The state’s only environmental nonprofit organization with a science team, we seek to understand the science behind the issues that affect our health and environment.
Our science department supports the work and mission of Clean Wisconsin through a broad range of research and technical services and keeps us on the forefront of key environmental issues confronting our state.
Human Health Impacts of Pollution
We know exposure to pollution in our air, water and food can have devastating impacts on our bodies. Clean Wisconsin is beginning important research to identify pollution hotspots in Wisconsin, understand exposure routes, and connect public health harms.
The work ahead
Eventually, this work will detail the real, human cost of pollution across our state, whether it’s increased asthma rates, heart attacks and strokes caused by air pollution in our cities, or greater cancer risks in rural areas with drinking water contamination. Quantifying the public health cost of pollution will be a powerful tool in the fight for clean air, clean water and healthy communities.
Join us on this important journey
You can find our latest research briefs posted here on the Science and Research page. The briefs provide an overview of the many pollution issues facing Wisconsin. Once we have a complete picture of the issues, Clean Wisconsin will begin the important work of connecting contamination data with health data, solidifying the relationship between pollution and public health harms. Please join us on this important journey.
Latest Science News
Environmental Health Briefs
Neonicotinoids and Human Health
Neonicotinoids are a class of pesticide widely used in Wisconsin to control insects on farm fields, residential lawns and gardens, and for flea and tick prevention in pets. Previously thought to pose no risk to humans, there is increasing evidence that neonicotinoids may have harmful health effects.
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Drinking Water Violations Within Wisconsin’s Public Water Systems
Everyone deserves clean, safe drinking water. In Wisconsin, about two-thirds of people get their drinking water from public water systems. Here we explore health-based violations in public water systems to better understand how common health-based violations are at public water systems in Wisconsin, which contaminants have been found at unsafe levels, and what violations are most common.
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Health Benefits of Clean Energy in Wisconsin
There are important health benefits from renewable energy development. Electricity generation in Wisconsin is currently dominated by coal and methane gas, both of which release harmful air pollutants in addition to climate-warming carbon dioxide. In contrast, wind and solar produce no emissions while generating electricity, and there are little established direct health effects from the solar panels or wind turbines.
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Microplastics in Our Bodies: Exposure & Potential Health Harms
Micro- and nanoplastics — small plastic particles — are ubiquitous in the environment. This includes the water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe. Due to this exposure, microplastics have been found in numerous human organs and tissues. Little is known about the health effects of microplastics in our body, but there are three primary concerns.
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Informing Effective Place-Based Interventions: Assessing Drivers of Environmental Burden in Wisconsin
Different Wisconsin communities face different environmental quality challenges and exposures that drive inequitable pollution exposures. In order to effectively address environmental drivers of health disparities, it is important to understand community-specific challenges and opportunities.
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Assessing Environmental Burden in Wisconsin
Environmental quality is an important determinant of community health via the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land we play on. Here, we explore what picture of environmental health burden that two existing Environmental Health Indices show for Wisconsin.
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More Research
Fact-based scientific research underpins all of our work. Clean Wisconsin has been involved in a number of studies looking at the impact of pollutants on our health and our environment. We also provide expert testimony and analysis to educate lawmakers and the public on environmental issues.
Integrating solar into conventional farmland can have a positive impact on the health of the environment nearby, according to a new analysis from Clean Wisconsin.
Analysis of the variety of ways Wisconsin communities have used environmental impact fees from transmission projects.
Analysis of satellite imagery showing monthly concentrations of ammonia air pollution in Wisconsin.
Analyzing fine particulate matter (PM) exposure from different sources for different racial-ethnic groups in Wisconsin.
Evaluating PAH concentrations and source identification for river and lakebed sediments in and upstream of three smaller Wisconsin municipalities: Eau Claire (Eau Claire River), Stevens Point (Plover River), and Racine (Root River)
Analysis finding that EPA’s proposed power plant rules will bring nearly $50 million in healthcare-related benefits for Wisconsin.
Land use analysis comparing energy production per acre for corn ethanol and solar arrays.
Evaluating nitrate-attributable disease cases and adverse birth outcomes as well as their economic costs for Wisconsin.
Investigating the sources of Molybdenum in drinking-water wells from shallow aquifers in a region of widespread coal combustion residue disposal in southeastern Wisconsin.
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