Please check the CHE-WA website to stay abreast of the latest postings, news and events: http://washington.chenw.org.
To join the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) and CHE-Washington, please complete the form at http://www.healthandenvironment.org/roles/register?&phase=registerform. Be sure to mark that you want to join the Washington State Regional Group at the bottom of the application.
CHE-WA's next quarterly meeting is scheduled for 2:00-5:00 p.m. Thursday, January 4, 2007, at Antioch University in Seattle. The focus of this meeting will be climate change and health, featuring presentations on the current science, health implications, economic implications and policy opportunities. The formal presentations will end by 3:45 p.m., and then from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. there will be an additional discussion among those who would like to explore developing and implementing a concrete initiative to address these issues. A more detailed agenda will be available closer to the time.
The fourth annual environmental health lecture series entitled, "Our Health, Our Environment: Making the Link," is planned for 2007. The series, sponsored by the Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation and organized by the Institute for Children's Environmental Health, will include one lecture each month January through April:
All lectures will be held at Seattle Town Hall from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., preceded by a reception from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. For more information and to purchase admission, please visit http://washington.chenw.org/lectures.html.
December 13, 2006
9:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Seattle, Washington
at the Bertha Knight Landes Room, Seattle City Hall (5th and James)
We've all become aware that the world built around us affects our health beyond the reach of personal lifestyle choices. With land use policies, designs and plans influencing individual and community health, it is more important than ever to better integrate planning processes and public health. But how can we determine what is healthiest for the community and the people in it? Health Impact Assessments (HIA) are used around the world to promote health and prevent illness. Come and learn about the Health Impact Assessment process and how it can promote and improve healthy places for all people. Our guest speakers are co-founders of Healthy Development, Inc., which focuses on the relationship between development and human health. The speakers provide science-based planning and decision-making tools related to the health, social and economic impacts of energy, land and water development. They will address the audience on their 25 years of experience in public health research, environmental land use and community development policy work and their use of Health Impact Assessments.
Contact: Julie West at 206-205-4396 or Julie.West@metrokc.gov
CHE-Washington welcomes these new members:
For a searchable database of organizations with which CHE-WA members are affiliated, please visit http://washington.chenw.org/members.html.
by Valerie Strauss, Washington Post
December 5, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/04/AR2006120400983.html
Leonard Turkel couldn't believe his ears when he learned what happened to the results of eye screenings of thousands of Miami-Dade County public school students. Although the tests are mandated by the state, the businessman-turned-philanthropist discovered that nobody was actually using the scores to ensure that kids could see the blackboard in class. Today, a vision-laboratory-in-a-bus assembled by Turkel pulls up to schools in low-income neighborhoods, not only providing vision tests for children but also ensuring that glasses, when needed, are made to specifications and delivered within days -- all for free. The results, school principals say, are remarkable: Many of the kids -- and in some schools it can be as much as half of the student population -- who wear the glasses show improvement in attendance, focus and achievement. Their behavior often improves, too.
Article Summary: Physical and mental health problems that can leave a student unable to fully participate in even the best academic program seem to be overlooked in the debate about school reform. In urban school systems across the country, children who live in poverty suffer from higher rates of health problems -- asthma, malnutrition, obesity and mental disorders -- than the more affluent, and the academic consequences are very real, according to researchers who have studied how health affects academic achievement. Many educators hope health factors are given more attention is assessments.
by Matt McKinney, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
December 5, 2006
http://www.startribune.com/535/story/848547.html
Article Summary: Residues of pesticides on fruits and vegetables are very small, and most experts say the apples are safe to eat. But a vocal minority insists that the traces found on fruits and vegetables pose a threat to human health. The Food Quality Protection Act, meant to answer critics' questions about pesticides, ordered a 10-year study, which concludes next year. It has covered some 1,100 pesticides and nearly 10,000 "tolerances," or maximum allowed amounts, of pesticides on various crops. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has nearly finished the task, approving 5,237 existing tolerances, modifying 1,200 others and revoking 3,200. The revocations mean that of the many possible combinations of pesticides and crops, 3,200 will no longer be allowed. (Some of the tolerances were canceled because no residues were expected, say for meat, milk and poultry.) The act has generally moved agriculture and the pesticides industry away from the more toxic family of organophosphates toward less toxic alternatives, said Chuck Stroebel of the Minnesota Department of Health. In reducing the use of pesticides, many farmers are adopting a method known as Integrated Pest Management. However, scientists argue that pesticide use is imperative to maintain both the quantity and low cost of our food supply.
Researchers took extra care to consider the effects pesticides may have on infants and gave the EPA broad authority to study pesticides -- everything from herbicides used on commercial farms to single cans of bug spray sold for use in the home. The result has made our food supply safer for children than it was 10 years ago, particularly for children and pregnant women. Biological contaminations such as E. coli now present a larger threat than chemical residues. However, David Wallinga, a doctor and director of the food and health program at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, said the Food Quality Protection Act hasn't lived up to its promise: "The process that regulators use to estimate how people are impacted by pesticide exposure has not caught up with real life, where we know people are exposed to dozens if not hundreds of chemicals."
by Lidia Wasowicz, UPI
December 4, 2006
http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20061203-074024-3219r
SAN FRANCISCO -- Most mainstream scientists think there is a strong genetic component to autism that determines who will fall and who will stand strong in an encounter with an environmental health hazard. In studies that give credence to the notion of autism arising from a nature-nurture nexus, Dr. Martha Herbert at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and colleagues found at least 51 overlapping genes that appear on two lists of suspects: those thought to raise the risk for the disorder and those that seem to increase the susceptibility to environmental exposures. In addition, they noted children with autism spectrum disorders who had alterations in one or more of these 51 genes were likely to show a changed sensitivity to any toxins in their surroundings. The ASD umbrella covers an array of conditions united by three main characteristics -- varying degrees of difficulty in socializing, communicating and imagining -- that typically appear before age 3, according to the official definition in the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual.
Article Summary: The interplay of as-yet-unidentified genes and environmental triggers may explain most of the wide variation in autism's manifestation, from near normal functioning in most settings to impairing disability, scientists speculate. The heritability of autism approaches 90 percent. A consortium of federal agencies and parent-founded advocacy groups has dedicated more than $10 million for genetic investigations of the disorder in the hope that genes will provide some instructions on ways to prevent, treat and maybe even cure disorders like autism. Genetic susceptibility to autism need not necessarily translate to the development of the disorder, while a healthy hereditary history may not guarantee immunity to it, scientists said. But genes cannot be left out of the equation in the vast majority of cases. Other family ties in autism also are coming to light with increased identification of the disorder in parents by way of their offspring, researchers said.
by Lisa Stiffler, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
December 4, 2006
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/294599_nailsalon04.html
Article Summary: The products that lacquer your toenails fire-engine red or make your fingernails luxuriously long and shapely can contain chemicals that are suspected or known to cause cancer and birth defects. For many dangerous ingredients, the long-term effects -- five, 10, even 20 years after exposure -- are unclear. Yet there are limited safeguards for nail salon workers and their customers. Led by the EPA, local and state health officials, along with Seattle environmental and community activists, began meeting in July to learn more about the risks and to devise ways to better protect manicurists and their clients. The group will continue meeting next year. Participants plan to monitor air quality in salons and to increase their educational outreach. The Community Coalition for Environmental Justice has joined with the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle to try to win grant money from the EPA to pay for better public education for salons. Nail-product manufacturers and some regulatory agencies say that workers and customers are not at risk from the chemicals, maintaining that the ingredient dibutyl phthalate as used in their products does not pose a threat to humans. The Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for regulating the safety of cosmetics, agrees, but their approach to cosmetic regulation is largely hands-off. The European Union banned the use of dibutyl phthalates in makeup in 2004. The chemical is easily absorbed through the skin and intestinal tract and can cross the placenta into the fetus. It has been linked to development problems in the male genitals of humans and rats. Exposed pregnant rodents had fewer live pups and smaller offspring. In response to the European ban, some companies have agreed to eliminate the ingredient so they can have one worldwide formula.
by Scott Streater, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
December 4, 2006
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/16160154.htm
Article Summary: Chemical flame retardants called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are used extensively in a host of household products and are commonly found in food and dust. Animal studies have found that the compounds can cause reproductive and neurological problems, disrupt hormonal balance and increase the risk of certain types of cancers. Unfortunately, the compounds don't stay in the seat cushions and computer wires where they're added to prevent fires. Instead, they appear to be leaching into the environment. They're in people, fish, sediment, polar bears, herring gull eggs -- everywhere. PBDEs can pass from a woman to her baby through breast milk. And they're relatively stable in the environment: they don't degrade very fast. The chemical industry, however, says that just because flame retardants are being found in people does not mean any harm is being done. Still, U.S. manufacturers have voluntarily pulled two toxic PBDEs from production, and some manufacturers, including IKEA, Volvo, IBM, Sony, Shaw Inc., Ford, Dell, Serta and Herman Miller, have committed to discontinue using them. But even if all companies stopped manufacturing flame retardants today, it would be decades before they disappeared. It's in homes, offices, landfills and the natural environment. Levels of chemical flame retardants in people are rising sharply and have been since widespread use began in the 1970s. Levels are highest in Americans. The flame retardants get into humans through food and dust. Health experts fear that children are the most susceptible.
There are three designations of widely used PBDEs: penta, octa and deca, named for the number of bromine atoms in each molecule. Penta and octa have been found to be the most hazardous to health, although deca has been found to cause cancer in laboratory rats exposed to very high levels. New evidence suggests that in the body and environment, the deca PBDE degrades into the more toxic penta and octa forms.
by David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post
December 4, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/03/AR2006120300992.html
Growing evidence that chemicals in the environment can interfere with animals' hormone systems -- including the discovery that male Potomac River fish are growing eggs -- has focused the attention of environmentalists and scientists on a new question: Are humans also at risk?
Article Summary: Scientists and lawmakers have recently become more concerned about pollutants in the environment that appear to interfere with natural hormone systems. A few of the most widely known examples: bisphenol A, phthalates and treated sewage that includes natural hormones excreted by humans and artificial hormones such as those in birth-control pills. These chemicals have been linked to troubling changes in laboratory rodents and wild animals, including reproductive defects, immune-system alterations and obesity. For now, no connections to human ailments have been proved. But some studies have provided hints that people might be affected by crossed hormones, and activists wonder if this kind of pollution could contribute to diabetes, birth defects and infertility. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments is planning to host a public forum about hormone-disrupting pollution this spring. U.S. Reps. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) have said they plan to press the Environmental Protection Agency about its failure to develop a program to test chemicals for hormone-like effects, as ordered by Congress in 1996.
The revelation that some chemicals were turning on hormone switches in the body's endocrine system that trigger biological processes, while others blocked the switches so natural hormones couldn't get through, meant that a pollutant could be harmful even if it wasn't poisonous and didn't cause cancer. Even small doses could cause major damage, if they came at a key time when hormones were guiding pregnancy or early development. Despite the wealth of studies in animals, the implications for human health are unclear. Even though there are indications of "undermasculinization" of boys born to mothers with higher phthalate levels, it is exceedingly hard to craft a study that shows a particular chemical caused a particular problem, and not genetics, diet or some other factor. "They're nowhere near cause-and-effect," L. Earl Gray Jr., a senior research biologist at the EPA, said of human studies. Some activists fear that damage is already being done. They caution avoiding plastic baby bottles, which could contain bisphenol A, and reducing consumption of animal fat, where some environmental pollutants can concentrate.
by Scott Streater, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
December 3, 2006
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/16155354.htm
Article Summary: Creators of new chemicals need only apply to the Environmental Protection Agency's new chemicals program and wait up to 90 days for EPA's staff to review the application to determine whether the chemical poses a risk to human health or the environment. Manufacturers are not required to test chemicals for health effects unless evidence already exists of potential harm. Nor do they have to develop computer models that demonstrate what happens to a chemical once it enters the environment, how long it stays in the air or soil or whether it could get into people. If problems are discovered after it is in widespread use, it's up to the EPA to prove that the chemical is to blame. If the manufacturer find a problem, they are required to tell the government. The whole regulatory system is set up to keep manufacturers competitive in a global economy. Steve Russell, a senior director at the American Chemistry Council, said that the US has new chemical introductions at a rate four times greater than Europe. Many medical researchers, health experts and even regulators within the EPA are concerned about whether this system regulates toxic chemicals in a way that adequately protects people. They question why the burden is on the public, not industry, to ensure that chemicals in production are safe. With over 82,000 chemicals in commercial use and very little information on their potential health effects, there are a lot of unknowns. Paul Rubin, a professor of economics and law at Emory University in Atlanta, counters that there are many regulations that control how industry uses chemicals on the market and limit the amounts that can be emitted into the air and water. Roger Meiners, a professor of economics and law at the University of Texas at Arlington, added that many of those regulations were implemented "in the absence of a lot of good scientific evidence." The Toxic Substances Control Act, implemented in 1976, dictates how new chemicals are approved and regulated and also says chemicals must not pose an "unreasonable risk to health or the environment." Unfortunately, "unreasonable risk" is vague, and it's up to the EPA to do the costly research to show that a chemical poses a risk, with evidence that people are already being harmed.
In July, the Government Accountability Office criticized the toxic-substances act for placing the burden of testing new chemicals for human risks on the EPA instead of on industry. Some lawmakers have also proposed changes, such as the Kids Safe Chemical Act, which among other things would require chemical manufacturers to provide health and safety information on chemicals used in a wide array of products. The bill, introduced last year by Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., is stalled in committee. The European Union has legislation on the books and in process that go far beyond what the US does, such as the REACH initiative that would require chemical manufacturers who do business in Europe to submit health hazard data, most of which is not available today, for thousands of chemicals. These data could then make it untenable to continue to sell in the US any chemicals that had not passed European testing. Industry leaders say the EPA's voluntary program, in which companies have agreed to gather and submit hazard data for chemicals of which more than 1 million pounds a year are manufactured in or imported into the U.S., is adequate. That the information is limited to basic screening data, not in-depth research on long-term health effects.
by Margot Roosevelt, Time Magazine
December 3, 2006
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1565564,00.html
Article Summary: San Francisco issued a ban last week on the sale of certain plastic toys aimed at children under 3. At issue are contaminants in plastics used to make the toys. Environmentalists have long argued that some of these chemicals can leach out and harm children, pointing to animal studies that link the substances to birth defects, cancer and developmental abnormalities. Those warnings are hotly disputed by the chemical industry and toy manufacturers, which cite stacks of scientific studies that have found the plastics to be safe at federally approved levels. New evidence from independent and university-sponsored studies has given new life to proposed bans in half a dozen states. Phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA) are at the center of the controversy. Most are known to be so-called endocrine disrupters, capable of interfering with the hormones that regulate masculinity and femininity. Several hundred animal studies -- an just recently human studies -- have linked phthalates to prostate and breast cancers, abnormal genitals, early puberty onset and obesity. Chemistry industry representatives claim the studies are either preliminary or "overhyped." Each side criticizes the research methods of the other. The difficulty is even worse for retailers and parents because the U.S. does not require manufacturers to disclose ingredients in most consumer products. Retailers have no idea what has phthalates and what doesn't.
by Douglas Fischer, Oakland Tribune
December 3, 2006
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_4765520
Article Summary: A growing number of scientists working on one of the trendiest topics in environmental health report that for all of us, a portion of our susceptibility to various ailments may be established by chemical exposures our mothers and even grandmothers experienced while pregnant. Afflictions including asthma, cancers, infertility and others can be influenced by trace amounts of synthetic industrial chemicals a person's mother encountered during pregnancy. Many chemicals known as "endocrine disruptors" act like hormones at very low doses. They appear in every niche of American life: Bisphenol-A is used to line food cans in the supermarket; phthalates help soften nail polish, lotions, cosmetics and plastic; pesticides protect the nation's crops. They also are found in tiny amounts in our bodies. Many regulators, manufacturers and a good number of scientists remain skeptical that their presence at such levels has any significant consequence to our health. Many natural compounds, particularly in foods such as soy, are as biologically active as these synthetic hormones, yet they pose no threat. Yet a growing cadre of scientists -- epidemiologists, chemists, biologists and medical doctors -- report subtle and often unexpected toxic effects from these compounds.
Scientists at the National Center for Toxicology Research and at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science have found that PCBs, DDT and another a known brain mutagen are toxic at any age, but the real damage comes from prenatal exposure. Because most toxicologists aren't looking at the unborn or very young, they miss effects relating to cancer or other signs of gross mutation from very early exposures. A study this summer showed that exposure to smog at an early age dooms individuals to a lifetime of decreased lung function. Another even more controversial finding is that certain natural and synthetic chemicals alter our epigenome -- the program controlling when and how genes switch on and off.
Puzzling is the finding that even at extraordinarily high doses, many endocrine disruptors don't cause harm -- translated, in the world of toxicology, as cancer or a gene mutation, but at one-millionth the dose, Frederick vom Saal, a biologist at the University of Missouri, finds that bisphenol-A triggers slight developmental problems: reduced reproductive development or larger birth weight. That, in turn, ever so slightly tweaks one's odds of having fertility problems or being obese or reaching puberty early. Vom Saal stated that every assumption that goes into determining whether the level of an endocrine-disrupting chemical is safe is false." Dr. David Martin, a pediatric oncologist at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, is not convinced. He is at the forefront of research showing factors such as diet can have health consequences years and even decades later and can, in fact, be passed to succeeding generations, but he has yet to see any evidence that levels found in today's environment pose a threat to our health. However, he and fellow researchers have found that a woman's diet can influence her granddaughter's health, and that arsenic given while the baby is in womb somehow triggers cancer much later in life.
Federal and state regulators are struggling with the safety of bisphenol-A and phthalates. Researchers and policy advocates say the science is difficult to establish. It's easy for industry to fund a study that muddles the issue -- finding no problems where others see harm -- and drag the debate on for years. Of 163 studies by university and government researchers of bisphenol-A, 149 found some deleterious effect, according to vom Saal. Yet of 13 industry-funded studies, none found any adverse impact. From this, regulators call the evidence inconclusive and urge further study. Mary Brune, one of the founders of Making Our Milk Safe, is advocating "a collective call for action on the part of government and manufacturers to sort out the safety issue."
by Scott Streater, Lexington Herald-Ledger
December 2, 2006
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/living/health/16146816.htm
FORT WORTH, Texas -- They're found in floor waxes and shampoos, fast-food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags. They coat pizza boxes, carpets and frying pans. And they're in people. They're perfluorochemicals. Though you might not recognize the word, you probably know the brand names: Teflon, Stainmaster, Gore-Tex. You are exposed to those compounds every day, and there is mounting concern that they might cause a variety of health problems. A panel of scientists selected by the Environmental Protection Agency concluded this year that a perfluorochemical used in nonstick cookware is a likely cancer-causing agent. As is the case with many of the 82,000 chemicals in commercial use today, health officials aren't sure what levels of perfluorochemicals in the body can cause health problems. Researchers aren't even sure of the main source of human exposure: household products, manufacturing plants or both.
Article Summary: Perfluorochemicals remain in the environment and the body for a long time, and U.S. residents have the world's highest levels of perfluorochemicals in their bodies. 3M agreed six years ago to stop making and using perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS, to make Scotchgard. In January, DuPont and other companies volunteered to phase out perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, used in Teflon nonstick cookware and some microwave popcorn bags. There's evidence that neither compound breaks down in the environment -- ever. That means people could be exposed for an untold amount of time. Even though concentrations of these chemicals in blood have been very low -- in parts per billion -- recent studies have found liver damage in rats at levels as low as 10 parts per billion. DuPont is North America's only producer of PFOA and faces numerous lawsuits tied to the compound. Lawsuits involve contamination of drinking water near Teflon manufacturing plants, concealment of information that Teflon cookware releases toxic gases when heated, and Dupont's failure to report that PFOA could pass from a woman's blood to her fetus.
Researchers including Lynn Goldman at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Leo Trasande at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, express concern about potential biological effects, especially on children. DuPont and seven other companies worldwide agreed in January to stop manufacturing and using PFOA by 2015. DuPont argues that PFOA is "not toxic by the yardsticks that the government usually measures these things", but EPA's science advisory board has recommended that PFOA be considered a likely carcinogen. DuPont counters that EPA's science is based solely on animal studies, and evidence indicates that the things that are happening in rats don't happen in people. Also, health problems have not been found in workers "exposed to thousands of times higher levels than in the general population." DuPont has spent millions of dollars on studies that it says show that the compound is not coming off nonstick pots and pans, while independent researchers say small levels do come off the pans but not enough to explain the widespread exposures that have been measured.
from Living on Earth
December 1, 2006
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=06-P13-00048&segmentID=1
A new study finds a number of the world's leading cancer scientists were secretly receiving money from companies whose products they were investigating. Living on Earth host Bruce Gellerman talks with Dr. Lennart Hardell, principle author of "Secret Ties to Industry and Conflicting Interests in Cancer Research." LOE then turns to Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, and epidemiologist Richard Clapp of Boston University to discuss conflict of interest and corporate funding of medical research.
Article Summary: Allegations of conflict of interest appear in the latest edition of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. Researchers were surprised at the number of conflicts found, some of them among prestigious researchers. One, Dr. Richard Doll, was receiving a thousand dollars a day from Monsanto was testifying that vinyl chloride had no consequences in terms of workers who were dealing with vinyl chloride and getting cancer. And yet the link was quite evident. Dr. Hardell speculated that some researchers have to industry for funding. In his view, the problem is not accepting industry money, but concealing it and the subsequent conflict of interest. Another recent study showed a third of all the original research published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association was funded by for-profit health care companies. Industry-funded research tends to show no risk from the product they are studying. Dr. Hardell supports pressure on journals and scientists to disclose all conflicts.
Dr. Catherine DeAngelis thinks this is one of the biggest problems in medicine today -- it affects the research, which of course then affects the practice of medicine, which ultimately affects patient care. She stated that the Journal of American Medical Association insists that every author -- and every peer reviewer -- disclose fully any potential or real conflict of interest. The possibility of an outside watchdog agency, or perhaps government control of industry-pooled funding was also brought up, as was the difficulties of having journals funded by industry ads.
by Mark Clayton, Christian Science Monitor
December 1, 2006
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1201/p02s02-uspo.html
For a new Democratic Congress facing big environmental issues from global warming to dwindling fisheries, the first step may be keeping the nation's top environmental libraries from closing -- and saving their myriad tomes from ending up as recycled cardboard. To meet a proposed 2007 budget cut, the Environmental Protection Agency has in recent months shuttered regional branches in Chicago, Dallas, and Kansas City, Mo., serving 15 states, and has cut hours and restricted access to four other regional libraries, affecting 16 states. Two additional libraries in the EPA's Washington headquarters closed in October.
Article Summary: EPA officials say the closures are part of a plan "to modernize and improve" services while trimming $2 million from its budget. Before the cutbacks, the EPA had 26 libraries including 500,000 books, 25,000 maps, thousands of studies and decades of research -- much of it irreplaceable. Under the plan, "unique" library documents would be "digitized" as part of a shift to online retrieval. According to critics, electronic databases can be more costly to use, and thousands of paper documents may now sit for years in repositories waiting for the funding needed to digitize them. EPA librarians say that, in the meantime, key materials are likely to be lost or inaccessible for a long time. Some critics see the cutbacks as part of a larger effort of the Bush administration to reduce the capability of the EPA. Congressional Democrats, who will hold the majority next year and therefore will have greater control over the EPA's budget, are already seeking to investigate the matter.
by Mark Kinver, BBC News
December 1, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6174422.stm
Article Summary: The environmental issues surrounding mobile phones are sizeable. With an estimated 940-980 million phones to be sold this year, the cumulative effect is quite significant on a global scale. Harmful substances in phones include heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium, especially older models, as well as brominated flame retardants in the devices' printed circuit boards and casings. The cover and keypad may contain PVC, and the battery may also contain nickel and lithium. If the handsets end up in landfill sites or if they are dumped illegally these toxic substances can seep into the soil and groundwater. In response leading makers such as Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson and Philips, have all implemented eco-design aspects into their production lines, including reducing the amount of hazardous substances used in their products. Nokia has decided to implement requirements set out in the EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive in all 10 of its factories around the globe. The RoHS Directive bans six substances (lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PDBE) from products that are either made or sold in the EU. Another EU law that, if implemented, will affect the manufacture of mobile phones is the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive. It requires producers to bear the cost of the collection, recovery and disposal of the e-waste arising from their products.
Another environmental impact arises from the chargers use of electricity even when not in use. When plugged in, Nokia chargers are still drawing about 0.1-0.5 watts when a phone is not connected. Starting next year, when fully charged, the phones will no longer just say it is charged, it will say "please unplug the charger."
by Steven Coon, Azadeh Stark, Edward Peterson, Aime Gloi, Gene Kortsha, Joel Pounds, David Chettle, and Jay Gorell, Environmental Health Perspectives
December 2006
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/9102/abstract.html
Abstract
Background: Several epidemiologic studies have suggested an association between Parkinson's disease (PD) and exposure to heavy metals using subjective exposure measurements.
Objectives: We investigated the association between objective chronic occupational lead exposure and the risk of PD.
Methods: We enrolled 121 PD patients and 414 age-, sex-, and race-, frequency-matched controls in a case-control study. As an indicator of chronic Pb exposure, we measured concentrations of tibial and calcaneal bone Pb stores using 109Cadmium excited K-series X-ray fluorescence. As an indicator of recent exposure, we measured blood Pb concentration. We collected occupational data on participants from 18 years of age until the age at enrollment, and an industrial hygienist determined the duration and intensity of environmental Pb exposure. We employed physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling to combine these data, and we estimated whole-body lifetime Pb exposures for each individual. Logistic regression analysis produced estimates of PD risk by quartile of lifetime Pb exposure.
Results: Risk of PD was elevated by > 2-fold [odds ratio = 2.27 (95% confidence interval, 1.13-4.55) ; p = 0.021] for individuals in the highest quartile for lifetime lead exposure relative to the lowest quartile, adjusting for age, sex, race, smoking history, and coffee and alcohol consumption. The associated risk of PD for the second and third quartiles were elevated but not statistically significant at the = 0.05 level.
Conclusions: These results provide an objective measure of chronic Pb exposure and confirm our earlier findings that occupational exposure to Pb is a risk factor for PD.
from BBC News
November 30, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6156961.stm
A team from New York's University of Rochester found several types of key brain cell were highly vulnerable to the drugs. They say it might help explain side effects such as seizures and memory loss associated with chemotherapy -- collectively dubbed 'chemo brain'. The research is published in the Journal of Biology.
Article Summary: Drug therapy for cancer can prompt a wide range of neurological side effects, even the onset of dementia. These effects were thought not to be directly linked to the drug treatment itself. but this latest study found that dose levels typically used when treating patients killed 40% to 80% of cancer cells -- but 70% to 100% of human brain cells grown in the lab. It also caused serious damage to brain cells when given to mice. Several types of healthy brain cell continued to die for at least six weeks after exposure. The drugs investigated in the study were carmustine, cisplatin and cytosine arabinoside. All three were toxic to several types of brain cell whose job is to repair other cells in the brain and oligodenrocyte cells, which play a key role in the transmission of messages around the nervous system. Researches cautioned patients not to stop their treatment because of this research. It may also be possible to add protective agents to chemotherapy drugs.
by Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post
November 30, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901306.html
Under pressure from Democratic senators, the Bush administration has modified its proposal to ease public reporting requirements for companies that handle or release toxic chemicals.
Article Summary: The Environmental Protection Agency had proposed new rules for the Toxics Release Inventory, an annual accounting of more than 650 chemicals that industry releases into the air, land and water. The changes would have raised the threshold for reporting releases of toxic chemicals in detail from 500 to 5,000 pounds and would allowed companies to report every other year instead of annually. In response, New Jersey Democratic senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez in July blocked confirmation of Bush's nominee to head the EPA's Office of Environmental Information, Molly O'Neill. Now EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson has written to the two senators telling them that he is revising the proposal to restore the requirement for annual reports. The administration appears to be softening on some environmental issues since the November election. Lautenberg stated that "EPA will be held accountable for every abuse and misreading of the law it engages in." Industry objection to the annual reporting requirement were based on costs. The public policy watchdog group OMB Watch said the earlier proposal emphasized saving money for the agency and industry over protecting the public's health. A staff attorney at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group said the EPA could reduce the regulatory burden on industry by developing software to help companies calculate their harmful releases and file their reports electronically. The EPA plans to issue a final rule on the reporting program by the end of the year. More than 100,000 comments were received, many objecting to the changes.
from the US Environmental Protection Agency
November 29, 2006
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2006/November/Day-29/p20150.htm
This notice announces the availability of EPA's Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) for the pesticide malathion and opens a public comment period on this document. The Agency's risk assessments and other related documents also are available in the Malathion Docket. Malathion is a non-systemic, broad-spectrum organophosphate pesticide with numerous commercial agricultural and residential uses, as well as several wide-area application uses. EPA has reviewed malathion through the public participation process that the Agency uses to involve the public in developing pesticide reregistration and tolerance reassessment decisions. Through these programs, EPA is ensuring that all pesticides meet current health and safety standards.
The full notice, with instructions for submitting comments, is posted in the Federal Register at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2006/November/Day-29/p20150.htm.
by Tim Lehnert, Boston Phoenix
November 29, 2006
http://www.thephoenix.com/article_ektid28678.aspx
Article Summary: Producing computers requires the mining, processing, and transporting of massive quantities of raw materials -- almost two tons of such stuff is required to produce the average desktop PC and monitor, according to a 2004 United Nations' study. The fabrication just of a single two-gram microchip causes more than 50 pounds of waste, some of it toxic. Every year, 100 million computers, monitors, and TVs become obsolete in the US, and this number is growing. Disposing of outmoded equipment is a problem since lead and mercury from electronics don't just go away. They accumulate and can enter the food stream through the ground and the water, creating a difficult and costly, if not impossible, cleanup. Other toxic materials in the waste include chromium, cadmium and brominated flame retardants. Since manufacturers have resisted national legislation, individual states have been left to contend with the growing problem of e-waste. Only four -- California, Maine, Maryland and Washington -- have passed legislation specifying how computer recycling should be accomplished. Another two dozen or more states have bills at some stage of development. A Rhode Island law passed in June bans electronic waste from landfills, and mandates that it be recycled or classified as hazardous. The legislation doesn't take effect until 2008, and it doesn't provide a mechanism to accomplish its goals or specify who will ultimately foot the bill.
The average computer's working life is three to five years. Cell phones are even worse, lasting only 18 months before being discarded. Televisions fare best, averaging 15 years. The advent of digital TV, however, is expected to produce a tsunami of trashed analog models over the next few years. Nationally, only 10 percent of e-waste is recycled, and a meager 2 percent is reused. The US has not ratified the Basel Convention that is designed to prevent abuses in exporting e-waste, and it has no explicit prohibitions on the export of dangerous materials. Elizabeth Grossman, author of High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics and Human Health, posits that 80 percent of US electronic waste is shipped overseas, primarily to Asia, but also to Africa. The Basel Action Network, a Seattle-based advocacy group, has filmed documentary footage in two Chinese towns that shows the dangerous conditions, the junked machines and toxic air and water that result from these enterprises. Chinese farmland has been turned into toxic waste dumps. People can no longer drink the water, although it is used for washing and swimming, and fish from polluted rivers is eaten. Respiratory, gastric, and skin problems are common.
There are very few companies that do the really dirty work of e-waste recycling -- smelting lead glass, and extracting metals from shredded circuits boards. Still, recyclers can potentially make money on both ends: taking away electronic refuse, and then selling refurbished machines, as well as materials mined from recycled ones. Some items have value, but others, principally televisions, actually cost money to get rid of. The combination of more stringent European regulations, pressure from environmental groups, and the state laws in place in California, Maine, Washington and Maryland are pushing computer producers to find solutions before solutions are imposed on them. Hewlett-Packard, followed recently by Dell and Apple, have all actively supported recycling, although it's not always easy or cheap for a consumer to recycle a computer. Environmental advocates favor laws that put the onus on computer manufacturers to handle e-waste, since there is otherwise little incentive for them to build computers differently. Taxation as a means to encourage more easily upgradeable systems has been advocated.
by Nicholas Bakalar, New York Times
November 28, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/health/28haza.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1165209966-rWinT/hudTGoFgGqCF7mzA
Researchers have found that high blood levels of a certain dioxin commonly found in the general male population may be associated with decreased testosterone levels and a not necessarily beneficial inhibition of prostate growth. Dioxins are a toxic byproduct of various industrial processes that are ingested in the fat of meats and dairy products.
Article Summary: Researchers measured levels of the dioxin TCDD in 964 veterans of Operation Ranch Hand, the Vietnam War project to spray the herbicide Agent Orange. They compared them over a 20-year period ending in 2002 to 1,259 veterans who were not involved in the spraying program. Although the study could not establish cause and effect, it found an association in which each increase in dioxin decreases the rate of benign prostate enlargement and decreases serum levels of testosterone. Lowered testosterone can cause infertility, reduced muscle mass and bone density, and depression.
from the US Environmental Protection Agency
November 20, 2006
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-TOX/2006/November/Day-20/t19574.htm
The EPA requests comment on the implementation of the VCCEP pilot. The Voluntary Children's Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP) was called for by the 1998 Chemical Right to Know Initiative, the goal of which was to give citizens information on the effects of chemicals to enable them to make wise choices in the home and marketplace. Launched in December 2000, VCCEP is the portion of that initiative that deals with risks to children. For more information about the VCCEP pilot, please visit http://www.epa.gov/chemrtk/vccep/index.htm.
EPA is providing stakeholders and interested parties an opportunity to comment on how the VCCEP pilot is working. Comments must be submitted by January 19, 2007. Comments will be summarized in a Comments Document, which will be made available on the VCCEP Website at http://www.epa.gov/chemrtk/vccep.
by DH Lee, I-K Lee, K Song, M Steffes, W Toscano, BA Baker, and DR Jacobs, Diabetes Care
posted November 20, 2006
http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/obesity/2006/2006-0715leeetal.html
Article Summary: Lee et al. analyzed data obtained by the Centers for Disease Control in the National Health and Examination Survey, 1999-2002. The sampling protocol is carefully designed to obtain representative data. The authors assessed the statistical relationship between risk of type II diabetes and 6 persistent organic pollutants: One PCB (hexachlorobiphenyl), two dioxins (heptadioxin and OCDdioxin) two pesticides (oxychlordane and trans-nonachlor) and a pesticide metabolite (DDE, a metabolite of DDT). Total sample size in the study was 2,016. The diagnosis of diabetes was confirmed by medical interview. Each organochlorine was assessed individually: Individuals with contamination level beneath the limit of detection for a given contaminant were used as the reference group for calculating an odds-ratio. The remaining individuals, all with detectable levels, were divided into 5 groups based on percentile exposure: up to 25th; up to 50th, up to 75th, up to 90th, and above 90th percentile. To examine the association for the combination of POPs, each person studied was assigned a score of 0 to 5 for each contaminant based on which category of exposure they were in (reference, 25th, 50th...).. The sum of the scores (minimum 0, maximum 30) was then used as an index of total POPs exposure. People were separated into groups based on the sum of the scores (from reference to 25th, 50th, etc.) and then an odds ratio estimating the relative risk of type II diabetes was calculated for each group. Five of the 6 POPs demonstrated a strong trend of increasing risk of diabetes with increasing body burden of POPs. Compared to people in the lowest exposure category (1), people in the highest were almost 38 times more likely to have diabetes. Numerous experimental studies have proven links in animals and cells between contaminants, including persistent organic pollutants, and changes in insulin and glucose metabolism associated with diabetes. Some prior epidemiological research has found associations, for example, between diabetes and dioxin. An unexpected finding in the study was that people with nondetectable levels of POPs there was no relationship between obesity and diabetes. The authors caution that epidemiological studies like this can't be used to prove causation.
from the American Dental Association
November 8, 2006
http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/positions/statements/fluoride_infants.asp
Recent studies cited in the report of the National Research Council (NRC), "Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA's Standards," have raised the possibility that infants could receive a greater than optimal amount of fluoride through liquid concentrate or powdered baby formula that has been mixed with water containing fluoride during a time that their developing teeth may be susceptible to enamel fluorosis.
Article Summary: While fluoride is essential to prevent tooth decay, fluoride intake above optimal amounts can create a risk for enamel fluorosis in teeth during their development before eruption through the gums. The American Dental Association (ADA) issues this interim guidance:
Consult with your pediatrician, family physician or dentist on the most appropriate water to use in your area to reconstitute infant formula.