UPDATED: Pete Myers on improving vampire food, at TEDx C'ville

UPDATED: Pete Myers on improving vampire food, at TEDx C'ville

What do vampires drink? Our blood. But we're turning it into a junk food, given the myriad chemical pollutants we're adding to it thanks to modern chemistry. Our founder & chief scientist talks about the serious, real-world consequences of that pollution.


Myers, founder of Environmental Health Sciences (publisher of EHN.org and DailyClimate.org), has spent his career studying the thousands of endocrine-disrupting chemicals infusing our products, our food, our household dust and our daily lives.

He spent 16 minutes Friday distilling that experience for TEDx Charlottesville.

In one experiment after another, Myers said, exposure to those compounds has produced frightening results in laboratory animals:

Two frogs, both brothers, able to mate because one frog was exposed at birth to Atrazine – a common, widely used herbicide – and developed a fully functioning womb, ovaries and female reproductive system.

Or a pair of middle-aged mice, both fed the same diet and subject to the same activity regimen. Except one is morbidly obese. That mouse was exposed in the womb to bisphenol A, a common plastic additive, at an exquisitely low dose – one part per billion (for perspective, the bottom pancake in a stack of pancakes 4,000 miles tall is one part per billion).


What's crazy, Myers noted, is that at high doses, bisphenol A and other compounds that alter our hormonal system have completely different effects. Mice exposed to a 1,000 parts-per-billion dose of BPA, for instance, lose weight.

"It's completely unpredictable," he told the TEDx audience on Friday.

The bigger problem, Myers added, is that these compounds today exist in almost everyone's blood at very low levels.

And rules governing chemical exposure rely on a concept developed in the 16th century: The dose makes the poison. Regulators testing chemical safety usually start with a high dose and work backwards with incrementally smaller doses until they see no effect. That's where they draw the safety line. "They never test low-dose exposure," Myers said.

It's a tale, in many ways, of ignorance and bad design decisions. But the impact is clear: "Those chemicals are linked to today's litany of chronic, non-communicable diseases," Myers said.

TEDx Charlottesville continues Friday with talks by National Geographic photographer Ami Vitale, impact investor and poker player Rafe Furst, and the world grove ensemble Baaba Seth.

early season snowmelt drought water
Photo by Jorge Guillen on Unsplash

Early season snowmelt could bring the West summer water scarcity

Climate change is expediting spring snowmelt and replacing snow with rainfall in the Mountain West — making an already arid region increasingly at risk of summer water scarcity, a new study has found.

Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.
canada pnw heatwaves climate
Photo by Jason Hillier on Unsplash

Heat waves are breaking records. Here's what you need to know

Normally, heat records are broken by a few tenths of a degree. But last week in Canada near Hudson Bay–which is still covered in winter ice–a heat record was broken by a huge 7 degrees Celsius or more than 12 degrees Fahrenheit.

Deal is reached to keep Colorado River from going dry, for now

Arizona, California and Nevada have agreed to take less water from the drought-strained Colorado River, a breakthrough agreement that, for now, keeps the river from falling so low that it would jeopardize water supply for major Western cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles as well as for some of America’s most productive farmland.

Fossil fuel firms owe climate reparations of $209bn a year, says study

The world’s top fossil fuel companies owe at least $209bn in annual climate reparations to compensate communities most damaged by their polluting business and decades of lies, a new study calculates.

Emilio Tenuta water conservation
Photo by the blowup on Unsplash

Emilio Tenuta: Is water the ‘forgotten piece’ of the climate puzzle?

Obviously, reducing carbon emissions will be key to a more sustainable future, but there are also other issues that will need to be dealt with - like water.

philadelphia toxics pollution energy
Photo by Robert Linder on Unsplash

Philly toxic air pollution: What you need to know

Philadelphia limits toxic air pollutants like lead and formaldehyde. A policy revision expands the list, but critics say it doesn't go far enough.

Shell facing more climate change pressure following record profits

Shell will hold its annual general meeting tomorrow and the event is widely expected to be dominated by clashes over the energy giant’s record on climate change.

From our Newsroom
halliburton fracking

How the “Halliburton Loophole” lets fracking companies pollute water with no oversight

Fracking companies used 282 million pounds of hazardous chemicals that should have been regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act from 2014 to 2021.

President Joe Biden climate change

Op-ed: Biden’s Arctic drilling go-ahead illustrates the limits of democratic problem solving

President Biden continues to deploy conventional tactics against the highly unconventional threat of climate change.

oil and gas wells pollution

What happens if the largest owner of oil and gas wells in the US goes bankrupt?

Diversified Energy’s liabilities exceed its assets, according to a new report, sparking concerns about whether taxpayers will wind up paying to plug its 70,000 wells.

Paul Ehrlich

Paul Ehrlich: A journey through science and politics

In his new book, the famous scientist reflects on an unparalleled career on our fascinating, ever-changing planet.

oil and gas california environmental justice

Will California’s new oil and gas laws protect people from toxic pollution?

California will soon have the largest oil drilling setbacks in the U.S. Experts say other states can learn from this move.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.