


The 2017 study discovered that more than one in three people in Lowndes County, a rural county in Alabama, had tested positive for hookworm. The article outlining their work was accepted on November 11, 2020.Īctivist and author Catherine Coleman Flowers’ work spurred a study in 2017 that revealed environmental and sanitation problems in rural America. Betsy Stone, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Iowa. Milani received support from the Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates and was joined in her work by Dr. Some potentially harmful chemicals found in PCPs are not currently regulated, so it is important for people to learn about those chemicals and seek out alternatives that work best for them. Milani says that people should look into the chemicals that make up the products they use and think about what they might be exposing themselves and others to. This crucial work is only the first step toward better understanding the health and environmental implications of PCP use, but there are steps the public can take in the meantime. Milani hopes that her work will allow researchers across the globe to begin detecting this compound and use it to better understand how PCPs can affect air quality in both urban and rural environments. The health and environmental impacts of PCP use are not yet fully understood, but this work will help provide a new way for researchers to begin tracing and assessing those impacts. Graphical Abstract from ScienceDirect article D 4TOH is the oxidation product of D 5, one of the most prominent methyl siloxanes found in PCPs, according to the group’s new article. These chemicals can quickly evaporate into the atmosphere after they are applied, and Milani’s group worked on identifying a secondary aerosol tracer called D 4TOH in urban environments like Houston and Atlanta to better understand the impact of pollution from PCPs. University of Iowa undergraduate Alissia Milani recently led a group of researchers in discovering a new compound in the atmosphere that can help track the effects of personal care products (PCPs) on air quality.Ĭommon PCPs, like antiperspirants, shampoos and hairspray, contain colorless and odorless chemicals called cyclic volatile methyl siloxanes.
