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Coordinated nationally by the Institute for Children's Environmental Health |
To join the Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment (PCHE) and receive this bulletin, please complete the form at http://www.partnersforchildren.org/members.html#member.
For information about additional events, please visit our searchable calendar of events at http://www.partnersforchildren.org/conferences.html.
December 13 - 14, 2006
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
at the Sheraton Hotel in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
The National Center for Environmental Assessment, within EPA's Office of Research and Development, is holding this workshop to inform the Agency's evaluation of the science in the review of the NAAQS for all criteria pollutants. The workshop will address various issues involved in the interpretation of epidemiologic study results that are based on ambient air monitoring data. These include issues related to exposure assessment, multipollutant confounding and effect modification, statistical modeling and biological plausibility. Cross-cutting issues pertaining to evaluation of all of the criteria air pollutants will be examined, with emphasis to be placed on studies involving evaluation of multipollutant health risks. This workshop is planned to advance interpretation and understanding of criteria air pollutant health effects analyses in population-level epidemiologic studies, with a focus on multi-pollutant exposures. The principal goals of this workshop are to: (1) Assess issues related to the interpretation of the epidemiologic literature, particularly related to the use of centrally located air quality monitors; (2) discuss new methodology and approaches to advance future epidemiologic research in the areas of exposure error, confounding and effect modification by copollutants, and statistical modeling; and (3) evaluate the extent to which evidence from human clinical and animal toxicologic studies aids in interpretation of findings observed in the epidemiologic literature.
Contact: Kristin Wheeler, 703-318-4535 or wheelerkr@saic.com
from the US Environmental Protection Agency
submitted to this bulletin by Judith Leckrone Lee
The US Environmental Protection Agency is soliciting innovative grant proposals for projects that reduce childhood lead poisoning in vulnerable populations. Activities eligible for funding include:
EPA will award individual grants of $25,000 to $100,000, totaling about three million dollars. For detailed information about these grants, visit http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=11484. Instructions for applying online are posted at http://epa.gov/lead/pubs/grantsgov.pdf. The application deadline is January 12, 2007.
by Janet Wilson, Los Angeles Times
December 12, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cement12dec12,0,7688748.story
Article Summary: The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it would not require cement manufacturers to upgrade plants to control mercury. Cement kilns turn raw limestone and waste ash from coal plants into the material used to build highways, tract homes and commercial developments. Mercury, which can be emitted when stone or coal ash is processed, is a potent neurotoxin that can harm developing brains. The emissions also pollute water bodies. Environmental groups that sued under the federal Clean Air Act to force tighter controls said the decision ignored two court orders. Earthjustice has twice has won a court order requiring the EPA to set mercury standards for cement plants under the Clean Air Act. But regulators said that upgrading existing plants would be too costly for industry and the resulting air-quality improvements would be too scant. Under the new rules, existing plants still must control dust containing mercury. Although federal law requires cement plants to report emissions, it does not require those reports to be based on actual measurements.
by Jeff Mason, Reuters
December 12, 2006
http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L11347547
STRASBOURG, France -- A new era of tighter controls on the global chemicals industry is set to open on Wednesday with a new European Union law regulating thousands of substances deemed harmful to health and the environment. The law, considered the largest piece of legislation in EU history, has pitted industry against environmentalists for years and drawn attacks from the United States and Africa for its potential effects on trade. Known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), the bill was designed to make companies prove that substances in everyday products such as cars, cellular phones and paint are safe.
Article Summary: The properties of roughly 30,000 chemicals produced or imported in the EU would have to be registered with a central agency. Those of highest concern, such as carcinogens, would require testing and authorisation to be used. Some chemicals could be banned. The European Parliament is scheduled for a final vote a compromise deal hammered out with EU governments late last month. It requires that persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic chemicals be removed from the market if suitable alternatives exist. The roughly 1,500 chemicals expected to be considered of high concern would require a "substitution plan"; if they can be adequately controlled, the substances will be approved. Industry groups say these plans are unnecessary and create legal uncertainty about the authorisation procedure, while environmentalists are disappointed that dangerous substances will still enter the market even when safer alternatives are available.
by Dan Olmsted, UPI
December 11, 2006
http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20061122-092219-6168r
WASHINGTON -- For three years, the CDC has used a study conducted on its own Vaccine Safety Datalink to reassure parents that mercury in vaccines does not cause autism. Now a panel of government-appointed experts says there are "serious problems" with exactly the approach the CDC took.
Article Summary: Chairwoman Irva Hertz-Picciotto said that the Verstraeten study which the CDC has used is not the final word. Hertz-Picciotto stated, "It's an 'open question' whether anything about vaccines -- timing, dose, preservative -- is related to the rise in diagnoses." Critics say this undermines confidence in reassurances about the mercury preservative thimerosal. The database on which the Verstraeten study was based has weaknesses -- including different ways of diagnosing autism at different HMOs -- that make it hard to draw broad conclusions. David Kirby, author of the book "Evidence of Harm" pointed out that all the weaknesses cited by the NIH (expert panel) were highlighted long ago by members of SafeMinds, a group that opposes mercury in medicine. Irrespective of the study, however, the agency is working to eliminate all remaining thimerosal-containing shots as soon as possible.
by Paul Elias, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle
December 11, 2006
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/12/11/financial/f160106S61.DTL
The use of subatomic materials as microscopic building blocks for thousands of consumer products has turned into a big business so quickly that few are monitoring the so-called nanotechnology's effects on health and the environment. So Berkeley intends to be the first city to step into the breach and attempt to regulate the nascent but fast-growing industry. The City Council is expected Tuesday to amend its hazardous materials law to compel researchers and manufacturers to report what nanotechnology materials they are working with and how they are handling the tiny particles.
Article Summary: Nanotechnology involves developing new products and materials by changing or creating materials at the atomic and molecular level. Much of the impacts from those developments remains unknown, particularly with regard to possible environmental and health problems. Thousands of products, from cosmetics to detergents, are already manufactured using nanoparticles. A deputy director at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory said it's essential that precautions are taken while at the same time allowing important research to proceed. City officials said the new regulation is mostly aimed at monitoring nanotechnology startups and small businesses. In November, the Environmental Protection Agency said it was changing federal policy to require that nanotechnology manufacturers provide scientific evidence that their use of so-called "nanosilver" won't harm waterways or public health.
by Ron Seely, Wisconsin State Journal
December 11, 2006
http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/index.php?ntid=110588&ntpid=1
Article Summary: Many nursing homes and hospitals dispose of unused drugs by flushing them. The problem is that from there, they go into the sewer system and eventually contaminate our lakes, streams and drinking water. There are few safe ways to get rid of expired or unused drugs. Laws for health-care institutions on how to dispose of drugs are confusing and outdated. Enforcement of these laws is nearly nonexistent, and no laws in Wisconsin regulate household disposal of drugs. Federal Drug Enforcement Administration rules require that any collection of narcotics for disposal have a law enforcement officer present at every step of the process. This makes it very difficult for communities to hold household pharmaceutical collection events and impossible to set up permanent drug disposal sites.
Researchers don't know all of the impacts of these drugs in the water. An extensive nationwide study by the U.S. Geologic Survey has found evidence of pharmaceuticals including antibiotics and hormonal drugs, such as birth control pills, in surface waters throughout the nation. Whether the presence of drugs in water translates into human health impacts is still being studied, although changes and deformities in fish and other aquatic creatures has been found. While human risk assessments have shown low concentrations of pharmaceuticals in drinking water have a negligible health risk, no studies on long-term effects, nor of effects on especially sensitive or compromised populations, have been completed. With antibiotic resistance a concern in health care, antibiotics in water supplies are a potential problem.
by Peter Slevin, Washington Post
December 10, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/09/AR2006120900354.html
Article Summary: In the name of defending the United States against terrorists, the Coast Guard proposes live-fire zones in all five Great Lakes, where gunners could perfect their skills on M-240B machine guns to be mounted on lake vessels. The weapons can fire hundreds of 7.62mm rounds a minute and send lead 2.3 miles downrange. Opposition to the proposal is formidable and growing, led by an alliance of 80 mayors from eight states and Canada who called on the Coast Guard last month to drop the plan. In addition to concerns over public safety and the militarization of our border with Canada, the use of lead bullets has concerned many. More than a dozen environmental groups have asked for changes in the project and a deeper study of the effect on the ecosystem of hundreds of thousands of lead bullets. The Coast Guard claims that to be proficient on weapons, members must practice with live rounds. Difference between operating any type of weapon on land versus operating it on water, with the motion of the Great Lakes, the wind current and the sun, is substantial, so training must be on the water. Opponents have suggested using a simulator or sending Coast Guard members to train on the ocean.
by Terry Rindfleisch, La Crosse [Wisconsin] Tribune
December 10, 2006
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2006/12/10/news/dirty2_1210.txt
Article Summary: Magda Havas, a professor in environmental and resource studies at Canada's Trent University, has found that dirty electricity could be the reason their schools have sick building syndrome. Dirty electricity is a power quality problem that likely is present in most schools due to fluorescent lights, computers and other electronic equipment that generate electrical pollution. She was asked to conduct a study in a Toronto private school for students with learning disabilities and found high levels of dirty electricity. Even though she was skeptical that filters would make much difference, she found that after filtering the school, the health of teachers and students improved. Student behavior improved especially in those with attention deficit disorder. She repeated the study at three Minnesota schools in 2005 and found similar results. Havas has become convinced that elementary-aged students are the most sensitive, and that this form of pollution may be significantly compromising the learning and working environment in schools. However, high school principal in a Bangor, Wisconsin school district, said that filters that were used during 2004 didn't make a difference in absenteeism rates. Filters installed at Blair-Taylor schools apparently reduced the number of migraines among children and employees, and electronic failures were nearly eliminated.
by Douglas Fischer, Contra Costa [California] Times
December 10, 2006
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/education/16208308.htm
Every generation has a compound that got banned or sharply restricted years after scientists alerted the world of its dangers: lead, PCBs and asbestos. The pattern doesn't change: Researchers voice concern, industry digs in and regulators do little until public outcry builds. Atrazine, the world's most widely used herbicide, might just be this generation's.
Article Summary: Farmers spread 76 million pounds a year of atrazine on America's crops, irrespective of concerns about its ability to hammer the reproductive systems in amphibians. Swiss-based agricultural giant Syngenta has funded scientific study of claims of harm, contracting with Tyrone Hayes, then a new UC Berkeley professor, and others in 1997. Hayes found effects at surprisingly low concentrations -- 0.1 parts per billion. The federal government allows 3 parts per billion of Atrazine in drinking water, 30 times as much. The panel declined to release the findings, however, so Hayes resigned and repeated the experiments using independent money. His research created international headlines and a swirl of controversy. Syngenta-affiliated scientists say they are unable to replicate his results, and the EPA assessed the science in 2003 and concluded data of the 17 studies available at that point were inconclusive. Twelve of those studies were funded by Syngenta. Europe, looking at the same research, banned the compound earlier this year. Stephen Bradbury, director of the Environmental Fate and Effects Division of the EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, says the agency will have access to all Syngenta's protocol, data and analyses and will independently analyze the data.
Meanwhile, Hayes has shown that when Atrazine and other herbicides are mixed together in a laboratory at doses thought not to have any effect, the combination wreaks havoc on the growth, health and sexual development in frogs. And he's finding evidence of it happening in the field. For the EPA, Hayes' work is interesting but irrelevant to any decision to regulate the pesticide.
from CBC News
December 8, 2006
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2006/12/08/toxic-chemicals.html
The Conservative government has launched a $300-million plan to curb the use of toxic chemicals in Canada. The plan, which will be implemented over four years, focuses on chemicals that are harmful to human health and the environment.
Article Summary: Canada will be a world leader in the testing and regulating of chemicals used in thousands of consumer products, including stain repellents, flame retardants, plastic bottles or kitchen utensils. Some pesticides will also be re-evaluated, and the government is continuing with plans to make disclosure of ingredients mandatory on cosmetic labels. Chemicals known to be particularly toxic will be banned, while other chemicals will be tightly controlled. Companies will have to look for safer substitute chemicals to use in products. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canadians should not be alarmed about the products in their homes and in stores. The chemicals in these products don't pose an immediate threat, according to Harper, but some could be harmful if allowed to accumulate in the body over a long period. Harper said the plan will be expensive, but will save taxpayers money in the long term because it will reduce health-care costs and make Canada's air and water cleaner. Rick Smith, who heads the Canadian advocacy group Environmental Defence, applauds the government's plan. He said the chemicals it targets are highly toxic and cause cancer, and are dangerous for the development of children.
See a related article at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061211.wxenvironment11/BNStory/National/home.
by Frank D. Roylance and Michael Stroh, Baltimore Sun
December 8, 2006
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-te.food08dec08,0,2867454.story?page=2
Article Summary: With recent high-profile food poisoning episodes involving green onions at Taco Bell, Jamba Juice, chicken and E. coli from bagged spinach, one might conclude that food supplies are becoming more hazardous to our health. Health authorities say the general incidence of reported food-borne illnesses is down in recent years. But some pathogens remain a serious and stubborn problem. Nationwide, officials estimate that food-borne pathogens cause 76 million illnesses and 5,000 deaths each year. A continuing problem with government figures on outbreaks is that only a relatively small proportion are identified and reported to health departments. Most people sickened by pathogens in their food cope with it on their own. Dr. Ellen Silbergeld, a professor of environmental health science at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, noted that one problem is the lack of regulation of animal waste generated by industrial-scale feeding operations. Overall, though, E. coli outbreaks are down, due to coordinated efforts by regulators and industry in reducing contamination and illness related to ground beef. Salmonella-based illnesses, on the other hand, are increasing, and a new analysis of 5,000 food-borne illness outbreaks between 1990 and 2004 found that contaminated produce sickens more people than tainted seafood, beef, or poultry. The Food and Drug Administration, which oversees the produce industry, has traditionally imposed only voluntary safety practices. Supermarket chains and other food retailers are increasing pressure on growers to improve safety practices. Some are investigating scientific fixes, such as spray-on viruses, known as bacteriophages, that kill harmful food-borne bacteria without affecting humans.
by Erin Kelly, Detroit Free Press
December 8, 2006
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061208/NEWS07/612080329/1009
WASHINGTON -- With little fanfare, the Bush administration recently announced that pesticide users would no longer have to get a federal Clean Water Act permit to spray toxic chemicals over rivers, lakes and streams. To the White House, it was the latest in a series of efforts to reduce burdensome federal regulations that vex business owners and local governments. To conservation groups, it was President George W. Bush using his power to once again weaken environmental and public health laws.
Article Summary: President Bush has used his executive power to effectively reinterpret environmental regulations over the last six years. Among the changes: He made it possible for aging power plants to expand without installing the latest pollution-control equipment; he eased restrictions on mountaintop mining, and he excluded some streams, rivers and wetlands from protection under the Clean Water Act. Critics of environmental regulation would like to see him do more to get rid of what many business groups see as costly, unnecessary regulations. He is expected to continue such efforts, and although Congress can hold oversight hearings, it cannot stop him.
by Janet Wilson, Los Angeles Times
December 8, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-epa8dec08,0,1689344.story
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday streamlined the way it updates regulations for the nation's worst air pollutants, a move that drew immediate charges that officials are trying to quash scientific review to benefit industry at the expense of public health. The changes, some of which closely mirror requests by the American Petroleum Institute and Battery Council International industry groups, include shortening what is now an exhaustive scientific review, and replacing recommendations prepared by career scientists and reviewed by independent advisors with a "policy paper" crafted by senior White House appointees at the agency. EPA officials said the changes were made in part at the request of its science advisors, who have complained that the process for reviewing new health standards is overwhelming. The agency regularly misses deadlines for updating health standards, which has led to numerous lawsuits by environmental groups.
Article Summary: Pollutants covered by the changes are ozone, diesel soot, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and lead. The EPA describes the new process as " timely and transparent", using "the most up-to-date science." Congress members, environmentalists and past EPA staff from Republican and Democratic administrations swiftly condemned this week's actions, saying they could undermine public health protections. Concern over having political appointees in charge of scientific recommendations could threaten thousands of children, the elderly and other sensitive populations.
by Annys Shin and Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post
December 7, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/06/AR2006120601882.html
The staff of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has recommended that the commission effectively ban the lead in children's metal jewelry, citing the risk of lead poisoning. The proposal is subject to public comment and would require approval by the full commission, which is scheduled to vote next week.
Article Summary: While lead paint in older homes remains the top cause of lead poisoning in children, the potential for children to ingest lead by sucking on or swallowing toy jewelry has led to 14 recalls of more than 160 million items since 2004. Even small amounts of lead can harm brain development in children if ingested. In rare cases, lead poisoning from toy jewelry can be fatal, as seen in a 4-year-old Minneapolis boy who had swallowed a lead charm in March. The proposal was in response to a petition from the Sierra Club requesting a ban on all toy jewelry containing lead. The CPSC staff recommended that the agency prohibit any piece of metal jewelry with lead content exceeding 0.06 percent. Both the EPA and the CPSC have jurisdiction over lead in toy jewelry.
by Bette Hileman, Chemical & Engineering News
December 6, 2006
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/84/i50/8450bisphenol.html
A new study finds the strongest evidence yet for the hypothesis that widespread environmental exposure to bisphenol A during fetal life causes breast cancer in adult women. The research, led by Ana M. Soto, professor of anatomy and cellular biology at Tufts University School of Medicine, in Boston, was published Dec. 6 in the online edition of Reproductive Toxicology.
Article Summary: Rat pups exposed prenatally to bisphenol A developed precancerous lesions in their mammary ducts at puberty (50 days old). Doses ranged from 2.5 to 1,000 µg per kg of body weight per day. Frederick vom Saal, professor of biology at the University of Missouri, commented that this study "follows five years of research demonstrating precancerous changes in the mammary glands of mice with prenatal bisphenol A exposure." A similar finding in rats is important, he added, since the rat is considered a much better animal model for studying human carcinogenes. Bisphenol A is used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins and is found in many food and beverage containers, including baby bottles. It is also found in canned food linings and dental composites, and it leaches from all of these products. The Environmental Protection Agency has set a safe human intake dose of 50 µg/kg/day for bisphenol A. "On the basis of the effects observed in recent studies, this seems to be an unsafe level," Soto says.
See a related article at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061206.HCANCER06/TPStory/?query=bisphenol.
by John Heilprin, Associated Press, Washington Post
December 6, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/06/AR2006120601947.html
The Bush administration is considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the nation's biggest clean-air accomplishments.
Article Summary: Battery makers, lead smelters and refiners have lobbied the administration to do away with the Clean Air Act limits. The Environmental Protection Agency has said that revoking those standards might be justified "given the significantly changed circumstances since lead was listed in 1976" as an air pollutant. Concentrations of lead in the air have dropped more than 90 percent in the past 2 1/2 decades. Soon after lead was listed as an air pollutant 30 years ago, lead began to be removed from gasoline. Other big sources of lead in the atmosphere are from solid waste, coal, oil, iron and steel production, lead smelters and tobacco smoke. Lead exposures can also come through food and soil. The EPA is required to review lead, along with ozone, soot, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides, every five years to make sure the health limits are protective enough. The EPA has repeatedly missed the deadlines set under the Clean Air Act, although new guidance has been approved to help the agency follow the law in a more timely fashion. Health standards for air pollutants are intended to protect children, elderly and other "sensitive" populations, keep up visibility and limit damage to animals, crops, vegetation and buildings. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the incoming chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, called on the agency to renounce the proposal, stating, "This deregulatory effort cannot be defended."
from the BBC News
December 6, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6209960.stm
Article Summary: Long or short-term mobile phone use is not associated with increased risk of cancer, a major study has found. While mobile phone antennas emit electromagnetic fields that can penetrate the human brain, a Danish team found no evidence that this was linked to an increased risk of tumours in the head or neck as had been feared. The researchers, from the Danish Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen, looked at data on people who had been using mobile phones from as far back as 1982, with more than 56,000 who had been using a mobile phone for at least 10 years. They found no evidence to suggest users had a higher risk of tumours in the brain, eye, or salivary gland, or leukaemia.
by Jeff Montgomery, Wilmington [Delaware] News Journal
December 6, 2006
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061206/NEWS/612060353/-1/NEWS01
A manufactured chemical used in making nonstick and stain-resistant products may disrupt important reproductive tissues in pregnant and unborn female mice, according to researchers in North Carolina. A report in the latest edition of the journal Toxicological Sciences was the latest to find possible links between C8, or perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and problems in animal health, development and reproduction.
Article Summary: Researchers noted diminished weight in newborn mice after their mothers were exposed to PFOA, along with "significant" stunting of mammary glands in newborn female mice and possible effects on mammary tissue development and milk production in pregnant females. Manufactured only by the DuPont Co. in the United States, PFOA has become the target of an intensive Environmental Protection Agency and European Union health risk study. The compound is used in production of Teflon and huge numbers of nonstick and stain-resistant coatings and products, including coatings for food wrappers and containers. An EPA advisory panel tentatively labeled PFOA a "probable" cancer-causing agent. In response to the new report, DuPont stated that "the relevance to humans remains uncertain." EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones said Monday that reducing potential risks from PFOA "continues to be a priority" for the agency.
by Martin Mittelstaedt, Toronto Globe and Mail
December 6, 2006
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061206.CANCERENVIRO06/TPStory/National
Article Summary: Rural Prince Edward Island is an unlikely hotbed of rare cancers. Newcomer Dr. Ron Matsusaki was sufficiently alarmed that he started to speak out publicly about this rash of unusual cancers and his suspicion that the blame for them lies with one of the island's economic mainstays, potato farming, and its promiscuous use of pesticides. The view that exposure to pesticides and other everyday environmental pollutants is a big source of the cancer epidemic sweeping Canada is one of the most controversial subjects in cancer causation. The research picture linking pesticides to cancer has been mixed. Researchers think that about 80 to 90 per cent of all cancers are due to environmental causes broadly defined to include lifestyle factors such as smoking and diet. It's far harder to tease out just how much is due to polluted air, water or food, or to radiation or workplace exposures to cancer-causing substances. One recent estimate of the impact of pollution placed the total cancers due to this factor at about 8 to 16 per cent. After Dr. Matsusaki began to voice his concerns, the province decided to launch an investigation to check whether Islanders have recently been more afflicted by cancer than people elsewhere in Canada. Areas of the island such as Kensington have some of the highest airborne concentrations of pesticides around farm fields in the world, with a sizable population living near sprayed fields. Farmers insist that their sprays are safe because all crop chemicals used on the island are approved and regulated by Health Canada. Ivan Noonan, general manager of the Prince Edward Island Potato Board, said pesticides are part of modern farming, and opponents of spraying are being unrealistic.
by Janet Wilson, Los Angeles Times
December 6, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dig6dec06,0,2828254.story
The effects of air pollution from construction equipment in California are "staggering," according to a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The environmental group concluded that at least 1,100 premature deaths and half a million work and school absences in 2005 were caused by people breathing emissions from older tractors, bulldozers and other diesel equipment -- at an estimated public health cost of $9.1 billion.
Article Summary: The report, one of two studies released Tuesday on the severe health hazards of exposure to the soot in diesel emissions, was the first to analyze the health and economic impacts of construction-related air pollution in California. Heavily populated and fast-growing parts of the state suffer the greatest effects. The report urged state regulators to quickly require owners to retrofit or replace older equipment. Particulate pollution in particular is related to asthma attacks, cancer and heart disease. The second report release Tuesday, from Brigham Young University professor Arden Pope and a team of doctors, found a sharply elevated risk of heart attacks for people with clogged arteries after just a day or two of exposure to diesel soot pollution. Soot emitted by 750-horsepower excavators can travel downwind for miles into heavily populated areas. Although federal rules adopted in 2004 require cleaner-emitting new equipment, the regulations don't cover existing engines, currently estimated to be about 70% of construction equipment in California. With an average excavator or tractor lasting 20 or 30 years, it could be decades before all the dirty equipment is replaced. The California Air Resources Board on Monday released a draft of new regulations for older engines that would require all construction, mining and other industrial off-road equipment to be replaced or retrofitted between 2009 and 2020. The proposal is part of an effort to reduce diesel particulate emissions by 85% and nitrogen oxide, a key ingredient in smog, by 70%. Estimated compliance costs could top $3 billion over 11 years. Both cost and a lack of readily available retrofitting devices would mean the cleanup would be gradual.
by Maria Recio, San Jose Mercury News
December 5, 2006
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16171643.htm
Article Summary: A Texas congressman has worked out a compromise on a $945 million bill to fight autism, the Combating Autism Act. Supporters anticipate that the bill, which has been revised slightly from a Senate-passed version, will pass by the two-thirds vote margin required and then be sent back to the Senate for a vote before Congress adjourns on Friday. The bill bumps up research for autism, a spectrum of developmental disorders that impair social interaction, and calls for coordinated research and early intervention programs. Autism, which appears by age 3, occurs in one of 166 births. The amended version of the act authorizes nearly $1 billion for autism research, including essential research on environmental factors, treatments, early identification and services. The compromise allocates funding to the National Institutes of Health but directs the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to set up regional centers of excellence for epidemiological research. The bill includes environmental factors in the list of research areas to be studied, but drops the Senate-passed version's provision for $45 million in research on environmental factors.
by Charisse Jones, USA TODAY
December 5, 2006
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-12-05-activists-pollution_x.htm
Article Summary: Raising two children with eczema and asthma across the street from a bus depot in Harlem, Millicent Redick always believed the dust in her home was the problem and cleaned all the time. After learning of connections between pollution and asthma attacks, cleaning up the air became her new mission. Problems near bus depots include high asthma rates thought to be due to diesel particulates, constant noise and vibrations from the buses. Residents and activists are organizing against the concentration of bus depots in one area of the city, and it is one of many environmental battles being waged around the nation in a campaign to improve the health and safety of poor and minority communities. But beyond fighting, communities also have developed alliances and coalitions with scientists and lawyers and economists. Neighborhood activists from California to Washington, D.C., are using a growing body of research on how pollutants exacerbate illness to block the building of facilities, relocate residents from contaminated communities and gain other concessions from large firms. Among recent developments:
The environmental justice movement began in the South in the early 1980s when activists, church leaders and residents complained that toxic waste sites and other polluters often were located in poor and black neighborhoods. Their protests merged the struggle for a clean environment with that of civil rights. Courts now require proof of intentional discrimination in Environmental justice cases, and it can be difficult to analyze the location of landfills, chemical plants and highways to show more than random siting. Ted Cromwell, senior director of security and operations for the American Chemistry Council says businesses don't target certain communities: "It's not so much plants being sited in these communities as it is communities building up around them and over time the demographics change." He added that companies increasingly are trying to create safer products. Environmental justice is primarily a health issue.
news release from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University
December 4, 2006
http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu:80/news/CCCEH_Chloro.html
submitted to this bulletin by Philip McGowan
New York, NY -- Children who were exposed prenatally to the insecticide chlorpyrifos had significantly poorer mental and motor development by three years of age and increased risk for behavior problems, according to a peer-reviewed study published today by the American Academy of Pediatrics in its journal, Pediatrics. Chlorpyrifos, which was banned for residential use in 2001, is still widely applied to agricultural crops in the U.S. and abroad, including many fruits and vegetables.
Article Summary: By age three, the upper 20th percentile of about 250 children -- those with the highest levels of chlorpyrifos at birth -- had significantly worse mental development and poorer motor skills and early indications of behavior and attention problems than children with lower exposure levels. Lead author and investigator on the study, Virginia Rauh, ScD, commented that prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos not only increases the likelihood of developmental delay, but may have long-term consequences for social adjustment and academic achievement. She compared the effects to what has been seen with exposures to other neurotoxicants such as lead and tobacco smoke. Prior research findings from this study have shown that prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure can reduce birth weight and length. The research has also shown that the residential ban on chlorpyrifos use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been effective at reducing blood levels of the insecticide. Frederica Perera, DrPH, director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, noted that such studies provide opportunities for prevention of effects, but that thorough testing of chemicals before they are marketed would further protect children's health and development. The study is available at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/peds.2006-0338.
from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
December 4, 2006
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07042.html
The Consumer Product Safety Commission in cooperation with Really Useful Products Inc., today announced a voluntary recall of Children's Mood Necklaces and Diva Necklaces. The recalled jewelry contains high levels of lead. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
For more information, please visit http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07042.html.
by Bob Weinhold, Environmental Health Perspectives
December 2006
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/114-12/forum.html#poll
Article Summary: The worldwide obesity epidemic is usually blamed on overeating and underexercising, but limited evidence has suggested a few environmental contaminants may also be playing a role. Recent studies show that exposure to a number of organotins, a class of persistent compounds containing at least one tin-carbon bond, at concentrations typically found in people and wildlife, can contribute to alterations in pathways known to play a key role in excess weight gain, and can lead to significant aberrations in fat cells in mice and frogs. The study results also suggest that other chemicals that affect various hormone signaling pathways may play a similar role in weight gain. Preventing exposures to environmental contaminants over the course of a lifetime, even prior to conception, may be an important part of the battle against obesity. Organotins are widespread through their use in boat hull antifouling paints, pesticides, wood preservatives, textiles (as a biocidal agent), plastics, and other products.
from the Environmental Protection Agency
November 2006
http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/chm.htm
The annual Children's Environmental Health Report highlights the Environmental Protection Agency's recent efforts to protect the health of children by addressing threats in the environments where they develop, grow, and thrive. Improving school environments, addressing indoor and outdoor air quality, and reducing exposures to chemicals and pesticides are a few of the activities described in the report, "Children's Environmental Health: 2006 Report; Environment, Health, and a Focus on Children. The report is available at http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/CEH06_Final.htm/$file/CEH06_Final.pdf.
