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1) The next CHE-WA quarterly meeting is scheduled for 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. May 16, 2007, at Antioch University Seattle. The meeting will feature several presentations on pesticides and human health. Updates on the new CHE-WA Climate Change and Health Working Group as well as other working groups and partner activities will also be part of the program. A separate e-mail with the full agenda has been circulated, or you can visit http://washington.chenw.org/meetings.html. We hope you will join us!
May 10, 2007
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Seattle, Washington
at Kane Hall Room 120, University of Washington
Most of our exposure to pollutants occurs from sources that are close to us and within our control, such as consumer products that we use within our homes, workplaces, schools and other indoor environments. For instance, fragrances in products emit toxic volatile organic compounds that have been linked to a range of adverse health effects such as headaches, seizures and breathing difficulties. Paradoxically, these and many other toxic chemicals in products are not tested, regulated or listed on product labels, as they are under "trade secrets" protection. Why are these products allowed to be sold, and why do consumers lack information on the risks? Anne C. Steinemann, PhD, will explore this problem, revealing gaps among science, regulatory policy, public awareness and health. Her recent research has identified numerous toxic yet unlisted chemicals in everyday consumer products such as air fresheners, dryer sheets, baby shampoo and hand sanitizers. She will conclude with solutions, such as simple and cost-effective actions that can reduce risks from pollutants to both human and environmental health.
Website: http://www.washington.edu/alumni/activities/lectures/2007ocean_0510.html
Contact: 206-543-0540 or 1-800-AUW-ALUM
May 11, 2007
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Eastern time
CDC's Healthy Places goals examine a broad spectrum of health issues associated with communities, homes, schools, workplaces, healthcare facilities, institutions, and transportation and recreational facilities. This approach seeks to address the potential human health impacts of physical space and environmental exposure. This Public Health Grand Rounds program will focus on Healthy Communities, the broadest CDC Healthy Places goal area. Healthy communities are places where public health systems, social infrastructure and policies support health and essential public health services that are readily available to all. Highlighted will be the rural community of Wabasso, located in Indian River County, Florida. Wabasso successfully used a community engagement approach, stimulated by a tool called the Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health (PACE-EH), to address critical health, social and environmental issues such as safe streets, secure housing, water quality, crime prevention and physical activity promotion. This program will illustrate how the PACE-EH community engagement tool has helped communities clearly identify health, social and environmental problems driven by place-related elements within the community environment. It will highlight how this process has helped to focus community efforts and build coalitions for change across agencies and community groups for the overall public health and well-being of all citizens in a community.
Website: http://www.publichealthgrandrounds.unc.edu/
May 16, 2007
9:00 a.m. Pacific time, noon Eastern time
On this call, Michael Lerner, president of Commonweal and founding partner of CHE will talk with Heather Logan, director of cancer control policy for the Canadian Cancer Society, about CCS' policy position on cancer and the environment, its origins, and its reception from Canadian and other constituencies to date. The Canadian Cancer Society recently adopted the most comprehensive policy position on cancer and the environment of any national cancer society of which we are aware. While President Jacques Chirac of France has advocated an equally comprehensive approach to the environment and cancer for the French National Cancer Plan, the Canadian Cancer Society statement stands out as what many CHE Partners consider a model statement for voluntary cancer organizations.
Website: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/?module=articles&type=admin&func=new&ptid=57&callid=1084
May 17, 2007
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Seattle, Washington
at Kane Hall Room 120, University of Washington
Secondhand smoke (SHS) is a known cause of cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, and other ailments. However, these diseases have a multiplicity of causes. Defendants claim SHS exposures are "low" and other sources created the illness. Plaintiffs claim "high" exposures to SHS caused their disease. In the world of toxic torts litigation involving allegations of injury from secondhand smoke, how does the expert witness use multidisciplinary science and technology in the investigation and establishment of facts and evidence in a court of law? What are the implications of the Supreme Court's Daubert Ruling for the expert witness? Cases have been brought on behalf of railroad conductors, casino dealers, flight attendants, laborers, nurses, barbers, bartenders, prisoners, office workers, and even condo owners. How have they fared in high stakes litigation, and what does it take to prove a case? James L. Repace, MSc, will speak.
Website: http://www.washington.edu/alumni/activities/lectures/2007ocean_0517.html
Contact: 206-543-0540 or 1-800-AUW-ALUM
May 18 - 22, 2008
Stevenson, Washington
at the Dolce Skamania Lodge
River Network's National River Rally 2007 will help grassroots groups harness the power of citizen involvement to protect rivers and build healthier communities and watersheds. The River Rally will bring together hundreds of friends of rivers, water keepers, monitors, watchdogs, stewards, guardians and others involved in watershed protection and restoration. Together, we will celebrate rivers, teach and learn from each other, and explore the power of citizen action. The River Rally is the most widely anticipated training opportunity for river conservation organizations and watershed partnerships in the nation. Participants include volunteers, board members, staff members, experienced leaders and new watershed protection enthusiasts. We will all go home re-energized with new watershed protection information, new skills in fundraising and new contacts. The River Rally is primarily attended by dues-paying Partners of River Network. Anyone can join just by including the dues with the registration fees. Let's share our expertise and ideas. We will inspire each other, teach each other and celebrate our different paths in the struggle for healthier, sustainable communities and cleaner waters. All this amid the scenic panoramas of the Columbia River Gorge.
Website: http://www2.rivernetwork.org/rally/index.cfm
Contact: 503-241-3506 or riverrally@rivernetwork.org
May 23, 2007
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Portland, Oregon
at the Oregon Health and Science University
This program will introduce participants to the Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit, a new clinical resource for practitioners. The training focuses on the relationship between environmental exposures and children's health and the clinical use of the provider and patient materials from the toolkit. Sessions will include information on identifying routes of exposure to common toxic chemicals, anticipatory guidance for well-child visits, and patient communications on environmental health issues. A training package will be included for attendees to use to educate peers. In addition, attendees will be provided with reference materials and "Rx for Prevention" patient education materials. Free materials will be provided to each attendee for over 500 patients. (Registrants must commit to using the materials in practice for 3 months.) This toolkit is supported by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Website: http://www.oregonpsr.org/programs/ToolkitTraining.htm
Contact: Sara Wright at 503-274-2720 or sarawright@oregonpsr.org
May 24, 2007
8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Seattle, Washington
at the University of Washington Arboretum, Graham Visitors Center, Large Meeting Room
This half-day training program will introduce participants to a new clinical resource for practitioners, the Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit. Attendees will receive a complete toolkit to test in your own practices. This contains handy reference and guidance cards, and attractive "Rx for Prevention" patient materials. The training focuses on the relationship between environmental exposures and children's health and the clinical use of the toolkit provider and patient materials. Sessions presented by physician experts in environmental health will include 1) routes of exposure to common toxic chemicals/substances including metals (mercury, lead, arsenic), solvents, pesticides, PCBs.; 2) health effects linkages; 3) anticipatory guidance keyed to well-child visits; 4) patient communications on environmental health issues; and 5) key concepts on the unique vulnerabilities of children, susceptible populations, the "built" and "food" environments and other important issues. Attendees will commit to training several colleagues and using the toolkit in their practices for three months. Physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurses in pediatric and family practices are encouraged to register. This toolkit is supported by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Website: http://www.wpsr.org/calendar/default.htm
Contact: Nancy Dickeman, 206-354-2170 or nancyd@wpsr.org
May 24, 2007
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Seattle, Washington
at Kane Hall Room 120, University of Washington
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, is one of the nation's largest environmental disasters and the world's most studied oil spill. Pioneering ecosystem studies, toxicity tests, and hydro-acoustic monitoring have revealed widespread damage to generations of fish and wildlife from the spill. Further, thousands of workers became chemically poisoned due to clean-up activities. Out of this tragedy, new paradigms in biological and social sciences have emerged. What are the public health ramifications of this spill and, more generally, of dependence on fossil fuels? What are the socio-economic implications of this oil spill on a natural resource-based community? The talk provides recommendations for how communities can prepare for, and respond to, future environmental and health risks. Riki Ott, PhD, will speak.
Website: http://www.washington.edu/alumni//activities/lectures/2007ocean_0524.html
Contact: 206-543-0540 or 1-800-AUW-ALUM
May 24, 2007
1:00 - 2:30 EDT
Participants will be able to listen in via telephone and view presentations via Microsoft Live Meeting. Speakers will be Katherine M. Shea, MD, MPH; Pamela Emerson; and Roger Rosenblatt, MD, MPH, MFR.
Contact: OCHPWebcast@icfi.com
May 31, 2007
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Seattle, Washington
at Kane Hall Room 120, University of Washington
The precautionary assessment of environmental risks incorporates both scientific evaluations, such as quantitative estimates of chemical exposures, and ethics of the precautionary principle, such as the duty to prevent disease and promote human and environmental health, even in the absence of scientific certainty. While an advantage of traditional risk assessment is mathematical simplicity, a corresponding disadvantage is neglect of complex issues such as equity. How can the classical risk assessment approach be augmented by a precautionary approach to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of hazards? This talk by Steven G. Gilbert, PhD, DABT, will present ways that a precautionary assessment can more effectively protect and promote environmental and human health, especially for children.
Website: http://www.washington.edu/alumni//activities/lectures/2007ocean_0524.html
Contact: 206-543-0540 or 1-800-AUW-ALUM
by Laura Clout, London Daily Telegraph
May 8, 2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=GNOLEURHMTJANQFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/05/08/nfood108.xml
Parents are being advised to cut several food additives commonly found in sweets and soft drinks from their children's diets until the publication of a new study which is expected to link the "E numbers" to behavioural problems. The latest study, conducted for the Food Standards Agency (FSA), is thought likely to back up earlier research which raised doubts about the safety of some food colourings and a widely-used preservative.
Article Summary: Researchers at Southampton University estimated an average child's daily intake of synthetic colorings and preservatives to measure what effect they might have on behavior. A source at the university told the food industry magazine The Grocer last week that their findings supported those of another FSA study seven years ago, which linked the additives to problems such as hyperactivity, lack of concentration, temper tantrums and allergic reactions. The colors, tested on three year olds and eight-to-nine year olds, were tartrazine (E102), ponceau 4R (E124), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), quinoline yellow (E104) and allura red AC (E129). The preservative tested was sodium benzoate (E211), which is found in many sweets, drinks and processed foods in the UK. But Professor Jim Stevenson, who led the project, has said he cannot discuss the results before they are published in a journal. Another member of the group, Dr Alex Richardson, a senior research scientist at Oxford University, said the potential risks from the additives were well-documented. The first trial, known as the Isle of Wight study, concluded that the removal of colorings and additives from children's diets could lead to "significant changes" in their behavior. However, the CoT decided in 2002 that the results were inconclusive and ordered a new study.
by David Douglas, Reuters
May 7, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSARM76625320070507
NEW YORK -- A common therapy used to remove dangerously high levels of lead from the body may also improve muscle functions involved in balance and movement in children exposed to high levels of lead early in life. Dr. Amit Bhattacharya and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati found in a study of 161 lead-exposed children that those treated with the "lead-scrubbing" drug succimer showed a 19 percent improvement in their ability to perform moving tasks -- such as crossing an obstacle or walking -- than those who did not receive treatment.
Article Summary: It's estimated that more than 434,000 U.S. children between the ages of 1 and 5 have elevated blood lead levels. Lead is known to be associated with decreased intellectual capabilities and balance disorders among infants, children and teens. This research may help develop control strategies for minimizing exposure to lead at an earlier stage," Bhattacharya said.
from Environmental News Service
May 7, 2007
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2007/2007-05-07-02.asp
submitted to this bulletin by Jim DiPeso
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana -- The rising premature birth rate in the United States is associated with increased use of pesticides and fertilizers containing nitrates, according to research by a professor of clinical pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Article Summary: The rate of premature birth in the United States has risen about 30 percent between 1981, when the government began tracking premature births, and 2005, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A premature baby is born before the 37th week of pregnancy. Premature birth occurs in between eight and 10 percent of all pregnancies in the United States. Paul Winchester, MD, professor of clinical pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and medical director of Newborn Intensive Care Services at St. Francis Hospital, and his colleagues found that preterm birth rates peaked when pesticides and nitrates measurements in surface water were highest, from April through July, and were lowest when nitrates and pesticides were lowest, in August and September. The highest rate of prematurity, 11.91 percent, occurred in May and June and the lowest, 10.79 percent in August and September. These results were independent of maternal age, race, education, marital status, alcohol or cigarette use, or whether the mother was an urban, suburban or rural resident. Pesticide and nitrate levels in surface water were also highest in May-June and lowest in August and September, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. "Nitrates and pesticides can disrupt endocrine hormones and nitric oxide pathways in the developing fetus," Winchester said. Because they are born too early, premature babies weigh much less than full-term babies. They may have health problems because their organs did not have enough time to develop and need special medical care in a neonatal intensive care unit, where they stay until their organ systems can work on their own.
In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act set a maximum contaminant concentration for nitrates of 10-milligram per liter for public water supplies, but it does not apply to private wells. In a 1994 survey of 5,500 private water supplies in nine Midwestern states, 13 percent of the wells were found to have nitrate concentrations greater than the standard. Well owners are advised that the only way to know if their drinking water contains nitrate is to have a water sample tested by a certified laboratory. Testing is recommended for well water used by pregnant women and is "essential for a well that serves infants under six months of age," the DNR says.
by Michael Milstein, Portland Oregonian
May 7, 2007
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1178502913197620.xml&coll=7
Article Summary: Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey looked at bottoms of local rivers and streams and found a hidden mix of drugs, pesticides and other compounds ranging from fluoxetine (also known as Prozac) to cimetidine (or Tagamet), a heartburn drug and caffeine. The drugs are thought to pass through people who swallow them, through sewage treatment plants never designed to capture them, and into rivers. Some people also may flush pills they don't need anymore down the toilet, a practice once -- but no longer -- recommended as a way to dispose of them. Local agencies are working on a program to collect surplus pills to keep them out of the water. The drugs, along with ingredients of perfumes and cosmetics, are probably the most newly recognized contaminants -- and the least understood. So little is known about what they do to fish and aquatic life that no one is sure what's safe in the environment over the long term. Some of the compounds are apparently long-lasting and build up steadily. Combined with PCBs, flame retardants and other pollutants already known to be present in local rivers, the drugs and other substances put fish at risk in various ways, such as possibly disrupting their immune systems, stunting their growth or interfering with behavior, such as finding food or evading predators. Researchers also worry that antibiotics and other substances washing into the environment could help bacteria and other organisms develop resistance to drugs and pesticides. It could also affect insects and other important but little-noticed elements of local ecosystems.
by Fiona MacRae, United Kingdom Daily Mail
May 7, 2007
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=453132&in_page_id=1965
Babies born in the spring could be less intelligent because of the effect of pesticides, doctors warn. A study of more than 1.5 million children clearly showed that those conceived in the summer -- when pesticide use is at its highest -- are less clever than other youngsters. It is thought that spring babies may fare less well at school because they receive the most exposure to pesticides during the first few months of pregnancy -- a critical time for brain development.
Article Summary: Researcher Paul Winchester, a professor of clinical pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, looked at how the exam performance of more than 1.5 million children aged between eight and fifteen years old varied with month of birth. Levels of pesticide and fertilizer use throughout the year were also monitored. Analysis showed that those conceived in the summer tended to do significantly worse in math and English. The researcher said that while he hadn't actually proved that pesticides were the problem, his findings "strongly supported such a hypothesis." Other work by the same team showed that more babies are born prematurely when pesticide use is at its highest. Pesticides are already known to cause thyroid problems in mothers-to-be -- a condition thought to affect the intelligence of the unborn child. Other studies have shown that exposure to pesticides almost doubles a person's risk of Parkinson's disease.
by Traci Watson, USA TODAY
May 6, 2007
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-07-epa-chemicals_N.htm
States and cities are taking steps to ban toxic substances found in consumer goods ranging from TVs to baby bottles, rather than waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency or other federal agencies to yank them off the market. Federal agencies "are not protecting the safety of the American public," says state Rep. Ross Hunter, a Democrat who helped push a chemical ban through the Washington Legislature. "If the federal government won't do it, then the states are going to have to do it."
Article Summary: From California to Maine, state and local officials have reacted to new scientific studies that hint at health dangers from widely used chemicals, including Deca-BDE, formaldehyde, perchloroethylene and chemicals in plastics such as bisphenol A and phthalates. Charles Auer, head of the EPA division that oversees toxic chemicals, says the agency takes action when the law allows it to do so. The EPA has enacted "control measures that we think are adequate to protect health and the environment," he says. The main federal law about chemicals has drawn attention for being ineffective. The Toxic Substances Control Act makes it "costly and time consuming" for the EPA to get data about chemicals' safety, according to a 2006 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a congressional watchdog. Representatives of the chemical industry question states' ability to regulate chemicals on their own. They say weighing a chemical's risks and benefits is so complex and technical it's best left to the EPA.
from News-Medical.net
May 6, 2007
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=24695
A Cornell researcher and his wife have conducted the first comprehensive review of later-life diseases that develop in people who were exposed to environmental toxins or drugs either in the womb or as infants. They have found that most of the diseases have two things in common: They involve an imbalanced immune system and exaggerated inflammatory reactions (at the cellular level).
Article Summary: Rodney Dietert, professor of immunotoxicology at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, and Janice Dietert of Performance Plus Consulting in Lansing, N.Y., found that almost all the chronic diseases that are associated with developmental immunotoxicity (DIT) share the same type of immunological damage. The diseases linked to DIT include asthma, allergy, suppressed responses to vaccines, increased susceptibility to infections, childhood neurobehavioral conditions, autoimmunity, cancer, cerebral palsy, atherosclerosis, hypertension and male sterility. Toxins that are known to cause developmental immune problems in fetuses and neonates, according to the Dieterts, include herbicides, pesticides, alcohol, heavy metals, maternal smoking, antibiotics, diesel exhaust, drugs of abuse and PCBs. Antidotes to DIT, the researchers note, could come from a variety of sources, including herbal and fungal chemicals -- from mushrooms to clover -- which appear to have promise.
by Tom Wilber, Binghamton [New York] Press & Sun-Bulletin
May 6, 2007
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070506/NEWS01/705060332
Article Summary: Contamination from hormones and pharmaceutical compounds passes through water treatment processes into rivers -- in some cases changing sexual traits of fish. The contamination is an emerging ecological issue that may lead to a new era of regulation, according to experts. That could mean more upgrades to sewage treatment plants locally and nationally, and more public funds necessary to pay for them. In the Potomac River near Sharpsburg, Md., researchers have found male fish who have developed eggs and other female traits -- a sign that a little-understood type of pollution is spreading downstream from West Virginia. Transsexual fish also have been found and documented in the Mississippi River in Minnesota, Boulder Creek in Colorado and other waterways throughout the world. These discoveries could lead to more care in producing and consuming many products we end up flushing down the toilet without a thought. Much of the concern involves a class of pollutants called endocrine disrupters, which confound animals' natural systems to regulate hormonal signals. Some are hormones themselves -- such as estrogen from birth-control pills -- that pass through sewage plants untouched. Others are industrial chemicals or factory byproducts that confuse the body because they are chemically similar to natural hormones. Endocrine disrupters are part of a broader collection of chemical substances called pharmaceuticals and personal care products, or PPCPs. They include prescription and over-the-counter therapeutic drugs, fragrances, shampoos, cosmetics, sunscreen agents, conditioners and many other synthetic ingredients in products liberally used by the masses and washed off, excreted or flushed into the sewage system. They become concentrated as wastewater flows from a multitude of households, hospitals and businesses to a common point before being discharged into rivers. The pollution raises many questions yet to be answered because the study of PPCPs and their ecological impact is so new. Antibiotics and artificial and natural hormones excreted by livestock also wash into rivers from farm fields, adding to the problem.
by Diane C. Lade, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
May 6, 2007
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-hlplead06may06,0,6890835.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Most parents know about the dangers posed by lead-based paint. But health and consumer officials are increasingly concerned about products not on the parental radar that may remain undetected on store shelves: children's jewelry. Last week, federal regulators announced voluntary recalls by two companies of 132,200 kids' necklaces and rings, some of which had been recalled three years earlier but then put back into circulation by the supplier.
Article Summary: Lead poisoning is insidious and more serious in children, who constitute about 80 percent of lead victims and are most at risk because their brains are not yet fully developed. It can cause behavioral problems or learning disabilities. Parents may never realize their children have ingested the metal unless they do a blood test.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel hired a nationally certified lead laboratory to test 15 toy necklaces, bracelets and earrings purchased in south Florida. Nine pieces were found to have tiny traces of lead that pose no threat. Four pieces contained higher levels of lead, but still were well within federal standards. Two necklaces, featuring flower charms hanging from a strand of beads, contained lead in amounts far above levels that trigger recall testing under federal regulations -- one more than 200 times greater than the 0.06 percent lead content allowed. That is high enough to cause lead poisoning if the metal leached out as a young child chewed or sucked on the item, state health officials said -- a condition that, in the most severe cases, can result in seizures or death. Most inexpensive children's jewelry is made overseas, in factories not governed by U.S. standards, and lead commonly is used to shape products and make them more impressively heavy than plastic accessories. The samples tested for this report came from China.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission conducts two tests on products, and an item must fail both for federal regulators to request a recall. The first is a lead-content test; a second "accessibility" test determines how easily lead comes out of the jewelry, if the results of the first test show more than 0.06 percent lead. New rules being considered by CPSC commissioners, however, would do away with the accessibility standard and automatically ban any children's jewelry containing more than 0.06 percent lead.
by Andrew Chung, Toronto Star
May 6, 2007
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/210906
Article Summary: Plastics have had a 50-year honeymoon, expanding its influence such that, today, we could scarcely imagine life without it. However, plastic's shine has dulled recently as the industry has come under attack over concerns about what plastics might do to what we eat or drink, or to the environment. People now worry about plastics toxicity, especially when it comes in contact with things we ingest. Then there are the environmental costs, partly due to plastics' inherent inability to break down. Plastic bottles are getting hit, with a national tour on green politics by railing against bottled water and the United Church of Canada's asking its members to stop buying bottled water. "There is now an avalanche of research demonstrating a variety of toxins leaching from plastics," says Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence. Chemicals such as antimony, phthalates and bisphenol A have raised considerable concern because they leach into food and drink from plastic containers.
Even as plastic has become, to some, a pariah, many are forgetting the ways in which the substance is saving lives, and, indeed, the Earth. They allow people to walk with artificial limbs, and see with contact lenses. They have also allowed blood to be stored much longer than in the past, says Clare Wiseman, who teaches at the Centre for Environment at the University of Toronto. She added, "One phthalate has been found to double the shelf life of blood. So there's a need to weigh the risks and the benefits." Plastic also reduces some environmental burdens. Plastic bags, for one thing, take much less energy to manufacture, distribute and recycle than paper ones, because they're thinner and lighter. The industry notes that, similarly, it takes less energy to make a plastic bottle than a glass one, or manufacture vinyl siding compared with aluminum, or fashion pipes out of plastic instead of steel. Plastic has made cars lighter, meaning we use less gas. Insulation and wrap for homes and buildings has cut down energy use, saving million of barrels of oil versus other kinds of insulation. In appliances like refrigerators, plastic parts and insulation have vastly improved energy efficiency.
by Deborah K. Rich, San Francisco Chronicle
May 5, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/05/HOGD3PJOUT1.DTL
Article Summary: Composting is the mixing and management of organic waste (plant and animal materials and byproducts) to achieve ratios of carbon to nitrogen that accelerate and maximize microbial degradation of organic matter. By harnessing the power of microbes, municipalities can reduce and recycle plant and animal waste even where land and time are too scarce to accommodate the soil's comparatively slow rate of decomposition. Yard trimmings, wood waste from construction, animal manure, agricultural byproducts and biosolids from sewage treatment plants are the primary feedstock for the roughly 170 composters and waste processors that operate in California. All are valuable sources of carbon and plant nutrients, and these materials, once composted, can be used to maintain and improve soil health and productivity. Adding composted organic materials to soil improves soil fertility and structure, thereby lessening dependence on synthetic nitrogen and counterbalancing the heavy drawdown of nutrients and the successive degradation of soils that result from continuous farming and gardening. Soils high in organic matter are more porous, more drought resistant and less prone to erosion than are soils lacking organic matter.
Often these feedstock materials enter the composting process still laden with chemicals. Standards for finished compost, which vary from state to state, generally require regular testing only for heavy metals and pathogen indicators. Seldom do states ask that producers test their compost for residual pesticide or pharmaceutical compounds. Gardeners purchasing compost at a nursery seldom know what went into the compost, where the feedstock came from or what chemicals were on them. Heavy metals, such as lead, arsenic and cadmium, can be toxic to humans at low levels and aren't subject to microbial degradation in soil or compost systems. Some scientists are concerned whether heavy metals standards developed for land application of biosolids are appropriate for compost because compost is often applied at much higher rates than those allowed for sewage sludge. Unlike heavy metals, human and animal drugs have been repeatedly shown to break down in both soil and compost. Hormone residue in sewage and animal waste appears to be similarly reduced by the composting process. But how low a level of hormone residue is safe is unclear. Scientists are finding that even very low levels of hormones -- washed into streams in municipal and dairy wastewater -- can significantly affect fish and amphibians. Research is also linking hormones to increases in a variety of human diseases, including some cancers. Pesticides are also a concern in compost, although compost pesticide residue consistently proved to be so low that most composters today only occasionally conduct tests to verify that pesticide residue is reduced to the point where the compost will not be toxic to plants. However, the safeguards aren't foolproof. In 1999, 2000 and 2001, clopyralid -- an herbicide used to control broad-leaved weeds in turfgrass, and hay, wheat and other crops -- persisted in composted lawn clippings at levels high enough to cause damage to garden and nursery plants in eastern Washington and Idaho. Studies found not only that clopyralid breaks down very slowly in compost, but also that it is highly toxic to some plants, including sunflowers, legumes, tomatoes and potatoes, even at residue levels well below those allowed for use on turf and grass crops. Washington and California banned the use of clopyralid on residential lawns and restricted use of clopyralid by commercial applicators in 2002. Since then, no further damage from clopyralid residues in compost has been reported.
[Editor's note: See a similar article about bark mulch in Oregon at http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may082007/mulch_alert_050807.php.]
by Aubrey Cohen, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
May 5, 2007
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/314533_green05.html
Article Summary: While environmentally friendly building has gained a following in recent years, not all low-income housing builders have rushed to join the movement. Some have been concerned that green building practices would detract from the core mission of low-income housing or add costs. But green building, which includes everything from conserving resources to improving indoor air quality, makes sense for low-income housing because it's economical for those with the least to spare and provides healthier living for those more at risk for respiratory ailments, said Kollin Min, senior regional program director for Enterprise Community Partners. "Green housing, generally speaking, does not detract, but rather adds to our mission in terms of affordable housing," Seattle Housing Authority spokeswoman Virginia Felton said. New green apartments and houses generally do not look much different than conventional housing, although residents quickly notice things like fluorescent light fixtures and low-flow faucets. Residents say they weren't looking for green housing before they moved in, but they appreciate at least some of the green features now.
by Lidia Wasowicz, United Press International
May 4, 2007
http://www.upi.com/Consumer_Health_Daily/Reports/2007/05/04/ped_med_chelation_stirs_controversy/
SAN FRANCISCO -- Increasing numbers of autistic children are treated with a controversial technique traditionally reserved for patients suffering from heavy-metal poisoning. The method, called chelation, bears the government's seal of approval for detoxifying the body, most often after an industrial accident or environmental exposure to hazardous materials. Its use as a mercury-expelling remedy for autism carries a host of caveats. Such deployment is based on the contested assumption that connects autism to the mercury-based preservative thimerosal, once commonly found in childhood vaccines. The medical officialdom discounts such a causative association.
Article Summary: Many proponents request better treatments for autistic children and interaction with the National Institutes of Health. They point out that some autistic children have recovered after the treatments. However, the medical mainstream has been unwaveringly critical of the use of the technique in autistic children. An American Academy of Pediatrics article noted no published peer-reviewed research shows chelation therapy has any role to play in autism and concluded the technique is neither safe nor effective as a treatment for the disorder. Medical authorities warn of possible ill consequences to children undergoing the therapy. Along with metals, chelation also can strip the body of essential minerals like zinc and iron, they cautioned. In addition, the treatment can carry risks that include liver and kidney damage, bone-marrow problems, skin rashes, allergic reactions and nutritional deficiencies, doctors said. The Food and Drug Administration considers treating autistic children with chelating drugs too risky and ineffective to grant approval for such use. In March 2006 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report on fatalities, including two children, associated with the treatment. Chelation is gaining ground as a potential therapy for a range of conditions, from Alzheimer's disease to cancer to heart disease.
by April Castro, Associated Press, Houston Chronicle
May 4, 2007
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4777224.html
Day in and day out, children across the U.S. are riding to school on aging buses, breathing what some activists say is a dangerous brew of pollutants up to five times dirtier than the air outside. It is a situation that Congress and many states have sought to fix in recent years. In fact, in 2005 federal lawmakers passed a measure to replace or retrofit the dirtiest diesel engines across the nation. But little has been done.
Article Summary: Breathing high concentrations of diesel emissions -- known as particulates -- can cause minor ailments such as headaches, wheezing and dizziness. But studies have also found the contaminants can do more serious damage. Recent studies by the Environmental Protection Agency and other groups link the emissions to asthma and lung cancer. Experts say children are particularly vulnerable because soot particles can disrupt development of their respiratory systems. Also, children breathe more quickly than adults and take in more air per pound.
Two types of filters are available to reduce the most dangerous emissions on older buses. Diesel particulate filters -- which are installed in place of mufflers at an estimated cost of $700 each -- can reduce tailpipe emissions by at least 85 percent. Closed crankcase filtration systems, which go under the hood and cost $7,500, can reduce engine soot by about 90 percent. A bus can be fitted with one or both filters. Researchers say older buses let lots of emissions enter through doors and windows. The longer the ride, the more harmful to children, they say. Most newer buses were manufactured to meet stricter emissions guidelines and do not need filters. With Congress yet to deliver on the $1 billion it promised over five years to help states clean up diesel fleets, including school buses, state officials are struggling to find the money to carry out clean school bus initiatives.
by Colin Brown, London Independent
May 4, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2511444.ece
Global warming could lead to a return of insect-borne diseases in Britain such as malaria, and increased incidence of skin cancer caused by exposure to the sun, a government report warns today.
Article Summary: With warmer temperatures, tick-borne diseases are set to increase, along with the threat of other diseases associated with hotter climates. The report by a group of scientists for the Department of Health updates earlier warnings that climate change could see heat-related deaths rise to more than 2,800 a year in Britain. Heatstroke claimed the lives of nearly 15,000 people in France in exceptional conditions in 2003. The Department of Health's report says people are learning to live with the consequences of climate change and are taking precautions against skin cancer and other increased risks of disease, but more measures are needed to combat the threats. One of the main threats could be vector-borne diseases transmitted by mosquitoes or ticks, which are climate-sensitive and can increase or arrive in the country as a result of climate change. There are fears that malaria could re-establish itself unless vigilance is maintained to prevent the malaria-carrying mosquitoes surviving. The report comes as the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) prepares to release highly controversial proposals for averting the worst consequences of global warming. They include a major expansion of nuclear power, the use of GM crops to boost biofuel production and reliance on technologies which critics say are unproven.
by Steve Zalusky, Chicago Daily Herald
May 4, 2007
http://www.dailyherald.com/news/cookstory.asp?id=309369&cc=c&tc=&t=
Arlington Heights resident Julie Furer said she bought vinyl-backed bibs for 3-month-old son Jensen because they stopped the drool from leaking through.
Article Summary: Cloth bibs had proved ineffective, but his grandmother Marilyn Furer's was concerned when he started putting the vinyl-backed bibs in his mouth. It caused Marilyn to think back to reports she had heard of lead being found in plastic school lunch boxes. "So there I think, hmmm, plastic in the mouth, plastic in school lunch boxes. What the heck, I'll just go get a (lead testing) kit just to play it safe. I never thought it would come out like that." Using a household lead test kit, she tested 20 bibs, with eight of them yielding a positive result. She sent the bibs, which were made in China and sold at Wal-Mart, to the Center for Environmental Health in Oakland, Calif., which had done the research on the lunch boxes. Testing commissioned by the center revealed that one of the Baby Connection brand vinyl bibs, which were sold exclusively at Wal-Mart stores, had a lead level of 9,700 parts per million, more than 16 times greater than the legal limit for lead in paint. The bibs were later tested in Illinois and New York, revealing similarly high levels, with the result that Wal-Mart has stopped selling the bibs in those states indefinitely. In addition, the Illinois attorney general announced a statewide recall of the Wal-Mart bibs. Marilyn Furer is calling for a national ban on lead-based products used by infants and children, and she said parents should get their children tested for lead.
by Hazel Trice Edney, Baltimore Sun
May 3, 2007
http://www.btimes.com/News/article/article.asp?NewsID=13063&sID=3
Article Summary: Cigarette smoking is the single most preventable cause of premature death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Most Americans don't know about the harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, including arsenic, acetone, ammonia, butane, cadmium, carbon monoxide formaldehyde, hexamine, hydrogen cyanide, methanol, naphthaline, nicotine, nitrobenzene and stearic acid. Persistent smoking from someone inside the home is a threat to the entire household -- even if others are not in direct contact, says the Atlanta-based government research agency. The CDC reports that harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, including arsenic, the dominant ingredient of rat poison, not only seeps through cracks in walls and remains in the air where people have been smoking, but it takes up to two weeks for the nicotine in tobacco smoke to dissipate in a room. "That is why it is so important for smokers to go all the way outside if they want a cigarette," says a CDC report, "Pathways to Freedom, Winning the Fight Against Tobacco." Children who are around tobacco smoke in their homes have more health problems like asthma and ear infections. They are sicker and stay in bed more. They miss more school days than children whose homes are smoke-free. Babies who live in homes with secondhand smoke are more likely to die as infants than other babies." A Surgeon General's Report has concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second-hand smoke.
by Gautam Naik, Wall Street Journal
May 3, 2007
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117815689129890415.html?mod=hps_us_pageone
There's growing scientific evidence that global climate change is linked to the dramatic rise in allergies and asthma in the Western world. Studies have found that a higher level of carbon dioxide turbocharges the growth of plants whose pollen triggers allergies. In 2001 Lewis Ziska planted ragweed -- the main cause of hay fever in the fall -- at urban, suburban and rural sites near Baltimore. The plots had the same seeds and soil and were watered in the same way. Yet the downtown plants soon exploded in size, flowering earlier and producing five times the pollen of rural plants. The city pollen was a lot more toxic, too. The likely cause? The city plants experienced warmer temperatures and 20% more carbon dioxide, the effect of more cars and pollution.
Article Summary: For years, scientists have tried to explain the big increase in allergies and asthma in Western countries. In 2004, a Harvard Medical School study linked the childhood asthma "epidemic" among inner-city youths to climate change. Stating that higher carbon-dioxide levels in cities promote pollen production in plants, fungal growth, and opportunistic weeds, the study noted that asthma among preschool children grew 160% between 1980 and 1994, more than double the increase for the overall U.S. population. An upcoming report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of the world's leading climate researchers, will say that higher temperatures and carbon-dioxide levels have increased the abundance of pollen, known to trigger allergies and worsen asthma. It will also conclude that spring, when allergy-causing tree pollen is at peak levels, has been arriving 10 to 15 days earlier over the past three decades, a trend expected to continue in coming years. The upcoming IPCC report remains inconclusive on whether pollen is becoming more toxic.
by Tara Parker-Pope, Wall Street Journal
May 3, 2007
http://setup1.wsj.com/article/SB117815967700690513.html?mod=pj_main_hs_coll
A much-debated decline in breast-cancer cases -- which many experts attributed to a drop-off in hormone use -- actually started nine years ago, well before the recent hormone changes, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society. At the same time, use of mammography has declined in recent years, the researchers note. So while some of the cancer decline is likely attributable to a drop-off in hormones, one big culprit may be the fact that fewer women are getting screened. The findings -- reported in the medical journal Breast Cancer Research -- suggest that thousands of cancers may be going undetected. That means many of these cancers could still show up eventually, but at a later, more deadly stage, according to the ACS researchers.
Article Summary: The data raise new questions about the impact that menopause hormones, mammography screening rates and other changes have had on the number of cancers diagnosed in the U.S. In December, researchers from the University of Texas's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of California, Los Angeles, reported that breast-cancer cases dropped by 7% from 2002 to 2003. They speculated that the decline was due to the fact that millions of women abruptly stopped using menopause hormones in mid-2002 after a major government study linked hormone use in older women with higher rates of heart attacks and breast cancer. The steep drop in breast cancer between 2002 and 2003 likely is linked with declines in menopause-hormone use, say researchers. It may be that the abrupt stopping of hormones by millions of women changed the growth pattern of existing cancers, which are known to be influenced by estrogen. Another factor may be that women who stopped taking hormones in 2002 also stopped going to the doctor to refill prescriptions, and as a result were also less likely to get a screening mammogram.
by Spencer Hunt, Columbus Dispatch
May 2, 2007
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/02/C8.ART_ART_05-02-07_A1_766IJO1.html
Article Summary: A chemical that is used to help make Teflon is so common in the environment that humans get their first taste of it in the womb. Johns Hopkins researchers found C8 in the umbilical-cord blood of 299 newborns -- every baby tested. The chemical C8 has been used since 1951 to help keep Teflon and related coatings from clumping as they are manufactured. DuPont says C8 is used only to help process Teflon and is removed before the coating is applied to products sold worldwide. The fight over C8 has raged for several years since the chemical was detected in drinking water near a DuPont plant along the Ohio River in West Virginia.
A new study will examine the blood of 200 people who drank water contaminated with C8 near a DuPont plant along the Ohio River in West Virginia. The researchers, appointed by a West Virginia court in a lawsuit settlement, will study the residents for four years. Previous studies have shown that residents near DuPont's Washington Works factory have C8 in their blood at levels 25 times the average. The researchers also hope to document how fast C8 levels decline in residents who drink filtered water, said Lisa Collins, spokeswoman for the panel of scientists. Dupont announced that it would stop using C8 by 2015 but continues to say that it doesn't believe C8 is harmful to humans. High levels of C8 have been found to cause cancer in lab animals. That led a panel of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists to label the chemical a likely human carcinogen.
by Rhitu Chatterjee, Environmental Science & Technology
May 2, 2007
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2007/may/science/rc_fireworks.html
Fireworks spiraling into the night sky bring cheer and warmth to people watching from below. They also deliver significant levels of perchlorate into nearby water bodies, according to new research published today. Scientists have long suspected that fireworks contribute to perchlorate contamination, but few studies have "directly examined" that connection, says study leader Richard Wilkin, an environmental geochemist at the U.S. EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory.
Article Summary: Perchlorate in the environment is a human-health concern as well as a risk to wildlife. The study definitively links fireworks displays to surface water contamination, but the perchlorate levels don't last: Wilkin and his team found that the contaminant's concentrations fell to background levels after 1 to 2 months, possibly because of microbial degradation. The article helps to fill data gaps in our understanding of potential sources of perchlorate to the environment.
by Daniel B. Wood, Christian Science Monitor
May 2, 2007
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0502/p01s03-ussc.html
Article Summary: Dozens of moves have limited car traffic in at least 20 American cities in the past three years. It's a trend that is gaining ground rapidly in the US, say urban planners. New York City, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago and El Paso are among cities that have closed roads in parks, built bike-friendly green space and/or instituted car-free days in areas. worries about traffic congestion, parking problems and loss of visitors for businesses and museums have turned out to be unfounded. Studies are showing that traffic problems can be minimized, shops and museums get more visitors, and residents begin to cherish their where-the-action-is location. The model city for road closure is Bogotá, Colombia, which in 1983 embarked on a program called ciclovia (bike path), in which designated streets were closed to cars every Sunday but open for jogging, biking, dancing, playing ball, walking pets, strolling with babies -- anything but driving. One-and-a-half million people now turn out each week for ciclovia, an ciclovias have been copied in other Latin American cities. A result: revitalized neighborhoods and an influx of people. Smaller US cities, from Davenport, Iowa, to Huntington Beach, California, are also starting to create car-free zones. In the US, say observers, the clamoring for car-free park space is intensifying because of two other trends: global warming and obesity rates. Part of the goal is to get overweight, sedentary people moving, and with the infrastructure already there, there is no added capital cost.
by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Abigail Goldman, Los Angeles Times
May 2, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fda2may02,0,733831.story
WASHINGTON -- Bowing to growing nationwide concern, the Food and Drug Administration named a food safety czar Tuesday and pledged to develop "a visionary strategy for food safety and defense" that takes into account increasing U.S. dependence on food imports in a global economy. The development came as the agency said its investigation of contaminated pet food ingredients from China had expanded to include feed eaten by millions of chickens that most likely already have been consumed in the U.S. Meanwhile, a former FDA commissioner pronounced the food safety system "broken," and leading Democrats in Congress moved Tuesday to authorize federal regulators to monitor food imports more closely. Appointed food safety czar was Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the FDA's food division, who oversaw last year's investigation into tainted spinach from California.
Article Summary: Acheson said the principal goal of the new safety strategy would be to enable the FDA to prevent crises instead of reacting to them. Currently, the FDA inspects only about 1% of food imports under its jurisdiction, which includes bulk ingredients, fresh fruits and vegetables, and many grocery items. The promise of a new food safety strategy recalls an earlier FDA effort in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to improve protection of food imports. Known as the Import Strategic Plan, it ultimately was abandoned because of tight federal budgets and a lack of official will. Without more money and stronger enforcement powers for the FDA, critics doubt it will make much difference. For example, the agency cannot require foreign producers to adhere to U.S. safety standards. Prominent Democrats on Capitol Hill are seeking broader powers and more funding for the FDA.
The safety plan also will address problems in domestic production, such as last year's E. coli outbreak linked to California-grown spinach. Regarding the current investigation of tainted pet food, Acheson said the risk to people remained low. The FDA said Tuesday that contaminated wheat gluten -- used to add protein to foods -- found its way in February into chicken feed used at nearly 40 Indiana farms. About 2.5 million to 3 million broiler chickens raised on those farms already have been slaughtered and most likely have been consumed.
[Editor's note: See a related article at http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0508/p02s01-usgn.html.]
by Jerry Filteau, Catholic News Service
May 1, 2007
http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=23953
WASHINGTON -- America is using "children as our test rodents" for thousands of new chemicals that have never been tested for toxicity to human life in the womb, said Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
Article Summary: Landrigan and other experts recently highlighted the scientific, ethical and moral links between effective clean environment policies and the life and health of the nation's children. Landrigan told the group that of more than 80,000 new organic synthetic chemicals introduced commercially since the 1960s 2,863 qualify as "high production volume" -- more than a million pounds a year of each one are produced in or imported into the United States. "No basic toxicity information is publicly available for 43 percent" of those high-volume chemicals and "full information on toxicity is publicly available for only 7 percent," he said. Discussions of PCBs, phthalates and other toxics highlighted the "great urgency" of the issue and the need to move it beyond academic discussion to wider popular education, according to Sister Margaret John Kelly, dean of arts and sciences at St. John's University in New York.
As an example of the impact of a tested toxin in the environment, Landrigan said an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 children born in the United States each year suffer a loss of 0.2 to 24.4 IQ points because of methylmercury that passed through the placenta when they were in the womb. That does not include more than 1,500 American children born each year who are clinically classified as mentally retarded because of methylmercury exposure in the womb, he said. Coal-burning electrical plants, waste incinerators and plants producing chlorine gas are responsible for most of the methylmercury found in the food chain worldwide.
by Keri Lynch, Common Ground
May 2007
http://www.commongroundmag.com:80/2007/05/biomonitoring0705.html
The average American comes into contact with thousands of toxic chemicals every day, a whole host of unpronounceable and unknown compounds that are used to make clothing, furniture, pesticides, cleaning products, plastics, cosmetics and more. Do citizens -- or even scientists -- know what this mix of chemicals does to the human body? The honest answer is no. With new laboratory technology, it is now possible to test individuals for a wide variety of chemicals using samples of urine, breast milk, blood or hair. Chemicals that can be detected include heavy metals, PCBs, dioxins, pesticide residues, flame retardants, volatile organic compounds and cotinine from tobacco smoke. It is called biological monitoring or "biomonitoring."
Article Summary: According to Max Muller, a Chicago-based environmentalist, we could be getting to the point of toxic concentrations with some chemicals. Many people assume that the government tests chemicals before they are used in products, but that's not the case. The Food and Drug Administration exerts some control over chemicals in food and drugs, but other chemicals are not tested. Serious health problems from PCBs, lead, radon and asbestos led to regulation of these chemicals under the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act which gave regulatory authority to the Environmental Protection Agency, but only for those four substances. With some chemicals lasting for decades and others forever once they are released into the environment, the wise strategy is to use a precautionary approach with chemicals to evaluate the risk of human exposure, according to Dr. Milton Clark, health and science advisor for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Peter Orris, professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Illinois -- Chicago School of Public Health, estimates that 5,000 new chemicals are introduced each year with little or no evaluation of their safety. He said said chemicals should be fully tested and regulated. Currently, the burden of proof lies with the public to prove that chemicals may be harmful rather than the users or manufacturers proving, or even fully testing, whether the materials are safe.
Since 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has conducted biomonitoring studies using samples from three thousand randomly selected individuals. The goals are to establish reference points or baselines for chemical exposures and determine future research priorities related to human health. The 1999-2000 report found 27 chemicals, including 13 heavy metals, six metabolites (from pesticides) and seven phthalates (from plasticizers).
[Editor's note: The Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative has published summaries of the CDC's biomonitoring reports for 2003 and 2005. Please see the "Biomonitoring Reports" section at http://www.iceh.org/LDDIpublications.html.]