Environmental Health

University of Cambridge researchers reported Tuesday in Nature Microbiology that 168 common chemicals—from pesticides and plastic additives to flame retardants—can inhibit beneficial human gut bacteria. The team screened 1,076 contaminants against 22 bacterial species and built a machine‑learning model to predict microbiome toxicity, noting exposures can occur via food, water and environmental contact while calling for real‑world exposure data and microbiome safety testing of consumer chemicals.