Red state AG to rebuff judge who ordered halt to immigration enforcement

EXCLUSIVE: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier will rebut a judge’s demand that his office order state law enforcement to halt enforcement of a state immigration law she ordered paused under suspicion of unconstitutionality.

The law allows for misdemeanor charges against illegal immigrants who enter Florida and hope to avoid federal immigration officials.

“The judge wants me to put my stamp of approval on an order prohibiting all state law enforcement from enforcing Florida’s immigration laws when no law enforcement are party to the lawsuit,” he said, as the ACLU’s suit is being adjudicated before Obama-appointed Miami federal judge Kathleen Williams.

“I’m just not going to do that. We believe the court has overstepped and lacks jurisdiction there, and I will not tell law enforcement to stop fulfilling their constitutional duties,” Uthmeier, who is being threatened with contempt actions, told Fox News Digital.

“I do not believe an AG should be held in contempt for respecting the rule of law and appropriate separation of powers. The ACLU is dead set on obstructing President Donald Trump’s efforts to detain and deport illegals, and we are going to fight back. We will vigorously defend our laws and advance President Trump’s agenda on illegal immigration.”

FLORIDA AG LAUNCHES OFFICE OF PARENTAL RIGHTS, LENDING LEGAL FIREPOWER TO DFEEND PARENTS’ ‘GOD-GIVEN RIGHT’

The lawsuit that spurred the injunction alleges Florida’s law violates the Supremacy Clause that designates federal laws and authorities as taking precedence over state laws.

Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, told the AP that politicians in Tallahassee “tried to turn fear into policy and made it a crime simply to exist as an immigrant in this state.”

“The court rightly reminded them: immigration enforcement is a job for the federal government, not a political weapon for states to use,” Jackson said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Uthmeier asked the court to let FHP continue to enforce the law, after Williams was reportedly enraged that arrests continued to occur as the law awaits appeal in Atlanta’s 11th Circuit.

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO STOP ENFORCING NEW IMMIGRATION LAW

“That law does nothing more than exercise Florida’s inherent sovereign authority to protect its citizens by aiding the enforcement of federal immigration law,” Uthmeier wrote Wednesday.

That circumstance was precipitated by an April 23 memo from Uthmeier to FHP, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, sheriffs and police chiefs, in which he wrote that Williams was incorrect in asserting all Florida law enforcement agencies were bound by the order.

“I explained that I believed her after-the-fact expansion of her order to nonparties was wrong, and that my office would be arguing as much in short order. Today, my office filed a brief explaining why her order cannot possibly restrain Florida’s law enforcement agencies from enforcing Florida Statutes Sections 811.102 and 811.103. We will continue to argue that position—including on appeal as soon as possible,” Uthmeier wrote in the memo, obtained by Fox News Digital.

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Uthmeier told the agencies that Williams ordered him to inform them of the “evolving scope” of the order, but added he cannot prevent them from enforcing the new law.

Williams said Tuesday she planned to issue a preliminary injunction against the statute, adding that she was “surprised and shocked” by Uthmeier’s actions. 

“What I am offended by is someone suggesting you don’t have to follow my order, that it’s not legitimate,” Williams said.

A source familiar with the situation said the memo was sent after FHP was added to the court order despite plaintiffs not expressly including the police force in their original filing; suggesting that state police would not be party to any injunction in that case.

If Uthmeier were to be brought before the judge, the court would likely need the assistance of U.S. Marshal Greg Leljedal of the Northern District of Florida.

A Thursday tweet from Uthmeier showed the two men smiling in his office, with the AG commenting on their “great meeting.”

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DOGE employee drops truth bomb about extensive fraud in government

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee nicknamed “Big Balls” told Fox News on Thursday how he got his moniker and detailed his department’s latest findings about government fraud.

In an interview with Fox News anchor Jesse Watters, the DOGE employee — whose real name is Edward Coristine — disclosed that his nickname originally came from his LinkedIn social media account.

“I use it as my LinkedIn username,” Coristine told Watters, prompting laughter from the host as well as DOGE leader Elon Musk and the rest of his team at the interview.

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“Well, people on LinkedIn take themselves super seriously, and they’re pretty averse to risk, and I was like, ‘Well, I want to be neither of those things.’ So I just, I set it and honestly, I didn’t think anybody would notice,” the DOGE employee continued, mocking the career-focused social media platform.

Musk piled on, stating, “LinkedIn is so cringe.”

Coristine, a 19-year-old college student and software developer, drew ire from Democrats and liberal media pundits during DOGE’s first few weeks of investigating wasteful and fraudulent spending in the federal government. Many were upset over the young, irreverently named government employee being given access to government records to pursue DOGE’s work.

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Watters asked Coristine about his latest work within DOGE and what he’d uncovered. He said that he’s been looking through U.S. Treasury Department payment computers and finding a multitude of outgoing payments from the federal government that include no details about who they’re going to and why.

“So one of our initiatives is to root out fraud and waste, and to do that we started looking at the payment computers. And, as mentioned earlier, there’s no accounting of what payments actually go to in the payment computer,” he said.

Coristine continued, “You look at a specific line item — $20 million. You’re like, ‘OK, what is this money going to?’ And for the majority of payment systems, it’s like, ‘Well, we don’t really know.’”

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He went on to say that the system that distributes government or taxpayer money “literally has no checks and no accountability to the actual American taxpayer. So it’s a huge vector for fraud, waste, and abuse.”

The U.S. Treasury Department and DOGE discovered earlier this week that hundreds of millions of dollars in improper payment requests were identified after the Treasury went live with its first automated payment system last week.

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The system found $334 million in improper payment requests that were flagged because of missing budget codes, invalid budget codes and budget codes without authorization.

Gun training courses surge in popularity: ‘People don’t want to be victims anymore’

Crime, defunding police, fear of uncertainty and unrest after natural disasters or another pandemic are fueling gun ownership and interest in gun schools.

“There’s a lot of things, a lot of chaos that happens, especially like big cities, and, you know, people don’t want to be the victim anymore,” says Eric Stieber, attending a week-long handgun class at Gunsite Academy, a massive gun training school near Prescott, Arizona.  

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More than 40% of US households have a gun and Americans buy more guns every year than new cars. But owning a gun isn’t the same as knowing how to use it. 

“If you buy a piano, you’re not Billy Joel. If you buy a gun, you’re not Wyatt Earp. If you buy a gun, you need to practice,” says Kevin Regan, a Maryland real estate executive. 

“The number one takeaway I got from this experience is – don’t go out and buy a gun and just go down to the shooting range and think that you’re trained, because you are not,” says Texas trauma surgeon Bill Morgan.

Morgan had just finished 10 minutes inside an indoor simulator known as the Playhouse, a concrete block house where students face cardboard targets in virtually every room. Some carry a gun, others carry a purse or a beer in their hand. Students are expected to clear the house – shoot the bad guys and spare the innocent. Miami investor Ari Paul said it’s more stressful than it appears.

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“I live in Florida, where I think something like a third of all households have a firearm. So it’s not a terrible skill to have,” he says. “No one should buy a firearm unless they were prepared to train intensely and treat it seriously. Because I think without proper training, you’re more likely to do harm than good.”

Training includes shooting human silhouettes that spin on a wooden frame. Students are given a few seconds to land shots to the head and heart from 3, 5, 10 and 15 yards.

They also navigate a ravine with about a dozen hidden steel targets and are expected to nail it in the first two shots.  

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This part was fun,” said Arizona chef Eric Stieber. “But there’s all the things you have to think about of real life situations, of it’s not going to be a steel target. It’s going to be a human being behind that. And that’s a lot of responsibility to take with you.”

It’s not just handguns. Gunsite owner Buz Mills added combat tactics with AR-15 and bolt-action rifles. More than 10% of students are women. 

“I think there are a lot more, especially women who are interested in shooting and handguns and protecting themselves,” says retiree Cindy Hartin.

“I’m a little cautious when I mention it to friends and family, but most people are really excited to hear and ask me lots of questions.”

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That’s different from 10 or even 20 years ago when Mills says there was more of a stigma attached with gun ownership. Today, that isn’t so much the case in most of America, where Supreme Court decisions and state laws are more friendly to gun rights.

“Are people in general, becoming more comfortable being associated with firearms than they had in the past?” says Mills. “Yes, and that is absolutely the truth. Because firearms are becoming more mainstream.

Maniac in popular vacation destination allegedly chased kids as he mowed down victims

A South Carolina man intentionally ran over three people on Sullivan’s Island on Thursday afternoon, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital.

Justin Collin Adams has been charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of first-degree aggravated assault for allegedly running over a parent and two children in the Sunrise Presbyterian Church parking lot just before 1 p.m. on Thursday, court records show. 

The arrest affidavit for Adams says that the 36-year-old carjacked his mother at knifepoint and threatened to cut her face before he took control of her vehicle and accelerated towards the playground of the school.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND HIT-AND-RUN: SUSPECT CAPTURED AFTER ALLEGEDLY RUNNING DOWN ADULT, TWO KIDS IN BEACH TOWN

In the playground area, he hit a 12-year-old boy before accelerating at a high rate of speed toward a sidewalk as he “appeared to chase the children as they ran,” according to the affidavit.

He allegedly ran over a teacher, who was thrown over the hood of the vehicle after impact, and then a 10-year-old boy who, was pinned under the vehicle when it struck a curb, deploying the airbags and bringing it to rest. 

Adams then took off on foot. 

Special Services Sgt. Matthew Storen of the Isle of Palms Police Department, which took Adams into custody after a manhunt Thursday evening, told Fox News Digital on Friday that Adams is being held without bond on the attempted murder charges, and on a $100,000 bond on the aggravated assault charge. 

Storen said the motive for the attack remains unknown. 

“We had multiple aerial assets. We had marine units, boats. We knew he was last seen in the area of the marsh,” Storen said of the manhunt. “The helicopter was up in the air. One of the Sullivan’s Island sergeants was in the helicopter to guide the pilot with local knowledge. They were doing low passes.”

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The Sullivan’s Island Police Department and the Isle of Palms Police Department initiated the search for Adams, but state and federal law enforcement entities offered their support. 

Those agencies included the Sullivan’s Island Police Department, the FBI, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the U.S. Marshals Service. 

Storen said authorities identified Adams by the red shirt he was wearing, and that a helicopter had gotten a glimpse of him attempting to hide under a boat cover of a docked boat. 

“That arrest team made up of K-9 units, SWAT team officers and regular officers – as they moved in down the dock – [they] gave commands. He complied. He was taken into custody without any incident,” Storen said. 

Adams is due back in court on June 13. 

READ THE AFFIDAVIT:

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The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, which has taken over the criminal investigation, did not return a comment request. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Charleston County Clerk of Court. 

Black voters flip the script on CNN when asked if they would vote for Trump again

Three Black voters who voted for President Donald Trump told CNN this week they would still vote for him if they had to do it over again. 

“One thousand percent, absolutely yes,” Kyasia Kraft, a young Black woman, who voted against Trump in 2016 and then for him in 2020, told CNN’s Van Jones in a segment that aired Thursday on “Anderson Cooper 360.” 

Another Black voter, Detra German, who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 but then voted for Trump in 2020, told Jones, who spoke with the voters in South Carolina, that she also would vote for Trump all over again. 

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“Now, in the future, I am not a die-hard Democrat or die-hard Republican,” German said. “If there were a Democratic candidate who was more aligned for me, than I would vote Democrat.” 

The third voter, Seth Dawkins, who wasn’t always a Republican and whose family was “super Democratic,” said that if he were to do it over, he’d still vote for Trump.

“For me, I like the border,” Dawkins said. “I just don‘t like the idea of someone coming here illegally and getting benefits that can serve my community. So that‘s the reason why I support him on that border policy.” 

Trump ran on reforming the crisis at the southern border and has made it a focus of his second presidency. 

Illegal border crossings have dropped dramatically since he took office. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) numbers released for March showed 7,180 recorded illegal crossings, a strong contrast to the monthly average of 155,000 crossings under former President Joe Biden.

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“When you think about the border, you think about people coming here who are getting more help than people who live here, who are born here?” Jones asked Dawkins.

Dawkins told Jones he learned about the border issue from social media. 

“I got that perspective not from news channels, I got it from social media,” Dawkins said. “TikTok is like a holy grail. We even see it with the things that we learn about the United States government outside of the United States. People are showing Americans, hey, look at what‘s going on. Do y‘all know that your government is doing this? Have you seen this? Have you looked at it from this perspective?”

Kraft, who voted against Trump in 2016 but for him in 2020, said that she is “sick and tired of seeing Black people sit there and complain about something,” but not taking steps to make changes.

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Former top Pelosi aide levels staggering public attack against House Dem leader

A former top advisor to ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is not meeting the moment in the current Trump era.

“Trump is just giving us all this incredible red meat. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s like the biggest gift any party has been given by the opposition, and we’re just squandering it, to a degree,” former Pelosi advisor Ashley Etienne told Politico’s Deep Dive podcast. 

Etienne helped Pelosi oversee Democrats’ messaging during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment. She also previously worked for former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.

She said Jeffries was “doing well” in many areas and said she had “a tremendous amount of respect” for the New York Democrat but signaled that he was missing opportunities on anti-Trump messaging.

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“He gave a speech this morning. I don’t have any talking points in my phone about what he said. And I’m going to be doing TV and this interview all day. That’s a failure,” Etienne said.

“How do you get to discipline if you’re not telling people what the hell you want them to say? At least emphatically, at least tonally.”

Jeffries’ allies pushed back against that characterization, pointing out that intraparty friction was taking attention away from Trump’s low poll numbers and Republicans’ policies.

“Donald Trump’s approval ratings are plummeting, and he’s bringing House Republicans down with him. Extreme MAGA Republicans have been forced to delay their plans to advance Trump’s centerpiece legislative priority due to intense backlash against their scheme to enact the largest cuts in history to Medicaid and food assistance. Let’s keep the main thing, the main thing,” Jeffries spokesperson Christiana Stephenson told Fox News Digital.

Just Friday morning, Jeffries released a statement hammering House Republicans for having to delay part of their legislative work to advance Trump’s agenda.

But Etienne’s comments are a notable rebuke from a former senior Democratic leadership aide to one of the party’s most powerful current officials, which comes after months of Democrats being plagued by infighting over messaging woes.

Etienne noted that Democrats had scored several wins on the messaging front, like having “successfully demonized Elon Musk” and Sen. Cory Booker’s recent record-breaking filibuster speech.

But she singled out liberals’ protests during Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress as an “embarrassing” setback for the party and Jeffries.

“If you look at the headlines post-the speech, even during the speech, it was more about Democrats and Democrats protesting rather than what Trump was actually saying. And in those kind of moments, you don’t want to become the story. You want Trump to be the story,” Etienne said.

“And I also thought it was a problem for Mr. Jeffries. I mean, it really says a lot about how people value his leadership. He asked for no protest. And what did they do? They protest 50 different ways.”

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Both Pelosi and Jeffries’ offices told Politico that the latter often seeks the former’s input, and Jeffries’ spokesperson pushed back on Politico’s reporting that House Democratic leaders were seeking to move past Pelosi and that Jeffries was not doing enough to help Democratic groups with messaging. 

One of those groups, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), pushed back on the assertion they were not hearing enough from Jeffries.

PCCC sent out a press release that read, “Today, in a POLITICO article we are not interested in dwelling on, a former Pelosi staffer attacked Hakeem Jeffries. PCCC co-founder Adam Green said, ‘We hear more from Jeffries than we ever heard from Pelosi.’”

Meanwhile, a House Democratic aide told Fox News Digital that Jeffries held “multiple calls” previewing his earlier speech on Trump’s first 100 days in office, as well as talking points “emphasizing the Leader’s message that President Trump’s first 100 days have been a disaster for the American people.”

Stephenson, Jeffries’ spokesperson, also posted on X of Politico’s report, “Can anyone tell me how grandstanding like this is anything other than a gift to Republicans?”

But House Republicans’ elections arm was quick to pounce on the discord as well.

“Hakeem Jeffries is the so-called leader of a team that doesn’t fear him, doesn’t follow him, and now, doesn’t even pretend to respect him,” National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement. 

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And Democratic strategist Julian Epstein, a former chief counsel of the House Judiciary Committee, criticized Jeffries’ leadership but said that Trump was not Democrats’ main problem.

“He’s not a particularly effective speaker, gives no sense of direction or purpose, seems intent on not offending anyone, and has a leadership style that seems extremely passive,” Epstein said.

“The Democrats in the House just seem like a big blob that goes wherever gravity takes them, and right now gravity is taking them to the hard protest left. But no matter who the leader is, if the Democrats are selling a product that voters don’t like, it won’t matter.”

Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Jeremy Renner gets brutally honest about Disney’s ‘insult offer’: ‘Told them to fly a kite’

Jeremy Renner is defending himself against an “insult offer” he claims to have received from Disney.

The actor, who played superhero Hawkeye in several Marvel projects, said in a new interview on the “High Performance” podcast that the company approached him to do a second season of the Disney+ series “Hawkeye,” but they offered him half the amount he made during the first season.

“They asked me to do a season two, and they offered me half the money,” Renner alleged. “And I’m like, wow. It’s going to take me twice the amount of work for half the amount of money. And so eight months of my time, essentially, and I have to do it for half the amount.”

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He continued, “I’m like, ‘Why? ’Cause you think I’m only half the Jeremy ‘cause I got ran over?’”, referring to the Jan. 1, 2023 incident in which a snow plow rolled over him in his driveway, nearly killing him.

Renner clarified, “And this is not Marvel, mind you, this is just Disney – not even really Disney, it’s just the penny pinchers, the accountants. I told them to go fly a kite, I mean just at the insult offer. So we didn’t see eye to eye on that.”

The “Avengers” star maintained that he still loves the character and that he would enjoy reprising the role, but he insisted he “had to defend myself.”

“I didn’t ask for any more money, mind you,” Renner said. “It’s just ‘pay me what I made the first season.’ So it’s a little disheartening that that didn’t happen, but that’s fine. I’m happy to let that go because my body’s probably thanking me, time and time again, that I’m not doing it right now.”

Disney did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, though the company did dispute Renner’s claims to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Hawkeye” premiered on Disney+ in November 2021. The miniseries ran for six episodes and was generally well-received. Renner also played the character in several “Avengers” movies, as well as in “Captain America: Civil War.”

“Avengers: Doomsday,” the next chapter in the popular Marvel film series, is set to release in May 2026. Renner has not officially been confirmed to be part of the cast at this time.

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The actor is currently promoting his new book, “My Next Breath,” a memoir about his 2023 near-death experience.

“As I lay on the ice, my heart rate slowed, and right there, on that New Year’s Day, unknown to my daughter, my sisters, my friends, my father, my mother, I just got tired,” Renner wrote in the book, per Us Weekly.  “After about 30 minutes on the ice, of breathing manually for so long, an effort akin to doing 10 or 20 push-ups per minute for half an hour … that’s when I died.”

“I died, right there on the driveway to my house.”

“I know I died — in fact, I’m sure of it,” he wrote.

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Renner noted that the EMTs said his “heart rate had bottomed out at 18.” 

“This was basically dead,” Renner, who said he was at “an exhilarating peace,” wrote. 

“When I died, what I felt was energy, a constantly connected, beautiful and fantastic energy,” he added. “There was no time, place, or space, and nothing to see, except a kind of electric, two-way vision made from strands of that inconceivable energy.”

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“I could see my lifetime. I could see everything all at once,” he added. “In death there was no time, no time at all, yet it was also all time and forever.”

Donations pour in for ex-college football player who flipped over wall at MLB game

A GoFundMe has begun in efforts to help pay for medical expenses for the 20-year-old man who fell from the stands of a Pittsburgh Pirates game this week.

Kavan Markwood, a former college football player, was identified as the man who fell more than 20 feet onto the right-field warning track.

Markwood flipped over the wall’s railing and fell onto the field in a game between the Pirates and Chicago Cubs. 

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Play stopped immediately as medical staff sprinted to the outfield to find a shirtless Markwood motionless on the warning track’s dirt with blood visible on his face. Both teams’ trainers joined EMS to get him onto a cart and off the field. 

Pittsburgh Public Safety said later Wednesday that the fan was in critical condition.

A woman identified as Jennifer Phillips is listed as the organizer of the fundraiser.

“I am writing this today with a heavy heart but also with hope,” Phillips wrote. “Our society has made it so easy to judge an individual or a situation with social media which is always just an opinion. Please always remember that this individual may be very special to many other people . Can you imagine what their loved ones are going through and felling? [sic] I know this young man very well and I know that he is very strong but he is also battling for his young life. Please be considerate during this tragic time.”

Phillips said the donations will “assist with any medical bills and financial hardships that this family is experiencing right now.”

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Pirates star Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double to put the team up 4-3 in the bottom of the inning when players from his team frantically tried to alert umpires and security that the fan was on the warning track. 

The game was paused for about 10 minutes as medical personnel arrived. The fan was placed onto a backboard, loaded onto a medical cart and taken out of the stadium.

A graphic video posted to social media showed the fan tumbling over the railing and dropping about 20 feet to the ground. The TV broadcast showed McCutchen standing on second base with his hand over his head and in shock. Cubs players took a knee while the fan was being attended to.

Markwood played for two Division II football programs, Walsh University and Wheeling University. He played at Wheeling in 2023, appearing in four games, according to the team’s site.

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“Truly hate what happened tonight,” McCutchen wrote on social media. “Cant help but think about that guy, his family and friends. I pray tonight for him. Let us think about his loved ones and hug our families a little tighter tonight. I hope he pulls thru. May God Bless you all. Good night.”

Common household products linked to heart disease deaths, frightening study finds

Chemicals found in plastics have been linked to a multitude of health risks — and now heart disease mortality has been added to the list.

In an analysis of population surveys, researchers at NYU Langone Health discovered that daily exposure to chemicals in common household items could have been a factor in more than 356,000 heart disease deaths in 2018 alone.

That number equates to more than 13% of heart disease-related deaths worldwide for people between 55 and 64 years of age.

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The study, which was published in the journal Lancet eBioMedicine on April 29, explored the risks of chemicals called phthalates, which are found in cosmetics, detergents, solvents, plastic pipes, bug repellents and other products, according to an NYU press release.

In this research, the focus was a specific type of phthalate called di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), which is used to make softer, more flexible plastics like food containers and medical equipment, the release stated. 

DEHP has been linked to inflammation in the arteries of the heart, making people more susceptible to heart attack or stroke.

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To determine levels of DEHP exposure, the researchers analyzed dozens of population surveys spanning 200 countries and territories.

Mortality data was obtained from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a research group in the U.S. that collects medical information worldwide to identify trends in public health.

“Our results underscore the urgent need for global regulations to reduce exposure to these toxins.”

“By highlighting the connection between phthalates and a leading cause of death across the world, our findings add to the vast body of evidence that these chemicals present a tremendous danger to human health,” said study lead author Sara Hyman, BS, an associate research scientist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in the release.

The regions with the highest heart disease death tolls linked to phthalates include the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific.

“Our results underscore the urgent need for global regulations to reduce exposure to these toxins, especially in areas most affected by rapid industrialization and plastic consumption,” said senior study author Dr. Trasande, the Jim G. Hendrick, MD, professor of pediatrics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in the release.

Inflammation is a known cause of coronary artery disease, according to Dr. Jasdeep Dalawari, an Illinois-based interventional cardiologist and regional chief medical officer at VitalSolution, an Ingenovis Health company.

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“Our bodies release chemicals and hormones that give directions to the artery to open, close or change diameter,” Dalawari, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.

“This study suggests that microplastics may interfere with those internal signals, so the artery doesn’t perform the way it should.”

“Microplastics are widely present in a variety of products we use every day, and it’s crucial to understand their long-term effects on human health,” he added.

Renato Apolito, M.D., medical director of cardiac catheterization at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center, agreed that manmade plastic products have long been known and suspected to be health risks. 

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“These often use highly engineered chemicals where the goal is not quality and safety, but instead cost-effectiveness and convenience,” Apolito, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. 

The doctor shared that he stopped using non-stick pans long ago, and mostly uses glass storage and avoids eating and drinking from plastic containers.

Limitations and future research

Apolito noted, however, that the “longitudinal and observational” nature of the study comes with limitations.

“It is generally used to see if there’s any correlation between exposure and health risk, which is then used to study the topic further in a more controlled fashion,” Apolito, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. 

“It cannot control for unidentified variations in lifestyles among the people followed.”

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Senior author Trasande also pointed out the potential limitations.

The analysis does not establish that DEHP caused heart disease and that higher death risks did not take into account other types of phthalates, he stated.

The study also did not include death rates in other age groups, the doctor pointed out, which means the overall death toll is “likely much higher.”

Looking ahead, the researchers plan to investigate how reducing phthalate exposure affects mortality rates. 

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They will also measure the chemical’s potential role in other health concerns.

“These studies are typically what are used to study the next step of elucidating cause and effect,” Apolito said. “This can lead to the FDA and other policymakers banning or outlawing the use of such products.”  

“Microplastics are widely present in a variety of products we use every day, and it’s crucial to understand their long-term effects on human health.”

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Dalawari suggested that the researchers may want to look at other contributing factors, including air pollution, which has proven to be a “novel non-traditional risk factor” for coronary disease.

“The intersection of pollution, regulation and genetic predisposition provides a complex landscape, and further research is necessary to unravel these connections, paving the way for more informed public health policies and preventive measures,” he added.