Feature Channels: Environmental Health

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When writer Florence Williams was nursing her second child, she had her breast milk analyzed for toxins. What she found surprised her. Trace amounts of pesticides, dioxin, a jet-fuel ingredient and high-to-average levels of flame retardants were present in her breast milk. She reported on these findings in New York Times Magazine, which has since set off a wave of controversy. A Loyola University Health System lactation consultant puts these findings in perspective.

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Mayo Clinic’s Mount Everest expedition is exploring heart problems, sleep apnea, muscle wasting, calorie burning and other health issues faced by patients and high-altitude climbers alike.

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Occupational exposure to formaldehyde in Chinese men may be linked to reduced fertility, reports a paper in the May Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

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Antibiotics, hormonal supplements and other drugs can harm waterways when poured down the drain. A national prescription drug take-back day on April 28, will help keep waterways including the Great Lakes clean, a UB expert says.

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Researchers at McGill, Univ. of Minnesota call for combining best of both approaches.

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An editorial published today in the prestigious journal Environmental Health Perspectives calls for increased research to identify possible environmental causes of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders in America's children and presents a list of ten target chemicals including which are considered highly likely to contribute to these conditions.

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McMaster University researchers have now discovered that floc – “goo-like” substances that occur suspended in water and that host large communities of bacteria – also contain high levels of antibiotic resistance.

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Usually, we think of mold, feces, nitric oxide, hydrogen sulfide and rat poison as rank, toxic or both. But scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health are learning more about the helpful roles these substances can play.

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Breast cancer cells are more aggressive the longer they’re exposed to cadmium

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The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has published a position statement suggesting that two new trends in medicine – accountable care organizations (ACO) and the patient centered medical home (PCMH) – will benefit by integrating them more closely with workplace health programs.

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With more people spending a portion of their day inside – at home, school, or work – it is important to recognize that indoor environments contain hazards. To address these hazards and commemorate Earth Day, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has re-released its checklist Ten Environmental Hazards You Can Live Without.

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Childhood exposure to lead dust has been linked to lasting physical and behavioral effects, and now lead dust from vehicles using leaded gasoline has been linked to instances of aggravated assault two decades after exposure, according to researchers at Tulane University and Colorado State University.



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Chinese scientists employ risk assessment tools in urban planning efforts to analyze and quantify major industrial hazards in entire cities.

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A new technology developed by a research team led by RTI International will help scientists better understand the relationship between environmental contaminants in the air and potential adverse health effects.

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There have been many scientific studies looking at the levels of toxic mercury (Hg) in fish. After all, fish can end up directly on our plate. However, far fewer studies have examined Hg levels in aquatic insects. This is a significant oversight because aquatic insects are an important source of Hg to fish and even terrestrial wildlife.

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The study is the first to identify a neurobehavioral effect of BPA using a zebrafish model exposed to concentrations comparable to what humans might encounter in the environment.

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The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has joined other organizations to oppose S.J. Res. 37, a resolution by Sen. Inhofe (R-OK) that employs the Congressional Review Act to reverse the Environmental Protection Agency’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for Power Plants.

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Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs)—such as BPA—can show tangible effects on health endpoints at high dosage levels, yet those effects do not predict how EDCs will affect the endocrine system at low doses, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Endocrine Reviews.

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A University of Delaware researcher found small quantities of radioactive iodine in the Delaware River, a major waterway. It is providing a new way to track where and how substances travel to the ocean. The iodine, I-131, is waste from thyroid cancer treatments.

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New research has found that one type of pavement sealcoat, common on driveways and parking lots throughout the nation, has significant health and ecosystem implications.

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The American Cleaning Institute expressed disappointment with research which wrongly raises unfounded safety concerns over cleaning products and ignores enhanced efforts to communicate with consumers about product ingredients. ACI said that the paper – co-written by the interest group Silent Spring Institute in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives – distorts the established safety of ingredients used in cleaning products by inappropriately equating their detection with health issues.

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A study finds manganese in the air of residential neighborhoods at higher levels than in manufacturing industries.

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Fish exhibit abnormal behavior and lower levels of anxiety when exposed to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI), which are common drugs used to treat depression, among other disorders. The study, by Baylor University researchers and online in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, also found that human data for drug activity can be used to predict surface water concentrations of these substances that negatively impact fish behavior.

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Simple recommendations help reduce harmful exposures for women.

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A new report from Indiana University supplies a close examination of the European Union's reformed chemicals law REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals), focusing on potential lessons for the U.S.

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Sharks are among the most threatened of marine species worldwide due to unsustainable overfishing. They are primarily killed for their fins to fuel the growing demand for shark fin soup, which is an Asia delicacy. A new study by University of Miami (UM) scientists in the journal Marine Drugs has discovered high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins, a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases in humans including Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig Disease (ALS). The study suggests that consumption of shark fin soup and cartilage pills may pose a significant health risk for degenerative brain diseases.

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Dalhousie University researcher Heather Castleden has been invited by the Pictou Landing Native Women's Association (PLNWA) to engage in community-based participatory health research in the area in search of a definitive answer to the question; "Are we getting sick from Boat Harbour?"

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Dr. Lynn Goldman, Dean of the GW School of Public Health and Health Services is available to comment on the human health aspects of the newly announced UN initiative for climate change and clean air aimed at reducing short-lived climate pollutants

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Short-term exposure (for up to 7 days) to all major air pollutants, with the exception of ozone, is significantly associated with an increased risk of heart attack, according to a review and meta-analysis of previous studies appearing in the February 15 issue of JAMA.

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Air pollution, even at levels generally considered safe by federal regulations, increases the risk of stroke by 34 percent, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researchers have found.

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A large, prospective study led by a researcher at Rush University Medical Center indicates that chronic exposure to particulate air pollution may accelerate cognitive decline in older adults.

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Recent research reveals that despite major reductions, levels of ozone and particulates in the air continue to raise health concerns, especially in urban areas.

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A chemist is making and studying materials that decrease toxins in the air by either turning the lights on or off in a room.

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A team of resource economist researchers has revised the cost burden sharply upward for childhood asthma and for the first time include the number of cases attributable to air pollution, in a study released this week in the early online version of the European Respiratory Journal.

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Researchers from the Children’s Environmental Health Center at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York have found an association between exposure to the chemical group known as phthalates and obesity in young children – including increased body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.

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Melissa Perry, Sc.D., M.H.S., professor and chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the GW School of Public Health and Health Services and adjunct associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, led an observational study indicating that environmental exposure to organochlorine chemicals, including Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and p,p’-DDE (the main metabolite of the insecticide DDT) can affect male reproduction. The research was published online on Dec. 21, 2011 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.