Topics of Discussion
Herbal medicines and autoimmune diseases are two of today's most controversial environmental health issues. The NIEHS News (p. A590) describes the events and findings of recent conferences held to evaluate the research needs surrounding these issues, as well as a new program by the NIEHS to hold town meetings around the United States to give voice to environmental health concerns.
Scent-sitization
Throughout history, people have used fragrances for a variety of purposes, but some smell trouble with modern man's fascination with scent. The Focus (p. A594) examines the growing outcry that exposure to chemical fragrances can lead to adverse health effects.
Environmental Millenium
As the year 2000 approaches, the environmental health needs of the developed and developing worlds are changing. The Spheres of Influence (p. A600) looks at what health officials and policy makers around the world have to say about the progress that's been made, and what still needs to be done.
A Picture of Biofilms
Biofilms are complex colonies of billions of bacteria that clog both water pipes and medical devices and pool their resources to protect themselves against antimicrobial agents. The Innovations (p. A604) describes the results of recent studies on biofilms and the new ways scientists are finding to fight the tough microbes.
Chronic Beryllium Disease
A commentary by Middleton (p. 765) reviews chronic beryllium disease and describes methods that can be used to identify beryllium hypersensitivity. The author recommends testing for this possibility whenever granulomatous pulmonary disease is diagnosed and the etiology is undetermined.
PCBs Act Like Xenoglucocorticoids in Humans
Johansson et al. (p. 769) comment that PCB methyl sulfones are contaminants in mother's milk and that they can interact with the human glucocorticoid receptor. The authors suggest that xenobiotic glucocorticoids should be included in the category of endocrine disruptors, along with sex and thryoidogenic hormones.
TEFs for Humans and Wildlife
Van den Berg et al. (p. 775) review a WHO-sponsored meeting of expert scientists convened to derive consensus on toxic equivalency factors for PCDDs, PCDFs, and dioxinlike PCBs for human, fish, and wildlife risk assessment. Attempts to harmonize TEFs across the diverse taxonomic groups were not possible because of magnitude differences in responses. In spite of the complications, the experts concluded that the TEF concept remains the most feasible approach for risk assessment of halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons with dioxinlike properties.
Urogenital Defects in Farmers' Sons
Sloth Weidner et al. (p. 793) conducted an epidemiological study of male children of gardeners and farmers. In this study group, born 1983-1992 in Denmark, there were 6,177 cases of cryptorchidism, 1,345 cases of hypospadias, and 23,273 controls. The authors demonstrated increased risk for the conditions and suggested that there may be common environmental as well as separate genetic components in the etiologies of the male reproductive abnormalities.
Dioxins in Human Milk in Kazakstan
Hooper et al. (p. 797)measured organochlorine pesticides, PCBs, PCDDs, and PCDFs in breast milk samples taken from 92 Kazakstan donors in 1994. High levels (10-120 pg/g fat) of TCDD were found in breast milk samples from an agricultural region; a similar and distinctive PCDD/PCDF congener pattern was found in 15 breast milk samples in a 1996 study, which was confirmed by three laboratories.
Curcumin-Isoflavonoids Are Estrogen Inhibitors
The inhibitory action of curcumin and isoflavonoids on the growth of estrogen receptor-positive human breast tumor cells was studied by Verma et al. (p. 807). Data showed that a mixture of these estrogen inhibitors was most effective and that such a dietary strategy may serve to prevent the stimulated growth of breast tumors by environmental estrogens.
Ozone and Cancer Risk in California
A cohort of over 6,000 nonsmoking California adults was followed by Beeson et al. (p. 813) from 1977 to 1992 for newly diagnosed cancer cases. When indices of ozone, respirable airbone particles, and sulfur dioxide were evaluated, ambient ozone was the variable most strongly associated with risk of incident repiratory cancer in males.
Expression of Metallothionein in Human Kidney
The human MT-1 gene family is composed of seven active genes and six pseudogenes. Garrett et al. (p. 825) measured the expression of mRNA of the seven active human MT-1 genes in cultured human kidney proximal tubule cells following exposure to cadmium, zinc, copper, mercury, silver, and lead. The model suggested that new features of MT gene expression were acquired in humans due to duplication of the MT-1 gene.
Urinary Chromium from Household Dust
Urinary chromium and household dust chromium from residents and homes adjacent to known chromium waste sites in Jersey City, New Jersey, were measured by Stern et al. (p. 833) to estimate exposure in the population. The data suggest that exposure of young children to chromium in household dust accounts for much of the relationship between external and internal exposure.
Minnesota Water and Amphibian Malformation
Water samples from wetlands in Minnesota were evaluated by Burkhart et al. (p. 841) in the frog embryo teratogenesis assay by enumerating malformations in Xenopus laevis. Water from sites with high incidences of frog malformations induced mortality and terata in the test embryos, suggesting that unknown agents were responsible for the developmental abnormalities in the embryos and may also account for the teratogenic changes found recently in wild frogs.
Air Pollution and Mortality in Mexico
Borja-Aburto et al. (p. 849) examined the relationship between air pollution and mortality in Mexico City. A 10-µg/m3 increase in the level of PM2.5 was associated with a 1.4% increase in total mortality on the current day and 4 days after exposure, and with larger excesses of deaths among 65-year-olds. The results argue that fine particles may be playing a causal role in these responses.
Last Updated: November 24, 1998
