Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN)

Exclusive: Key US infectious-diseases centre to drop pandemic preparation Staff members have been instructed to scrub this topic and ‘biodefense’ from the agency’s website.

After more than 1.2 Americans lost their lives to Covid, NIH director Jay Bhattacharya orders the agency to deprioritize pandemic preparedness & biodefense.

Make it make sense.

Scoop from @maxkozlov.bsky.social @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New drone footage from @floodlightnews.org - the fossil methane power plant Musk built specifically to create abusive and racist material on his social media website is still wildly breaching EPA regulations even after a ruling against using them -->>>

floodlightnews.org/thermal-dron...

🛢️ NEW 🛢️ The US fossil fuel industry produces a trillion gallons of toxic drilling wastewater a year — and gets rid of most of it by injecting it underground. What could go wrong? (A lot.) buff.ly/t96dPPI

Radioactive Oil and Gas Waste May Lie Beneath a North Texas Elementary School - Truthdig A massive Dallas-Fort Worth subdivision and a school have risen atop layers of oil and gas drilling waste. One worker who helped spread the material is speaking out.

A 2,500-home Texas subdivision and an elementary school sit on top of radioactive oil and gas drilling waste. The worker who helped spread it is now speaking out.

Image is an infographic showing an illustration of idle oil and gas wells near a hospital, school, and playground. A text overlay reads, "idle oil and gas wells are near thousands of California schools, hospitals, and playgrounds. It's time for oil and gas companies to clean them up."

Idle oil and gas wells threaten our safety, health, and climate.

They can leak climate-polluting gases like methane — explosive at high concentrations — and toxic chemicals like benzene, which is linked to several kinds of cancer.

#California has more than 30,000.

Learn more ➡️ bit.ly/4rQuJQx

Today, Trump's EPA officially made climate denial US policy. This is a slap in the face to Americans being battered by extreme weather, wildfires, droughts, and other climate disasters. We're suing the Trump Administration and Lee Zeldin's EPA for this illegal and reckless repeal. #ClimateCantWait

Breaking News: The Trump administration repealed the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life and well being, meaning that the EPA can no longer regulate them. nyti.ms/4rSszQu

webinar title, date, time along with speaker image overlaid on image of woman shopping for personal care products. Green bottom of image with logos, brief description and qr code

TODAY - join us for a conversation with Dr. Shuo Xiao about how exposure to chemical mixtures can impact reproductive health.

Coming up soon, but not too late to register!

RSVP here: www.healthandenvironment.org/che-webinars...

"In Monterey Park, concerns over the proposed datacenter are primarily about its economic, environmental and public health impact. The facility would employ 14 on-site diesel generators... linked to a host of respiratory illnesses, including asthma and lung cancer."

Rage against the machine: a California community rallied against a datacenter – and won Organizers in Monterey Park took inspiration from other US cities to fight against the construction of a giant datacenter

"Over the past year, homegrown revolts against #datacenters have united a fractured nation, animating local board meetings from coast to coast in both farming towns and middle-class suburbs."

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Salty, Oily Drinking Water Left Sores in Their Mouths. Oklahoma Refused to Find Out Why. State regulators discovered strong signs of oil pollution, including high levels of salt and toxic metals, in one family’s drinking water. But for two years, they repeatedly delayed basic tests to fin...

NEW: Oklahoma regulators discovered strong signs of oil pollution, including high levels of salt and toxic metals, in one family’s drinking water.

But for two years, they repeatedly delayed basic tests to find the culprit — then closed the case.

With @readfrontier.bsky.social

For Months, Tear Gas Has Entered Their Homes. Now They’re Suing ICE.

"[T]ear gas—which is banned internationally for use in war, but still used in domestic policing—'is an indiscriminate weapon and a respiratory hazard, period.'"

—Dr. Anthony M. Szema, Section on Terrorism and Inhalation Disasters at the American Thoracic Society

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/c...

Writer Rebecca Altman said she has focused on studying plastics because “some of the stuff coming off the plant where my dad had worked was implicated in suffering and childhood sickness in New Jersey. I just really wanted to understand this larger system of which it was a part.”
buff.ly/kLy9nK4

A Campaign to Revoke the Endangerment Finding Appears Near ‘Total Victory’ A small group of conservative activists has worked for 16 years to stop all government efforts to fight climate change. Their efforts seem poised to pay off.

A group of conservative activists has worked for 16 years to stop all government efforts to fight climate change. Their efforts are now paying off.

The EPA is expected to revoke the endangerment finding, which has underpinned the government’s ability to fight global warming since 2009.

Media Release: IPBES Business and Biodiversity Assessment
"The growth of the global economy has been at the cost of immense biodiversity loss, which now poses a critical and pervasive systemic risk to the economy, financial stability and human wellbeing."
www.ipbes.net/node/97532

Ipbes report: Nature loss could spell extinction for businesses Experts call for urgent action by businesses to restore the natural systems that keep them running.

"[T]he loss of #biodiversity is among the most serious threats to business, 'yet the twisted reality is that it often seems more profitable to businesses to degrade biodiversity than to protect it.'"

@ipbes.net Business and Biodiversity Assessment out today

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Utah’s massive data centers can’t get the power they need, so they’re building their own Utah’s headlong rush to build data centers to power the AI boom is likely to rely upon fossil fuels for the foreseeable future, raising concerns about the state’s already struggling air quality.

That collision of the AI boom and limited power supplies means Utah’s rush to build data centers is likely to rely on fossil fuel energy for the foreseeable future, raising concerns about the state’s already struggling air quality (and worsening of the climate crisis).
www.sltrib.com/news/environ...

It’s official! After years of hard work by IPBES experts, the #BizBiodiversity Assessment Report is approved by the Plenary at #IPBES12!

Congratulations to all on this achievement for people and #nature!

Thank you to all who contributed to this successful outcome.

This Backdoor Legislative Tool Could Unravel Public Lands Congress continues effort to erase protections for America’s shared lands and waters

After failing to sell off millions of acres of public lands last year, Republicans are trying upend public land management with a single vote. Conservation groups are warning that it puts jobs, conservation, and years' worth of planning at risk.

"'We learned that narwhals go quiet or move away when a ship is within about 20 kilometers of the site.' They also stopped eating."

Number of crude oil and gas tankers operating in Arctic waters doubled over the past decade; liquefied natural gas carriers traffic increased even more.

Some Public Health Service officers quit rather than serve in ICE detention centers A special corps of health care workers have been called in to work with detained immigrants and many feel deeply conflicted about the assignment, saying they're not able to provide good care.

Is healthcare in concentration camps an oxymoron? A special corps of health care workers have been called in to work with detained immigrants and many feel deeply conflicted about the assignment, saying they're not able to provide good care. www.npr.org/2026/02/05/n...

A Trump ‘Blockade’ Is Stalling Hundreds of Wind and Solar Projects Nationwide

Trump & Vance are intentionally driving up your energy costs.

A Trump ‘Blockade’ Is Stalling Hundreds of Wind and Solar Projects Nationwide
Federal agencies are delaying approvals for renewable energy projects on both federal land and private property at a time when electricity demand is going up.

Breaking: Washington Post gutting its climate team Clean energy dies in darkness. Courtesy of Jeff Bezos.

I'm told the catastrophic Washington Post layoffs today include at least 14 climate journalists. Totally gutting. Details: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/washington...

Energy Star has emerged stronger after Trump's EPA tried to end it The Trump administration tried to end or privatize the government Energy Star efficiency program. But now Trump has sign

Breaking news: people like energy efficiency and they don't want to cut it!

In case you missed it: Our January 2026 newsletter features "Parkinson’s Disease and the Environment: Opportunities for Prevention," by Ted Schettler, MD, MPH.

Originally published by @che-healthenv.bsky.social

#Parkinsons #TCE #Perc #AirPollution #Manganese

www.sehn.org/sehn/2026/1/...

NIH Grant Disruptions Slow Down Breast Cancer Research - KFF Health News The Trump administration has made the future of federal funding for cancer research uncertain. At one groundbreaking breast cancer research lab, work that could save lives has slowed significantly.

NIH Grant Disruptions Slow Down Breast Cancer Research - KFF Health News kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

The US government is trying to make coal seem cute. It isn't. Trump complained that coal needed better PR. Then "Coalie" showed up.

The US government is trying to make coal seem cute.

what could go wrong?

New Orleans City Council bans data center development for a year; here's why The special meeting to consider the future of data center development projects in the city was called shortly after news

That's a *unanimous* vote for a moratorium on new data center construction. People oppose this extractive industry that increases emissions and utility bills. Congratulations to the New Orleans activists who organized for this!

Public health crisis unfolding in Minneapolis as residents avoid healthcare Providers are arranging home visits and telehealth as neighbors pick up prescriptions, groceries and diapers

People targeted by federal agents - for their skin color, accents, or immigration status - are afraid to seek healthcare; healthcare staff are fearful for their safety at work. Here's how Minnesota providers are responding to an unfolding crisis - my latest: