These bulletins are archived and searchable on our website: http://www.iceh.org/LDDIbulletins.html If you would like to join the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) and the LDDI Working Group, please complete the application on the CHE website: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/application 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 Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative Working Group at the bottom of the application.
Companion bulletins are available for different audiences:
While there is overlap with this bulletin, there are some events and announcements unique to those bulletins.
1) New LDDI National Coordinator. In April, Laura Abulafia will start serving as LDDI's national coordinator half-time. Elise Miller will still be very active in and available for LDDI, but Laura's leadership will be essential in effectively accomplishing LDDI's goals for this year and beyond. Laura and Elise are still in the process of refining how they will divide up responsibilities and roles.
2) The LDDI Working Group's next monthly call is being rescheduled. Please check your email for updates on the new date. The focus of this call will be on communication technologies LDDI members would like to incorporate on its website to improve information sharing among LDDI members (and among their respective websites and members) and with other interested constituencies. More information regarding the call will be circulated on the LDDI listserv closer to the time. Contact Elise Miller: elise@healthandenvironment.org
3) New Mental Health and Environment Working Group. This new working group, a subcommittee of LDDI, has been launched and has a listserv. For more information on this working group, please visit the CHE website: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/working_groups/mh To become a CHE member and join the working group, please visit http://www.healthandenvironment.org/application on the CHE website. If you have questions or need more information regarding the working group please contact Ed Seliger at eseliger@thenadd.org and/or Erika Sanders: erika@healthandenvironment.org
1) CHE Partnership Call -- Integrative Medicine: The State of the Science and Its Interface with Environmental Health: A Conversation with Dean Ornish, MD
Thursday March 26, 2009
10:00 a.m. Pacific time/1:00 p.m. Eastern time
Sponsor: Collaborative on Health and the Environment
This special CHE conversation on the state of the science in integrative medicine and its interface with environmental health will feature renowned physician and author Dean Ornish, MD, founder and president of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute.
Price: free
Website: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/partnership_calls/5839
2) Managing Environmental Data With Microsoft Access, Applying the Tools
Friday March 27, 2009
8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Bellingham, Washington
at Western Washington University Computer Lab - AW (Academic Instructional Center) 306
Sponsor: Northwest Environmental Education Council
This is the second part of the Managing Environmental Data with Microsoft Access training class. In the first class, COMP-401, students learn the basic elements of constructing queries, forms, macros and reports. Now they build on and deepen those skills by creating end-user application examples that bring all of those newly-learned elements together. In addition, the Access analytic tools PivotCharts and PivotTables are introduced and an SQL primer is included. Comp-402 is split out into a separate class to allow students flexibility in their scheduling and may be taken at a later date although it is highly recommended that the two class series be taken together. Comp-402 is not meant to be taken as a stand-alone class without taking Comp-401.
Price: $250, $195 for Native American Tribes; nonprofits; government agencies; students; and NAEP, NEBC, NWAEP members
Website: http://nwetc.org/comp-402_03-09_bellingham.htm
Contact: 206-762-1976
3) Milstein Science Symposium: Exploring the Dynamic Relationship between Health and the Environment
Thursday and Friday, April 2 - 3, 2009
New York, New York
at the American Museum of Natural History
Sponsor: Center for Biodiversity and Conservation with support from the Paul and Irma Milstein Family and others listed on the website
Health and the environment are deeply intertwined for populations, species and ecosystems, as well as for human lives and livelihoods. Human endeavors in agriculture, energy and food production, transportation and infrastructure development can have far-reaching and significant impact on the health of humans and the environment. Understanding these relationships is increasingly critical in the context of our changing world and the accelerating loss of biodiversity. The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Milstein Science Symposium will present a diversity of viewpoints and experiences, spanning the natural, medical, and social sciences, as well as policy planning. Presenters will discuss knowledge/data gaps and the limitations of current approaches, and examine innovative methods that move beyond speculation to a grounded understanding of impacts and realistic solutions. Particular emphasis will be placed on consideration of multiple and interacting stressors and decision making for maximizing benefits to both health and the environment.
Price: General admission $130, AMNH members $120, students $30
Website: http://symposia.cbc.amnh.org/health/index.html
4) The 27th National Pesticide Forum
Friday and Saturday, April 3 - 4, 2009
Carrboro, North Carolina
at the Century Center
Sponsor: Beyond Pesticides, Toxic Free NC and others
Keynote speakers will be Jim Hightower, author and radio commentator; Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC); and Philip and Alice Shabecoff, authors of Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on our Children.
Price: see http://www.beyondpesticides.org/forum/brochures/index.htm
Website: http://www.beyondpesticides.org/forum/
Contact: Beyond Pesticides, 202-543-5450 or info@beyondpesticides.org
Online Calendar. All upcoming events are listed in a searchable calendar: http://www.iceh.org/cgi-bin/searchevents.cgi
Most of the articles below come from Environmental Health News, http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/
Health eHome launched. Health eHome, a collaborative effort from WebMD Editorial and Healthy Child Healthy World, includes interactive pages for consumers, a blog, personalized results, checklists and other resources for living in a cleaner, greener, safer home.
http://www.webmd.com/health-ehome-9/default.htm
EPA issues latest information on toxic chemical releases. According to the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory, the latest data, from the calendar year 2007, show an overall decrease of five percent in releases since 2006.
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/C99E4539E712A2758525757E00556AC2
EPA releases comprehensive database on environmental chemicals. EPA has released a new online database that collects information on more than 500,000 man-made chemicals from over 200 public sources. The Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource (ACToR) database allows access to hundreds of data sources in one place, providing a new level of transparency and easy access for environmental researchers, scientific journalists and the public.
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/052FE1031A8387A485257577005329E0
GoodGuide now rates foods. The largest source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of products and companies released ratings of processed foods today. GoodGuide's new food database helps people quickly and easily assess the health, environmental, and social performance of over 5,000 food products they buy in grocery stores.
http://www.goodguide.com/
Environmental health tools now available in Spanish. The National Environmental Education Foundation's Pediatric Asthma and Pediatric Environmental History resources are now available in Spanish.
http://www.neefusa.org/
Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3). The Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3) aims to ensure that all schools are free from hazards associated with mismanaged chemicals. SC3 gives K-12 schools information and tools to responsibly manage chemicals. US Environmental Protection Agency.
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/partnerships/sc3/index.htm
Report -- Protect the Air We Breathe: An Agenda for Clean Air. This new report describes an agenda for clean air, steps will improve the health of millions of people across the nation, save thousands of lives, protect ecosystems and reduce the impact on the nation's most precious places. American Lung Association.
http://www.lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9O0E/b.4999303/k.88E2/Clean_Air_Agenda.htm
Report -- Environmental Protection Agency: Major Management Challenges. The Government Accountability Office was asked to identify challenges at EPA that hinder its ability to implement its programs effectively, based on prior GAO work. This report summarizes GAO's findings.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-434
Call to action: No More Toxic Tub for Baby! Ask your legislators to give the FDA the authority it needs to ensure that all cosmetics, from baby shampoo to lipstick to body lotion, are truly safe. Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5500/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1090
Request for Proposals: Tribal Educational Outreach on Lead Poisoning and Baseline Assessment of Tribal Children's Existing and Potential Exposure and Risks Associated with Lead. US EPA is accepting proposals from federally-recognized Indian tribes and tribal consortia to support Tribal educational outreach and to conduct a baseline assessment of Tribal children's existing and potential exposure to lead-based paint and related lead-based paint hazards. US Environmental Protection Agency.
http://epa.gov/lead/pubs/rfp042208.pdf
Call for Proposals: Prevention of Health Risk Behaviors among Youth with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Grantees will identify, implement, and evaluate interventions aimed at preventing or reducing health risk behaviors in youth with ADHD that are based on evidence-based theory or generalized from previous research. Applications are due April 9, 2009. US Department of Health and Human Services.
http://www.cdc.gov/od/pgo/funding/DD09-003.htm
Call for Proposals -- Research to Action: Assessing and Addressing Community Exposures to Environmental Contaminants This call from the National Institutes of Health solicits applications designed to collect information on community exposures to environmental or occupational agents or exposure-related diseases and use this new information to support environmental public health action. Research will focus on environmental or occupational agents known or strongly suspected to be a significant environmental public health issue by community members but lacking basic information on exposure levels, sources of exposure, or potential health effects. Applications are due April 1, 2009.
http://grants.nih.gov:80/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-ES-09-001.html
Birth-control pills, low birth weight linked. Women who get pregnant within a few weeks of taking birth-control pills seem much more likely than others to have low birth-weight or premature babies, concludes a new Canadian study that deals with one of the most widely prescribed classes of drugs. Canwest News Service, Canada
Tuesday, March 24, 2009.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/sexual-health/Birth%20control%20pills%20birth%20weight%20linked/1370027/story.html
Lethal air pollution booms in emerging nations. While Europe has managed to drastically cut some, but not all, of the most noxious pollutants over the past 20 years, emerging nations experienced the opposite trend with their fast economic growth, scientists at the UN's meteorological agency said. Australian Associated Press.
Sunday, March 22, 2009.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25225652-36418,00.html
City's garbage a threat to ground water. Toxic leachate from the Cache Creek landfill appears to be contaminating groundwater draining into both the Bonaparte River and into wells that supply residences and agricultural irrigation, a federally funded study says. Vancouver Sun, Canada.
Saturday, March 21, 2009.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/City%20garbage%20threat%20ground%20water/1408620/story.html
How to tell if you're poisoning yourself with fish. Researchers are creating genetic tests to determine if mercury hiding in that "healthy" dinner could be messing with your brain. Discover.
Saturday, March 21, 2009.
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/apr/19-how-to-tell-if-you.re-poisoning-yourself-with-fish
Could books be hazardous to your health? Could a vintage, dog-eared copy of The Cat in the Hat or Where the Wild Things Are be hazardous to your children? Probably not, say the premier U. S. medical sleuths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Associated Press.
Saturday, March 21, 2009.
http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1488800
Congress, companies target chemicals. Chemical ingredients in consumer products [bisphenol A and phthalates] are under heightened scrutiny by legislators and makers of household goods. Legislators are proposing bans, and companies are phasing out ingredients or offering more information about the ingredients they use. Chemical & Engineering News.
Saturday, March 21, 2009.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/87/i12/8712notw4.html
Contaminated soil fortified with iron. In what scientists say is a promising new way to clean up contaminated sites, a slurry of microscopic iron particles will be pumped into the ground at an old industrial park in Passaic to neutralize a plume of toxic pollution. The iron process could be used to clean up a wide variety of contamination, including solvents, pesticides, PCBs and heavy metals, scientists say. Bergen County Record, New Jersey.
Friday, March 20, 2009.
http://www.northjersey.com/environment/Contaminated_soil_fortified_with_iron.html
New survey uncovers the hidden dangers lurking in American homes. Nearly three in five adults (58%) clean their homes by wiping the surfaces with a cleaning solution/product at least once per week. The lack of consumer awareness about what's in those products, coupled with the fact that the average American home has 63 hazardous chemical products within arm's reach (according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission), makes for this stark reality: the typical American home can be a danger to families. MSNBC.
Thursday, March 19, 2009.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29752516/
Lawsuit challenges Bush-era exemptions on burning waste. Environmental groups sued U.S. EPA in federal court today over a Bush-era rule that exempts some hazardous wastes burned as industrial boiler fuel from Resource Conservation and Recovery Act requirements. Greenwire.
Thursday, March 19, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/03/18/18greenwire-lawsuit-challenges-bushera-rcra-exemptions-10212.html
Flame retardant creates hyperactive mice. A chemical that makes electronics and other household products safe from fire disrupts behavior in mice, suggesting that the chemical alters brain development. The behavioral effects were seen at fairly low doses, were worse at the higher doses tested and grew stronger as the mice aged. Environmental Health News.
Thursday, March 19, 2009.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/flame-retardant-causes-hyper-mice/
[Editor's note: See a related article about how retardants migrate out of products into dust:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es900669w ]
EU completes 16-year pesticide review. Detailed human health and environmental risk assessment of some 1,000 active substances authorised for use in pesticides before 1991 has led to the removal of more than two thirds of them from the market. EurActiv.com.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009.
http://www.euractiv.com/en/cap/eu-completes-16-year-pesticide-review/article-180313
Feds tap water worries. Health Canada is testing drinking water at more than 60 treatment plants across the country for a host of chemical products, including some associated with cancer. Calgary Sun, Canada.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2009/03/18/8789061-sun.html
Marine spreads word of bad water. For 30 years, Camp Lejeune exposed troops to chemicals. The military says an off-base dry cleaning business, now closed, was to blame, as well as chemicals leaking from underground storage tanks and unsafe disposal practices at the base. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/41407067.html
Pregnant women getting more radiation from tests. Pregnant women are undergoing more and more imaging procedures, raising concerns about the amount of radiation they are exposed to, investigators say. Reuters Health.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/03/17/eline/links/20090317elin024.html
Monitoring of air may soon take place at U.S. schools. The controversy caused by a USA Today report on air pollution at schools will soon be followed by actual air quality monitoring, according to state and federal regulators. Mitchell Daily Republic, South Dakota.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009.
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/articles/index.cfm?id=32324§ion=news
Companies cut synthetic hormone from dairy products. Many dairies and retailers -- including General Mills, Dannon and Wal-Mart -- are nixing rbST from dairy products in a world of rising food fears. USA Today.
Monday, March 16, 2009.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-03-15-dairy-growth-hormone-ban_N.htm
Oregon kids face hazard getting to school: diesel fumes. Tens of thousands of Oregon schoolchildren ride buses filled with potentially harmful fumes because of fuel system defects, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality. Portland Oregonian, Oregon.
Monday, March 16, 2009.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/oregon_kids_face_health_hazard.html
'10 Americans' hits home for Mill Valley mom. PCBs. VOCs. Phthalates. Bisphenol A. The list of industrial chemicals on the minds of consumers is crowded with confusing new acronyms as growing scientific data show a link between chemical exposure and a range of behavioral, reproductive and immunological problems. San Francisco Chronicle, California.
Monday, March 16, 2009.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/15/DDKM16ESPH.DTL
Canada bans BPA from baby bottles. Canada yesterday became the first country to ban a widely found chemical from use in baby bottles, spurring a leading Democrat in the U.S. Senate to call for legislation that would prohibit use of bisphenol A, or BPA, in a number of everyday consumer products. Dhaka New Nation, Bangladesh.
Sunday, March 15, 2009.
http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/03/15/news0177.htm
[Editor's note: See a related article about Sunoco's refusal to sell BPA to companies for use in food and water containers for children younger than 3: http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/41186522.html ]
Obesity, diabetes and heart disease may speed dementia. Obesity and its common companions --- diabetes and heart disease -- can work together to speed dementia and other brain ills, a series of new studies shows. US News and World Report.
Saturday, March 14, 2009.
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/03/10/obesity-diabetes-and-heart-disease-may-speed.html
Estrogenic toxin found in widely used plastic. Researchers in Germany have found traces of an unknown estrogen-mimicking chemical leaching into mineral water from a widely used type of plastic bottle. Toronto Globe and Mail.
Saturday, March 14, 2009.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com:80/servlet/story/LAC.20090312.BOTTLES12/TPStory/Environment
U.S. finalizes ban on cattle too sick to walk. Cattle too sick or injured to walk will no longer be allowed to enter U.S. slaughterhouses, the Agriculture Department said in a rule finalized on Saturday, nearly a year after the largest meat recall in American history spurred the change. Reuters.
Saturday, March 14, 2009.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52D0L820090314
FDA hazy on e-cigarettes' safety. The FDA is trying to halt importation of e-cigs, but isn't seizing products already being sold in the United States. The FDA considers the electronic cigarette an unapproved new drug because of a lack of scientific proof that they're safe or effective. CNN.
Friday, March 13, 2009.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/13/ecigarettes.smoking/index.html
EPA, DuPont agree to lower limit of PFOA in drinking water near W. VA. plant. Prompted by a recent EPA Provisional Health Advisory for PFOA, EPA has issued a consent order that sets a new action level for PFOA -- also known as perfluorooctanoic acid, or C-8 -- in drinking water for communities surrounding DuPont's Washington Works facility in Parkersburg, West Virginia. US Environmental Protection Agency.
Thursday, March 12, 2009.
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/35AB2180C4ED47698525757700575DC2
[Editor's note: See a related article about a study that found no link between PFOA and low birth weight: http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200903130715 ]
EPA testing local water to find out if problematic chemical is in drinking supply. A group of EPA-contracted workers looking for a not-so-pleasant memento of the former dry-cleaning business: perchloroethylene, PCE, a chlorinated solvent used for decades because of its ability to remove stains from clothing. It's also capable -- when ingested or inhaled in vapor form -- of causing neurological, liver and kidney damage, as well as cancer and other medical problems. Visalia Times-Delta, California.
Thursday, March 12, 2009.
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20090312/NEWS01/903120305
'Got safe milk?' The United States is the only industrialized nation that still uses the genetically engineered hormone rBGH, or recombinant bovine growth hormone, according to Food and Water Watch. Iowa City Press-Citizen, Iowa.
Thursday, March 12, 2009.
http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20090312/NEWS01/903120327/1079
State court upholds tuna canners exemptions. A state appeals court on Wednesday refused to reverse a 2006 court decision exempting tuna canners from California's toxic substances warning law. Contra Costa Times, California.
Thursday, March 12, 2009.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_11889923?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
SC Johnson to phase out phthalates from products. Consumer products maker SC Johnson & Son Inc. said it plans to phase out phthalates, or chemicals used to soften plastics, from its fragrance products over the next two years. SC Johnson makes brands including Windex, Glade, Raid and Ziploc. Associated Press.
Thursday, March 12, 2009.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/12/ap6158569.html
Obama moves to strengthen role of science in policy. President Obama made his most forceful break yet from his predecessor's controversial scientific agenda Monday--by ordering federal agencies to strengthen the role of science in their decision-making. Los Angeles Times, California.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-na-obama-science10-2009mar10,0,57592.story
Toxic Chinese drywall turning up in Canada Homeowners from several communities in B.C.'s Lower Mainland have joined the flood of callers to a U.S. consumer group investigating Chinese drywall that has allegedly begun to sicken North Americans. Vancouver Province, Canada.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009.
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Toxic%20Chinese%20drywall%20accused%20health%20problems%20Canada/1375255/story.html
[Editor's note: See a related article about drywall complaints in the US: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1887059,00.html ]
Probe finds health risks missed. The federal agency charged with protecting the public near toxic pollution sites [ATSDR] often obscures or overlooks potential health hazards, uses inadequate analysis and fails to zero in on toxic culprits, congressional investigators and scientists say. Associated Press.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009.
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=cincinnati&sParam=30324477.story