2012

Departing words from EPA's Anastas: We must design 'less toxic and less polluting' chemicals and manufacturing

Paul Anastas, one of the fathers of green chemistry, is leaving his high-ranking post at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and returning to Yale. In a Q&A with Environmental Health News, Anastas said "it's time for me to go home." As science advisor and assistant administrator at EPA's Office of Research and Development, his goal was to shift EPA toward policies that would promote green chemistry, the movement to make chemicals and manufacturing systems more environmentally friendly. Anastas said there has been a "growing realization across EPA" that green chemistry "can meet environmental and economic goals simultaneously."

Children near West Virginia DuPont plant exposed to higher C8 concentrations than mothers.

Children living near DuPont’s plant in West Virginia are exposed to much higher concentrations of an industrial chemical than their mothers, according to a newly published study. Children under 5, who are exposed from drinking water as well as their mothers’ breast milk, had 44 percent more of the chemical in their blood than their mothers. The study was undertaken by a court-approved panel of three scientists who have spent seven years trying to determine whether the DuPont chemical is making people sick in the Mid-Ohio Valley. The chemical is perfluorooctanoate, or PFOA, also known as C8, and it is used in the manufacture of Teflon nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing, food packaging and other products.

Children near DuPont plant exposed to more PFOA than moms.

Children living near DuPont’s plant in West Virginia are exposed to much higher concentrations of an industrial chemical than their mothers, according to a newly published study. Children under 5, who are exposed from drinking water as well as their mothers’ breast milk, had 44 percent more of the perfluorinated chemical in their blood than their mothers. The study was undertaken by scientists who have spent seven years trying to determine whether the DuPont chemical is making people sick in the Mid-Ohio Valley. The discovery about moms and their children comes as scientists elsewhere linked the chemical, known as PFOA, and related chemicals to reduced effectiveness of childhood vaccinations. The compounds are used to manufacture Teflon cookware, food packaging and other products.

The Great Escape: Gene-altered crops grow wild.

Throughout North Dakota, little yellow flowers dot thousands of miles of roadsides. These canola plants, found along most major trucking routes, look harmless. But they are fueling a controversy: They prove that large numbers of genetically modified plants have escaped from farm fields and are now growing wild. About 80 percent of canola growing along roadsides in North Dakota contains genes that have been modified to make the plants resistant to common weed-killers.

Caught with the packaging? Doping tests clouded by widespread use of plasticizer

In the race to catch drug cheats, sports officials are turning to more sophisticated tests. Since cheaters are rarely caught red-handed, scientists devised a plan to catch them with the packaging – inside their bodies - by looking for residues of a plasticizer. But the chemical is so ubiquitous that it has clouded the results of these blood doping tests in the professional cycling world. Some experts – and Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, who was found guilty of doping Monday – say that these phthalate residues are so widespread that there is doubt about how they got into an athlete's body. But others say that spikes of these chemicals are a red flag for doping.

Is cadmium the new lead? Link reported between the ubiquitous metal and kids with learning disabilities.

It’s a heavy metal. It’s linked to learning problems in school children. And every child is exposed. Sounds like lead? It’s cadmium. Signs are emerging that cadmium – a widespread contaminant that gets little attention from health experts and regulators – could be the new lead. Children with higher cadmium levels are three times more likely to have learning disabilities and participate in special education, according to new research. Absorbed from the soil, cadmium is found in certain foods, particularly potatoes, grains, sunflower seeds and leafy greens, as well as tobacco. It also is used in some inexpensive children’s jewelry, prompting new voluntary industry standards last fall. Harvard's Robert Wright said the links to learning disabilities and special education were found at commonplace levels previously thought to be benign. “One of the important points of the study is that we didn’t study a population of kids who had very high exposures. We studied a population representative of the U.S.," he said. "That we found any [effect] suggests this is occurring at relatively low levels."

Long-awaited dioxins report released; EPA says low doses risky but most people safe

After 21 years of wrangling over health threats, uncertain science and industry pressure, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday released its assessment of dioxins defining how toxic they are. Lauded by environmental activists and criticized by industry, the report concluded that there are potentially serious effects at ultra-low levels of exposure. Nevertheless, the EPA said that exposures have declined so much in the past two decades that most people are safe. "Today’s findings show that generally, over a person’s lifetime, current exposure to dioxins does not pose a significant health risk," EPA officials said. One scientist called that statement "very odd" because it discounts the threat to people who have higher exposures and those, such as babies, who are at higher risk of effects. Studies have linked dioxins to cancer, disrupted hormones, reproductive damage such as decreased fertility, neurological effects, immune system changes and skin disorders. Most people on Earth have traces in their bodies, and they are exposed mostly through fish, meat and other animal products.

Opinion: U.S. policy must move toward carcinogen-free workplaces

John Anderson, a refinery electrician from New Jersey who worked with asbestos, addressed the President's Cancer Panel about the need to strengthen cancer protection for workers. Then he handed the microphone to his wife, Bonnie, who looked gaunt and unsteady. She told the rest of their story – she was suffering from mesothelioma, and it was not because she ever worked with asbestos. She was the one who washed her husband’s dust-covered work clothes. Today, Bonnie Anderson is still battling her cancer, two years after the panel concluded in its report that reducing toxic exposures “should be the cornerstone of a new national cancer prevention strategy.” Had such a precautionary strategy been in place, the disease that has devastated this woman might have been avoided. We urge a new approach that moves us toward a carcinogen-free workplace and a cancer-free economy. It is unethical for a public health agency like NIOSH to sanction cancer risks to workers that are orders of magnitude greater than what is deemed acceptable for the general public. A new federal policy, if thoughtfully redesigned, would not only prevent cancer among workers, but also protect the health of families and communities.

Opinion: 'There are no safe doses for endocrine disruptors'

As a scientist, I am often asked what “proof” links hormone-altering chemicals to diseases and birth defects. One mother questions whether exposures during her pregnancy caused her child’s autism. Another asks whether chemicals in the foods she ate could have caused her son’s abnormal genitalia. The underlying question raised by these mothers is provocative: Do small amounts contribute to human health problems? My colleagues and I have concluded in a new report that there truly are no safe doses for hormone-altering chemicals. Academic, regulatory and industry scientists must work together to identify and replace such chemicals that are ubiquitous in everyday consumer products.

Low doses, big effects: Scientists seek 'fundamental changes' in testing, regulation of hormone-like chemicals

Small doses can have big health effects. That is a main finding of a new report, three years in the making, published Wednesday by a team of 12 scientists who study hormone-altering chemicals. Dozens of substances that can mimic or block hormones are found in the environment, the food supply and consumer products, including plastics, pesticides and cosmetics. One of the biggest controversies is whether the tiny doses that most people are exposed to are harmful. Researchers led by Tufts University’s Laura Vandenberg concluded after examining hundreds of studies that health effects “are remarkably common” when people or animals are exposed to low doses. "Fundamental changes in chemical testing are needed to protect human health," they wrote.

Fukushima's radioactivity found in California kelp; levels spiked, then disappeared.

Kelp off Southern California was contaminated with short-lived radioisotopes a month after Japan’s Fukushima accident, a sign that the spilled radiation reached the state's coastline, according to a new scientific study. Scientists tested giant kelp from the ocean off Orange County and other locations after the March, 2011 accident and detected radioactive iodine at peak concentrations 250-fold higher than levels found in West Coast kelp before the nuclear accident. “Basically we saw it in all the California kelp blades we sampled,” said biology professor Steven Manley of California State University, Long Beach. The radioactivity had no known effects on the giant kelp, or on fish and other marine life, and it was undetectable when the kelp was tested again a month later. Iodine 131 “has an eight-day half life so it’s pretty much all gone,” Manley said. “But this shows what happens half a world away does effect what happens here. I don’t think these levels are harmful but it’s better if we don’t have it at all.”

Burning irony: Flame retardants might create deadlier fires

In one of the deadliest nightclub fires in American history, 100 people died at a concert in Rhode Island nearly a decade ago. But the biggest killer wasn't the flames; it was lethal gases released from burning sound insulation and other plastics. In a fatal bit of irony, attempts to snuff fires like this catastrophic one could be making some fires even more deadly. New research suggests that chemicals – brominated and chlorinated flame retardants – that are added to upholstered furniture and other household items to stop the spread of flames are increasing emissions of two poisonous gases. In one experiment, nylon containing the flame retardant brominated polystyrene released six times more hydrogen cyanide when set afire than the same material containing a halogen-free flame retardant. Hydrogen cyanide, used in the Nazi gas chambers, is 35 times more deadly than carbon monoxide. During a fire, it can kill in as little as one minute.

Thousands of dolphins may have died in Peru's massive die-off; cause could remain mystery

When a retired fisherman called to report that about 1,500 dolphins had washed up dead on Peru’s northern coast, veterinarian Carlos Yaipén’s first reaction was, “That’s impossible.” But when Yaipén traveled up the coast last week, he counted 615 dead dolphins along a 135-kilometer stretch of coastline. Now, the death toll could be as high as 2,800, based on volunteers’ counts. Peru's massive dolphin die-off is among the largest ever reported worldwide. The strandings, which began in January, are a marine mystery that may never be unraveled. The causes could be acoustic impact from testing for oil or perhaps an unknown disease. In addition, stress or toxic contaminants can make marine mammals more vulnerable to pathogens such as viruses, said Peter Ross, a research scientist at Canada’s Institute of Ocean Sciences. In a mass die-off, “there might be a smoking gun, but often we find that it’s two or three or four factors,” said Ross.

EPA cancels $20-million green chemistry grant program, gives no explanation

In an announcement that stunned scientists, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cancelled grant applications for what was supposed to be a $20-million, four-year green chemistry program. The mysterious cancellation comes less than three weeks before the deadline for the proposals. The grants, which were supposed to fund four new centers, would have been a major new source of funding for green chemistry, a field that seeks to design environmentally friendly chemicals and processes that can replace toxic substances. The requests for proposals may be reissued, the EPA said. But the program's sudden halt and uncertain future -- and lack of explanation -- have left scientists disheartened. "My reaction is shock that it happened and total dismay that what appeared to be a novel program was cancelled without warning or explanation," said Eric Beckman, a chemical engineer at the University of Pittsburgh.