their own reporting methodologies” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/t...

CDC studies show value of nationwide wastewater disease surveillance, as potential funding cut looms Two new studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show wastewater monitoring of measles can flag measles spread days to weeks in advance.

“The widespread use of wastewater surveillance in the United States is one of the greatest advancements in communicable disease surveillance in a generation,” apnews.com/article/meas...

How New York Keeps Its Unfiltered Water Safe: Spending Millions on Land

Water source protection is public health 101. Prevention of pollution (harm) is cost effective and best for health. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/n...

It’s all about the jet stream. The Arctic is warming at rapid speed and destabilizing the jet stream that keeps this Arctic air in the Arctic.

Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles wit...

Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people's bodies. Her bosses halted her work.

Now she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world.

(Published May 2024)

This is a travesty, eliminating #PublicHealth loans for PT, OT, MPH, DrPH and many other degrees. They are trying to kill us.

NHANES is a national treasure of health data that we must stand up for.

RIFs at CDC.

Destroying the Epidemic Intelligence Service, NCIRD, NCIPC & a dozen other areas/divisions/branches will cause enormous harm and suffering to America, and indeed to the whole world.

Call your Reps about it.

Then call them again.

Loss of people involved in NSF activities (see link for complete report)

The White House projects its FY 2026 budget would result in over 75,000 lost research jobs and over 150,000 fewer students and teachers who engage with STEM programs and research nationwide.

nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...

How RSV Immunizations Bring Hope for Indigenous Infants in the U.S. American Indian and Alaska Native infants experience the highest rates of RSV-related hospitalization in the U.S., but a breakthrough immunization is helping to close the gap

The Navajo Nation is 60x less likely to have piped water than most Americans.

“And it’s very expensive for our people to haul their own, and they have to ration, which has had a direct impact on the health of the Navajo Nation.”
www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

Toxicology principle that needs to be mainstream:

The dose makes the poison.

That’s true of everything. Water. Oxygen. Vitamin A. Vitamin D. Aspartame. Formaldehyde.

A single pear contains 120 times MORE formaldehyde than what might be in a vaccine.

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Our water treatment workers are public health heroes and now the front line for thwarting cyber security attacks.

Great piece to give a listen. Favorite quote: “I don't really have the background to be fending off foreign entities, you know?”

When a Simple Swim Carries a Risk of Dangerous Illness

Schistosomiasis is such a challenging disease to prevent. Well done @apoorvanyt.bsky.social for this excellent piece.

“Without clean water and other changes to accompany the treatment programs, the effectiveness of the drugs is already limited.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/h...?

Important to point out here that many of these now cancelled EPA Community Change grants were awarded under the Biden administration and went to communities in red states that are neglected by their own state governments

Black communities, shaken by Trump cuts, feel ‘left behind again’ The Trump administration has canceled nearly two dozen projects, according to a Post analysis, undermining efforts on pollution, sewage leaks and flooding.

Alabama lost a $14m grant to upgrade sanitation systems. A historically Black Virginia neighborhood won’t receive $20m to stop severe flooding. Louisiana lost grants to monitor air quality in “Cancer Alley,” an 80-mile stretch of mostly Black towns.

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

EPA decides not to defend federal drinking water standards for PFAS chemicals in court The fate of stronger protections for safe drinking water are in jeopardy after a court filing by the Environmental Protection Agency saying they will not be def

EPA decides not to defend federal drinking water standards for PFAS chemicals in court - CBS Albany cbs6albany.com/news/local/e...

Opinion | The Clue to Unlocking Parkinson’s May Be All Around Us

This is an excellent piece by @nickkristof.bsky.social “Environmental health is hard. It requires juggling trade-offs and making complex choices with insufficient knowledge.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o...

Another reason to hate golf: “living within a mile of a golf course more than doubles a person’s odds of developing Parkinson’s”

Opinion | The Clue to Unlocking Parkinson’s May Be All Around Us

“Paraquat symbolizes the challenges of environmental health and chemical regulation… Companies, following the tobacco playbook, hire lobbyists and highlight the uncertainties” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o...

More great news for Big Diarrhea!

Glad they got me on record using my most scientific terms

The Unseen Dangers of Floodwaters

"After local officials give the all-clear, it’s a good idea to let the water run for a while to flush the pipes of any residual gunk" ☣️🚿

@nataliegexum.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/w...

Getting the Lead Out: Community Outreach Pushes Baltimore Toward Safer Drinking Water - Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering As Baltimore faces a federal deadline to identify and replace lead service lines, local researchers and community groups are stepping in to reach residents the city has struggled to engage.

“We want to empower kids to become change-makers and messengers in their own communities." @johnshopkinsehe.bsky.social's @nataliegexum.bsky.social is working with high school MERIT scholars to supercharge community outreach to address lead pipes in Baltimore. engineering.jhu.edu/news/getting...

Trump EPA says it will defend tough lead pipe rule from Biden, but details to come The Environmental Protection Agency announced it would defend the Biden administration's strict rules to reduce lead in drinking water against a utility group court challenge.

Staying hopeful the EPA will uphold this rule that gives cities and towns a 10-year deadline to replace all of their lead pipes apnews.com/article/epa-...

Re-upping one small idea: Universities should commit to preserving library/journal/software access for students and researchers who have to leave academia because of funding cuts. We need concrete, practical ways of preserving scholarship.

Bird flu is spreading. Wastewater monitoring can help us stop it The National Wastewater Surveillance System’s funding expires at the end of fiscal year 2025, just as bird flu heats up.

We should be expanding wastewater surveillance to help guide farms in more effectively implementing costly biosecurity measures. But even the limited wastewater surveillance we have is imperiled by looming budget cuts. www.statnews.com/2025/03/21/h...

US Embassy air-quality tweets led to global health benefits | PNAS The World Health Organization estimates that over 90% of the world’s population is exposed to hazardous levels of local air pollution. Air pollutio...

This study found that embassy air monitoring program substantially reduced pollution and premature death. Thats a great ROI: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

State Department halts global monitoring of air pollution The program had used sensors at more than 80 U.S. embassies and consulates to track air quality, mostly in places where such data was unavailable.

Air quality monitoring at our embassies brought awareness and data transparency that otherwise did not exist. Why take down such an effective program that improved health?
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...