Environmental Health Perspectives articles from October 2005

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from October 2005

Children's health and the environment: a transatlantic dialogue.(Editorial)
October 1, 2005... Important steps to protect children against environmental threats to health have been taken over the past decade in both the United States and Europe This progress is based on the shared recognition that infants and children are very different...

The need for exposure health sciences.(NIEHS DIRECTOR'S PERSPECTIVE)
October 1, 2005... Although potentially hazardous environmental exposures are ubiquitous, the development of diseases from direct environmental causes is, fortunately, limited. For most diseases, environmental exposures represent one of several factors...

Missing link?: alachlor and semen quality.(Perspectives/ Correspondence)
October 1, 2005... The article by Swan et al. (2003) suggested that alachlor exposure was linked to reduced sperm quality in fertile men; after publication of the article, Monsanto (St. Louis, MO) began a detailed examination of the issue because the findings...

Missing link: Barr and Needham respond.(Perspectives/ Correspondence)
October 1, 2005... In January 2004, the Monsanto Company contacted our laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding their concern about the association between alachlor (a Monsanto product) exposure and semen quality reported by...

Vinyl chloride and U.S. EPA research.(Perspectives/ Correspondence)
October 1, 2005... A commentary by Sass et al. (2005), "Vinyl Chloride: A Case Study of Data Suppression and Misrepresentation," is itself a case study in misrepresentation. The inclusion of such an article in this peer-reviewed publication stands in contrast to...

Vinyl chloride: Sass et al. respond.(Perspectives/ Correspondence)
October 1, 2005... We provided documentation and extensive references to support two claims: industry urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to downplay data suggestive of cancer risks in tissues other than the liver, and the U.S. EPA reduced the...

Risk-Based consumption of dioxin-contaminated farmed salmon.(Perspectives/ Correspondence)
October 1, 2005... In their article, "Risk-Based Consumption Advice for Farmed Atlantic and Wild Pacific Salmon Contaminated with Dioxins and Dioxin-like Compounds," Foran et al. (2005) present recommendations for consumption of salmon containing dioxin-like...

Dioxin-contaminated farmed salmon: Foran et al. respond.(Perspectives/ Correspondence)
October 1, 2005... Middaugh et al. suggest that relying strictly on risk assessment to develop fish consumption advice has many shortcomings. We agree. They also argue that risk assessment is only part of the risk management process. Although we separate risk...

Disease and "broken windows".(Perspectives/ Correspondence)
October 1, 2005... Frumkin's editorial in the May 2005 issue of EHP (Frumkin 2005) was very interesting and enlightening. On page A291, Frumkin cited several studies that endorse the "broken windows theory," noting that Part of this effect may well be...

"Broken windows": Frumkin responds.(Perspectives/ Correspondence)
October 1, 2005... I thank Melendez for his careful reading of my editorial and for raising the very reasonable question of whether "broken windows"--an indicator of neighborhood squalor--are causally related to poor health. Clearly the relationship between...

Toxicity tests: "inert" and active ingredients.(Perspectives/ Correspondence)
October 1, 2005... The findings of Richard et al. (2005) are an important addition to our understanding that the health and environmental effects of formulated pesticide products are not fully reflected in tests conducted on the active ingredient(s) alone. It has...

"Inert" and active ingredients: Seralini responds.(Perspectives/ Correspondence)
October 1, 2005... Surgan raises interesting points in his analysis. This interest has been confirmed by reactions of agriculture authorities all over the world after publication of the article by Richard et al. (2005). Indeed, scientific problems do exist in...

Save our (young) skins!(Cancer)
October 1, 2005... Traditionally an adult disease, melanoma--the deadliest form of skin cancer--is on the rise in both children and adults around the world. In the United States, the overall rate of increase across the population was 2.8% per year between 1981...

Child survival gets TV boost.(Children's Health)
October 1, 2005... A recently launched campaign known as Rx for Child Survival gets into top gear 1-3 November 2005 with the help of a six-part TV series on global health narrated by actor Brad Pitt. The series, Rx for Survival--A Global Health Challenge, which...

Mercury's afterlife?(The Beat)
October 1, 2005... A report released by the New England Zero Mercury Campaign says that dental fillings in cremated corpses emit about 2.5 tons of mercury each year, with the amount expected to double by 2025. Dental amalgams are 50% mercury by weight. Although...

Climate change hits the road.(The Beat)
October 1, 2005... Cities are the biggest consumers of electricity and therefore the primary generators of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Now the British Council, Great Britain's international agency for promoting education and cultural...

Personal products keep organic label.(The Beat)
October 1, 2005... People who prefer to buy organic cosmetics, dietary supplements, and pet food can breathe a sigh of relief--in August 2005, the USDA ruled that the use of the "USDA Organic" label is permissible on those products. The ruling reverses an earlier...

HapMap complete.(Genomics)
October 1, 2005... The International HapMap Project, a consortium of researchers and funding agencies from the United States, Japan, China, Nigeria, Canada, and the United Kingdom, is set to release a dramatically enhanced version of its haplotype map. The newly...

NYC adopts pesticide laws.(Legislation)
October 1, 2005... In response to the growing evidence that chemical pesticide use has potential human health consequences, New York City has adopted two new laws that aim to reduce exposures to toxic pesticides. The pesticide phase-out under these laws, signed...

The Endocrine Society and the Society for Endocrinology.(ehpnet)
October 1, 2005... The endocrine system encompasses the thyroid gland, the hypothalamus, the pancreas, the adrenal cortex, the thyroid, the parathyroid, and the male and female reproductive glands. Two large and well-established societies, The Endocrine Society...

Taiwan touts trash sorting.(The Beat)
October 1, 2005... Taiwan, with the acreage of Belgium but twice the population, has 200 landfills. In two years these will be full, leaving the island nation dependent on some 20 trash incinerators that emit pollutants such as dioxin. To help curb the flow of...

Pandemic prevention.(The Beat)
October 1, 2005... Officials from 192 countries agreed upon revised regulations for notifying the WHO of all major disease outbreaks and suspected bioterrorism events at a May 2005 meeting. Until now, only outbreaks of cholera, plague, and yellow fever had to be...

Less gummy gum.(The Beat)
October 1, 2005... There's no doubt about it: chewed chewing gum is hard to clean up if it ends up anywhere except in a trashcan. In the United Kingdom alone, over US$260 million is spent each year by municipalities on gum cleanup, and the methods used include...

Children's centers study kids and chemicals.(Environews/ NIEHS News)
October 1, 2005... Many studies in recent years have documented that whether they're used to spray in the kitchen or spray in the field, pesticides have a way of getting into almost all human environments. Pesticide exposure isn't a great idea for adults, but it...

The role of the parent in deterring child smoking, as seen by rural Native American and white parents.(Headliners: Smoking)
October 1, 2005... Kegler MC, Malcoe LH. 2005. Anti-smoking socialization beliefs among rural Native American and white parents of young children. Health Educ Res 20(2):175-184. Studies suggest that there are differences between the races in parental...

Virtual school.(Beyond the Bench)
October 1, 2005... In today's world of high-speed interconnection, technology in the classroom helps keep students interested and engaged in the learning process. Taking advantage of this favorable avenue of instructional opportunity, the Community Education and...

Are EDCs blurring issues of gender?(Environews/ Focus)
October 1, 2005... Although scientists have postulated a wide range of adverse human health effects of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), the nexus of the debate is the concern that prenatal and childhood exposure to EDCs may be responsible for a...

Damming the flow of drugs into drinking water.(Environews/ Spheres of Influence)
October 1, 2005... Roughly 100 pharmaceuticals have now been identified in rivers, lakes, and coastal waters throughout Europe and the United States in concentrations of parts per billion to parts per trillion. The first major European studies on this topic--in...

Getting the lead out of electronics.(Environews/ Innovations)
October 1, 2005... The electronics industry is learning to do without: it is having to abandon one of its long-time staples, lead-tin solder. For decades lead--tin solder has been used to attach electronic components to printed wiring boards. However, with the...

Prelude to intersex in fish: identifying a sensitive period for feminization.(Environews/ Science Selections)
October 1, 2005... Field studies have shown a high occurrence of intersex (the presence of both male and female characteristics) and ovotestis (the presence of eggs in the testis) in wild populations of a fish known as roach (Rutilus rutilus) in rivers in the...

Shift in sex ratio: male numbers sink in Great Lakes community.(Environews/ Science Selections)
October 1, 2005... Sex ratio--the proportion of male to female live births--can be an important indicator of the reproductive health of a population, whether animal or human. This figure is typically fairly constant. For example, the worldwide human sex ratio...

Lead in cocoa products: where does contamination come from?(Environews/ Science Selections)
October 1, 2005... Manufactured cocoa products frequently have higher lead concentrations than other foods, even though cocoa beans, the main ingredient, have some of the lowest reported lead levels for any natural food. In 2001 the Codex Alimentarius Commission,...

Moms and mercury: fine-tuning fish consumption during pregnancy.(Environews/ Science Selections)
October 1, 2005... Due to ongoing concerns that high mercury intake via fish can cause adverse neurologic effects in the developing fetus, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration now recommends that expectant mothers should limit their consumption of fish to two or...

Fundamental flaws of hormesis for public health decisions.(Commentary)
October 1, 2005... Hormesis (defined operationally as low-dose stimulation, high-dose inhibition) is often used to promote the notion that while high-level exposures to toxic chemicals could be detrimental to human health, low-level exposures would be beneficial....

Impact of polychlorinated biphenyls contamination on estrogenic activity in human male serum.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are thought to cause numerous adverse health effects, but their impact on estrogen signaling is still not fully understood. In the present study, we used the ER-CALUX bioassay to determine...

Cigarette smoking and effects on hormone function in premenopausal women.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Cigarette smoke contains compounds that are suspected to cause reproductive damage and possibly affect hormone activity; therefore, we examined hormone metabolite patterns in relation to validated smoking status. We previously conducted a...

Developmental exposure of rats to chlorpyrifos elicits sex-selective hyperlipidemia and hyperinsulinemia in adulthood.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Developmental exposure to chlorpyrifos alters cell signaling both in the brain and in peripheral tissues, affecting the responses to a variety of neurotransmitters and hormones. We administered 1 mg/kg/day chlorpyrifos to rats on postnatal days...

Declining sex ratio in a first nation community.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Members of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation community near Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, voiced concerns that there appeared to be fewer male children in their community in recent years. In response to these concerns, we assessed the sex ratio...

Assessing the sensitivity of different life stages for sexual disruption in roach (Rutilus rutilus) exposed to effluents from wastewater treatment works.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Surveys of U.K. rivers have shown a high incidence of sexual disruption in populations of wild roach (Rutilus rutilus) living downstream from wastewater treatment works (WwTW), and the degree of intersex (gonads containing both male and female...

History of Inuit community exposure to lead, cadmium, and mercury in sewage lake sediments.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Exposure to lead, cadmium, and mercury is known to be high in many arctic Inuit communities. These metals are emitted from industrial and urban sources, are distributed by long-range atmospheric transport to remote regions, and are found in...

Possible influence of [delta]-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase polymorphism and susceptibility to renal toxicity of lead: a study of a Vietnamese population.(Research)
October 1, 2005... We examined six newly identified polymorphisms in the [delta]-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to determine if these SNPs could modify the relationship between blood lead (PbB) and some renal...

Biomarker measurements in a coastal fish-eating population environmentally exposed to organochlorines.(Research)
October 1, 2005... The Lower North Shore region of the St. Lawrence River is home to a fish-eating population that displays an unusually high body burden of several organochlorines, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxin-like compounds (DLCs). We...

Fish consumption and advisory awareness in the Great Lakes basin.(Research)
October 1, 2005... More than 61 million adults live in the eight U.S. states bordering the Great Lakes. Between June 2001 and June 2002, a population-based, random-digit-dial telephone survey of adults residing in Great Lakes (GL) states was conducted to assess...

Inorganic arsenite potentiates vasoconstriction through calcium sensitization in vascular smooth muscle.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Chronic exposure to arsenic is well known as the cause of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension. To investigate the effect of arsenic on blood vessels, we examined whether arsenic affected the contraction of aortic rings in an isolated...

Tetrachloroethylene (PCE, Perc) levels in residential dry cleaner buildings in diverse communities in New York City.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Fugitive tetrachloroethylene (PCE, perc) emissions from dry cleaners operating in apartment buildings can contaminate residential indoor air. In 1997, New York State and New York City adopted regulations to reduce and contain perc emissions...

Lead contamination in cocoa and cocoa products: isotopic evidence of global contamination.(Research)
October 1, 2005... In this article we present lead concentrations and isotopic compositions from analyses of cocoa beans, their shells, and soils from six Nigerian cocoa farms, and analyses of manufactured cocoa and chocolate products. The average lead...

Second-hand smoke-induced cardiac fibrosis is related to the fas death receptor apoptotic pathway without mitochondria-dependent pathway involvement in rats.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke has been epidemiologically linked to heart disease among nonsmokers. However, the molecular mechanism behind the pathogenesis of cardiac disease is unknown. In this study, we found that Wistar rats,...

Molecular characterization of thyroid toxicity: anchoring gene expression profiles to biochemical and pathologic end points.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Organic iodides have been shown to induce thyroid hypertrophy and increase alterations in colloid in rats, although the mechanism involved in this toxicity is unclear. To evaluate the effect that free iodide has on thyroid toxicity, we exposed...

Risk of congenital anomalies after the opening of landfill sites.(Research)
October 1, 2005... Concern that living near a particular landfill site in Wales caused increased risk of births with congenital malformations led us to examine whether residents living close to 24 landfill sites in Wales experienced increased rates of congenital...

Chronic beryllium disease and sensitization at a beryllium processing facility.(Research/ Environmental Medicine)
October 1, 2005... We conducted a medical screening for beryllium disease of 577 former workers from a beryllium processing facility. The screening included a medical and work history questionnaire, a chest radiograph, and blood lymphocyte proliferation testing...

Case report: occupationally related recurrent varicella (chickenpox) in a hospital nurse.(Research/ Environmental Medicine)
October 1, 2005... Commonly accepted outcomes of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infections include chickenpox (primary) and shingles (recurrence or latency), as well lifetime immunity against chickenpox. We report the case of a registered nurse who worked in a...

Maternal fish consumption, hair mercury, and infant cognition in a U.S. cohort.(Research/ Children's Health)
October 1, 2005... Fish and other seafood may contain organic mercury but also beneficial nutrients such as n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. We endeavored to study whether maternal fish consumption during pregnancy harms or benefits fetal brain development. We...

Transport of methylmercury and inorganic mercury to the fetus and breast-fed infant.(Research/ Children's Health)
October 1, 2005... It is well established that methylmercury (MeHg) and mercury vapor pass the placenta, but little is known about infant exposure via breast milk. We measured MeHg and inorganic mercury (I-Hg) in blood of Swedish mothers (n = 20) and their...

Increased levels of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine attributable to carcinogenic metal exposure among schoolchildren.(Research/ Children's Health)
October 1, 2005... Arsenic, chromium, and nickel are reported in several epidemiologic studies to be associated with lung cancer. However, the health effects of arsenic, chromium, and nickel exposures are equivocal for children. Therefore, we performed a...

Air pollution and lymphocyte phenotype proportions in cord blood.(Research/ Children's Health)
October 1, 2005... Effects of air pollution on morbidity and mortality may be mediated by alterations in immune competence. In this study we examined short-term associations of air pollution exposures with lymphocyte immunophenotypes in cord blood among 1,397...

Phthalates in indoor dust and their association with building characteristics.(Research/ Children's Health)
October 1, 2005... In a recent study of 198 Swedish children with persistent allergic symptoms and 202 controls without such symptoms, we reported associations between the symptoms and the concentrations of n-butyl benzyl phthalate (BBzP) and di(2-ethylhexyl)...

Fungal levels in the home and allergic rhinitis by 5 years of age.(Research/ Children's Health)
October 1, 2005... Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that sensitization to fungi, such as Alternaria, is strongly associated with allergic rhinitis and asthma in children. However, the role of exposure to fungi in the development of childhood allergic rhinitis...

Effect of maternal smoking on breast milk interleukin-1[alpha], [beta]-endorphin, and leptin concentrations.(Research/ Children's Health)
October 1, 2005... Tobacco smoke is immunotoxic, but the effect of smoking on the immunologic function of the mammary gland of mothers who smoke cigarettes ("smoker mothers") has not been studied. Our objective was to test, in smoker mothers, the colostral and...

Lessons learned for the National Children's Study from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research.(Research/ Children's Health)
October 1, 2005... This mini-monograph was developed to highlight the experiences of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention...

Methodologic and logistic issues in conducting longitudinal birth cohort studies: lessons learned from the Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research.(Research/ Mini-Monograph)
October 1, 2005... In anticipation of the National Children's Study, lessons can be learned from the smaller birth cohort studies conducted by five Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research funded by the National Institute of...

Lessons learned for the study of childhood asthma from the Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research.(Research/ Mini-Monograph)
October 1, 2005... The National Children's Study will address, among other illnesses, the environmental causes of both incident asthma and exacerbations of asthma in children. Seven of the Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention...

Principles and practices of neurodevelopmental assessment in children: lessons learned from the centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research.(Research/ Mini-Monograph)
October 1, 2005... Principles and practices of pediatric neurotoxicology are reviewed here with the purpose of guiding the design and execution of the planned National Children's Study. The developing human central nervous system is the target organ most...

Air pollution exposure assessment for epidemiologic studies of pregnant women and children: lessons learned from the Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research.(Research/ Mini-Monograph)
October 1, 2005... The National Children's Study is considering a wide spectrum of airborne pollutants that are hypothesized to potentially influence pregnancy outcomes, neurodevelopment, asthma, atopy, immune development, obesity, and pubertal development. In...

Lessons learned for the assessment of children's pesticide exposure: critical sampling and analytical issues for future studies.(Research/ Mini-Monograph)
October 1, 2005... In this article we examine sampling strategies and analytical methods used in a series of recent studies of children's exposure to pesticides that may prove useful in the design and implementation of the National Children's Study. We focus...

Community-based participatory research: lessons learned from the Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research.(Research/ Mini-Monograph)
October 1, 2005... Over the past several decades there has been growing evidence of the increase in incidence rates, morbidity, and mortality for a number of health problems experienced by children. The causation and aggravation of these problems are complex and...

New program to identify outstanding new investigators.(Announcement/ NIEHS Extramural Update)
October 1, 2005... The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has launched an innovative new program of R01 research grants specifically designed for new investigators to support their research and to enhance their career progression: the Outstanding...

Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) Award.(Announcements/ Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
October 1, 2005... An essential element of the mission of the NIEHS is the support and career promotion of the future generation of exceptionally talented and creative new scientists who will further the understanding of the impact of environmental exposures on...

Centers for children's environmental health and disease prevention research.(Announcements/ Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
October 1, 2005... This initiative continues NIEHS's and EPA's intent to foster advances in children's health by supporting innovative, stare-of-the-art Research Centers examining the adverse health effects of environmental exposures among children. Both agencies...

Calendar.(Announcements)(Calendar)
October 1, 2005... 2005 October 17-19 October, Mon-Wed. 17th Annual Genomic Sequencing and Analysis Conference. Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Information: 9704 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850 USA, 301-529-5581, e-mail:...

Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance.
October 1, 2005... Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance By Jeffkey P. Koplan, Catharyn 7: Liverman, and Vivica L Kraak Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2005. 414 pp. ISBN: 0-309-09315-5, $44.95 cloth On a local daily level, what...

New books.(Announcements)
October 1, 2005... Biodefense: Principles and Pathogens Michael S. Bronze, Ronald A. Greenfield, eds. Norwich, UK: Horizon Scientific Press, 2005. 838 pp. ISBN: 1-904933-12-2, $380 Chemoinformatics in Drug Discovery Tudor I. Oprea, Raimund...