Environmental Health Perspectives articles from February 2003

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from February 2003

Ethical perspectives for public and environmental health: fostering autonomy and the right to know. (Commentary).
February 1, 2003... In this paper we develop an ethical perspective for public and environmental health practice in consideration of the "right to know" by contrasting consequential and &ontological perspectives with relational ethics grounded in the concept of...

Mechanisms of phthalate ester toxicity in the female reproductive system.
February 1, 2003... Phthalates are high-production-volume synthetic chemicals with ubiquitous human exposures because of their use in plastics and other common consumer products. Recent epidemiologic evidence suggests that women have a unique exposure profile to...

Effects of concentrated ambient particles on heart rate and blood pressure in pulmonary hypertensive rats. (Research Articles).
February 1, 2003... Epidemiologic studies have shown that increased concentrations of ambient particles are associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, the exact mechanisms remain unclear. Recent studies have revealed that particulate air...

Urinary levels of trichloroacetic acid, a disinfection by-product in chlorinated drinking water, in a human reference population. (Research).
February 1, 2003... Trichloroacetic acid (TCAA), a known mouse liver carcinogen and a possible human carcinogen, is found in chlorinated drinking water. We measured TCAA in archived urine samples from a reference population of 402 adults using isotope-dilution...

Prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and related vascular diseases in southwestern arseniasis-endemic and nonendemic areas in Taiwan. (Research).
February 1, 2003... There is evidence indicating that ingestion of arsenic may predispose the development of diabetes mellitus in arsenic-endemic areas in Taiwan. However, the prevalence of diabetes and related vascular diseases in the entire southwestern...

Personal P[M.sub.2.5] exposure and markers of oxidative stress in blood. (Research).
February 1, 2003... Ambient particulate air pollution assessed as outdoor concentrations of particulate matter [less than or equal to] 2.5 [micro]m in diameter (P[M.sub.2.5]) in urban background has been associated with cardiovascular diseases at the population...

Perchloroethylene-contaminated drinking water and the risk of breast cancer: additional results from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. (Research).
February 1, 2003... In 1998 we published the results of a study suggesting an association between breast cancer and perchloroethylene (PCE; also called tetrachloroethylene) exposure from public drinking water. The present case-control study was undertaken to...

Aggressive behavior and serum testosterone concentration during the maturation process of male mice: the effects of fetal exposure to bisphenol A: (Research).
February 1, 2003... The relationship between exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDs) and risk to reproductive organs is well documented, but the influence of EDs on behavioral development has not been studied. In this study we evaluated the effect of...

Risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and prediagnostic serum organochlorines: [beta]-hexachlorocyclohexane, chlordane/heptachlor-related compounds, dieldrin, and hexachlorobenzene. (Research).
February 1, 2003... Increases in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) incidence and mortality rates during the past few decades remain largely unexplained. Studies suggest that organochlorine pesticides may contribute to an increased risk of NHL. In 1974, serum samples...

The high cost of improper removal of lead-based paint from housing: a case report. (Commentary).
February 1, 2003... The costs of lead-based paint hazard control in housing are well documented, but the costs of cleanup after improper, inherently dangerous, methods of removing lead-based paint are not. In this article we report a case of childhood lead...

Hair and toenail arsenic concentrations of residents living in areas with high environmental arsenic concentrations. (Environmental Medicine).
February 1, 2003... Surface soil and groundwater in Australia have been found to contain high concentrations of arsenic. The relative importance of long-term human exposure to these sources has not been established. Several studies have investigated long-term...

Maternal blood lead concentration, diet during pregnancy, and anthropometry predict neonatal blood lead in a socioeconomically disadvantaged population. (Children's Health).
February 1, 2003... To determine the influences of maternal diet and nutrition during pregnancy on the blood lead level of neonates, we conducted a study of mother-infant pairs from lower socioeconomic circumstances living in Albany County, New York. Maternal...

Effects of transplacental exposure to environmental pollutants on birth outcomes in a multiethnic population. (Children's Health).
February 1, 2003... Inner-city, minority populations are high-risk groups for adverse birth outcomes and also are more likely to be exposed to environmental contaminants, including environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and...

Residential proximity to traffic and adverse birth outcomes in Los Angeles County, California, 1994-1996. (Children's Health).
February 1, 2003... We reported previously that increases in ambient air pollution in the Los Angeles basin increased the risk of low weight and premature birth. However, ambient concentrations measured at monitoring stations may not take into account differential...

Modification of immune function through exposure to dietary aflatoxin in Gambian children. (Children's Health).
February 1, 2003... Aflatoxins are immunotoxins that frequently contaminate staple foods in The Gambia and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in high exposure throughout life. Impaired infant immune system development may be a key predictor of mortality...

Animal models to detect allergenicity to foods and genetically modified products: workshop summary. (Mini-Monograph).
February 1, 2003... Environ Health Perspect 111:221-222 (2003). [Online 21 January 2003] Doi: 10.1289/ehp.5701 available via http://dx.doi.org/ ********** Respiratory allergy and allergy to foods continue to be important health issues. There is...

Food allergy: an overview. (Mini-Monograph).
February 1, 2003... Food allergy affects between 5% and 7.5% of children and between 1% and 2% of adults. The greater prevalence of food allergy in children reflects both the increased predisposition of children to develop food allergies and the development of...

Assessment of the inherent allergenic potential of proteins in mice. (Mini-Monograph).
February 1, 2003... There is considerable interest in the design of approaches that will permit the accurate identification and characterization of proteins that have the inherent potential to induce sensitization and cause food allergy. Among the methods used...

Assessment of the allergic potential of food protein extracts and proteins on oral application using the Brown Norway rat model. (mini-monograph).
February 1, 2003... The need for widely accepted and validated animal models to test the potential allergenicity and potency of novel (biotechnology-derived) proteins has become an important issue for their safety evaluation. In this article, we summarize the...

Nonmurine animal models of food allergy. (Mini-Monograph).
February 1, 2003... Food allergy can present as immediate hypersensitivity [manifestations mediated by immunoglobulin (Ig)E], delayed-type hypersensitivity (reactions associated with specific T lymphocytes), and inflammatory reactions caused by immune complexes....

Identification of antigenic epitopes on human allergens: studies with HLA transgenic mice. (Mini-Monograph).
February 1, 2003... Environmental factors play an important role in the rise and manifestation of allergic conditions in genetically predisposed subjects. Increased exposure to indoor/outdoor allergens is a significant factor in the development of allergic...

A human dendritic cell-based method to identify CD[4.sup.+] T-cell epitopes in potential protein allergens. (Mini-Monograph).
February 1, 2003... We developed an assay to determine the location of immunodominant CD[4.sup.+] T-cell epitopes in any protein. The method uses CD[4.sup.+] T cells from community donors in conjunction with dendritic cells derived in vitro. Synthetic peptides...

Reversing urban decay: brownfield redevelopment and environmental health. (Guest Editorial).
February 1, 2003... While the United States government concentrates more of its political and financial resources on fighting terrorism, the continuing decay of older cities and industrial suburbs has fallen far down on the national political priority agenda. An...

Chronic Lyme disease: psychogenic fantasy or somatic infection? (Correspondence).
February 1, 2003... Sigal and Hassett published an article about Lyme disease in the EHP Supplements (Sigal and Hassett 2002), suggesting that chronic Lyme disease is "psychogenic." I do not think that Sigal and Hassett, nonpsychiatrists, are qualified to speak...

Chronic Lyme disease: it's not all in our heads. (Correspondence).
February 1, 2003... Those of us with chronic Lyme disease are not at all confused, as suggested by Sigal and Hassett (2002). We know from years of experience that we have real, specific symptoms that are usually painful and disabling and include severe headaches,...

Chronic Lyme disease: Sigal and Hassett's response. (Correspondence).
February 1, 2003... Nowhere in our article (Sigal and Hassett 2002) do we minimize or devalue the pain or suffering of patients with chronic Lyme disease nor do we state that such patients are "crazy" or "delusional." Further, we do not dismiss the possibility...

Cancer in Beluga from the St. Lawrence Estuary. (Correspondence).
February 1, 2003... Martineau et al. (2002) reported that St. Lawrence beluga (SLB) have high cancer rates. Unfortunately, errors in their interpretation of the data have led them to overstate the importance of cancer and its links to environmental sources. ...

Cancer in Beluga: response. (Correspondence).
February 1, 2003... In their letter, Hammill et al. propose an analysis of mortality patterns for the St. Lawrence beluga (SLB) population without submitting data or methods. They state, however, that there is no difference in standing populations at 21-25 years...

Correction.
February 1, 2003... In the editorial in the January issue of EHP [111:A14-A15 (2003)], David Michaels was described as the first recipient of the American Public Health Association's David P. Rall Award for Advocacy in Public Health; he was actually the second...

Double jeopardy? (Environmental Justice).
February 1, 2003... The U.S. prison population grew from 1.1 million in 1990 to over 1.96 million in 2001, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and more prisons have been built to meet the need for greater capacity. But societal and economic pressures...

A luxury tax on energy. (Conservation).
February 1, 2003... Aspen, Colorado, already known for its ski slopes, is trying to become known as well for its efforts to conserve energy and decrease power plant carbon dioxide emissions. Under the joint city/county Renewable Energy Mitigation Program (REMP),...

U.S. drivers learn to share. (The Beat).
February 1, 2003... Car sharing programs are beginning to gain momentum in the United States, after several successful years in Europe and Canada. U.S. programs managed by Flexcar, a Seattle-based company founded in 1999, have grown to serve residents in the...

Smoke-free dorms a success. (The Beat).
February 1, 2003... A study conducted at the University of Iowa has found that student smoking rates markedly declined--from 41% in 1997 to 28% in 2001--thanks to the 1998 institution of smoke-free floors in residence halls and the 2000 ban on smoking in campus...

U.K. FoneBak. (The Beat).
February 1, 2003... Each year 15 million mobile phones and phone accessories such as batteries and chargers are discarded in the United Kingdom, adding up to 1,500 tons of potentially toxic waste, including cadmium. To help keep this waste out of landfills,...

Vampire appliances. (Energy).
February 1, 2003... You flip off the lights, but an eerie glow remains--the displays and clocks of your cable TV box, VCR, and stereo. These so-called vampire appliances stay awake all night, every night, sucking up an average of 5% of the monthly electric bill,...

High-tech habitats. (Innovative Technologies).
February 1, 2003... A series of demonstration houses in Tennessee is pushing the envelope of energy efficiency--literally. By testing tighter building exteriors, or "envelopes," and other innovations, engineers in the Building America program at the Department of...

Habitat International Coalition. (ephnet).
February 1, 2003... Habitat International Coalition (HIC) was founded in 1976 as the nongovernmental-organization counterpart to the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Settlements. Although HIC began with a truly international focus, its character has...

Drug use down on the farm. (The Beat).
February 1, 2003... An industry survey by the Animal Health Institute, a trade group representing agro-pharmaceutical companies, found that antibiotic use by U.S. livestock farmers declined in 2001 for the third straight year. Reporting the results of the survey...

Greenbacks for Brownfields. (The Beat).
February 1, 2003... As part of its Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot Program, the U.S. EPA in May 2002 awarded $21.5 million in grants to 21 state and local agencies that will distribute the funds as no-or low-interest loans to tribes, states, and...

Shanghai says bye-bye to bikes. (The Beat).
February 1, 2003... As taxis, buses, and private cars congest roadways and contribute C[O.sub.2] and hydrocarbon emissions to the heavy haze hovering over Chinese cities, bicycles--once omnipresent throughout China--are being treated in Shanghai as...

Growing pains for environmental justice movement. (NIEHS News).
February 1, 2003... "No justice, no peace!" So went the thunderous chants that rang out from a few hundred youth who drowned out a key plenary session at the Second National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit. Held in late October 2002 in Washington,...

Dust busters gather. (NIEHS News).
February 1, 2003... Researchers have long known that occupational dust can pose health hazards--coal miners, construction workers, and others exposed regularly to dust on the job have a greater risk of developing respiratory disease than those who are not. But...

Genetic susceptibility: a higher risk of congestive heart failure in blacks: genetics may be responsible. (Headliners: NIEHS-supported research).
February 1, 2003... Small KM, Wagoner LE, Levin AM, Kardia SLR, Liggett SB. 2002. Synergistic polymorphisms of [[beta].sub.1] and [[alpha].sub.2c]-adrenergic receptors and the risk of congestive heart failure. N Engl J Med 347(15):1135-1142. Congestive heart...

Give me shelter: the global housing crisis. (Focus).
February 1, 2003... The problem of inadequate or nonexistent housing has reached crisis proportions globally. The world population passed 6.1 billion in 2001 and is expected to reach 7.9-10.9 billion by 2050, according to the United Nations (UN) Population Fund....

Mold insurance: crafting coverage for a spreading problem. (Spheres of Influence).
February 1, 2003... Indoor mold is the culprit behind an epidemic of headaches in the United Stares. If these aren't literal headaches--residents in mold-contaminated buildings have complained of headaches and a rash of other ill effects, although an actual...

Solar flair. (Innovations).
February 1, 2003... Public enthusiasm for solar design is like the winter sun in Seattle--it shines brightly for brief periods of time, then all but disappears. After a long period of dormancy marked by low energy prices and abundant supply, solar energy appears...

Size in the city: New York pollution may lower birth weight. (Science Selections).
February 1, 2003... Current levels of environmental pollutants in New York City can adversely affect fetal development, according to a new study by a team led by Frederica Perera of Columbia University's Center for Children's Environmental Health [EHP...

Bisphenol aggression: effects shown in mice. (Science Selections).
February 1, 2003... Although many studies have documented the adverse effects of endocrine disruptors on reproductive organs, until recently little research has been done on the influence of these chemicals on behavioral development. A new study led by Keisuke...

Life near the fast lane: an increased risk of birth problems. (Science Selections).
February 1, 2003... Several recent epidemiologic studies have suggested that exposure during pregnancy to ambient air pollution--including compounds released in motor vehicle exhaust--can increase the risk of preterm birth and low birth weight. Now, investigations...

Nursing and environmental health roundtable. (NIEHS Extramural Update).
February 1, 2003... Recognizing the important contributions that nurses make to improving public health and reducing health disparities, the NIEHS, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the National Institute for Nursing Research...

Fellowships, grants, & awards. (Announcements).
February 1, 2003... Aggregate Exposure Assessment: Longitudinal Surveys of Human Exposure-Related Behavior The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results program, is seeking applications for longitudinal case studies...

Calendar. (Announcements).
February 1, 2003... 2003 February 1-5 February, Sat-Wed. 50 Years On--From the Double Helix to Molecular Medicine: Nature Biotechnology Winter Symposium. Miami Beach, Florida. Information: MNBWS Office, PO Box 016129, M823, Miami, FL 33101-6129 USA,...

Sound Science, Junk Policy: Environmental Health Policy and the Decision-Making Process.
February 1, 2003... Michelle Morrone and Timothy W. Lohner Westport, CT:Auburn House, 2002. 208 pp. ISBN: 0-86569-308-0, $64.95 cloth. Sound Science, Junk Policy strives to examine the process whereby science is used or abused in public health and...