Please check the CHE-WA website to stay abreast of the latest postings, news and events: http://washington.chenw.org.
If you would like to join the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) and the CHE-Washington regional group, please complete the application at http://www.healthandenvironment.org/roles/register?&phase=registerform. Joining CHE means receiving up to four email messages a month from the CHE National listserv. CHE costs nothing to join and the benefit is shared information and opportunities for further engagement, if you choose. Be sure to mark that you want to join the Washington State Regional Group at the bottom of the application.
1) CHE-WA held its quarterly meeting on Wednesday May 16th. The notes and some slides from that meeting are now posted on the CHE-WA website: http://washington.chenw.org/meetings.html. Additional slides will be posted as they become available.
2) CHE-WA regional partner CHE-Alaska will hold a teleconference titled, "Protecting Human Health and the Environment in Alaska: The Global Treaty on Persistent Chemicals and Its Relevance to People of the North" at 9:00 Alaska time on June 21, 2007. The north has become a hemispheric sink for persistent industrial chemicals that arrive on atmospheric and oceanic currents. These chemicals accumulate in wildlife and people and are associated with a range of adverse health effects including endocrine disruption, damage to the immune and neurological systems and cancers. Over 140 nations have ratified an international treaty known as the Stockholm Convention to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms and are toxic to humans and wildlife. POPs circulate globally and can cause damage wherever they travel. The United States has not yet ratified the treaty. The Preamble of the Stockholm Convention acknowledges that "Arctic ecosystems and Indigenous communities are particularly at risk because of the biomagnification of persistent organic pollutants and that contamination of their traditional foods is a public health issue." The speakers will provide crucial information about the implementation of the Stockholm Convention and the recent international "Conference of Parties," attended by representatives of more than 140 nations in Senegal. This teleconference briefing provides an opportunity to discuss the science and policy aspects of the treaty and the importance of this global agreement to the health and well-being of people living in Alaska. Featured speakers are Joseph DiGangi, PhD; Daryl Ditz, PhD; and Shawna Larson. For more information, please contact Alaska Community Action on Toxics, 907-222-7714 or info@akaction.net.
3) The next quarterly CHE-WA meeting will be held Friday September 14th from 10:00 a.m. to noon at Antioch University Seattle. Michael Lerner, PhD, founder and president of Commonweal and co-founder of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, will be our featured guest speaker.
June 19, 2007
10:00 a.m. PDT / 1:00 p.m. EDT
On this call we will discuss the recent scientific reviews of emerging research on environmental links to breast cancer, published in Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer Society. The reviews cover human studies related to environmental pollutants and other factors such as diet and physical activity. The project also compiled information about chemicals shown to cause mammary gland tumors in animal studies. The three review articles and two commentaries are supported by two publicly accessible online databases that include bibliographic information, key methods and findings, and critical assessments of the strength of the evidence. The databases contain reviews of approximately 450 articles reporting on human breast cancer studies and information on 216 chemicals identified as mammary carcinogens in animal studies. The databases and individual articles are available at http://sciencereview.silentspring.org/index.cfm. This work was conducted by Silent Spring Institute with researchers from Harvard University, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the University of Southern California. It was supported by Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Joining us to discuss the published articles and the databases will be two of authors of the reviews -- Julia Brody, PhD, executive director of the Silent Spring Institute; and Ruthann Rudel, MS, senior scientist at Silent Spring. Michael Lerner, president of Commonweal and co-founding CHE Partner, will be moderating this hour-long call.
Website: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/articles/partnership_calls/1396
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/
June 27, 2007
9:00 a.m. - noon
Seattle, Washington
at the Bertha Landes Room, Seattle City Hall, 5th Avenue and Cherry Street
In this meeting, we will 1) share the results of recent local focus group research and polling on climate change and share how this research is informing message development and campaign planning; 2) exchange information on progress toward community engagement campaign(s) currently under development (and/or currently being implemented) and map these plans to a commonly held understanding of our destination as a movement; and 3) caucus in affinity groups to identify opportunities for collaboration in our current organizing and communications efforts -- and identify potential gaps as well as strategies for closing those gaps.
Contact: Pam Emerson, 206-684-5518 or pamela.emerson@seattle.gov
Toxipedia is looking for an intern who would be available during the Summer of 2007. An intern will aid in the continued development of the toxicological, peer-reviewed website that is seeking to fill a huge void in the environmental sciences. The intern will work closely with the authors and editors of the site to continue to improve the content and capability of the website to address environmental and toxicological research gaps. The intern will gain valuable science writing and editing experience, as well as be introduced to the Wiki format website design. The intern will play a key role as Toxipedia has a very small staff that works closely with one another. This is an unpaid position that has VERY flexible hours (10-20 hours per week or so) and the ability to work from home. Intern applicants should currently be in school with an interest in environmental sciences and history and confidence in their writing capabilities. To apply, please send a resume and a short cover letter to Sean Foley at sfoley@toxipedia.org.
from Steven G. Gilbert, PhD, DABT
Healthy World Theater reaches to the heart to promote awareness and understanding through the arts to create a more health world so that all creatures may reach, maintain, and enjoy their potential. We are seeking your recommendations or contributions of artistic material that helps create a healthy world and healthy people. Bring your poems, haiku, songs, plays -- almost anything to help us use art to create a healthy world. Become an author -- join us and spread the word.
Visit Healthy World Theater at http://toxipedia.org/conf/display/toxipedia/Healthy+World+Theater.
from Environmental Working Group
http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/
The Environmental Working Group recently released a dramatically expanded and improved version of their popular cosmetics and personal care products database, Skin Deep. The site has been redesigned top to bottom, now with ratings for nearly 10,000 more products. In its fourth year and third major update, the Skin Deep product safety database provides safety ratings for nearly 25,000 personal care products -- almost a quarter of all products on the market -- and the 7,000 ingredients they contain. Due to gaping loopholes in federal law, companies can put virtually any ingredient into personal care products. Even worse, the government does not require pre-market safety tests for any of them. The aim is to fill in where companies and the government left off. Skin Deep is the only tool available to consumers to assess and compare the safety of personal care products. Users will also find it easier to search for products and find answers about how chemicals affect our health.
Environmental Working Group also provides an Action Fund petition to Congress at http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/index.php#petition demanding that manufacturers prove the safety of their products before they are allowed to sell them.
from Consumer Reports
July 2007
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/health-fitness/nanotechnology-7-07/overview/0707_nano_ov_1.htm
Article Summary: Nanotechnology marvels include drugs that seek out and destroy cancer cells, paint that changes color when viewed from different angles, molecular "ink" that encodes millions of pages of information in a square inch, and contact lenses that let you check your blood sugar by just looking in the mirror. Exploiting the vast potential of those discoveries, manufacturers are bringing nanoengineered products to market at breakneck speed, spurred by a torrent of federal funding since 2001 for research and development. Nanotech researchers create new materials in two main ways: They can reduce the particles in standard materials to sizes as small as a nanometer, or about one-hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair. In addition, researchers can manipulate individual atoms and molecules to form microscopic tubes, spheres, wires, and films for specific tasks, such as generating electricity or transporting drugs in the body. But a growing number of scientists say the unique properties of nanomaterials might pose substantial risks, which are largely unexplored, to both human health and the environment. "The more we know about nanomaterials' risks, the more we worry about what we don't know," says physicist Andrew Maynard, science adviser for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a nonpartisan public-policy institute in Washington, DC.
by Gardiner Harris, New York Times
June 12, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/12/us/12vaccine.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Lawyers began arguments on Monday in the first of several test cases that may help decide whether the government should pay millions of dollars to parents of autistic children. Nearly 5,000 parents claim that vaccinations caused their children to become autistic, and many of their claims have been pending for five years. The hearing was held at the "federal vaccine court," set up by Congress 20 years ago when a series of vaccine scares nearly crippled the industry. Every major study and scientific organization examining this issue has found no link between vaccination and autism, but the parents and their advocates have persisted.
Article Summary: The vaccine court has gone to unusual lengths to convince parents that it will fairly adjudicate their claims, even setting up a conference call where parents can listen in to the hearings, which are expected to run for three weeks. Thimerosal was almost entirely removed from pediatric vaccines in 2001 after some government scientists expressed concern about the amount of mercury that children who got routine vaccinations would be exposed to. Since then, autism rates in the United States have shown no signs of dropping.
by Colin Hickey, Kennebec Journal
June 12, 2007
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3991537.html
Article summary: The authors of "Body of Evidence: A Study of Pollution in Maine People," a study by the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, tested thirteen volunteers from across the state for 71 toxic chemicals -- coming from five chemical groups -- found in common products to get a snapshot of just how polluted we might all be. The answer is highly. Testers found that participants on average had 36 toxic chemicals in their body. Phthalates, PBDEs, Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), and Bisphenol A (BPA) are the technical names of four chemical families tested. Metals -- lead, mercury, arsenic -- comprised the fifth family. One of central points of the study is that these chemical families are pervasive and relevant to everybody. The frightening part is these chemicals can harm us, write the authors of the report, a group that includes Rick Donahue, a family physician who currently is a visiting scientist at Harvard School of Public Health. Learning disabilities, autism, cancer and infertility are among the health problems that can result from having such chemicals in the body, they write. But perhaps the most difficult question to answer, the study makes clear, is what level the chemical concentration has to be to have a harmful impact. Toxicology is a challenging topic, says Colby College chemistry professor D. Whitney King. "Just because you can measure a chemical (in the body)," he said, "does not mean it is necessarily harmful." In fact, he said, one of the controversies in scientific literature is the concept of hormesis, the idea that a chemical or activity harmful in high doses can actually be beneficial in low dosages. Where benefits end and harm begins depends on the chemical, but also the age, gender, ethnicity, and physical condition of the individual, among other factors. What also is unclear is the possible synergistic effect of harboring multiple chemicals in your body.
The Body of Evidence authors call for three actions to prevent pollution in Maine people:
by Dr. Richard Stahlhut, MD and Wendy Hessler, Environmental Health News
June 11, 2007
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/newscience/2007/2007-0611meekeretal.html
The first study to examine the connection between human exposure to phthalates and changes in thyroid hormone levels reports that men with higher levels of a phthalate breakdown product called MEHP in their urine had lower levels of two major thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), in their blood. MEHP is a breakdown product (metabolite) of DEHP, one of the most commonly used phthalates. Thyroid hormones influence many body functions in people and wildlife, including energy metabolism, cell growth and brain development in children. Changes in thyroid hormone levels can affect growth, development and metabolism and cause a number of human diseases. The study results are important since most people are exposed to pththalates everyday. However, more studies are needed to confirm the findings and to determine whether the phthalate DEHP, or some other unknown factor, actually causes the reported changes in thyroid hormone levels.
Article Summary: Researchers studied a group of 408 men, ages 18 to 55, attending an infertility clinic in Boston with their partners. One sample of urine was collected for phthalate metabolite measurements, including 6 different metabolites of four parent compounds. Three different metabolites were measured for the plasticizer DEHP. Researchers were testing the idea that a ratio of the three different metabolites might give clues as to how well a person can break down certain phthalates and perhaps indicate who is most sensitive to adverse effects from them. Blood was also taken on the same day the urine was collected. The thyroid hormones free T4, total T3, and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured in the blood samples. A statistical technique called multiple linear regression determined links between the phthalate metabolite measurements and the thyroid hormone measurements. The researchers adjusted for age, BMI (obesity), smoking and time of day the samples were collected. Other phthalate metabolites had no effect on thyroid hormone levels. The researchers found that as MEHP concentrations in the urine increased, blood levels of free T4 and total T3 dropped. The relationship, though, was not linear and resembled non-monotonic responses reported for other hormone-like compounds. Other phthalate metabolites had no effect on thyroid hormone levels, and no link was found between MEHP levels and TSH.
from Forbes.com
June 11, 2007
http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2007/06/11/hscout605462.html
Giving antibiotics for a non-respiratory tract infection to an infant younger than 1 greatly increases the odds that the child will develop asthma, according to new research. The study found that the risk was highest for those infants who received multiple courses of antibiotics and those who received prescriptions for broad-spectrum antibiotics. Broad-spectrum antibiotics tend to kill a wide range of bacteria -- both good and bad.
Article Summary: One hypothesis, Kozyrskyj added, is that broad-spectrum antibiotics are killing off too many good bacteria. Because asthma can't currently be cured, only controlled, researchers are focusing on factors that may play a role in the initial development of the lung disease. Each year, about 4 million American children have active asthma, resulting in about 14 million missed school days, according to the American Lung Association.
Researchers followed almost 14,000 children from birth in 1995 until 2003, when all of the children had reached 7 years of age. Kids who received one to two courses of antibiotics had a 21 percent increased risk of asthma; those given three to four courses of antibiotics had a 30 percent rise in risk; while youngsters given more than four courses of antibiotics had a 46 percent increased risk of asthma. Children given antibiotics for non-respiratory tract infections, such as urinary-tract infections, were as much as 86 percent more likely to develop asthma than those treated for respiratory infections. Other factors that increased the risk of asthma included a family history, living in an urban area and being male. Having a sibling conferred a slight protective effect, as did having a dog for children who received multiple courses of antibiotics. In kids who had more than four courses of antibiotics before age 1, having a dog decreased the risk of asthma by 28 percent. However, in kids who received fewer antibiotics, that protective effect wasn't there. Lead author Anita Kozyrskyj, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, recommended that physicians start by prescribing narrow-spectrum antibiotics, such as amoxicillin, for their youngest patients, and then if necessary, try a broad-spectrum medication.
from the Associated Press, Canton [Ohio] Repository
Sunday, June 10, 2007
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=359273&Category=13&subCategoryID=
Schools are purging old thermometer supplies. The future of light-up shoes is on the rocks. And states are questioning America's need for blinking jewelry, flashing greeting cards and twinkling Christmas lights, all containing toxic mercury. Amid the consumer products scramble, however, coal-fired power plants responsible for the bulk of the mercury still circulating into the nation's air have been given two deadlines, in 2010 and 2018, to reduce their mercury emissions by 70 percent. Since 1990, as a national crackdown has reduced overall mercury emissions by half, emissions by coal-burning power plants have remained relatively constant, falling from 51 tons in 1990 to 48 tons in 1999 nationwide, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency statistics. In that same period, mercury coming from medical waste incinerators and city-run trash-burning power plants has been almost eliminated through new regulations, and non-utility polluters have reduced the mercury they emit by about 5 tons, data show.
Article Summary: Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that falls into water when released and ends up in the food chain. Pregnant or nursing women who eat mercury-tainted fish can unwittingly cause brain damage in their children. In dozens of states, lawmakers have outlawed an array of consumer products containing mercury, including figurines, practical joke supplies and other toys, games, greeting cards, holiday ornaments and yard statues, candles, and jewelry, footwear and other apparel. Laws around the country also have targeted the schoolhouse mercury thermometers, mercury switches in automobiles, dental fillings, and mercury used in medical implants and vaccines. Button batteries needed for hearing aids, watches and other consumer products have been carved out of state bans because no workable alternative has been invented. However, consumer products are not causing the worst of the nation's mercury problems. Dan Riedinger, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, said "A 70 percent reduction [of mercury emissions by coal-fired power plants] by 2018 is about as aggressive as we can get because of the technology issue." Some states have grown impatient with the federal timetables, however. An increasing number -- including New York, Illinois, Colorado and Pennsylvania -- have enacted more stringent compliance calendars for the utilities.
by Beth Daley, Boston Globe
June 10, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/10/as_ne_warms_tiny_pests_take_root/
Article Summary: One of the most sobering projections about global warming is that species -- including those that bring disease or harm -- will reach a climate "tipping point" that will allow them to survive in new locations. Now, researchers are racing to unlock exactly what temperature, humidity, and other climate thresholds could drive the spread of scores of species. The answers are critical, these researchers say, because even a tiny change in temperature could have an exponential effect on some populations. Going back as far as ancient Greece, people noticed that changes in the weather could be followed by outbreaks of pestilence. But modern science has focused more on preventing -- not predicting -- outbreaks. Now, as infectious diseases undergo a resurgence and global warming worries intensify, scientists are looking for stronger links between the two. If researchers could better predict disease and pest outbreaks, scientists reason, they could better focus precious dollars on public awareness campaigns, vaccinations, and other controls. The incidence of cholera and hemorrhagic fever transmitted by rats are two examples of outbreaks that have been connected to warmer temperatures. In New England, scientists are studying how climate changes may be affecting the northern expansion and abundance of ticks, mosquitoes, and other creatures that transmit deadly human illnesses.
by Geoffrey Lean, London Independent
June 10, 2007
http://environment.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/article2640439.ece
Two official investigations are being opened into alarming leaks of poison into commercial airliners in flight. They follow scientific research showing that fumes have rendered pilots incapable of flying their aircraft safely and have put hundreds of thousands of British passengers at risk.
Article Summary: Air travel has been made possible over the past 60 years by a technique called "bleed air pressurization", which takes hot air out of the engine, cools it down and then feeds it -- without first filtering it -- into the plane's cabin and cockpit. Sometimes, however, this becomes contaminated with engine oils containing many different chemicals, which are wafted into the plane to be inhaled by passengers and crew alike. Campaigners are particularly concerned about a neurotoxin called tricresyl phosphate (TCP). No one knows how frequently an event of this kind takes place because no commercial airliners are fitted with monitors to detect it. Professor Chris van Netten, an expert on the problem at the University of British Columbia, said he found TCP in every aircraft he examined. Sarah Mackenzie Ross, a consultant clinical neuropsychologist and chartered clinical psychologist at University College London, has examined 27 affected pilots for another official investigation. She found that all but one of the pilots suffered "chronic health problems, including fatigue, sleep difficulties, fluctuating gastrointestinal problems, numbness and tingling in fingers and toes, memory loss and word-finding difficulties." Some, she added, reported "alarming cognitive failures", including "being unable to retain, or confusing, numerical data and information provided by air traffic control regarding altitude and speed; completing tasks in the incorrect sequence; setting the wrong cleared level for the aircraft to climb or descend; and being unable to recall important matters such as whether the undercarriage has been raised or lowered."
by Patrick Lynch and John M.R. Bull, Hampton Roads [Virginia] Daily Press
June 10, 2007
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-33441sy0jun10,0,5052969.story?coll=dp-news-local-final
The military has polluted Peninsula creeks and ponds with cancer-causing chemicals and dangerous contaminants such as mercury and arsenic. The water tables under the four major bases are extensively contaminated with fuel and other toxins. At one base, an industrial solvent has been found flowing into the York River at levels almost 4,000 times the federal drinking-water limit. At another, fish skeletons have been deformed by military pollution. And tests show elevated levels of nasty polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in fish, oysters and crabs in public waterways near three of the bases -- particularly around Tabb Creek near Langley Air Force Base.
Article Summary: The Peninsula is a microcosm of a national problem: The military has created more pollution problems than any company or industry in the country. About 18,000 polluted sites have been identified on military bases. The pollution is the legacy of generations of bomb-making, daily living and military activity during an era that had almost no consciousness about the environment or the ramifications of indiscriminate dumping. Not only that the area's military-caused pollution problems are extensive and serious but that they've been known about for years -- decades, in some cases. The agency that could prod the military along is often complicit in stretching out timetables. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the enforcement arm behind the Superfund cleanup program, which monitors the country's most polluted sites. But the EPA often takes a hands-off attitude with bases, allowing the military to decide what problems to clean up, how extensively to clean them up and how quickly to do it. Almost all the current cleanup sites on the Peninsula date to the mid-1970s and earlier. But the military now has aggressive on-base initiatives to prevent the creation of future environmental problems.
So far, there have been no documented cases of harm to human health from military pollution on the Peninsula. But the worst of the identified chemical contaminants cause cancers that don't show up in humans until years later, so the cause might never be proven conclusively. At least 175 bushels of oysters were sold to consumers last year out of waters contaminated with PCBs, a carcinogen that accumulates up the food chain into humans. PCBs concentrate in fat tissue and damage the reproductive systems of fish and mammals, causing cancer and birth abnormalities.
by Stephen J. Hedges, Chicago Tribune
June 10, 2007
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-060710label-story,1,6159286.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true
Amid concerns about the safety of pet food ingredients and catfish from China, consumers and even a few members of Congress are wondering why there isn't a law that requires merchants to label where food comes from. The short answer: There is. And there has been since 2002.
Article Summary: Country-of-origin labeling was passed in 2002 as part of the farm bill, a massive piece of legislation that comes up for renewal about every five years. It was touted as a way to protect American food producers from cheap imports, much like the "Made in the U.S.A." tags on clothing and other items. But nearly as soon as President Bush signed the farm bill into law, COOL opponents began to work against it. The provision's effective date was delayed until September 2006, then again until 2008. Recent fears over imported foods, however, have given new momentum to reviving the law. If it takes effect, COOL would require country-of-origin labeling on beef, pork, lamb, fruit and peanuts. It would not apply to processed foods or to meals served in restaurants. The labeling requirement has applied to fish and shellfish since 2005. Opponents have become increasingly vocal, arguing that the law will be costly for grocers and food producers because they would have to maintain records on their products for one year. However, other food producers enthusiastically support it, hoping foreign-origin labels will steer American shoppers back toward U.S. goods.
by Scott J. Wilson, Los Angeles Times
June 9, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-organic9jun09,0,1336066.story
Article Summary: A deadline of midnight Friday to come up with a new list of nonorganic ingredients allowed in USDA-certified organic products passed without action from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, leaving uncertain whether some foods currently labeled "USDA organic" would continue to be produced. The agency is considering a list of 38 nonorganic ingredients that will be permitted in organic foods. Because of the broad uses of these ingredients -- as colorings and flavorings, for example -- almost any type of manufactured organic food could be affected, including cereal, sausage, bread and beer. Organic food advocates have fought to block approval of some or all of the proposed ingredients, saying consumers would be misled.
But with big companies entering what was formerly a mom-and-pop organic food industry, new questions have arisen about what exactly goes into organic food. For food to be called organic, it must be grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Animals must be raised without antibiotics and growth hormones and given some access to the outdoors. Many nonorganic ingredients, including hops, are already being used in organic products, thanks to a USDA interpretation of the Organic Foods Protection Act of 1990. In 2005, a federal judge disagreed with how the USDA was applying the law and gave the agency two years to revise its rules. Last month the agency released the proposed list of 38 nonorganic ingredients that can be included and still permit the "organic" label to be used. Under the agency's proposal, as much as 5% of a food product could be made with these ingredients and still get the "USDA organic" seal. The USDA rules come with what appears to be an important consumer protection: Manufacturers can use nonorganic ingredients only if organic versions are not "commercially available." The USDA doesn't enforce the rule directly but depends on its certifying agents to decide for themselves what it means for a product to be available in organic form.
by Alex Breitler, Stockton [California] Record
June 8, 2007
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070608/A_NEWS/706080327/-1/A_NEWS
Pesticides sprayed on Central Valley crops become up to 100 times more toxic than previously thought after the chemicals are absorbed by frogs, biologists said in a new federal study.
Article Summary: Frogs may be most at risk because of their moist, permeable skin, but the chemicals cannot bode well for other species -- including humans, said U.S. Geological Survey biologist Gary Fellers. Fellers' study in conjunction with Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, looks at three of the most widely used pesticides -- chlorpyrifos, malathion and diazinon. These become even more potent when they break down within the livers of frogs or in the environment, where they can last for days. The pesticides attack frogs' nervous systems, causing a loss of muscular control. The frogs cannot jump, swim or eventually breathe. Experiments on tadpoles showed that exposure to the pesticides themselves was not always fatal. The situation became much worse when the chemicals broke down. This is significant, biologists say, because many pesticides are approved after only short-term exposure experiments. The more toxic residues are not considered. As part of a lawsuit settled last year, the Environmental Protection Agency is studying the effects of 66 pesticides, including all three in the USGS study, for up to three years. Use of the pesticides is banned in some frog habitat areas until the studies are complete. State pesticide regulators have praised some farm groups for moving away from toxic chemicals in recent years. The Department of Pesticide Regulation said last year that pesticides such as those in the USGS study have decreased nearly every year since 1995.
by Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times
June 8, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-warming8jun08,1,6180298.story
An unusual rift has emerged between top congressional Democrats over a draft global warming bill that would prohibit California and other states from taking tougher action than Washington to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
Article Summary: As Democrats prepare to debate their first energy bill since taking control of Congress in January -- a measure expected to come before the Senate next week that calls for stricter miles-per-gallon rules for vehicles -- some of the stiffest opposition comes from Democrats from auto-making states. Energy policy and environmental regulation often scramble the usual party-line divisions, splitting lawmakers based on their region's economic interests rather than ideology. A House subcommittee is to vote next week on a measure that includes the provision to prevent states from imposing stricter standards than the federal government has on vehicle emissions. The federal Clean Air Act permits California to set stricter anti-pollution rules than the federal government because of the state's legendary smog problems, but only if the Environmental Protection Agency approves. California has been fighting to win the Bush administration's approval to implement its law requiring automakers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Automakers oppose the plan. The bill has pitted those fighting to preserve California's landmark law to cut tailpipe emissions against others who claim to support comprehensive legislation to reduce global warming and U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
by Coco Ballantyne, Scientific American
June 7, 2007
http://sciam.com/article.cfm?articleId=024FEAE8-E7F2-99DF-323D8E02C4E48BF6&chanId=sa013&modsrc=most_popular
Tuberculosis, food poisoning, cholera, pneumonia, strep throat and meningitis: these are just a few of the unsavory diseases caused by bacteria. Hygiene -- keeping both home and body clean -- is one of the best ways to curb the spread of bacterial infections, but lately consumers are getting the message that washing with regular soap is insufficient.
Article Summary: Body soaps, household cleaners, sponges, even mattresses and lip glosses are now packing bacteria-killing ingredients, and scientists question what place, if any, these chemicals have in the daily routines of healthy people. Soap works by loosening and lifting dirt, oil and microbes from surfaces so they can be easily rinsed away with water, whereas general cleaners such as alcohol inflict sweeping damage to cells by demolishing key structures, then evaporate. Unlike these traditional cleaners, antibacterial products leave surface residues, creating conditions that may foster the development of resistant bacteria, Levy notes. For example, after spraying and wiping an antibacterial cleaner over a kitchen counter, active chemicals linger behind and continue to kill bacteria, but not necessarily all of them. When a bacterial population is placed under a stressor -- such as an antibacterial chemical -- a small subpopulation armed with special defense mechanisms can develop. These lineages survive and reproduce as their weaker relatives perish. As bacteria develop a tolerance for these compounds there is potential for also developing a tolerance for certain antibiotics. This phenomenon, called cross-resistance, has already been demonstrated in several laboratory studies using triclosan, one of the most common chemicals found in antibacterial hand cleaners, dishwashing liquids and other wash products. These effects have been demonstrated only in the laboratory, not in households and other real-world environments, but Aiello believes that the few household studies may not have been long enough.
Apart from the potential emergence of drug-resistant bacteria in communities, scientists have other concerns about antibacterial compounds. Both triclosan and its close chemical relative triclocarban (also widely used as an antibacterial), are present in 60 percent of America's streams and rivers, says environmental scientist Rolf Halden, co-founder of the Center for Water and Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Both chemicals are efficiently removed from wastewater in treatment plants but end up getting sequestered in the municipal sludge, which is used as fertilizer for crops, thereby opening a potential pathway for contamination of the food we eat, Halden explains. "We have to realize that the concentrations in agricultural soil are very high," and this, "along with the presence of pathogens from sewage, could be a recipe for breeding antimicrobial resistance" in the environment, he says. Triclosan has also been found in human breast milk, although not in concentrations considered dangerous to babies, as well as in human blood plasma. There is no evidence showing that current concentrations of triclosan in the human body are harmful, but recent studies suggest that it acts as an endocrine disrupter in bullfrogs and rats.
from BBC News
June 7, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6730713.stm
The level of dioxins -- a group of carcinogenic chemicals -- in soil and vegetation has fallen by about 70% over 20 years, a UK-wide survey suggests. The drop may reflect more stringent environmental regulations for industry -- formerly a key producer of dioxins -- which came into force in the mid-1980s.
Article Summary: In an analysis of soil and grass samples from across the UK, the Environment Agency tested for several chemicals, including dioxins, polychlorinated bi-phenols (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The researchers compared the results of their survey with previous soil studies, including analyses of archived soil samples taken from 1843 at the Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire. The soil archives showed that dioxin levels had increased steadily since the 1850s, in line with industrialization. But the latest test result from the survey revealed that levels had now fallen sharply, by about 70%, since the mid 1980s, coinciding with the implementation of the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory. The survey also found both urban and industrial areas were still sources of PCBs, even though PCB production was banned in many countries in the 1970s because of the chemicals' toxicity. Levels of PCBs have fallen 800-fold since the restrictions were introduced, but the fact that they were present in higher concentrations in some areas suggested they were still leaking into the environment. The survey also revealed that PAHs were still persistent in soil, but were in higher concentrations in urban and industrialized sites where road traffic -- now considered to be the main producer of these chemicals -- was heaviest.
by Ron Scherer, Christian Science Monitor
June 7, 2007
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0607/p02s01-sten.htm
Article Summary: Cutting pollution on the waterfront is an important part of the effort to cut smog and greenhouse-gas emissions. According to New York City's estimate, waterborne transportation represents 8 percent of its overall emissions. It's far higher in California, where commercial oceangoing vessels are responsible for about 80 percent of emissions of sulfur oxides and almost 13 percent of the nitrogen oxides emitted by mobile sources in the state, according to estimates by the Air Resources Board. Ferry services around the nation are looking for new ways to operate. Starting last Friday, the US Environmental Protection Agency is requiring refiners to provide ultralow sulfur diesel for harbor vessels, such as tugs and ferries. This is expected to cut emissions from about 3,000 parts per million to a maximum of 500 parts per million. By 2012, the EPA will require that marine engines be designed so that total emissions are 15 parts per million or less. For some, the EPA standards are only a starting point. For example, the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority has contracted for two ferries that are required to be 85 percent better than the EPA requirement. Washington State, which operates the largest ferry system in the US, will switch over to ultralow sulfur diesel fuel by the end of this year. In the past, it tried using biodiesel but found its fuel filters were getting clogged very quickly, says Jonathan Olds, environmental program manager for Washington State Ferries. Manufacturers are working to build hybrid ferries and tugboats, even though "the technology is very expensive," according to Hornblower Marine CEO Terry MacRae. Federal legislation may still be needed to clean up pollution from foreign-flagged ships. Senators Barbara Boxer (D) and Dianne Feinstein (D), both of California, recently introduced legislation that would require vessels entering US waters to burn fuel with a sulfur content of 1,000 parts per million, unless the EPA says the technology for that is not available. Then, vessels would be allowed to burn oil with 2,000 parts per million. The World Shipping Council, which represents many international ocean carriers, says it would prefer to see a global solution instead of unilateral rules.
by Marla Cone, Los Angeles Times
June 6, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-chem6jun06,1,955805.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo
Five environmental groups and a labor union Tuesday petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to restrict the use of chemicals that are in many household detergents and have been linked to gender changes in fish and other aquatic life. Led by the Sierra Club, the groups are seeking a ban on nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates in consumer and industrial detergents and other cleaning products. About 400 million pounds of the chemicals are produced each year in the United States, and much of it is flushed into sewers that empty into rivers and other waterways. Under the Toxic Substances Control Act enacted 31 years ago, citizens have the authority to petition the EPA to regulate individual substances. However, it is a power that has been rarely invoked.
Article Summary: The new petition is the first involving an endocrine-disrupting chemical, a phenomenon discovered by scientists in the early 1990s in which artificial compounds mimic estrogen or other hormones. The EPA is developing methods to screen chemicals for hormonal activity but currently does not check for such risks when setting environmental standards. Nonylphenol imitates estrogen, and male rainbow trout and other fish exposed to the chemical in laboratories become part male and part female, producing female egg proteins, according to EPA documents and several scientific studies. The human effects are unknown. The petition calls for more research into health effects, particularly on employees of dry cleaners and laundries. Nonylphenol as a weak estrogen that is far less potent than natural estrogens in human sewage, but nonylphenol ethoxylates -- those used in most cleaning products -- are not estrogenic, said Barbara Losey, deputy director of the Alkylphenols & Ethoxylates Research Council.
Nonylphenol compounds also are used in the manufacture of paper, textiles, paints, lube oils, tires and other products. In addition to the ban for detergents, the petition is seeking restrictions on other uses and labels on all products that contain them. Only one of eight other petitions filed in the last dozen years led to a lawsuit and an agreement by the EPA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to regulate lead in children's jewelry. The EPA denied the other requests. Although use of the chemicals is unrestricted in the United States, some large U.S. companies have voluntarily stopped using them, including Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Wal-Mart last year named nonylphenol ethoxylates as one of three chemicals that it had asked its suppliers to phase out. The European Union is in the process of banning many uses and Canada has set stringent standards.
by Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
June 5, 2007
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Dredging_Contamination.html
WASHINGTON -- Contaminated sediments in rivers and bays from coast to coast pose an environmental hazard, and while dredging reduces the sediment it doesn't always solve the problem, the National Research Council reported Tuesday. Inevitably dredging leaves some contamination behind, and in some cases further treatment is necessary, such as capping with a layer of clean material, the council said. In addition, the dredging process itself can release some contamination into the environment, said the council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.
Article Summary: Dredging is the most complex and costly method of cleanup, the report said, but has the potential to permanently remove contaminants from the environment. But some contamination can be left behind, particularly in places with debris such as boulders or cables, or bedrock lying beneath the contaminated sediment. Such controversies can expand with the size of the contaminated site and amount of work needed. The presence or absence of such conditions should be a major consideration in deciding whether to dredge at a site, said the committee. The report also said decisions on dredging should consider the impact of any chemicals that will be released in the process and methods to be used to minimize this release. The study evaluated 26 environmental dredging projects in rivers, harbors, lakes and bays across the country contaminated by industrial, agricultural and mining byproducts.
news release from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2007/FoodAllergyExpertPanel.htm
Article Summary: On June 5, the National Institutes of Health released the Report of the NIH Expert Panel on Food Allergy Research, declaring that food allergy "has emerged as an important public health problem" and calling for additional NIH-funded research to uncover the causes of food allergy and to develop treatments for the life-threatening disease. The report comes on the heels of a May 21 hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, when Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) told NIH Director Dr. Anthony Fauci that increases in childhood food allergies are "alarming." Children's hospitals around the country have reported dramatic increases in the number of children developing life-threatening allergies to common foods like milk, eggs and peanuts. See NIH report at http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/healthscience/healthtopics/foodAllergy/ReportFoodAllergy.htm.
by Tracy Tullis, The Green Guide
May/June 2007
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/120/play
Article Summary: Twenty years ago, the Health Research Group, a division of Public Citizen, raised an alarm about sand safety after a geologist found play sand contained traces of the fibrous mineral tremolite, a form of the human carcinogen asbestos. But the stone industry insisted the sand was safe, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission declined to take action. Tremolite isn't the only potential hazard. A parent purchasing a bag of play sand may be startled to discover a warning label that the bag contains a substance "known to the State of California to cause cancer." California requires these labels because the primary ingredient in sand, crystalline silica, has been determined a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. However, no reports exist of the disease in children exposed to silica-containing sand. Finally, because the sandbox may indeed attract critters, infections are possible, especially from E. coli bacteria; keep cuts and scrapes well bandaged. Jungle gyms also warrant caution. Many are made of wood preserved with chromated copper arsenate (CCA), the basis of which is arsenic, a carcinogenic chemical that can leach out of CCA-treated wood onto children's hands and into soil and groundwater. Although CCA has been banned in residential uses since 2004, millions of CCA-treated play sets still exist. A newer alternative, ammoniacal copper quaternary, is considered less toxic to children than arsenic compounds, but its effect on the environment is still unknown. The most responsible choice remains naturally rot-resistant woods like cedar or redwood. Look for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wood, or choose play sets made from recycled plastics. As a final precaution, avoid older sets with cracked, chipped or peeling paint, which may be lead-based. Lead, a neurotoxin, can cause learning disabilities and behavioral disorders.