According to a new study from researchers at the University of Ottawa and Columbia University, when outdoor air pollution levels rise in Manhattan, stock prices fall.

The study tracked the S&P 500 index, the most widely cited New York Stock Exchange benchmark, over a 15-year period and compared its returns with hourly measures of fine particulate matter in lower Manhattan, where the NYSE is based.

The one standard deviation increase in air pollution decreases returns by 11.9 percent, or what the researchers deemed a “substantial effect on daily NYSE returns.”

“We hypothesize that pollution decreases the risk attitudes of investors via short-term changes in brain and/or physical health.”

CBS MONEY WATCH: Why Investors May Want to Keep Tabs on Air Pollution

THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH: The Effect of Air Pollution on Invetor Behavior: Evidence from the S&P 500

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In the past it was thought that children and elderly people were at greatest risk for heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure.

But a new study suggests that even healthy people in their twenties are being harmed by particles found in air pollution.

In the new study, a group of 72 people with an average age of 23, from the city of Provo in Utah, provided blood samples during the winters of 2013, 2014 and 2015. When air pollution rose, the scientists found that the number of fragments of dead cells in their bloodstream increased.

One researcher said there appeared to be a significant effect on the health of young adults. “ These findings suggest that living in a polluted environment could promote the development of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke more pervasively and at an earlier stage than previously thought.”

“Although we have known for some time that air pollution can trigger heart attacks or strokes in susceptible, high-risk individuals, the finding that it could also affect even seemingly healthy individuals suggests that increased levels of air pollution are of concern to all of us, not just the sick or the elderly.”

INDEPENDENT: Air pollution damages arteries of even healthy young adults, new study shows

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The Breast Cancer Fund has a new report on toxic chemicals in make-up marketed to kids, including make-up used for Halloween.

I know I’m a day late for this Halloween, but all this is good to know for next Halloween and any time of year that face painting comes to mind.

Pretty Scary 2 goes beyond looking a labels and had kid’s cosmetics lab tested.

Here are some of the chemicals they found:

Seven different VOCs were found, four having the potential to lead to serious long-term health care effects:

• Toluene, a reproductive toxicant
• Styrene, a probable carcinogen and endocrine disruption compound
• Ethylbenzene, a possible carcinogen
• Vinyl acetate, another possible carcinogen

In addition they found

• fragrances
• heavy metals lead, cadmium, arsenic, and chromium
• toluene
• parabens
• formaldehyde
• ethoxylated ingredients

This comprehensive report covers insufficient regulations, what you can find on the label and what thy cab’t, and much more.

After reading this I went searching for safe face paints. After reading some descriptions of so-called “nontoxic” and “natural” face paints I decided this needed more research before I could recommend them.

But I will give you a link to How To Make Face Paint With Natural Ingredients, which is what I would do for face paint.

Face painting is fun! Just use a safe face paint.

BREAST CANCER FUND: Pretty Scary 2

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Microfibers from the washing of synthetic clothing are part of the larger problem of microplastic pollution in natural waterways. Much thinner than a strand of hair, these tiny pieces of plastic are shed by every garment made with synthetic materials when they are washed in a washing machine.

“I surveyed thousands and thousands of kilometers of ocean. We found microfibers in nearly 90 percent of the samples, and in every sample we found fibers, they were the majority of particles we identified,” said Amy Lusher, a British-based microplastics researcher and a co-author of a 2014 study of microplastic pollution in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean.

Does this affect the environment or our own personal health? Researchers are still trying to determine what effects might climb up the food chain and affect humans eating seafood and our drinking water.

Studies have found that a single synthetic garment can release from up to 700,00 microfibers each.

The solution? Researchers are working to develop a “microfiber catcher” that consumers will be able to throw into their washing machines, trapping the fibers inside the appliance rather than sending them out to sea in wastewater.

I suggest we all wear biodegradable natural fibers instead.

THE WASHINGTON POST: Are Synthetic Fleece and Other Types of Clothing Harming Our Water?
 

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