To join the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) and the LDDI Working Group, please complete the form at http://www.healthandenvironment.org/roles/register?&phase=registerform. Be sure to mark that you want to join the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative Working Group at the bottom of the application.
September 24 - October 1, 2006
simultaneous events will take place in the Northeast, the Southeast and the West Coast
The tour theme is "Environmental Justice for All; Reclaiming our Health and Communities Tour '06." The purpose of EJ Tour '06 is to bear witness to the casualties of our failed economic and environmental policies and how our addiction to oil and chemicals is causing Americans -- especially infants and children, workers, indigenous peoples, and communities near industrial facilities -- to bear the heavy burden of chemical contamination. Buses with environmental and health specialists will roll from city to city to work with local communities to highlight their toxic contamination problems. Each visit will include a public event or teach in about local problems and solutions, and will generate public attention and media coverage. The effect of the tour as a whole will be to build stronger links with local environmental justice organizations and raise the profile of environmental justice and health concerns nationally.
Website: http://ej4all.org/
Contact: Virginia Giordano, National Director, 212-598-2181 or vgpnyc@aol.com
October 3, 2006
1:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sustainability is more than a social, environmental, and economic concept; it is becoming a corporate imperative. With sustainability indexes, including the Dow Jones, ranking corporations on their implementation of sustainable practices, it is increasingly important to integrate business practices that will meet the "triple bottom line" -- economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social responsibility. Chemists and chemical engineers are in the driver's seat to affect sustainability from the molecular level. Green Chemistry is an innovative, non-regulatory, and economically driven approach toward sustainability. As defined, Green Chemistry is the design, development, and implementation of chemical products and processes in order to reduce or eliminate the use and generation of substances hazardous to human health and the environment (Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice). Panel discussions and active participation are an integral component to the teaching method.
Website: http://www.processSummit.com
Contact: 888-999-6288 toll-free in the U.S.
October 5, 2006
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EDT
Presenters at this first of a series of four webcasts will be Howard Frumkin, MD, DrPH, Director, CDC National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; Angelo Bellomo, Director, LA Unified School District Office of Environmental Health and Safety. A compelling speaker, and editor of the recently published book "Safe and Healthy School Environments," Dr. Frumkin will provide a broad overview of the many issues related to children's environmental health in schools. He will be followed by Angelo Bellomo, who will describe how he successfully manages environmental health issues for the largest public school district in California using a software tool designed by the district. To sign up for one of the Children's Health Month webcasts, send an email (with the date of the webcast in which you would like to participate) to ICF International at the address below.
Contact: ICF International, chm@icfi.com
October 5 - 9, 2006
Seattle, Washington
at the Hilton Seattle Airport Hotel and Conference Center
Website: http://www.danconference.com/
Contact: Tanya@DANconference.com
October 10 - 14, 2006
St. Paul, Minnesota
The North American Association for Environmental Education's 35th Annual Conference will be a gathering of over 1,000 educators. Conference strands include sustainability; conservation and community education; EE leadership skills; schools, education, achievement, and literacy; and joining forces: environmental justice, health, and education.
Website: http://naaee.org/pages/conferences/index.html
Contact: conferencestaff@naaee.org
October 11, 2006
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EDT
The presenter at this second of a series of four webcasts will be Deane Evans, Executive Director, Center for Architecture and Building Science Research, New Jersey Institute of Technology. "High performance school" refers to the physical facility, the school building, and its grounds. High performance schools often have features such as energy efficient design and operation, use of environmentally preferable building materials, healthy indoor air quality, and easy maintenance. Good teachers and motivated students can overcome inadequate facilities and perform at a high level almost anywhere, but a well-designed facility can truly enhance performance and make education a more enjoyable and rewarding experience. Creating one is not difficult, but it requires an integrated, "whole building" approach to the design process. Key systems and technologies must be considered together, from the beginning of the design process. To sign up for one of the Children's Health Month webcasts, send an email (with the date of the webcast in which you would like to participate) to ICF International at the address below.
Contact: ICF International, chm@icfi.com
October 12, 2006
10:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Albany, New York
at the Legislative Office Building, Room 711
Key New York State policymakers, researchers and advocates will discuss the current and future status of children's environmental health policy in New York State. Recent advances in children's environmental health policy include the new state-level Children's Environmental Health & Safety Council. Top researchers will also present on key scientific research demonstrating the impacts of exposure to environmental toxicants on children.
Contact: Stephen J. Boese, 212-482-0204 or sboese@healthyschools.org
October 13, 2006
8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
San Francisco, California
at the University of California, San Francisco Laurel Heights Auditorium
This one-day national conference is hosted by the Collaborative on Health and the Environment. This second CHE national educational meeting will provide a solid overview of current scientific knowledge regarding environmental contributors to human disease and state-of-the-art efforts to prevent, treat and otherwise improve such impacts. Researchers and health advocates will come from around the country to provide summaries of their knowledge and work. Physician and nurse continuing education credits will be available through the California Academy of Family Physicians.
Website: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/articles/che-events/702
October 14, 2006
Oakland, California
This half-day training program will introduce participants to the Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit, a new clinical resource for practitioners. The Toolkit was developed partially in response to the frequent requests by pediatricians for practical, clinical tools that enable providers to incorporate environmental health guidance into everyday practice. It includes materials for both providers and patients on preventing exposures to toxic chemicals and other substances that may affect child health.
Contact: Lucia Sayre, luciasayre@sbcglobal.net
October 19, 2006
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EDT
This is the third of a series of four webcasts. Schools use and manage a range of hazardous and toxic chemicals and products. Classrooms, science laboratories, art studios, vocational shops, athletic fields, maintenance facilities, boiler rooms, and storage closets are just a few examples of where hazardous chemicals and products may be found. Often, existing stocks of outdated, unknown, excessive, or unnecessarily hazardous chemicals are present in schools. These chemicals can pose safety and health risks to students and staff, and a number of widely reported incidents involving such chemicals have resulted in school closures and costly clean-ups. A Schools Chemical Cleanout and Prevention program insures that excess, legacy, unused, and improperly stored chemicals are removed, and puts mechanisms in place through which chemicals are purchased wisely, stored safely, handled by trained personnel, used responsibly, and disposed of properly. In addition, pesticide use can cause possible health hazards for school occupants and contribute to environmental pollution. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a safer, usually less costly option for effective pest management in the school community. A school IPM program employs commonsense strategies to reduce sources of food, water, and shelter for pests in school buildings and grounds. This webcast will share two chemical management success stories -- a schools chemical cleanout campaign with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama, and the Monroe County, Indiana IPM Program. To sign up for one of the Children's Health Month webcasts, send an email (with the date of the webcast in which you would like to participate) to ICF International at the address below.
Contact: ICF International, chm@icfi.com
October 21, 2006
8:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
The conference will address clinically important issues in children's health that are affected by the environment. Children of all ages, including those in the fetal stages of development, can be affected by environmental hazards. Exposure to environmental toxins via air, water, food or soil can have a significant impact on the health of children. The conference will focus on the following areas: the built environment, heavy metals exposure and neurocognitive issues, cancer and environmental exposures and newborn outcomes and environmental exposures. This continuing medical education activity is designated for 7.5 credit hours in Category I of the Physician's Recognition Award of the American Medical Association. Contact hours for nurses will be available through CNMC. Health educators seeking CHES Credits can claim the conference as a category II activity.
Website: http://www.gwu.edu/~macche/conference/
Contact: Aurora Amoah, 866-622-2431 or eohaoa@gwumc.edu
by Mike Lee, San Diego Union-Tribune
September 26, 2006
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060926-9999-1n26water.html
At homes across San Diego, thousands of residents take medications each day for everything from Alzheimer's disease to sexual dysfunction. But their bodies don't absorb 100 percent of each drug. The unused portion is excreted and -- literally -- flushed down the toilet along with whatever outdated pills that people might dump into the bowl for disposal. From there, the medicine mixes with cleaning agents, hormones, plasticizers and a plethora of other compounds in the city's wastewater.
Under a controversial proposal to be considered by a City Council committee tomorrow, some of the water treated at San Diego's North City Water Reclamation Plant would be purified enough to become drinking water. The effort is designed to reduce the region's reliance on imported water. But what about drugs and other possibly dangerous substances that might remain in the recycled water?
Water providers don't routinely check for pharmaceuticals, personal-care products or numerous other substances that scientists call "emerging contaminants." Sewage plants aren't designed to remove them. Neither federal nor state agencies regulate them in water supplies. And California hasn't taken some of the most basic steps to keep them out of the state's waters. Public health officials, water-quality experts and policymakers have been worried for years about the potential effects of these compounds, which show up widely in the nation's lakes and streams. The prospect of recycling wastewater into drinking water has amplified those fears.
The environmental and human health consequences of such pollutants are not well known. However, two common concerns are that even trace amounts may hasten the growth of more antibiotic-resistant bacteria and disrupt animals' endocrine systems, which regulate hormones. "We know that many of these things can have biological effects at very low concentrations ... but there is a paucity of data suggesting that there is any real adverse (human) health effect," said William Cooper, director of the Urban Water Research Center at the University of California Irvine. "It's an unsettled question."
Historically, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has focused on a relatively small suite of industrial pollutants such as chemicals from manufacturing plants. Now, the EPA is trying to standardize detection methods for emerging contaminants, figure out how the compounds work biologically and help sewage plants remove them more effectively. The uncertainty leaves the public and pollution watchdogs uneasy, particularly in the wake of numerous reports about waterborne drugs altering the sexual characteristics of fish in Europe and the United States. "You don't want to see a mirror image of that showing up in human life 20, 30, 40 years down the line," said William L. Rukeyser, spokesman for California's State Water Resources Control Board.
Widespread pollutants
When San Diego first tried -- and famously failed politically -- to turn wastewater into drinking water seven years ago, skeptics expressed deep reservations about what unknown and untested pollutants might still lurk in purified sewage. Scientists have since detected a dizzying array of previously ignored chemicals in rivers and lakes worldwide, including waterways that are the source of drinking water for San Diego County. Common contaminants include detergents, fragrances, caffeine, estrogen and painkillers. Basically anything that people consume or lather on their bodies eventually ends up in the water. "Drugs that are flushed down the toilet or are thrown in our landfills are coming back to haunt us," said Virginia Herold, interim executive officer of the California Board of Pharmacy, which oversees the state's pharmacies. "We are not sure what the effect is."
Four years ago, federal researchers found that 80 percent of U.S. streams contain traces of medications and other emerging contaminants. Since then, the number of pharmaceuticals has continued to rise. Nationwide, some 3.4 billion prescriptions were filled last year, an increase of 59 percent since 1995, according to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation. A recent analysis done for San Diego found a handful of emerging contaminants in the city's source water, which mostly comes from the Colorado River and Northern California. The detected substances included minute amounts of ibuprofen, the bug repellent DEET and the anti-anxiety drug meprobamate. That study likely understated the water's average chemical content because samples were taken in the spring, when huge volumes of snowmelt dilute the effluent from 227 wastewater treatment plants that are allowed to discharge into the Colorado River.
A much larger group of emerging contaminants -- about 20 -- can be found at comparatively high levels in the treated wastewater that comes out of the North City Water Reclamation Plant, the same report showed. Some North City water is reused by irrigation and industrial customers.
Technological catch-up
San Diego's water-recycling options include super-purifying wastewater at the North City plant through a process known as advanced treatment, which uses ultraviolet light and peroxide disinfection. The resulting water would replenish the San Vicente Reservoir near Lakeside and be treated again on its way to filling drinking-water pipes. San Diego has tested advanced treatment at a research-scale facility. Recent studies conducted there showed that the process reduced all 29 emerging contaminants that were tested to undetectable levels. "This data indicates that (advanced-treated) water is superior to San Diego's current raw water supply," said Ronald Coss, technical manager for the city's Water Reuse Study.
Most water industry scientists echo Coss' confidence in recycled water, but they are careful not to oversell their conclusions, given the unsettled nature of the research. Part of the difficulty is that detection methods are outpacing scientists' efforts to determine the implications of what they are finding. Current tests commonly show results down to 1 part per trillion, which is comparable to one square inch for every 250 square miles.
Some of the biggest concerns about emerging contaminants center on how they affect aquatic life. For example, fish caught near ocean sewage outfalls in Southern California were found to have abnormal hormone levels, and some had both male and female sexual tissue, according to a recent analysis by the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. The office, which does field research for public sewer agencies, is expanding its study to include fish caught off San Diego County's coast. "We see some potential effects off Los Angeles, so the next question to answer is, 'Is it just here or is it more widespread?' " said Ken Schiff, deputy director for the research agency.
Little research
There are some 80,000 chemicals commercially available in the United States, most of which lack independent research about their environmental effects. Based on the law of averages, "you could speculate that some (emerging contaminants) could end up being regulated, but ... we can't make that conclusion until we have the science to back it up," said Luisa Valiela at the EPA's San Francisco office.
California, which often has stricter standards than the federal government, requires monitoring for several emerging contaminants in recycled water that is used to replenish aquifers in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Otherwise, the Department of Health Services does not track or require reporting of any of these compounds in water supplies, an agency spokeswoman said. Nonetheless, wastewater agencies are starting to take precautions against waterborne drugs. One main goal is to persuade people to stop flushing medications down the toilet. Doing so has been standard advice for years as a way to keep outdated or unneeded pills away from children. "There is just this sense that when you flush your toilet, everything disappears. People haven't really thought about where those waste pharmaceuticals go," said Ann Heil, supervising engineer for the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County.
San Diego's Metropolitan Wastewater Department already works with local hospitals to keep drugs out of the drain and it is considering a flushing-prevention program for the public. However, previous efforts by agencies in the region to collect unused medicines have generated little public interest. California also lacks a coordinated program for the disposal of drugs from residences, said Herold, of the pharmacy board. "We don't have an answer right now," she said.
Emerging contaminants will remain a concern even if drug flushing wanes, said Alan Langworthy, deputy director of San Diego Metropolitan Wastewater. That's because the use of chemicals continues to grow and seemingly countless medications enter the water through excretion. "The way I look at it, we're at the tip of the iceberg on this issue," Langworthy said.
Union-Tribune library researcher Denise Davidson contributed to this report.
by Carol Azizian, Flint Journal
September 25, 2006
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/features-5/1159192354252150.xml&coll=5
Don Wolfe, owner of Dale's Natural Foods, loves walleye, whitefish and wild salmon. But because of the recent health scares about contaminants, he doesn't eat fish as frequently as he once did. "I'm not saying don't eat fish," Wolfe said. "I strongly recommend taking omega-3 (fatty acids) in capsule form and eating fish less often." Do the risks of consuming fish outweigh the health benefits? Should you can the tuna? Sack the salmon? The debate continues to evolve with new studies coming out all the time.
Though physicians and nutritionists have recommended substituting fish for red meat for years, Americans are not big on fish. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that people eat about 3.4 ounces a week, according to a Los Angeles Times article. By comparison, USDA estimates that per capita meat consumption totals nearly 21 ounces. But Americans do eat tuna. Some 26 percent of all fish consumed in 2004 was canned tuna, according to the USDA.
Scientists have been saying that the health benefits of fish are largely due to omega-3 fatty acids, especially two known as DHA and EPA, which are plentiful in oily fish such as salmon, trout and herring, the Times noted. Fish in fast-food restaurants, on the other hand, is often high in the unhealthy trans fats used to cook it.
Since 2002, the American Heart Association has recommended that adults eat at least two servings of fish a week. Fish is good brain food. One recent study suggested that a fish-rich diet keeps the mind sharp, slowing age-related mental decline by the equivalent of three or four years. But here's the catch -- some types of the high- protein, low-calorie food contain toxic contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury, a heavy metal found in lakes, streams and oceans. A study of 1,833 men in Finland, for example, reported that those who ate mercury-contaminated freshwater fish (and who ended up with higher mercury blood levels) suffered twice the rate of heart attacks and deaths from strokes as those who did not eat contaminated fish, the Times reported.
For years, mercury has been used in a range of products (thermometers, thermostats, light switches). It rarely poses a direct health hazard in these products. But when it's released into the air by power plants, chemical manufacturers or industrial facilities and then settles into oceans and waterways, it builds up in the fish that we eat, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental action organization. Once mercury enters a waterway, it's transformed by bacteria into methyl mercury and works its way up the food chain as large fish consume smaller fish. Predatory fish such as large tuna, swordfish, shark and mackerel have higher concentrations of mercury because they live longer and consume smaller fish that also contain mercury.
Mercury can be toxic to the brain, heart and nervous system and is especially damaging to the neurological development of babies and young children. In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advised pregnant and nursing women, women of child-bearing age and children to avoid certain fish, such as swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish and shark, because of the mercury content. "Mercury can affect the fetus' brain function," noted Kathy Peshke, a registered dietitian at Genesys Regional Medical Center. "I had one pregnant lady in here who was eating tuna every day," she said. "That's too much for somebody who's pregnant."
Peshke said she recommends eating salmon because it's not high in mercury. White fish doesn't have omega-3 fatty acids, but it's still a good substitute for red meat, she said. Shellfish is another option, but it tends to have a little more cholesterol than fish. "The trouble with a lot of shellfish (like lobster or crab) is that you dip it in butter," she said.
The EPA recommends that women of child-bearing age and young children eat up to 12 ounces (two average meals) a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury. Those include shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish. Albacore (or white) tuna has higher mercury levels than canned light tuna.
"In the state of Michigan, I think we definitely need to be concerned about mercury," said Jennifer English, registered dietitian at Hurley Medical Center. A Michigan Family Fish Consumption Guide (put out by the Michigan Department of Community Health) notes that no one should eat more than one meal a week of certain fish from Michigan inland lakes, including rock bass, perch or crappie over 9 inches long, walleye, northern pike, largemouth and smallmouth bass and muskie. Women of child-bearing age and children under 15 should not eat more than one meal per month of those fish, it says.
English said she recommends people get their omega-3 fatty acids from foods rather than supplements. She tells clients to include soybeans, canola, walnuts and flaxseed in their diets to help the body make omega-3 fatty acids. "For people who don't get enough from foods, they can take capsules," she said.
The concern over mercury consumption has prompted some companies, such as Carvalho Fisheries on the West Coast, to sell a "minimal-mercury" tuna. But the price is high -- $34.95 for six 7.5-ounce cans. The company's owners, Bill and Margaret Carvalho, had samples of albacore tuna of different sizes tested at a private laboratory, discovering that young albacore consistently had lower mercury content than older, larger fish. They drew the line at .3 parts per million or less "since that would put it lower than most all other seafood deemed low in mercury, like cod, halibut, crab, etc.," notes their Web site, www.carvalhofisheries.com.
What happens to the mercury that accumulates in your system? "Every 50 days on average, we eliminate half the mercury in our bodies," Peshke said. "If you've eaten too much mercury, you may exhibit (these symptoms) -- headaches, hair loss, slurred speech, memory problems, tremors, being tired or depressed and having a metal taste in your mouth." The Environmental Working Group has a tuna calculator on its Web site, www.ewg.org/issues/mercury. Plug your weight into the calculator and it will tell you the amounts of albacore tuna and light tuna that you can consume per week, according to FDA health standards.
Mike Donlan of Donlan's Fish Co. said ahi tuna is still a "wonderful seller." "People love that fish," he said. "We see an increase in sales on that every year." West Coast salmon also is popular, he noted. Dave Isbell, co-owner/operator of Grand Blanc Toyota/Mercedes Benz/BMW, said he never had a taste for fish until changing his eating habits for health reasons. "I was trying to lose weight and not eat as much beef," said Isbell, who enrolled in Genesys Athletic Club's Body by Design nutrition/workout program. "I was afraid to try it, but once I started eating fish, I liked it." Now he's hooked on fish five times a week. By changing his lifestyle, he lost 58 pounds, he said. "Florida grouper is my favorite," he added. "I like all kinds of white fishes. I eat ahi tuna about once every other week."
Wolfe, whose health food store also carries cans of tuna and some frozen fish, said he sells "omega-3 oils in rivers." "Ten years ago, when I said the word fat to a customer, it was a cuss word," he said. "People now understand the difference between good fats (in fish, raw nuts and seeds) and bad fats."
by Rebecca Smithers, London Guardian
September 25, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1880087,00.html
Consumers are being routinely exposed to unsafe levels of pesticide residues in their food which are nevertheless still within legal limits, campaigners warn today. More than 5% of fruit, vegetables and other foods carried harmful pesticide residues which posed "appreciable" health risks to consumers. One pesticide, Imazalil, exceeded the safe limit on 79% of oranges sampled, according to the Pesticide Action Network. Imazalil is "moderately hazardous" and a likely human carcinogen, according to the World Health Organisation, but most of the pesticide might be in the peel and therefore not eaten.
Apart from oranges, about 1.6% of fresh produce was found to contain pesticides above internationally agreed safety levels, which means that anyone eating large quantities of fruit and vegetables might expect to exceed the safe intake five or six times a year. The Pesticide Action Network conducted its own analysis of official government data. The government's own pesticide residues committee report for 2005, due out in the next few days, will analyse the same data.
The campaigners' report indicates that more rigorous safety checks are needed to allay consumers' concerns about pesticide residues in their food. They can lead to chronic illnesses and cause disruption to endocrine systems at low doses. The campaigners analysed the data to show which foods are most likely to be contaminated with pesticides and which pesticides appear most frequently. They also give advice -- such as eating organic -- on how to cut pesticide intake while still eating the recommended five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
The government report generally focuses on the legal limits of pesticides in food, which are set by the EU. Yet this limit, known as the maximum residue level, does not actually relate to how safe the pesticide is. The campaigners' analysis of the government's 2005 data compared residues against the safety limit for consuming an amount that would be eaten within one meal, or a day. This safety limit was exceeded in 97 cases, indicating that there could be an appreciable health risk to the consumer. These samples were at levels typically between 100% and 500% of the safety limit, although one sample reached 1,600%.
Clare Butler Ellis, of the Pesticide Action Network, said: "The pesticide residues committee almost always find no cause for concern with these levels of pesticides, but we think the public are right to be concerned and to try to do something about it."
by Lindy Washburn, West Paterson [New Jersey] Herald News
September 25, 2006
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2OTk2MDAyJnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mg==
A single word -- autism -- changed Christine Bakter's life. It explained her son Alex's strange behavior. It clouded her dreams for her second son, Ben, who was just 3 weeks old when Alex was diagnosed. Would he, too, have autism? And it plunged her family into a world of scientific research -- a world to which they have contributed as much as they've received.
Autism researchers today are pushing to identify the genetic changes linked to autism. They're unraveling the brain's role in reading facial expressions, understanding spoken language and making friends. They're trying to develop effective ways to teach those affected. They're helped by people like the Bakters who -- in the midst of their own difficult lives -- are offering themselves for research. Baby Ben was enrolled in a study of 300 siblings of children with autism -- children who are 50 times as likely as the general population to develop the disorder. Alex is signing up for a study on computer software that trains autistic children to make eye contact and read facial expressions. The whole family has given blood samples for the Autism Genome Project, the largest-ever genetic study of autism.
But despite dramatic increases in research and funding, surprisingly little is known about autism. It still has no known cause or cure. "Autism is an extremely complex disorder," says James Millonig of Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He is a mouse geneticist and one of the state's top autism researchers. "The more ways we attack it scientifically, the better off we are."
Among the questions researchers are trying to answer:
Genetic research
The research is taking place in labs in New Jersey and across the nation. At the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, a joint institute of Rutgers and UMDNJ in Piscataway, researchers are examining thousands of mice with a genetic defect similar to one found in humans with autism. They are hoping to understand the effects of this mutation on their behavior and brain chemistry.
In the New Jersey Language and Autism Genetics Study at Rutgers, cell DNA is scanned for gene changes shared by people with autism and their relatives with language impairments. This may pinpoint the genes involved with language use -- and one day lead to a genetic test for autism. "Trying to understand autism is like trying to do one of those really hard jigsaw puzzles," says Linda Brzustowicz, a professor of genetics at Rutgers and a psychiatrist at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. "Anytime you get a few more pieces in place, it makes others easier to fit in."
Most research focuses on the causes of autism.
Clearly, genes play an important role. Virtually every special school for children with autism has at least one pair of siblings. Studies of identical twins have shown that if one twin is diagnosed with autism, nine out of 10 times the other will be, too. "This is a highly genetic disorder," says Emanuel DiCicco-Bloom, professor of neuroscience and cell biology at Robert Wood Johnson, part of UMDNJ.
But it's not a simple matter of one gene being passed on by both parents. Rather, several genes must mutate simultaneously for autism to develop -- "at least three genes, if not up to 15," he says. Several research groups, in New Jersey and elsewhere, are trying to discover which genes are involved. They use samples from gene banks like the one storing the Bakters' DNA, and from the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository of 518 families, each with multiple autistic children. The researchers are looking for genes that govern the development of regions of the brain that appear different in autopsies of people with autism. They look for gene changes linked to such symptoms of autism as repetitive movement and poor communication skills.
In an important development, New Jersey researchers have found one gene involved in 40 percent of autism cases. It is associated with reduced growth in the cerebellum, one of many parts of the brain that affect movement and the ability to switch tasks. The next step is to understand how these DNA changes cause the brain to develop differently. "We'll create mice, to address this question," Millonig says. The changes in their brain anatomy will add to the understanding of how the human brain develops.
Role of environment
Genetics, of course, doesn't explain everything. Even with identical twins, there is still a 10 percent chance that if one develops autism, the other will not. Environmental scientists look at that 10 percent and ask why. What difference was there in the way the baby developed -- in utero, and in the first months of life -- that explains why the child doesn't have the disorder? Was it the position in the uterus? Exposure to a chemical or a virus? A medication the baby or the mother took?
A lot of attention has focused on vaccines, which -- until the last lots expired in early 2003 -- contained thimerosal, a mercury preservative. The symptoms of autism often appear about the same time that toddlers receive a batch of immunizations, which has led some parents and scientists to suspect a connection. A study by the national Institute of Medicine concluded in 2004 that neither thimerosal-containing vaccines nor the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is associated with autism. Several studies, it said, "consistently provided evidence of no association." However, the issue hasn't been put to rest for some people.
In the search for other environmental causes, researchers in New Jersey have tested dust, water and air in the homes of dozens of children with autism. Scientists at the Center for Childhood Neurotoxicology and Exposure Assessment, a joint program of UMDNJ and Rutgers in Piscataway, are looking at whether levels of metals, pesticides, volatile organic compounds and other pollutants in these children's homes are higher than normal. Preliminary results indicate they are not, said Clifford Weisel, a professor of environmental and occupational medicine at Robert Wood Johnson. In particular, New Jersey researchers are interested in the type of autism in which babies develop normally until about the age of 2, then regress. Could there be something about the way these children are affected by their environment -- by mouthing their toys or by ingesting more pollutants -- that explains the regression?
Other researchers are exploring how the brain works and what goes wrong in children with autism. A typical baby, for example, quickly learns to focus on a caregiver's face and imitate the expression she sees. But a child with autism looks elsewhere: at the caregiver's plaid shirt, for example, or the light switch over her shoulder. Without that dance of smile and response, the autistic child misses out on social understanding.
With the big money going to basic research into the causes of autism, some on the front lines -- those who work with children and adults who have autism -- are frustrated. "It's wonderful to understand 'why,' " says John Brown, director of the REED Academy, a small independent school in Garfield for children with autism. "But it's more important to do something about it. The research questions important to me are about how to help kids who have this and how to help adults who have it." He'd like specific studies on the best way to teach eye contact and conversational skills, for example. At REED Academy, his teachers have studied the use of video to teach students to tie their shoes.
Most of that research receives little outside support, though there are signs of change. Autism Speaks, the largest private philanthropy for autism research, and the Governor's Council on Autism have invited applications for funding of treatment studies this fall. But the big pharmaceutical companies stay out, because there's no pill to cure autism -- and little prospect of finding one, because medicine can't make the brain develop differently. The absence of drug-company interest is a shame, says Charles Cartwright, a psychiatrist and head of UMDNJ's Center for Autism. He prescribes dozens of drugs -- strong ones, for long periods -- to patients with severe autism, to suppress seizures or self-injurious behavior. Little research has been done on their long-term use in such patients.
Autism's ground zero
One piece of the autism puzzle that soon will be known is its prevalence. Five years ago, a study in Brick Township in Ocean County drew national attention when it documented an autism rate of 1 in 149 children -- higher than had ever been found elsewhere. The cases included kids with Asperger's syndrome and high-functioning autism as well as severe autism. Researchers in the federal study delved into medical records and dug through school files to come up with an accurate count. They were galvanized by parents who worried that something in the air or water was harming their children. "Brick Township is where everything started for this generation of autism research," says Andrew Shih, chief science officer for Autism Speaks.
But there was no way of knowing whether Brick's rate was typical or abnormally high. There was no way to know whether it had increased over time or stayed the same. No other studies were comparable. "It really alerted the scientific community that maybe what we assumed to be the prevalence rates were not accurate," Shih said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention then sponsored studies in eight states -- including New Jersey -- to determine the rate of autism in the general population and monitor it over time. In New Jersey, researchers combed through records in Ocean, Essex, Hudson and Union counties to find children classified as autistic. From a population of 34,000 8-year-olds in 2000, they came up with an exact count. The results are to be published this fall, and, until then, researchers are mum.
The study will answer, once and for all, whether the Brick children were a cluster or a trend. It will also compare the rates among different ethnic groups. Above all, says Walter Zahorodny, the UMDNJ psychologist who is the study's principle investigator, "it will be very clear what the tremendous personal and educational burden of autism is."
Meanwhile, he is working on another project, the New Jersey Answers for Autism Survey. The 25-page questionnaire for parents of children with autism asks about family history, the circumstances of the child's birth, interventions the family has tried and the child's educational placement. As of July, 1,100 surveys had been returned, making this the largest voluntary biomedical database of autism in the country. Also unprecedented is its ability to track people over time. Analysis of the results is just beginning.
Early warning signs
The autism research with the greatest practical impact right now concerns early diagnosis -- studies such as the High-Risk Baby Siblings Research Project that Ben Bakter joined. Every few months until Ben turned 3, his family traveled to Maryland, where he was observed by researchers. Caught in time, the course of autism can almost be reversed in some children. The brain can grow new nerve connections with structured, repetitive stimulation. It can, in effect, rewire itself to make up for some of the deficiencies caused by autism.
Though Ben was a smiling, social baby, by his first birthday, his parents noticed slight changes in his eye contact. He interacted with them from across the room, but he tuned out when they moved into conversational range. It was very subtle, but the Baltimore researchers also picked up on it. At Ben's 14-month observation visit, Rebecca Landa, director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, told his mother: "I'm seeing a lot of red flags here. ... You need to get intervention services for this child immediately." It took only a few hours a week of skilled intervention, but, Christine Bakter says, "I firmly believe that because we acted when we did ... we really got it. We stopped the autism in its tracks. We brought him back."
This month, Ben, now 5, entered kindergarten in Hamilton Township, in a class that integrates special-education children with typical ones. He talks well and has friends, his mother says. "This is like a dream come true for us." His brother, diagnosed at 3½, has progressed less than Ben. Now 8, Alex is in a school for children with special needs. Although it's impossible to say definitively that early diagnosis was the sole reason for Ben's improvement, Christine Bakter believes it made a powerful difference. With her family's help, research may make it possible for such dreams to come true for other families, too.
from BBC News
September 22, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5355466.stm
The World Health Organization recommends children should not be exposed to blood levels of more than 100 microgram/litre. But US scientists found increased risks at levels up to five times lower. The Tulane University findings, in the journal Circulation, suggest the safety limits should be reassessed.
The researchers examined data on 13,946 adults whose blood lead levels were measured between 1988 and 1994. They also looked at death rates and cause of death for this group up to the end of 2000. They found that the risk of death from all causes, and cardiovascular disease, increased progressively at higher lead levels.
Compared to people with a blood lead level below 19 micrograms/litre, those with a level of between 36 and 100 micrograms/litre had:
Chief researcher Dr Paul Muntner said the study also found evidence that lead blood levels as low as 20 micrograms/litre were associated with a raised risk of cardiovascular death. He said the public health implications of the findings were potentially significant, as 38% of US adults were estimated as having blood lead levels higher than 20 micrograms/litre in 1999-2002. Dr Muntner said: "Future research is needed to identify the level of lead exposure that is not associated with major health outcomes. Although markedly reduced, the current blood lead levels may not be low enough, and we believe that practical and cost-effective methods for reducing lead exposure in the general population are needed."
UK measures
A spokesman for the UK's Health Protection Agency said the UK had cut lead emissions by 97% since the 1970s. Measures had included a ban on the use of lead pipes for drinking water in new installations, and the phasing out of lead-based petrol. However, he said there was evidence to suggest that even exposure to small amounts of lead could pose a risk -- particularly to the development of children's brains. He said: "We do not believe that any exposure to lead is entirely harmless, and it has been government policy for many years to reduce exposure wherever reasonably practical. As a result of these efforts, blood lead levels in the UK have fallen dramatically in recent decades and surveys indicate that the great majority of UK children are now well below the target level. It is reasonable to expect further reductions in blood lead levels, as older legislation continues to have an effect and newer actions -- such as lowering limits for lead in drinking-water -- are introduced."
Ellen Mason, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Because lead does not stay around in the bloodstream for long it makes it difficult to tell whether it is linked to heart disease. Further studies are needed to establish whether a link exists and whether it would take short or long term exposure to lead to put the heart at risk."
The researchers found no association between blood lead levels and death from cancer.
by David Ellison, Houston Chronicle
September 22, 2006
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4208550.html
Environmentalists and activists will board a bus in Port Arthur on Sunday for a weeklong, multistate tour of minority and poor communities that they say are devastated by pollution from refineries, landfills and hazardous sites. The event -- part of the Environmental Justice for All, Tour '06 -- will cover a dozen cities between Port Arthur and Washington, D.C. Two other routes, which start in Buffalo and California's Bay Area, will travel through another 24 cities and communities. The buses will be occupied by activists, health researchers, environmental scientists and public policy experts. "The tour is basically designed to help link grass-roots organizations together and also make each group aware of the other being there," said Hilton Kelley of Port Arthur, one of the tour's regional coordinators.
Organizers said another purpose is to put pressure on congressional leaders to make the elimination of environmental hazards a priority issue in the upcoming elections. Kelley said the tour will visit areas that are polluted by landfills, oil and chemical refineries and military bases that were closed because of contamination. He said poor black residents in Port Arthur live near oil and chemical refineries in an area they call "Gasoline Alley." Air pollution is emitted legally and illegally, he said. "And either way, whether the emissions are legal or illegal, they still have a negative impact on our community," Kelley said.
Port Arthur Mayor Oscar Ortiz said Kelley seems to forget that these plants provide work for all the people in the area, including minorities. "They (refinery officials) are not deliberately trying to pollute the air," Ortiz said. "And they are monitored by the federal agencies, and there are (air pollution) monitors out there on the highways. The city would be the first one to be all over them if they did some serious pollution."
Georgie Volz, regional director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in Beaumont, said the six major industries in the Port Arthur area include Motiva, Huntsman, Chevron Phillips, Valero, KMTX and Great Lakes Carbon. She said the TCEQ received 15 air complaints from citizens between Sept. 1, 2005, and Aug. 31. The complaints range from seeing flares to smelling odors. Volz said her agency has conducted investigations on every facility each year, whether they resulted from citizens' complaints or TCEQ surveillances. "Every facility in that Beaumont area has had violations, has had enforcement actions and things like that," she said. She said the violations include a range of problems, from paperwork to emissions.
Refinery officials defended their operations as being safe and environmentally sound. They say they are sensitive to the nearby communities. "We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on improvements to those facilities, and they are safer and cleaner than they have ever been in their history," said Russ Stolle, Huntsman Corp.'s senior vice president for global public affairs and communications. Stan Sehested, a Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. spokesman, said the firm has a huge commitment to environmental stewardship and has been consistently lowering plant emissions. "For us, that means working to do things like modernize plants and lower emissions, handle chemicals safely, focus on reducing waste and recycling," Sehested said.
by Meera Selva, London Independent
September 21, 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article1640485.ece
One August morning, people living near the Akouedo rubbish dump in Abidjan, capital of the Ivory Coast, woke up to a foul-smelling air. Soon, they began to vomit, children got diarrhoea, and the elderly found it difficult to breathe. "The smell was unbelievable, a cross between rotten eggs and blocked drains," said one Abidjan resident. "After 10 minutes in the thick of it, I felt sick."
As they live near the biggest landfill in Abidjan, the people of Akouedo are used to having rubbish dumped on their doorstep. Trucks unload broken glass, rotting food and used syringes. Children try to make the best of their dismal playground, looking for scraps of metal and old clothes to sell for a few cents. But this time, the waste would benefit no one. By yesterday, at least six people, including two children, had died from the fumes. Another 15,000 have sought treatment for nausea, vomiting and headaches, queuing for hours at hastily set up clinics. Pharmacies have run out of medicines and the World Health Organisation has sent emergency supplies to help the health system. The Ivorian government had resigned over the matter and, so far, eight people have been arrested.
The tragedy is said to have begun on 19 August, after a ship chartered by a Dutch company offloaded 400 tons of gasoline, water and caustic washings used to clean oil drums. The cargo was dumped at Akouedo and at least 10 other sites around the city, including in a channel leading to a lake, roadsides and open grounds. The liquids began to send up fumes of hydrogen sulphide, petroleum distillates and sodium hydroxides across the city. As the tidy-up operation begins, environmental groups have begun to ask how this occurred. "We thought the days when companies shipped toxic waste to poor countries were over," said Helen Perivier, toxics co-ordinator for Greenpeace. "It peaked in the 1980s but since then the determination of African countries to stamp the trade out has helped yield results. That this has happened again is extraordinary."
Probo Koala, the ship that offloaded the waste, is registered in Panama and chartered by the Dutch trading company Trafigura Beheer. Trafigura had tried to offload its slops in Amsterdam, but the Amsterdam Port Services recognised its contents as toxic and asked to renegotiate terms. Trafigura said shipping delays would mean penalties of at least 250,000 US dollars (£133,000) so handed it over to a disposal company in Abidjan alongside a "written request that the material should be safely disposed of, according to country laws, and with all the correct documentation."
This story is a common one. All down the West Africa coast, ships registered in America and Europe unload containers filled with old computers, slops, and used medical equipment. Scrap merchants, corrupt politicians and underpaid civil servants take charge of this rubbish and, for a few dollars, will dump them off coastlines and on landfill sites. Throughout the 1980s, Africa was Europe's most popular dumping ground, with radioactive waste and toxic chemicals foisted on landowners. In 1987 an Italian ship dumped a load of waste on Koko Beach, Nigeria. Workers who came into contact with it suffered from chemical burns and partial paralysis, and began to vomit blood. Thereafter, the UN drew up plans to regulate the trade in hazardous waste through the Basel Convention. By 1998, the European Union had agreed to implement the ban, which prohibited the export of hazardous wastes from developed countries to the developing world, but the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand refused to sign up; global waterways are still filled with ships looking to unload their toxic waste.
And now, there is a new threat -- the dumping of electronic waste, or e-waste: unwanted mobile phones, computers and printers, which contain cadmium, lead, mercury and other poisons. More than 20 million computers become obsolete in America alone each year. The UK generates almost 2 million tons of electronic waste. Disposing of this in America and Europe costs money, so many companies sell it to middle merchants, who promise the computers can be reused in Africa, China and India. Each month about 500 container loads, containing about 400,000 unwanted computers, arrive in Nigeria to be processed. But 75 per cent of units shipped to Nigeria cannot be resold. So they sit on landfills, and children scrabble barefoot, looking for scraps of copper wire or nails. And every so often, the plastics are burnt, sending fumes up into the air. "There is a tradition of burning rubbish all over Africa, but this new burning of electronic equipment is incredibly dangerous," said Sarah Westervelt of the Basel Action Network, a pressure group that monitors the trade in hazardous waste. In China, workers burn PVC-coated wires to get at the copper, and swirl acids in buckets to extract scraps of gold.
The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that worldwide, 20 million to 50 million tons of electronics are discarded each year. Less than 10 per cent gets recycled and half or more ends up overseas. As Western technology becomes cheaper and the latest machine comes to be regarded as a disposable fashion statement, this dumping will only intensify. "Electronic goods are the fastest growing area of retail," said Liz Parkes, head of waste regulation at the Environment Agency. "We need to encourage people to think about whether they really need a new electronic item, and to consider what happens to the goods they throw out."
Where does our rubbish go?
by Lewis Smith, London Times
September 21, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2367948,00.html
TRACES of a cocktail of toxic chemicals linked to cancer and foetal deformities are being eaten even in the healthiest of diets. Man-made pollutants and chemicals were found in every one of 27 food products, including staples such as bread and eggs, that were tested by experts. In further tests carried out by WWF, formerly the World Wide Fund for Nature, every one of 352 people who provided blood samples over the past five years was found to be contaminated with toxic chemicals. All the contaminants found in the samples were at low levels, well within legal limits, but there are serious fears for long-term health. None of the contaminants in the quantities detected is thought to pose an immediate, direct risk. There is concern among toxicologists, however, that even at low concentrations the chemicals may represent a serious risk when they mix together in the body.
The eight man-made contaminants, some of which have already been banned, have been linked to many medical conditions. Foetal health and hormone disruption are the most frequently linked effects on health and others include cancer, asthma, allergies, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. The tests were carried out as part of a WWF campaign to persuade the EU to ban various man-made chemicals or introduce stiffer regulations on their use. The chemicals found in the food were organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, brominated flame retardants, perfluorinated chemicals, phthalates, organotins, alkylphenols and artificial musks. All are or have been used in everyday products such as food packaging, saucepans, electrical wiring and computers. In Britain 15 food types, including meats, dairy products, honey and olive oil, were tested and all contained at least two types of contaminant. Twelve foods from Finland, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Spain and Greece also showed traces of pollutant.
Paul King, the director of campaigns for WWF-UK, said: "Because of decades of inadequate legislation, even healthy diets are exposing us all to potentially harmful chemicals, and nowhere near enough is known about the long-term effects. While each item of food we tested is probably safe to eat on its own, taken together over long periods the food we eat contributes significantly to our body burden of chemicals." Elizabeth Salter Green, head of the WWF-UK toxics programme, said: "Our food is contaminated, our air is contaminated and our bodies are contaminated. Something is desperately wrong here and we need to resolve the problem." She called on the EU to introduce strict controls on the use of chemicals when it meets to vote on new laws next month. "If the new legislation is not effective in controlling harmful chemicals, our generation will leave behind a legacy of health problems and pollution to the people and wildlife of the world," she said.
The study by the WWF was welcomed by Andreas Kortenkamp, of the London School of Pharmacy, University of London, who is investigating the potential "cocktail effect" of contaminants in the body. "We need to know more about these chemicals so that we can give scientific assessments of their possible health effects," he said.
However, John Hoskins, of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: "Having contaminated the world we have to live with it. I'm not at all concerned with the findings. We can't do anything about the contamination. There's no point in hand-wringing as the WWF do because we can't get rid of this from the environment. What we are working for is stopping further contamination." The Food Standards Agency said: "The levels don't pose health concerns because they are well below the levels set for daily intake. Adverse reactions are unlikely."
from Xinhua News Agency, China
September 20, 2006
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-09/20/content_5115712.htm
HANGZHOU, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Rising numbers of birth defects in parts of China have sparked a debate on the resumption of compulsory pre-marital health checks and calls for more research into the causes. Figures released by Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces in advance of the publication of national figures by the Ministry of Health next week show alarming rises in the number of birth defects. In Zhejiang, the incidence of babies with birth defects was 1.15 percent in 2003 -- the year compulsory pre-marital health checks were scrapped -- rising to 1.33 percent in 2004 and 1.47 percent last year. About 480,000 babies are born in Zhejiang each year, which means about 7,200 babies were born with defects in 2005.
In the southern province of Guangdong, the incidence has risen from 0.96 percent ten years ago to 2.12 percent today. In Shanghai, birth defects have been reported as the top killer of babies for the past 10 years. Cleft palette, neural tube defects, hyperdactylia (excessive numbers of fingers or toes), congenital heart disease and hydrocephalus (water on the brain) are the top five birth defects among Chinese babies.
Experts said hereditary diseases, viral infections, environmental pollution, unhealthy lifestyles and poor nutrition were among the main known causes. Duan Tao, deputy head of the No. 1 Maternity and Children Care Center affiliated to the Tongji University in Shanghai, said the treatment of chronic diseases, the prohibition of marriage between close relatives and discouraging pregnant women from drinking alcohol and smoking could help reduce birth defects. Pre-marital tests could also prevent the transmission of hereditary diseases and pre-pregnancy health checks could detect viruses that caused birth defects, said Gu Peibao, an obstetrician at Zhejiang Maternal and Children Health Hospital. "Some would-be parents pay more attention to smoking and drinking and even avoid living in newly-renovated apartments, but forget or ignore pre-marital tests," Gu said.
The number of would-be couples undergoing the checks has dropped drastically since they were made optional in 2003, after previously being a legal prerequisite for obtaining a marriage license. Pan Guiyu, deputy director of the State Population and Family Planning Commission, called for the resumption of compulsory pre-marital tests, saying their cancellation in 2003 was a major cause of the rise in birth detects and could affect the "quality" of the population. To reverse the situation, some local health authorities have begun providing free pre-marital tests to encourage more people to go through the health check, but the outcome was not promising.
However, some experts argued it was uncertain if lack of pre-marital tests had significantly contributed to the rising incidence of birth defects. "Currently we have no concise figures to support this claim, so the resumption of compulsory pre-marital tests needs more consideration," said Ma Huaide, professor of the China University of Political Science and Law, in an interview with major Chinese Internet portal Sina.com.
According to professor Wang Yifei, of the Shanghai Jiaotong University, 50 to 60 percent of birth defects in humans occurred for no obvious reason. Chromosomal abnormality contributed to six to seven percent, genetic mutation contributed seven to eight percent, environmental factors seven to 10 percent and the comprehensive effect of hereditary and environmental factors 20 to 25 percent, according to a research revealed by Wang. He called for the establishment of a monitoring system on birth defects in China linked with international network, while stepping up research on hereditary and environmental factors. China has about one million to 1.2 million babies born with defects each year, accounting for four to six percent of births, latest official figures show.
Birth defects, also called congenital anomalies, are a major cause of infant mortality and childhood morbidity, affecting two to three percent of all babies around the globe, according to the World Health Organization. In countries where infant mortality has been reduced to less than 50 per 1,000 births, birth defects are emerging as the most common cause of neonatal deaths. These deaths account for 30 to 50 percent of perinatal mortality and 20 to 30 percent of infant mortality, according to figures released at the second International Conference on Birth Defects and Disabilities in the Developing World held in September 2005. Reducing mortality by two-thirds among children under five has been set by the United Nations as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals, all 191 U.N. member nations have agreed to meet this goal by 2015.