Pesticides and Peace
While environmental health issues are only one of the problems that have plagued the Middle East in recent years, the safe use of pesticides is a topic that must be addressed. The NIEHS News discusses the Project on the Safe and Effective Use of Pesticides, which seeks to build on the current Middle East peace process in order to provide desperately needed environmental health education to the farmers of this region.
Fight for Flight
Health hazards associated with aircraft usually relate to the risk of crashes. But the environmental and human health impacts of aircraft and airports are myriad, including toxic air and waste emissions and noise pollution. The Focus article explains the causes of these hazards, explores some possible solutions, and tells what U.S. airports are doing to be safer and quieter neighbors.
The Secrets of Science
The Spheres of Influence article debates the question of whether the public should have free access to research conducted with federal dollars. Some argue that the taxpayers' money buys the right to view the results of federally funded research, but others feel that scientific autonomy should take higher priority--regardless of who's footing the bill.
High-Speed Cloning
For the first time, NIEHS scientists have cloned an entire human gene in only two weeks. The Innovations article describes how researchers used a process called transformation-associated recombination, or TAR, to clone the BRCA2 gene using only a tiny fragment of genetic material.
Calcium Fortification to Reduce Lead Poisoning
Certain segments of the U.S. population exhibit unacceptable blood lead levels, and virtually all residents of industrialized countries have bone lead stores orders of magnitude above preindustrial levels. Reports suggest that skeletal lead can adversely affect health in fetuses, children, and adults. A commentary by Bogden et al. suggests that calcium fortification of a variety of foods could provide a relatively inexpensive and effective way to reduce morbidity that results from lead exposure.
Pets As Sentinels for
Cancer Risk
Bukowski and Wartenburg review the limitations of using data from animal models or from human epidemiology studies when estimating cancer risk associated with radon, environmental tobacco smoke, or other indoor contaminant exposures. The authors suggest that estimation of residential cancer risk in humans can be supplemented by evaluating tumors in pet dogs; the strengths and limitations of using pet epidemiology for this purpose are presented.
Pfiesteria and Learning Deficits in Rats
Neurotoxic studies of the dinoflagellate Pfiesteria piscicida were conducted by Levin et al.. Rats were injected with frozen and thawed cells taken from aquaria where exposed fish had been killed. The data document a persistent learning impairment in otherwise healthy rats that may be similar to symptoms of cognitive impairments reported in humans exposed to Pfiesteria.
Dioxinlike Components in Incinerator Fly Ash
Till et al. evaluated the activities of fly ash extracts in a rat hepatocyte enzyme bioassay used to quantify dioxinlike compounds. PCBs, PCDDs, PCDFs, and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were isolated from fly ash. Results from the bioassay yielded a 2.5-fold higher estimate of TCDD equivalents than chemical analyses, but correlations suggest that the bioassay is still useful as an estimate for the sum of dioxinlike components in fly ash.
Lead Absorption in Children Similar to Adults
Gulson et al. examined mother/child pairs using high precision stable lead isotope analyses to evaluate current hypotheses for lead pharmacokinetics. Data suggest that the rate of absorption of lead from dietary sources is similar in adult females and 6-11-year-old children (around 10-15% rather than 40-50% thought to occur in children) in spite of faster bone remodeling and recycling in children compared to adults.
Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure in Farm Children
Children living with pesticide applicators were monitored for increased risk of pesticide exposure by Loewenherz et al.. Dimethylthiophosphate was the predominant urinary metabolite and was found in 47% of applicator children compared to 27% in reference children. Data indicate that proximity to spraying and child activity are important indices for exposure, although any hazard from acute intoxication is unlikely.
Acute Lead Toxicity and Soil Ingestion in Children
Occasionally children are known to ingest such large quantities of soil in one day that acute toxicity could result from contaminant concentrations normally considered harmless. Calabrese et al. report that, for 13 chemical soil contaminants, one-time soil pica episodes by children (5-50 g soil ingested) can result in dosages known to approximate or exceed human lethal doses, and suggest that certain soil ingestion criteria for children based on chronic exposure data may need to be revised.
Can You Eat Great Lakes Fish?
A survey of adults in eight Great Lakes states (IL, IN, MI, MN, NY, OH, PA) by Tilden et al. indicates that approximately 4.7 million people consumed sport-fish. Only half of the consumers were aware of a health advisory concerning potential adverse reproductive and developmental effects from chemical contaminants. Because awareness was especially low among women, the authors suggest that there is a need for targeted risk communication programs.
Last Update: December 11, 1997 |