Please check the CHE-WA website to stay abreast of the latest postings, news and events: http://washington.chenw.org.
To join the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) and CHE-Washington, please complete the form at http://www.healthandenvironment.org/roles/register?&phase=registerform. Be sure to mark that you want to join the Washington State Regional Group at the bottom of the application.
1) Notes and slide presentations from CHE-WA's January 4th quarterly meeting are posted on our website: http://washington.chenw.org/meetings.html. If you are interested in joining the newly formed Climate Change and Health Working Group resulting from discussion at this meeting, please contact Elise Miller at emiller@iceh.org.
2) The fourth annual environmental health lecture series entitled "Our Health, Our Environment: Making the Link -- Seeking Solutions" is underway. The series, sponsored by the Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation and organized by the Institute for Children's Environmental Health, includes one lecture each month January through April. Remaining lectures:
All lectures will be held at Seattle Town Hall from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., preceded by a reception from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. For more information and to purchase admission, please visit http://washington.chenw.org/lectures.html. Admission is also available at the door.
3) Making Change: A Workshop for People Who Want to Build a Better World
April 21, 2007
9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Seattle, Washington
at the Antioch campus, 2326 Sixth Avenue
This one-day workshop will provide you with the time and space to think more deeply about your work and how it contributes to positive social change. This workshop is intended for people who want to build a better world and who identify themselves as social change agents. This includes people working on environmental, health or social issues in nonprofit or community-based organizations, government agencies or the private sector, as well as others interested in how to achieve positive social change. Sponsored by the Center for Creative Change at Antioch University Seattle and the Collaborative on Health and Environment -- Washington (CHE-WA).
Website: http://www.antiochsea.edu/events/makingchangeworkshop.html
Contact: Kate Davies, 206-268-4811 or kdavies@antiochseattle.edu
March 2, 2007
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Seattle, Washington
at William H. Gates Hall
This program brings together speakers from Alcoa, Weyerhaeuser and other global corporate leaders with top policymakers from Washington, Oregon and California to discuss the impact of global warming on the corporate bottom line. The conference will emphasize the economic risks and opportunities to corporations presented by pending federal and state legislation, evolving carbon trading markets, emissions registries and reporting, and "clean energy" technologies. The program has been approved for 7.0 General CLE credits.
Website: http://www.uwcle.org
Contact: 206-543-0059 or 800-253-8648 or uwcle@u.washington.edu
The Involvement Manager is responsible for leading People For Puget Sound's efforts to increase and maintain the involvement of volunteers and members in its education, restoration, advocacy and development programs and projects. The manager will accomplish these duties by actively promoting event and program opportunities, by recruiting volunteers and interns for programs and events, by matching volunteers and interns with projects appropriate to their interests and skills, and by collaborating with program staff to design and coordinate involvement opportunities that build People For Puget Sound's visibility, constituencies and membership. The successful candidate will have at least five years of experience in environmental, community or nonprofit work and at least two years of successful experience in developing and leading volunteer recruitment and management and will demonstrate skills in written, spoken and electronic communications, word processing and database management. Successful candidates will also have a familiarity with Puget Sound ecology and natural resource issues, an outgoing personality, a passion for People For Puget Sound's mission, and a high level of enthusiasm. Email letter and resume by March 9, 2007, to msato@pugetsound.org (see our website at http://www.pugetsound.org). This position will remain open until filled.
WTC is seeking an enthusiastic, creative and self-motivated development associate to help us grow our organization. This is a full-time position whose primary responsibilities include coordinating membership activities, working on our annual fundraising dinner and auction, providing administrative support for development activities and acting as our database manager. For requested qualifications and full details, please visit http://www.watoxics.org/about/job-dev-associate/.
from Reuters
February 26, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN2631036920070226?pageNumber=2
BOSTON -- A judge rejected on Monday a bid for a new trial in a landmark case that found three U.S. companies liable for harming the health of children and creating a public nuisance by manufacturing lead paint. Rhode Island accused paint manufacturers of covering up the risk of lead paint in its lawsuit filed in 1999, the first in the nation to hold paint makers responsible. The suit could trigger a wave of litigation against the industry. The three former lead paint makers -- Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries Inc. and Millennium Holdings -- were ordered to clean up contaminated paint in the state, which could cost as much as $3 billion. The companies, which were found liable by a jury on February 22, 2006, said they would appeal Monday's decision.
Article Summary: Lead paint was banned by the U.S. government in 1978 after studies showed it caused health problems in children, including learning disabilities and permanent brain damage. But it remains widespread, especially in older homes in the northeastern United States. Rhode Island children routinely test above the national average for blood-lead levels. Rhode Island authorities say more than 30,000 children were poisoned by lead paint in the state, with an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 homes contaminated by the paint. The cost of cleaning one home is estimated at up to $15,000. The paint companies had denied that they were directly responsible, saying landlords, not paint makers, should be held accountable for conditions that expose children to lead. The court last year denied punitive damage claims against the paint companies.
by Jia-Rui Chong, Los Angeles Times
February 25, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-disease25feb25,0,7795423.story
Article Summary: Global climate change is changing the importation of infectious diseases, such as Vibrio food poisoning in Alaska, encephalitis carried by ticks in Sweden or malaria at new elevations. The spread of human disease has become one of the most worrisome subplots in the story of global warming. Incremental temperature changes have begun to redraw the distribution of bacteria, insects and plants, exposing new populations to diseases that they have never seen before. A report from the World Health Organization estimated that in 2000 about 154,000 deaths around the world could be attributed to disease outbreaks and other conditions sparked by climate change. The temperature change has been small, about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 150 years, but it has been enough to alter disease patterns across the globe. "No one's saying global warming is the whole picture here," said Dr. Paul R. Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard University. "But it is playing a role. As climate changes, it's projected to play an even greater role."
The impact of global warming has not been all bad. Researchers recently found that rising temperatures have helped reduce some diseases related to cold weather. One British study found that the number of children infected with a cold-like virus known as respiratory syncytial virus has been declining with warming temperatures.
from the Associated Press, Jonesboro [Arkansas] KAIT News
February 24, 2007
http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=6135582&nav=0jsh
Article Summary: WASHINGTON -- Some children's jewelry is being recalled because the products contain high levels of lead, including "Kidsite" necklace and earring sets and "Claudia Jublot" children's rings. Mark Ross, a spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, says if children ingest the jewelry "they can suffer from lead poisoning, it can make them sick and it can be deadly."
by Douglas Fischer, Oakland Tribune
February 23, 2007
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_5287682
Flame retardants are generating some heat of their own as concerned researchers and lawmakers note rising levels in the environment and are stepping up efforts to ban them from everyday household products. The latest and most sweeping effort came Thursday as Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, unveiled a bill that would ban from upholstered furniture and bedding products any flame retardant made with bromine or chlorine. Compounds with such elements are related to PCBs, a long-lived and potent neurotoxin banned in the United States in 1979 but still found in the blood of anyone tested. Various governments, including California and the European Union, have banned individual flame retardants, a few of which were marketed as "safe" alternatives to PCBs. None have succeeded in banning an entire class of chemicals, allowing manufacturers to swap a problematic compound with a chemically related but untested one.
Article Summary: Chemical manufacturers warn that such bans replace a very real threat -- death by fire -- with an unknown and potentially empty one -- cancer years later. For many compounds, there is no evidence that they are harmful, they are increasing or they are accumulating. There's no evidence, whatsoever, because such investigations are expensive, difficult and have not been done. Some lawmakers and activists say society has no time to wait for scientists to confirm the toxicology and environmental fate of all the so-called brominated and chlorinated compounds. The chemicals, they say, have a proven track record and should be banned as a precaution. To do otherwise risks waiting until levels in our bodies are high enough to cause harm. That is like what happened with a collection of widely used brominated flame retardants known as PBDEs, which saw production explode after the PCB ban. PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, are astonishingly effective at retarding fire in foam and plastic. Until recently, they were sold in three mixtures: Penta and Octa for foam and upholstery -- including bedding; Deca for hard plastic and some textiles. Then researchers discovered that concentrations of Penta and Octa were doubling every few years in wildlife and nursing mothers. California and the European Union banned them from products. Deca is different. It has eluded bans in large part because industry has successfully argued the chemical does not pollute the environment or our bodies to the extent Penta and Octa do. Manufacturers claim Deca, unlike Penta and Octa, neither leaches from products nor breaks down into more toxic compounds. But new findings are challenging both notions.
from the Economist
February 22, 2007
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8733763
Article Summary: Bruce Blumberg of the University of California, Irvine, has conducted research into endocrine disrupters -- chemical compounds that interfere with the body's normal processing of hormones such as estrogen. His research has led him to conclude that some of them may well encourage obesity. The notion of such "obesogens", as Dr Blumberg calls them, is controversial. Some insist that diet and exercise (or, rather, the lack thereof) are the simpler explanations for obesity, with perhaps a dash of genetic predisposition thrown in. However, a panel of experts convened at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting argued that those factors are insufficient to explain the dramatic increase in obesity seen across the world since 1980. Caloric intake and exercise levels have not altered enough to explain the difference, the scientists maintained, and human genes cannot have changed in such a short time. Some environmental-health experts suspect that fetal exposure to nasties found in everyday plastics might be the underlying explanation of the recent obesity trend. John Peterson Meyers of Environmental Health Sciences, an advocacy group, observes that a number of synthetic chemicals widely found in the environment have been shown to alter the activity of genes, even when they are present at extremely low concentrations. Retha Newbold of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has discovered that early DES exposure leads to obesity in adult mice, in addition to causing damaged reproductive organs in children of women who took it during pregnancy. Other synthetic hormones and endocrine disrupters common in the modern world seem to have a similar impact, including bisphenol-A and tributyl tin. Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri has investigated the impact of early exposure to this compound, showing that fetal exposure to bisphenol-A led to obesity and cancer in animals.
by Tamara McLean, Australia Herald Sun
February 22, 2007
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21268910-5005961,00.html
GLOBAL warming will take a toll on children's health, according to a new report showing hospital admissions for fever soar as days get hotter. The new study found that temperature rises had a significant impact on the number of pre-schoolers presenting to emergency departments for fever and gastroenteritis. The two-year study at a major children's hospital showed that for every five-degree rise in temperature two more children under six years old were admitted with fever to that hospital. The University of Sydney research is the first to make a solid link between climate changes and childhood illness.
Article Summary: The study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Health Research, analyzed several different climate factors, including UV index, rainfall and humidity, collected from the Bureau of Meteorology in 2001 and 2002. Temperatures were the only negative risk factor, with findings linking heat to both fever and gastro disease but not to respiratory conditions. Researcher Dr. Lawrence Lam, a pediatrics specialist, said the results, collated from The Children's Hospital at Westmead admissions, back up beliefs that children are less able to regulate their bodies against climate change than adults. He said it was still unclear whether the heat directly triggered the illnesses or whether other heat-related problems, like pollution, were responsible.
by Sheryl Ubelacker, Canadian Press, Toronto Globe and Mail
February 21, 2007
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070221.wcancer0221/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
TORONTO -- Women who take vitamins containing folic acid before and during pregnancy appear to significantly cut the risk that their infants will develop three common childhood cancers, Canadian researchers say. Folic acid is already known to diminish the chance that a child will be born with spina bifida or other neural tube defects, but it may also have powerful effects in preventing some cases of pediatric leukemia, brain tumours and neuroblastoma, the study by researchers at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children suggests.
Article Summary: The analysis found that prenatal supplementation with multivitamins containing folic acid is associated with a 39 per cent protective effect for leukemia, 27 per cent for brain tumors and 47 per cent for neuroblastoma. Leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, accounts for up to 35 per cent of new pediatric cases each year; brain and spinal tumors, the second most common form of cancer, account for 17 per cent; while neuroblastoma, the most prevalent solid tumour that occurs outside of the brain in children under age five, affects one in every 6,000 to 7,000 children in North America. Neuroblastoma arises in the adrenal gland or related nervous system tissue and can spread to the area behind the eyes and to the bones. The tumors may press on the spinal cord, causing paralysis. Often the cancer is present at birth but it not detected until later in infancy or childhood. But doctors stress that there are many causes of cancer and it's not known exactly what role folic acid alone plays -- or, indeed, the contribution of other components of multivitamins. Dr. Rogers said factors such as diet as well as exposure to viral infections or environmental toxins could also be responsible for planting the seeds of these childhood cancers, but more research is needed.
by Barbara Booth, Environmental Science & Technology
February 21, 2007
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2007/feb/science/bb_asrice.html
Article Summary: The largest market basket survey of arsenic in U.S. rice indicates that rice from California contains, on average, about 40% less arsenic than rice from the south central U.S. -- Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Missouri. Andrew Meharg and co-workers at the University of Aberdeen (U.K.) measured arsenic levels in 134 samples of rice purchased from Arkansas and California supermarkets. Arsenic levels in south central U.S. rice averaged 0.27 micrograms per gram (µg/g), whereas arsenic in rice from California averaged 0.16 µg/g. Meharg speculates that the higher level of arsenic in rice from the south central U.S. can be traced to residual arsenic-containing pesticides still present in old cotton fields now used for growing rice. But not everyone is convinced. The higher amounts of arsenic in south central U.S. rice could be due solely to natural background levels in soils, notes Mark Barnett, an arsenic expert at Auburn University. Meharg asserts in the paper that regardless of the original arsenic source, "the consequences for human health are identical." He added that on average, half the arsenic in rice is composed of the more dangerous inorganic form, although this varies widely. He points out that "none of the levels of arsenic in rice exceeded the 1.0 milligram per kilogram threshold recommended by some countries." Barnett also notes that arsenic is a normal part of the human diet and that arsenic intake from food often exceeds that from drinking water.
by Kellyn S. Betts, Environmental Science & Technology
February 21, 2007
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2007/feb/science/kb_indoorair.html
Article Summary: Research published today uses an innovative approach to show that indoor air releases far more PCBs to the atmosphere around England's second-largest city than does the area's soil. The findings go against the widely held hypothesis that soil volatilization is the main source of PCBs in the environment, according to Stuart Harrad and his colleagues at the University of Birmingham (U.K.). PCBs are one of the 12 "dirty dozen" pollutants banned by the United Nations' Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. The paper adds important new data to the growing body of research showing that older consumer products still in use are a significant source of PCBs on a global basis. The ventilation of contaminated indoor air "to outside is what is driving outdoor air concentrations, which in turn is what drives food concentrations," Harrad explains. At present, food is the main route through which most people are exposed to PCBs, explains Linda Birnbaum, director of the experimental toxicology division of the U.S. EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory. Harrad's new data corroborate recent measurements of the sources of PCBs in and around Toronto. The findings could lead to a reevaluation of remediation and cleanup priorities. Although the levels of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs have been falling, the concentrations of nondioxin-like PCBs in U.K. food have not declined since 1992, according to a draft report (594KB PDF) by the country's Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
[Editor's note: See a related article on PCB pollution in Oregon at http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1172116502284670.xml&coll=7.]
by Ken Ward Jr., Charleston [West Virginia] Gazette
February 21, 2007
http://sundaygazettemail.com/section/News/2007022125
Newborn babies exposed to low levels of the chemical C8 have been found to have decreased birth weight and head circumference, according to preliminary results from Johns Hopkins University researchers. The findings, if confirmed, could represent a dramatic new piece of evidence -- actual developmental effects in humans -- about the potential dangers of C8 and similar chemicals.
Article Summary: C8 is another name for ammonium perfluorooctanoate, or PFOA. DuPont has used the chemical since the 1950s to make Teflon, other non-stick products, oil-resistant paper packaging and stain- and water-repellent textiles. Researchers are finding that people around the world have C8 in their blood. The blood levels may be generally small, but it is unclear whether these amounts are dangerous. Nonstick cookware may be one route of exposure to C8, but recent studies suggest that food packaging may be a much bigger source. DuPont has consistently maintained there are no human effects known to be caused by C8.
Dr. Lynn Goldman, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is leading the new study with a team from Johns Hopkins and the federal Centers for Disease Control. Goldman said that there are still unknowns, such as exactly how the babies were exposed to C8 and whether other factors may have also contributed to the developmental effects. Previous results of the Johns Hopkins study, announced in February 2006, found C8 in umbilical cord blood samples from 298 of 300 babies tested. Overall, the C8 levels in the babies tested were "at concentrations lower than typically reported in adult [blood] collected from other regions of the United States," according to an abstract of Goldman's presentation last week. Previous animal studies have shown that C8 can travel across the placental barrier. In animal studies, effects including birth defects, developmental delays and neonatal death have been observed. C8 has also been linked to cancer in animal studies, and an EPA science panel recommended that the agency classify C8 as "likely" to cause cancer in humans. Enesta Jones, an EPA spokeswoman, said that the agency is "absolutely" concerned about the Johns Hopkins findings and would consider the study as it finishes a broad risk assessment of C8.
by Michael Milstein, Portland Oregonian
February 21, 2007
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1172028342143560.xml&coll=7
Environmental groups and nine states are suing the federal government for refusing to control toxic mercury released into the air by existing cement kilns, including one in Eastern Oregon that is among the largest sources of airborne mercury nationwide. The Environmental Protection Agency decided in December that it would be too expensive for cement companies to refit their plants to cut down on mercury emissions. The new lawsuits filed Friday and Tuesday contend that the EPA defaulted on an earlier court decision that ordered the agency to regulate mercury from the plants.
Article Summary: Nine Eastern and Midwestern states sued the EPA on Tuesday for not controlling cement kilns, following a similar lawsuit filed last week by environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Downwinders at Risk, Desert Citizens Against Pollution, and Montanans Against Toxic Burning. Cement plants can emit as much or more mercury as power plants. A cement plant in eastern Oregon was the third-largest source of airborne mercury in the country in 2004, according to estimates the company reported to the EPA. Mercury collects in the food chain -- especially in fish -- causing neurological damage and birth defects in people who consume too much contaminated fish. Some forms of the compound fall out of the air quickly, while others can travel thousands of miles around the globe. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality wants to know more specifically what forms of mercury come from the cement plant.
by Truman Lewis, ConsumerAffairs.Com
February 18, 2007
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/02/peanut_butter_recall03.html
Article Summary: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration widened a warning to say that all Peter Pan peanut butter purchased since May 2006 should be discarded. The agency had earlier said that certain batches of Peter Pan and Wal-Mart's Great Value brand peanut butter -- those with a product code on the lid beginning with 2111 -- might contain salmonella. The ConAgra Foods plant in Sylvester, Georgia, has been shut down since Wednesday, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that Peter Pan brand peanut butter and some batches of Wal-Mart's Great Value house brand were linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 300 people nationwide since August. Symptoms of foodborne illness caused by Salmonella include fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. In persons with poor underlying health or weakened immune systems, Salmonella can invade the bloodstream and cause life-threatening infections. Individuals who have recently eaten Peter Pan and Great Value brand peanut butter beginning with product code 2111 and have experienced any of these symptoms should contact their doctor or health care provider immediately. Any such illnesses should be reported to state or local health authorities.
by Ivan Oransky, The Scientist
February 2007
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/home/43585/
Article Summary: Cow's milk contains steroid hormones such as estradiol and testosterone, and peptide hormones such as IGF-1. Drinking milk has been shown to boost serum levels of certain hormones, particularly IGF-1, in humans. High levels of certain hormones, particularly IGF-1, have been shown to increase the risk of certain cancers. Some epidemiologists have connected those three dots and have suggested that cow's milk increases the risk of cancer. Large epidemiologic studies have appeared in major journals, reporting that prostate cancer -- particularly aggressive forms -- seem to be associated with dairy intake, and perhaps more strongly with total calcium intake. Such intake may double or triple the risk of aggressive prostate cancers, which kill about 2-3% of men. From this study and others presented at a McGill and Harvard-sponsored conference, Harvard epidemiologist Walter Willett to conclude that current US dietary guidelines, updated in 2005, promote too much milk. "I think it's not wise to recommend three [8-ounce] glasses per day for adults. Probably, a serving a day is OK; I don't see much reason that would be harmful. I'm concerned about two glasses a day, and three has a strong potential for harm."
While no one really disagrees that drinking milk is associated with higher serum levels of IGF-1, the mechanism is the subject of debate. There are also many other factors that are raising levels of IGF-1, including genetic differences. Other problems with associating hormone levels with cancer include difficulty in measuring hormones and a lack of a relationship in epidemiologic studies. And there are benefits to milk, including the calcium that can prevent osteoporosis; a weak protective effect against colorectal cancer; and decreased risk of fracture, insulin resistance, and stroke. Also unknown is whether the selective breeding of cows has selected for endocrine variants in modern cows. On average, cows are producing six times the milk they did in 1900.