Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [environmental-health]

Use this tag for questions regarding physical, chemical and biological factors that may affect human health.

225 questions
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Are WiFi waves harmful?

Has it been proven that being exposed to WiFi waves is harmful?
Rabskatran
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Is there plastic microfiber in 83% of tap water?

I've recently come across this Guardian article which cites a story by Orb Media. Tests show billions of people globally are drinking water contaminated by plastic particles, with 83% of samples found to be polluted The main point is In the first…
bangnab
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Does regularly drinking from a plastic container cause cancer?

I drink water from my plastic cup regularly and a friend commented that it could cause cancer. He also added that I should not heat food in plastic containers or wrappings in the microwave as that could also cause cancer in the long run. He claimed…
EuropaDust
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Does staring at the sun cause significant, permanent harm?

Of course, I think I can safely assume if an eye is left pointing directly towards sun for a long period of time it does get major damage. However, staring at the sun also hurts very quickly. That pain seems like a very natural* defense mechanism…
Ilari Kajaste
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Is it good (for your health) to shower/bathe daily?

I only shower once every few days, sometimes as little as once a week depending how oily/sticky I'm feeling (I lead a pretty sedentary lifestyle so I don't reach that stage daily). People around me find it disturbing/disgusting but I usually shrug…
Dois
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Is water fluoridation harmful?

There’s a controversy going around whether the benefits of water fluoridation outweigh the potential harms. What is the evidence for the harm this may cause and what evidence supports the health benefits?
KMoraz
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Did the Covid vaccines lower fertility rates via causing infertility?

In this Slay News article, linked to by popular right-wing aggregator Off The Press: According to independent journalist JD Rucker, the establishment media and their allies are ignoring the obvious. “Ever since the rollout of Covid-19 ‘vaccines,’…
TheAsh
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Can running a fan while sleeping in a closed room cause death?

It is a widely held belief in South Korea that you can suffocate if you leave a fan running in a closed room while you sleep. Is there any truth or science behind this? (See Wikipedia on Fan Deaths)
jjnguy
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Does 5G pose health risks?

Among others, the website RadiationHealthRisks claims: Second, according to experts, because of the shorter length of millimeter waves (MMV) required by 5G to support the bandwidth, these shorter waves do not travel as far or through objects. This…
Christian
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Is wheat the cause of numerous, serious health problems?

This morning, I stumbled across a realfarmacy article which poses the question [Note: the linked page breaks in Chrome but worked in Firefox]: Why is there such a strong emphasis on the development of wheat products all over the world when there…
zashu
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Are sunscreens necessary?

There are many warnings of skin cancer due to exposure to sun, which have turned sunscreen lotions/creams/sprays into a big industry. Apart from the problem in the product, my question is, are sunscreens needed? Today's average Joe is less exposed…
CMR
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Is using a standing desk for several hours healthier than sitting at a desk all day?

Is working at a standing desk more healthy than working at a regular sitting desk? Source: Crackberry Blog Over the past couple of years there has been a lot of buzz about the health benefits of standing desks, driven by research that concluded…
Olivier Lalonde
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Does grass alone produce enough oxygen for life?

Over a work happy hour tonight, two employees were talking about their different lifestyles -- one likes riding four wheelers, which the other considers to be recreational pollution. Somehow the fact that the four wheel rider plants trees got…
Hendy
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Does Flint have a much lower rate of lead poisoning than it had two decades ago?

Does Kevin Drum's article Raw Data: Lead Poisoning of Kids in Flint describes the lead levels in Flint accurately? What you see is very steady and impressive progress from 1998 to 2013, with the number of children showing elevated blood lead levels…
Christian
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Does Marijuana deposit four times the tar in the lungs as tobacco?

This picture is from Emily Miller's Facebook page shows one lung divided into two parts one labeled Tobacco and one labeled Marijuana. The Marijuana side is substantially less-healthy looking and the the picture's caption reads, Marijuana deposits…
Evan Carroll
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