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Coordinated nationally by the Institute for Children's Environmental Health |
Due to the July 4th holiday, there will be no bulletin published next week. Articles from two weeks will be compiled in the July 11th bulletin.
These weekly bulletins are archived and searchable on the Partnership's website: http://www.partnersforchildren.org/bulletins.html. 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 more information about these events or to access additional events, please visit our searchable calendar of events at http://www.partnersforchildren.org/conferences.html.
June 28 - 29, 2007
Boston, Massachusetts
at the Seaport Hotel
This one-and-a-half-day conference is designed to help participants incorporate sustainable and nutritious food purchasing at their facilities and learn cost-effective strategies that emphasize health concerns that meet the unique needs of healthcare and facilitate the development of healthy communities. Presentations will be geared towards healthcare providers, dieticians, food service directors and food procurement and distribution professionals.
Website: http://www.foodmed.org/home.html
Contact: info@foodmed.org
July 10, 2007
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EDT
This lecture will present new evidence that ethanol impairs brain development by interfering with how proteins move in the cell and offers a technique for identifying infants who've been exposed to ethanol in utero. The speaker will be Cynthia F. Bearer, MD, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics, neurosciences, and environmental health sciences at Case Western Reserve University and an attending neonatologist at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital.
Website: http://www.ehinitiative.org/Projects/tele_con.htm
Contact: Laura Abulafia, Laura@aaidd.org
July 11, 2007
1:00 - 2:30 p.m. EDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT
Please join the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Children's Health Protection for the third in the Distinguished Speaker Webcast Series to celebrate ten years of children's environmental health protection. Speakers include 1) Deborah Millette, associate director for program development, Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services of the National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2) Emily Williams, director of Healthy Homes Division of the Office of Homes and Lead Hazard Control, Department of Housing and Urban Development; 3) Rebecca Morley, executive director of the National Center for Healthy Housing; 4) Paul Haan, executive director of the Healthy Homes Coalition, West Michigan; and 5) Karen L. Meyerson, RN, BSN, AE-C manager of Asthma Network of West Michigan. Participants will listen via telephone and view presentations via Microsoft Live Meeting. Participation is limited.
Contact: OCHPWebcast@icfi.com
July 19 - 20, 2007
Portland, Oregon
at the Oregon Convention Center's Portland Ballroom 251
The conference will provide a dynamic forum for exploring issues related to community-based research partnerships, methods, funding and project planning, and the dissemination of findings. Effective models of CBPR from the northwest and throughout the country will be showcased. The conference will provide a forum for examining the role of CBPR in improving health and eliminating health disparities -- highlighting the voices of community members, researchers, funders and others working with underserved and underrepresented populations; build upon the knowledge and skills of participants interested in the application of CBPR for social change and improved health; explore the multi-faceted process of CBPR -- including partnerships, methods and ethics -- and to learn from partnerships that have addressed these challenges and opportunities; and explore local, state and national funding sources, including opportunities to hear directly from grant seekers and funders.
Website: http://www.nwhfevents.org/
July 19 - 21, 2007
Charleston, South Carolina
at the Charleston Marriott
Recent events have shed light upon the tragic consequences that a disaster can have on an already inequitable health system. But the truth is that for many Americans, it doesn't take a Hurricane Katrina for disparities in healthcare to impact their day-to-day life. There is a growing chasm between the quality of health for the working poor and those with ready access to America's doctors and hospitals. The National Conference on Health Disparities in Charleston will bring together health care providers, funding agencies, political leaders and public policy makers to tackle this problem's history, then forge new strategies and visionary thinking to help facilitate the reduction and ultimately the elimination of health disparities in the United States. With a focus on the 13 most affected states, the conference will endeavor to understand where we've been and what we've learned from those experiences with an eye on where health disparities can be improved and how to facilitate such change.
Website: http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=203591eb-574d-48dc-a0bf-cf58e7c99167
from the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility
GBPSR would like to make you aware of a valuable new environmental health resource called Ask the Researcher available at http://www.busbrp.org/ask.html. The interactive web tool allows readers to pose questions and have them answered by researchers involved in the Boston University Superfund Basic Research Program (BUSBRP). The BUSBRP consists of 9 research projects that study the effects of exposures to some common toxic substances on reproduction and development in humans and wildlife. Every few months a different project leader is featured. This month's featured leader is Mark Hahn, PhD, who is researching the mechanisms and impacts of dioxin resistance in fish. Why is researching toxins in fish important for people? What can we learn from fish that would help us understand how PCBs and dioxins may affect human health? Ask the Researcher and find out.
from the Green Electronics Council
EPEAT is an environmental procurement tool designed to help institutional purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebook computers and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its products. See http://www.epeat.net/.
by Rick Weiss, Washington Post
June 27, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/26/AR2007062601964.html
A high-powered institute director at the National Institutes of Health disregarded conflict-of-interest guidelines by making decisions affecting the university where he was a faculty member, broke government spending rules, and raised concerns with his growing involvement as an expert witness in legal cases, according to sources within NIH and Congress and hundreds of pages of confidential documents. David Schwartz, a physician and researcher recruited from Duke University to great fanfare in 2005 as chief of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, was found to have spent modest amounts of institute money for personal purposes but was cleared of other allegations of wrongdoing in a recent internal NIH ethics review obtained by The Washington Post.
Article Summary: Schwartz denied any deception on his part, however, and said he has taken corrective actions to prevent future problems. But several members of Congress have demanded more details, saying they have evidence that the NIH report is incomplete. Email exchanges between Schwartz and ethics officials in NIH and in the Health and Human Services secretary's office show Schwartz's reluctance to divest all his biotechnology and drug company stocks as required by law, and Schwartz's growing commitments to give expert testimony in multimillion-dollar asbestos injury cases raised concerns that he might be perceived as profiting personally from his status as head of the nation's premier environmental toxicology program. Schwartz brought more than a dozen Duke researchers to his federal lab, despite a requirement that he recuse himself from matters involving Duke, and he overspent his lab budget by millions of dollars. Schwartz said he reimbursed the government for the personal expenses, has stopped giving expert testimony and is committed to strengthening the institute. But congressional distrust remains strong. Sen. Chuck E. Grassley (R-Iowa), Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) have asked for more information and documents.
by Angela Zimm, Bloomberg
June 26, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4xmH.aERohk&refer=world
The number of American children with chronic illnesses has quadrupled since the time when some of their parents were kids, portending more disability and higher health costs for a new generation of adults, a study estimates. An almost fourfold increase in childhood obesity in the past three decades, twice the asthma rates since the 1980s, and a jump in the number of attention-deficit disorder cases are driving the growth of chronic illnesses, according to researchers at Harvard University in Boston. The report is published in a themed issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association focusing on children's health.
Article Summary: In 1960, just 1.8 percent of U.S. children and adolescents were reported to have a chronic health condition that limited their activities. In 2004, the rate rose to 7 percent, researchers said. The journal's reports also included findings that family- based weight-management programs work best, that white children have the highest rate of diabetes, that childhood cancer survivors face risks for serious health problems when they become adults, and that children with serious illness are more likely to die at home than in 1989.
Doctors and public health officials should be bracing for a wave of chronically ill young adults with weight-related ailments that include diabetes and heart disease. About 18 percent of children in the U.S. are obese, up from 5 percent in 1974, the study said. Obesity accounts for about 10 percent of U.S. health costs. Doubling the rate of obesity could add more than $100 billion a year in costs, researchers said. An estimated 9 percent of children have asthma, twice the rate it was in the 1980s. The breathing disorder persists to adulthood in about a quarter of children. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, not recognized as a medical condition in 1968, is now diagnosed in about 6 percent of school-age youngsters. Research suggests that half of children with ADHD continue to have it as adults. While genes may play a role in obesity, asthma and ADHD, environmental and social changes are behind the surge, researchers said. Modern life has brought increased fast-food diets, more time spent indoors watching television or playing on the computer, as well as dwindling community and family support. An association between asthma and obesity supports the theory that sedentary behavior diminishes lung function, researchers said. With more time indoors, children have increased exposure to indoor allergens. Too much television has also been associated with increased risk for ADHD, as well as parent absenteeism, researchers said. Researchers are seeing increasing disparities between race, ethnic and socioeconomic groups among the three main drivers of childhood chronic disease. Black children have asthma rates that are 60 percent higher than white children. ADHD is higher among children from low-income households.
from DailyIndia.com
June 26, 2007
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/152469.php/Fine-particulate-matter-from-traffic-may-reduce-unborn-babies-birth-weight
A recent research has found that pregnant women's contact with fine particulate matter from traffic may decrease their children's birth weight. The National Research Centre for Environment and Health in Neuherberg near Munich conducted the study, together with colleagues from the French Institute for Health and Medical Research INSERM scientists at the GSF.
Article Summary: The researchers studied 1016 mothers and their children born in Munich between 1998 and 1999. On the basis of a measuring campaign at 40 locations in the city of Munich, the concentrations of traffic-related atmospheric pollutants during pregnancy, including fine particulate matter (those with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers, PM2,5), could be modeled at the home address of the pregnant women. Using a detailed questionnaire, the study authors could unravel the influence of air pollutants from that of other factors known to influence birth weight: maternal smoking, the height and weight of the mother before pregnancy, the educational level of the mothers as well as the duration of the pregnancy and the child's gender. Researchers found that the proportion of newborns with a birth weight below 3,000 grams increased with rising concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2,5) during pregnancy. A similar alliance was observed between the absorbance of fine particulate matter and birth weight. The absorbance of particulate matter is considered to be an indicator of the particles originating from traffic, and in particular from diesel vehicles. Earlier American Studies had already suggested that fine particulate matter might influence the birth weight. But this is the first study to suggest so clearly that traffic-related air pollutants have an influence.
by Maurice Possley, Chicago Tribune
June 26, 2007
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-toys_tuesjun26,1,7755528.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=3&cset=true
Prompted by the recall of 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys by an Oak Brook-based toymaker and a growing number of recalls of Chinese-manufactured toys, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Monday called for a congressional hearing to investigate reports of unsafe imports. Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which has jurisdiction for product recalls, asked for Senate action "in analyzing the underlying concerns of safety for our children, China's role and what can be done to safeguard children from these potentially harmful products," according to a statement released by her staff.
Article Summary: Last week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) said after a hearing in Chicago that they would introduce legislation to give the safety commission enhanced power to recall dangerous children's products. A Tribune analysis of data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows that since January 2004, the agency has issued 303 recalls for children's products, including 94 recalls of toys. A total of 218 of those recalls -- or 72 percent -- were for products manufactured in China. The vast majority of the toys marketed in the United States are made in China, a fact reflected in the CPSC recall data. A total of 78 of the 94 toy recalls -- 83 percent -- during that time period were for toys made in China. Nancy Nord, head of the agency, said at a congressional hearing that the CPSC is struggling to regulate such toys and is hampered by a lack of money and staff. Klobuchar is alarmed at the growing number of recalls of children's toys and other children's products because of lead contamination.
[Editor's note: See a related article about legislation in New York to limit lead levels in kids' jewelry: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070622/NEWS01/706220381/1002/NEWS.]
synopsis by Dr. Sara Ahlgren, Dr. Michael Laiosa and Wendy Hessler, Environmental Health News
June 25, 2007
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/newscience/2007/2007-0625gaoetal.html
Lead exposure heightens the sensitivity and response to allergens of important immune signaling cells -- called dendritic cells -- that develop in bone marrow.
Article Summary: Lead is a major neurotoxin that can affect childhood development and cause lowered IQs, mental retardation, hyperactivity and stunted growth. As a heavy metal, lead does not break down in the body. Lead can also affect the immune system. Environmental exposure to lead promotes IgE antibody production in children; more IgE can influence stronger asthmatic and allergic reactions. This study found that lead exposure while dendritic cells (DC) are developing in bone marrow may lead to an enhanced immune response to allergens because the heavy metal changes the way DCs form and respond. Significant results were found only at the highest lead dose tested of 25 µM, higher than the CDC's intervention level of 10 µg/dL and much higher than the average measured blood level in young children of 2.23 µg/dL. However, millions of US children have much higher blood lead levels due to their environmental exposure to the metal from dust, paint and other sources. Adults exposed to the higher levels through their childhoods harbor more lead in their bodies. Since lead tends to accumulate in teeth and bones, it is likely the DCs that grow in the bone marrow could develop in a lead-enriched microenvironment. DCs are constantly being matured in the bone marrow. The changes described in this paper suggest one way that lead exposure can change the immune system and contribute to allergies and asthma.
by Asher Price, Austin American-Statesman
June 25, 2007
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/25/25coaltar.html
An Austin ban on a common street-paving material will face a challenge at the state environmental agency Wednesday. The ban on coal-tar sealants -- the black, shiny surface often applied to pavement -- has been copied by other communities after the city and the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that the material contaminated waterways. But the ban, which is more than a year old, has raised the ire of the paving industry. Texas-based GemSeal Inc., which makes pavement and tennis court sealants, has asked the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to overturn the ban, which it says is based on faulty science.
Article Summary: Sealants are used over asphalt in the construction of roads and parking lots to make them impervious to water and oxygen penetration. Coal-tar sealants, which do not absorb oil, are often used in gas stations and parking lots. In sufficient concentrations, the chemicals that are a main component of coal-tar -- polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons -- can cause cancer in people, although the Austin study focused on the chemicals as a threat to aquatic life. GemSeal says in a legal brief filed with the Texas environmental agency that Austin city staff members blamed coal-tar sealants as the culprit for pollution without taking into account other sources of PAHs such as residue on roads left by automobile tires; the oil used in tire production contains high levels of PAHs. Austin scientists stand by their findings and the ban. The commission could take one of three possible actions: overturn the ban, dismiss the GemSeal challenge or kick the whole matter to another state office to take testimony and make recommendations. The commission's executive director has recommended dismissing the company's challenge.
The Austin city ban has received national attention. In the fall, two U.S. senators asked the Environmental Protection Agency to reverse a position taken in a 1991 decision that coal-tar not be classified as a hazardous waste. (The EPA stood by its decision.) In Wisconsin, Dane County (home to the city of Madison) has established a ban similar to Austin's. And earlier this year, a convoy of Austin officials briefed the New York Academy of Sciences, a nonprofit organization, on the city ban.
by Ralph Ranalli, Boston Globe
June 24, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/06/24/how_green_is_your_grass/
Article Summary: Some homeowners are questioning whether having a lawn that looks like a fairway at a country club is worth having to worry about the potential effects of herbicides and pesticides on their children, their pets and the environment. They're looking to maintain their lawns organically -- and organic lawn-care lines are outselling conventional chemical lawn products, in some places by a 2-to-1 ratio. Conventional chemical products continue to dominate sales in the big-box home improvement centers like Home Depot and Lowe's, while organic lawn-care companies still have a big hill to climb. Scotts, a big maker of conventional lawn-care products, now has its own line -- Organic Choice -- that includes a lawn fertilizer as well as potting soil, garden soil and garden fertilizer. The components of a chemical lawn regimen have drawn increasing scrutiny over the last decade or so because of their potential effects on humans, animals and the environment. Bifenthrin, the key ingredient to many grub- and insect-control products, for example, has been listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a possible carcinogen and has been found to be toxic to fish. Its use also has been banned in several counties in southern New York state. A common herbicide, pendimethalin, has been blamed for serious eye and skin irritations among migrant farm workers and is also listed as a possible carcinogen by the EPA. Another weed killer -- 2,4 dicholorophenoxy acetic acid, or 2,4Dcq -- has been linked in some studies to increased cancer risk, but has not been classified as a carcinogen by the EPA.
While homeowners look to go organic at home, they're also lobbying local cities and towns to be 'greener" in their care of parks and playing fields. Several Boston suburbs have moved toward organic lawn-care practices and are encouraging residents to do the same. Advocates of purely organic practices say that homeowners with patience and diligence can achieve Norman Rockwell-looking lawns without the use of any chemicals. The key to the organic approach, advocates say, is creating a healthy environment -- the soil -- for your grass that will allow it to compete successfully with weeds and insects.
by Sarah Larson, Doylestown [Pennsylvania] Intelligencer
June 24, 2007
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/25-06242007-1367995.html
For years, discussions about the arsenic in the groundwater of Central and Upper Bucks have focused on what a hassle new, stricter EPA standards were and how much it was going to cost local water suppliers to remove it. The word "cancer" was hardly ever mentioned. But arsenic in drinking water does cause cancer.
Article Summary: There is strong evidence that arsenic causes bladder cancer, it causes skin cancer, it causes lung cancer, and there is suggestive evidence that it causes kidney cancer, according to Dr. Kenneth Cantor, of the National Cancer Institute, one of the nation's foremost researchers into the links between environmental contaminants and cancer. Many people in Bucks now are starting to pay attention. The standard for arsenic in drinking water was set at 50 ppb in 1942, before it was known to cause cancer. Congress directed the EPA to update the standard three times, in 1974, 1986, and 1996, finally setting a deadline of 2001. Conflict ensued between environmental groups, which wanted a restrictive 3 ppb limit, and mining and water supplier interests that pushed for a looser one. In the last days of the Clinton administration, the EPA lowered the arsenic limit to 10 ppb. The incoming Bush administration froze the move and asked for another review of the science.
Arsenic is a chemical element found naturally in the earth and can get into the water supply in several ways. It was used for years in farm pesticides and home pest poisons, according to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Before 2003, it also was widely used as a preservative on "pressure treated" wood. Water flowing through underground aquifers can absorb arsenic from the surrounding rock.
by Janice Crompton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 24, 2007
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07175/796137-58.stm
Plans for a high-voltage power line through Washington and Greene counties have met with heavy opposition from property owners, creating what has been estimated by local officials to be the loudest citizens outcry in a generation. But one group of residents in particular has mobilized to fight the plan like no other. Parents.
Article Summary: Organized opposition, in the form of local officials and a citizens group, Stop The Towers, has discouraged residents from harping on health and safety issues because effects can't be proven and won't be taken under consideration by state or federal authorities. There are studies that have indicated a possible link between EMF, childhood leukemia and other forms of cancer. Because childhood leukemia is fairly rare, affecting about one in 14,000 children, according to Mr. Morgan, it has been difficult to study, and there is not a clear connection with EMF. Still, specific findings involving power lines have included biological changes in animals, such as effects on melatonin and other hormone levels, and changes in molecules and cells in the body. Feelings of guilt and concern have racked parents all along the power line route, from North Strabane in Washington County, where a new power station is planned, to Dunkard in southern Greene County, where the power line is expected to connect with a junction and continue east 240 miles into Virginia. Parents have said they want to see power companies further study the effects of EMF and power lines. They are also promoting the possibility that power lines near Jefferson-Morgan Elementary be buried, perhaps in the abundant mining shafts that have been abandoned over the years. Unless they can prove it's not technologically feasible, electric utilities in Connecticut now are required to bury power lines near schools, playgrounds, and day care facilities, thanks to a law that was designed to be a precautionary measure against possible EMF exposure. The cost to bury utility lines is significantly higher than above-ground construction.
from United Press International
June 23, 2007
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/06/23/milwaukee_loses_lead_paint_suit/5913/
Milwaukee lost its bid to collect millions of dollars from a manufacturer of lead paint pigment when a jury found Friday that NL Industries was not negligent. The city's lawsuit demanded $52 million to pay for removal of lead paint from buildings in poor neighborhoods. Jurors ruled 10-2 that the paint is a nuisance but found by the same margin for the company.
Article Summary: The company still faces hundreds of personal injury suits involving lead-based paint.
by John Martins, Press of Atlantic City
June 23, 2007
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/newjersey/nj_politics/story/7487274p-7382533c.html
A pair of New Jersey congressmen introduced legislation Friday to provide millions of dollars for the testing and monitoring of children exposed to mercury contamination. U.S. Rep. Frank LoBindo, R-2nd, said in a news release that the bill -- H.R. 2813, or the Children's Mercury Exposure Act -- was crafted in direct response to the contamination of the Kiddie Kollege day-care facility in Franklin Township.
Article Summary: If approved, the law would establish a research program at the National Institutes of Health to study the risks that mercury exposure poses to children. It would also require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, to work with state health departments in studying and reporting the prevalence of such exposure. The proposed law would also authorize $10 million in block grants to be distributed to states for the initial and long-term testing of children exposed to the harmful element, a neurotoxin that affects the nervous system, lungs, brains and kidneys.
by Janet Raloff, Science News
June 23, 2007
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070623/food.asp
Article Summary: A woman's risk of developing heart disease climbs at menopause, when her body's production of estrogens wanes. Augmenting these diminishing sex hormones -- in part, to protect the heart -- has been one rationale for treating post-menopausal women with hormone-replacement therapy. However, because of risks associated with this therapy physicians have been reluctant to prescribe these powerful hormones during the past decade. Many plants, including soy, contain natural mimics of estrogen. Some scientists have reasoned that supplementing the diet with these plant-derived isoflavones, which include genistein, daidzein, equol and glycitein, might also protect the heart. Isoflavone-rich soy products have been marketed as natural, healthful alternatives to hormone-replacement therapy.
Carl J. Pepine, chief of cardiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, and researchers from five other medical institutions decided to investigate whether women who had recurrent chest pain and who have high concentrations of genistein in their blood -- indicative of higher dietary intakes of "estrogens" from soy and other plants -- would have better vascular health. The opposite of their hypothesis proved true: high genistein levels correlated with poor cardiovascular health. All of the women in the study had reduced blood flow, a symptom of heart disease. Those whose vessels were least able to relax, dilate, and increase flow rate in response to changing physiological needs tended to have the highest blood concentrations of genistein. Such constant vascular responsiveness is essential to meeting the varying oxygen needs of tissues. One possible explanation for the finding, says Pepine, is that plant estrogens block chemical receptors on smooth-muscle cells that recognize adenosine. That compound, a byproduct of chemicals released by the heart, is believed to play a pivotal role in vessel dilation. If that is indeed the problem, he says, then reducing exposure to these plant estrogens may improve small-vessel responsiveness. Currently, the WISE investigators can't point to soy specifically as the source of the genistein measured in the studied women.
by Brett Clanton, Houston Chronicle
June 23, 2007
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4914124.html
A jury will resume deliberations Monday in a criminal air pollution case that accuses Citgo Petroleum Corp. of knowingly breaking federal air quality laws at its Corpus Christi refinery.
Article Summary: The case specifically involves allegations that open-air storage tanks at Citgo's East Plant refinery emitted illegal amounts of benzene, which research has linked to cancer. More broadly, however, the case tests criminal enforcement of the Clean Air Act. Although other criminal indictments under the act have resulted in guilty pleas, the Citgo case is the first to go to trial alleging emissions violations, prosecutors said. If found guilty, Citgo could face $500,000 fines for each of the four counts in this trial, plus additional penalties, prosecutors said. But Dick DeGuerin, the Houston lawyer for Citgo, said more than fines are at stake in the case. A conviction not only could damage Citgo's reputation, it could set a dangerous precedent, he said, expanding the role of the Environmental Protection Agency as a "gotcha" team that punishes refiners for missteps rather than as a guide to help companies follow complex regulations. This is not the first time the government has gone after refiners or companies accused of criminal violations of the Clean Air Act, which was passed in 1970 and updated in 1990.
Citgo's defense argued that, at worst, Citgo misinterpreted complex and vaguely written regulations on how to handle waste streams but is not guilty of knowingly breaking the law. The company's Fernando Garay said in an e-mail earlier this month that Citgo is innocent of the charges and "proud of its environmental record." Citgo maintains that no evidence links residents' illnesses to emissions from the refinery.
by Matthew Denholm, Sydney Australian
June 22, 2007
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21947404-23289,00.html
AUSTRALIANS are being exposed to dangerous levels of a common herbicide linked to cancers and reproductive defects, a US scientist has warned. Tyrone Hayes, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, will meet Australia's pesticide regulator and government scientists today to urge a ban on atrazine. The herbicide is widely used in Australia on crops including corn, sugar cane and canola, as well as forestry plantations. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority is reviewing the use of atrazine. The National Health and Medical Research Council yesterday said it planned to review guidelines on safe levels of the herbicide in drinking water.
Article Summary: Professor Hayes is touring Australia and will be joined by Tasmanian GP Alison Bleaney, who says cancers and other serious illnesses are partly attributable to atrazine run-off from forests into waterways. Professor Hayes said Australians would be developing cancers and other medical conditions because of exposure to atrazine in drinking water. An APVMA spokesman said Professor Hayes's research was not supported by US Environment Protection Agency studies. However, the APVMA organized a forum in Canberra today to allow Professor Hayes to express his views.
by Janet Wilson, Los Angeles Times
June 22, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ozone22jun22,1,1865197.story?ctrack=3&cset=true
Many areas of the United States that meet existing smog standards could be declared out of compliance under proposed new ozone levels announced Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency. Under court order to update ozone standards for the first time in a decade, EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson proposed tightening them slightly in response to mounting evidence of health risks. The standards would require hundreds of counties and municipalities, including major cities in the Northeast and Texas and inland areas of Northern California, to adopt new smog controls.
Article Summary: Although Johnson has concluded that there was no scientific justification for retaining the current standard, his proposal falls short of what was unanimously recommended by the science advisory committee as well as his own staff. Medical groups, environmentalists and some members of Congress criticized Johnson and his senior policy advisors for not acting more aggressively. Johnson replied to critics that "the law does not require me to pick the lowest level. It requires me to do what is requisite to protect public health and the environment." Johnson has until March to make his final decision, which he noted under the Clean Air Act must be based on health risks alone, not the costs of cleaning up pollution. Industry representatives, including Jeffrey Holmstead, the EPA's former assistant administrator for air and radiation, disagreed that research shows sharply higher risks from ozone. Holmstead maintained that though new studies show minor increases in lung tissue damage and possible premature deaths, there were no definitive links between mortality and ozone exposure. Ozone is formed when nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and other chemicals emitted from smokestacks and tailpipes swirl in hot summer sunlight, forming brown smog.
by Matthew Krieger, Jerusalem Post
June 21, 2007
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1182409609769&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Plastic from corn, biological-weapons neutralization and the vanquishing of pollutants from munitions were among the topics discussed at this month's "Green Chemistry" conference at Tel Aviv University, the first such meeting held in Israel.
Article Summary: The conference, entitled "Green Chemistry -- Applications, Research and Trends," included sessions on commercial applications of green chemistry; raw materials recycling, toxicity reduction, renewable fuels, energy efficiency -- a novel academic approach; environmental and health aspects of home and commercial use of chemicals; and global and national policy on chemical use. Among the featured presentations were several introducing breakthrough technology in green chemistry geared specifically toward some of the environmental challenges facing Israel, including a new process that can efficiently and effectively remove the poisons deposited in the ground by the numerous munitions factories found in the country.
by Barnaby J. Feder, New York Times
June 21, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/technology/21nanotech.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fF%2fFeder%2c%20Barnaby%20J%2e&oref=slogin
DuPont and Environmental Defense, one of the nation's largest environmental groups, plan to release jointly developed guidelines today for evaluating the safety and environmental risks of nanotechnology products. The guidelines are the most extensive effort yet to address a vexing issue surrounding the rapidly expanding field of nanotechnology: the lack of information about whether materials in such minute sizes can pose novel or unexpected hazards. Nanotechnology usually refers to materials with at least one dimension measured at 100 nanometers or less (a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter), a scale so small that the behavior of individual molecules begins to affect how the material performs. While particles of soot and other materials occur naturally on a nanoscale, businesses are now exploiting a recent explosion in the number of tools available to engineer nanoscale products.
Article Summary: The 87-page document includes three examples of how DuPont applied the framework. The framework's creators and many other nanotechnology experts said the processes outlined might be too complicated and expensive for some small companies and start-ups. Some environmental and labor groups that turned down efforts to help develop the framework see more fundamental flaws, including its voluntary approach. Familiar materials sometimes have astonishing strength, flexibility, reactivity or other useful characteristics when manipulated in tiny dimensions. Hundreds of products, including stain-resistant clothing and textiles, advanced microchips and clear sunscreens already incorporate such technology. Scattered laboratory research programs have suggested that nanoscale particles can lodge in the brain, lungs and other organs, although the effects of that are not known. Tests also show that some may be toxic to plants and other organisms. Products are being invented much faster than toxicologists can fully test and describe all of their potential effects.
by Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 21, 2007
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07172/795944-113.stm
Fish caught in the rivers near Allegheny County's storm sewer overflow pipes contain almost twice as much of certain estrogenic chemicals that can cause cancer, a University of Pittsburgh study has found. The link between sewage plant discharges and fish contaminated with those chemicals has been established by studies in other urban areas around the world, but the finding is particularly significant in Allegheny County, which has more than 400 sanitary and combined sewer overflows.
Article Summary: The findings are a concern for public health because of the region's dependency on the rivers for its drinking water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not require that drinking water be tested for estrogen, or that the hormone be removed. Dr. Conrad Dan Volz, head of the study, said a number of reports have shown a link between high ingestion of estrogens and hormone problems and some cancers, including testicular cancer. Estrogenic chemicals come from garden pesticides, plasticizers, glues, cosmetics and products that dissolve detergents. Pharmaceutical estrogens from female hormone replacement drugs and birth control pills are also found in sewage discharges.
by Joanna Smith, Toronto Globe and Mail
June 21, 2007
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070621.wpoison21/BNStory/National/home
Pesticides poison more than 6,000 Canadians every year and almost half of them are children younger than 6, the David Suzuki Foundation says after reviewing poison control records across the country. In a report to be released Thursday, the environmental non-profit organization calls on the federal government to create a national database to accurately record the number of poisonings. The report focuses on cases of acute pesticide poisonings, in which a person develops symptoms ranging from watery eyes and skin rashes to seizures and respiratory failure immediately after exposure.
Article Summary: Information about the severity of symptoms or method of exposure was unavailable. The report asks the federal government to revive Prod Tox, an online network that combined data from provincial and territorial poison control centers to track poisonings and analyze trends. The new and improved Pest Control Products Act, which came into force this April, requires pesticide manufacturers to report all poisoning incidents to Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency. A voluntary reporting system for the general public is also being developed. The report also asks the government to consider requiring pesticide products to come in childproof containers. The report recommends banning the use and sale of pesticides for cosmetic purposes, holding Quebec's new Pesticide Management Code up as an example for other provinces. It also praises 125 municipalities for passing anti-pesticide bylaws and recommends the federal government stop registering pesticide products whose active ingredients have been banned in other member nations of the Organization for Economic and Development for health or environmental concerns; increase funding to poison control centers; establish a national environmental health tracking system; and recognize citizens' right to a healthy environment.
by Jamie Reno, Newsweek
June 20, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19338151/site/newsweek/
Perchloroethylene, also known as perc, is the solvent used by about 75 percent of the nation's 35,000 dry cleaners, but not for much longer. With concerns about perc's health and environmental impacts mounting, states like California have begun to phase out the chemical and the hunt is on for cost-effective, less toxic cleaning technologies.
Article Summary: New cleaning systems use a wide range of different cleaning methods, including hydrocarbons, CO2 or gycol. One new technology called Solvair uses a glycol ether solvent to wash clothes -- glycol ethers are a family of chemicals used in everything from antifreeze to household cleaning products -- and uses a CO2 process to dry them. Annette Kondo, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Clean Air, a California nonprofit that has worked on clean-air issues for more than 35 years, isn't sold on Solvair. "The future of dry cleaning, we believe, is not in solvents like Solvair but in nontoxic, nonchemical technologies like CO2 and wet cleaning, which has come a long way," she says. Ross Beard, president and CEO of R. R. Street, disagrees: "Solvair works more effectively than perc, and it is environmentally friendly and occupationally safe." Katy Wolf, a chemist and director of the Institute for Research and Technical Assistance, who has studied dry-cleaning technologies for decades, says glycol ethers are VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which means they are emitted into the air after they perform their function. She adds that the dry-cleaning industry is so secretive, we may never know exactly what type of glycol ether is used in Solvair.
The majority of dry cleaners who are moving away from perc aren't opting for the CO2 system because it is too expensive. Most instead are moving toward a hydrocarbon technology which has its own issues with air pollution. Hydrocarbon dry cleaning uses solvents in the same way perc machines do, but these petroleum-based solvents are considered less toxic than perc. Hydrocarbon solvents are descendants of the petroleum-based solvents used in the early days of dry cleaning. Supporters say they are cleaner, more environmentally friendly and less flammable than their ancestors, but hydrocarbon's critics say these solvents, such as ExxonMobil Chemical's DF-2000 and Chevron Phillips Chemical's EcoSolv are still VOCs, and the EPA has noted concern over their flammability. The only two evidently benign dry-cleaning technologies are CO2, whose costs are prohibitive for all but the most high-end cleaners like Shaw, and wet cleaning, which has made technological advances of its own in recent years.
from United Kingdom Life Style Extra
June 20, 2007
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=AY2038799S&news_headline=can_non-stick_chemical_spark_allergies?
A CONTROVERSIAL chemical used in Teflon non-stick coatings could be making people more prone to allergies, a study suggests. Perfluoro-octanoic acid (PFOA) -- also used to make all-weather clothing and stain-resistant fabrics and carpets -- has already been identified by scientists as "likely" to be carcinogenic to humans.
Article Summary: Dr. Jean Meade and colleagues at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown, West Virginia, have shown PFOA may prime the immune system to overreact to allergy triggers (allergens) such as dust mite or dander. Lab mice given PFOA before being exposed to an egg allergen produced more antibodies and experienced more constriction of their airways than those exposed to the allergen alone. The PFOA doses, ranging from 12.5 to 50 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg), are comparable to those used in similar studies but are considerably higher than those to which humans are likely exposed. Dr. Robert Rickard -- a science director at US chemicals giant DuPont which makes Teflon plastic coatings -- says PFOA is unlikely to cause allergy-related problems in humans but admits no studies have looked at this question. The results suggest one possible explanation for the rising incidence of asthma in children. Over the past five decades PFOA has become so widespread a contaminant that almost everyone -- even newborns -- tested has measurable amounts in their bodies.
PFOA should not turn up in final manufactured products, although DuPont has measured very small amounts in treated carpets and upholstery. When Teflon-treated cookware is heated to over 600 degrees, the coating can break down and release PFOA. PFOAs can contribute to thyroid problems, immune changes and testicular, liver and pancreatic cancer in laboratory animals. People exposed to PFOA at work may be at higher risk for pancreas, testis and prostate cancers.
by Michael Milstein, Portland Oregonian
June 20, 2007
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1182309923147430.xml&coll=7
Plywood mills across Oregon and the nation must control thousands of pounds of formaldehyde, methanol, acrolein, acetaldehyde and other hazardous chemicals they release into the air each year, a federal court ruled Tuesday.
Article Summary: The ruling affects plants that make plywood, veneer, particleboard and other composite wood products. While Tuesday's decision will probably cost plywood manufacturers millions of dollars, it will also require them to reduce or capture huge volumes of toxics known to cause human health problems -- from headaches to cancer. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established limits on the emissions but crafted a loophole that let most plants off the hook by allowing them to demonstrate that they posed low risk to surrounding populations. Many critics said the federal government provided the loophole to accommodate the wood products industry. But the Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project sued, saying the loophole was illegal. On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia agreed and invalidated that provision, requiring that all plants find ways to control their hazardous air emissions. The court ruling gives the plants until this fall to control the emissions, although the state may give them an extension if they can demonstrate they need it. Options for controlling the emissions might include installing scrubbers or thermal oxidizers, which incinerate the pollutants.
by Martin Mittelstaedt, Toronto Globe and Mail
June 20, 2007
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070620.wchemical20/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
The head of the Health Canada scientific team studying the safety of bisphenol A has been abruptly reassigned, while the department investigates claims he is too biased in favour of the chemical to objectively analyze it. Speaking at a medical conference in the U.S. in March, Mark Richardson, manager of Health Canada's contaminated-sites division, endorsed the use of bisphenol A after he had been selected to undertake a review of the health impacts of the chemical. He indicated at the conference that he personally didn't think bisphenol A presented a danger, extolled the virtues of its use in dentistry and dismissed possible health threats posed by exposures to the substance, comparing it to eating tofu.
Article Summary: Bisphenol A is one of the most controversial chemicals in widespread use because it has been found to mimic the female hormone estrogen. Almost all Canadians have involuntary exposure to it because it is used in such items as hard plastic baby bottles, resins lining food cans and dental composite materials used in white-colored fillings. Traces of bisphenol A leach from consumer products into people. There is a growing body of scientific research using animal experiments that link exposures to health problems, such as abnormal breast tissue growth and enlarged prostates. At the conference, Dr. Richardson dismissed these concerns, saying "yes, bisphenol A is estrogenic, it interacts with estrogen receptors, but a myriad of other things do as well, including proteins in tofu," which he said is recommended by some as a treatment for menopause. He also said bisphenol A exposures are "so low as to be totally inconsequential, in my view." However, there have been more than a dozen studies in laboratory animals since 1999 finding adverse effects from bisphenol A at levels below Canada's current standard. One study, done in 2005, found the chemical able to change breast tissue in ways that predispose it to cancer -- at a dose 1,000 times lower than Canada's limit. The industry disputes assertions that bisphenol A is dangerous. Tofu, and many products from plants, contain estrogen-like chemicals and there is scientific uncertainty about their possible health effects. Health Minister Tony Clement's office asked for an investigation into Dr. Richardson's remarks and suitability to work on the review. The investigation will be conducted by the department's chief scientist, Wendy Sexsmith.
by Susanne Rust, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
June 19, 2007
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=622204
Researchers have strengthened a link between aspartame -- a common sweetener in diet sodas, medicines and sugar-free candies -- and cancer in rats. The chemical is sold under the brand name NutraSweet. The study, conducted by a team of Italian scientists, demonstrates that aspartame is particularly potent when animals are exposed in utero and during development. The rats were exposed to the sweetener at levels above and below the recommended daily maximums for people.
Article Summary: The study, from the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences -- an independent, non-profit foundation based in Bologna, Italy -- indicated that cancers, including lymphomas, leukemias and breast cancer, were more common in rats exposed to the sweetener than in animals that were not exposed. And there was dose-related response. The study, published online this month in Environmental Health Perspectives, raises "serious questions about the safety of the artificial sweetener aspartame," said Mike Jacobson, executive director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public health watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. The Calorie Control Council, an industry group, disagrees. Beth Hubrich, a registered dietitian for the council, said the methodology was faulty, and she expressed concern that the study would unnecessarily alarm people.
The results, said Morando Soffritti, the lead researcher on the study, "call for urgent reconsideration of regulations governing the use of aspartame as an artificial sweetener." The Delaney Clause of the Food Additives Amendment of 1958 mandates that any food additive shown to cause cancer in people or in laboratory animals -- as demonstrated in rigorous safety tests -- should be considered unsafe by the Food and Drug Administration. However, because the Italian Group did not follow all toxicology program protocols, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded that despite the Italian group's work published in 2005, aspartame should still be considered safe. In response to the 2007 study, the FDA said it has not found evidence to support a change in its conclusions about the safety of aspartame.
[Editor's note: Read a related article describing the FDA's response to this study at http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN2532170220070625.]
by Leslie Savan, Mother Jones
May/June 2007
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/05/teflon_is_forever.html
Article Summary: Teflon gets its nonstick properties from a toxic, nearly indestructible chemical called PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid. Used in thousands of products from cookware to kids' pajamas to takeout coffee cups, PFOA is a likely human carcinogen, according to a science panel commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency. It is present, according to a range of studies, in the bloodstream of almost every American -- and even in newborns (where it may be associated with decreased birth weight and head circumference). Breathing in dust from Teflon-treated rugs or upholstery as they wear down is one way we may be ingesting PFOA. Food is another: Pizza-slice paper, microwave-popcorn bags, ice cream cartons, and other food packages are often lined with Zonyl, another DuPont brand. Technically, Zonyl does not contain PFOA, but it is made with fluorotelomer chemicals that break down into PFOA. Scotchgard and Gore-Tex, to name just two others, are also made with PFOA or other perfluorochemicals (PFCs). Once in our bodies, PFOA stays -- quietly accumulating in our tissues, for a lifetime. The EPA may say studies show unequivocally that in "laboratory animals exposed to high doses, PFOA causes liver cancer, reduced birth weight, immune suppression and developmental problems."
Nonstick pans are not a major source of exposure to PFOA, because almost all of the chemical is burned off during manufacture. Still, when overheated, Teflon cookware can release trace amounts of PFOA and 14 other gases and particles, including some proven toxins and carcinogens, according to the Environmental Working Group's review of 16 research studies over some 50 years. Consumers of Teflon pans and pants (not to mention the mascara, dental floss, and other personal care products made slippery with a touch of Tef) have it relatively safe. The people who make the stuff, and who live near the plants, face far worse dangers.
Two years ago the EPA fined DuPont $16.5 million -- the largest administrative fine in the agency's history -- for covering up decades' worth of studies indicating that PFOA could cause health problems such as cancer, birth defects, and liver damage. The company has faced a barrage of lawsuits and embarrassing studies as well as an ongoing criminal probe from the Department of Justice over its failure to report health problems among Teflon workers. One lawsuit accuses DuPont of fouling drinking water systems and contaminating its employees with PFOA. Yet it is still manufacturing and using PFOA, and unless the EPA chooses to ban the chemical, DuPont will keep making it, unhindered, until 2015 and remains adamant that PFOA -- whether in pots, pants, or drinking water -- is no threat. Last year the EPA hit the 3M Corporation, maker of Scotchgard, with a $1.5 million penalty for failing to report PFOA and PFC health data.
