Healthy Children Project Monthly e-News

Feel free to let your friends, family and colleagues know about this valuable new resource. Instructions to subscribe or unsubscribe are at the end of this e-newsletter. MI Healthy Children's e-newsletter is part of a collaborative effort with the Learning Disabilities Association of America's Healthy Children Project and the Institute for Children's Environmental Health with support from the Beldon Fund. 

Adding Up to ADHD: Effects of Early Exposures
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/114-12/ss.html#addi
Many studies have documented health risks of childhood exposures to lead and tobacco smoke. Both exposures have been implicated in the development of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. A team of researchers now confirms links between both neurotoxicants and ADHD development.
 

Exposures to Environmental Toxicants and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in U.S. Children
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/9478/abstract.html
This study concluded that exposure to prenatal tobacco and environmental lead are risk factors for ADHD in U.S. children.
 

Exposure to Industrial Chemicals May be Linked to Children's Brain Disorders
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/07/health/webmd/main2161153.shtml
Exposure to 202 potentially hazardous industrial chemicals could be behind a "silent pandemic" of brain development disorders in millions of children worldwide, reports a new online article in the British journal Lancet. The researchers contend exposure to leaded gasoline could explain a significant reduction in average IQ scores for children born between 1960 and 1980 in industrialized countries.
 

Report: High Levels of Toxic Fire Retardants Contaminate American Homes
http://www.ewg.org/reports/inthedust/summary.php
In the first nationwide tests for brominated fire retardants in house dust, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found unexpectedly high levels of these neurotoxic chemicals in every home sampled.

Shopper's Guide: Pesticides in Produce
http://www.foodnews.org/
This guide features the 12 fruits and veggies with the most and least pesticides so you'll know which ones to buy organic, and which conventionally-grown ones are okay when organic isn't available.

What's Toxic In Toyland
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1565564,00.html
They line the nursery section children's toy stores like brightly colored candies: rubber duckies for bathtime, chewable rings for teething, soft-covered books for pawing and mouthing. Parents shopping for their babies can be forgiven if they assume that everything on those shelves is 100% child safe. So why did the city of San Francisco issue a ban last week on the sale of certain plastic toys aimed at children under 3?
 

Toxic Toys
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/19/TOXICTOYS.TMP
San Francisco prepares to ban certain chemicals in products for kids, but enforcement will be tough -- and toymakers question necessity
 

Thyroid Alert: Low Iodine and Perchlorate Effects in Women
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/114-12/ss.html#thyr
Perchlorate, an oxidizer in solid rocket fuel, is widely found in groundwater, drinking water, milk, vegetables, fruit, grain, and forage crops. Large doses of perchlorate have been shown to inhibit iodide uptake and reduce thyroid hormone production, which can contribute to metabolic problems in adults and abnormal neurodevelopment during gestation and infancy. Now, researchers at the CDC show that U.S. women with low iodine intake may be at risk for reduced thyroid function due to perchlorate exposure.
 

Pesticide: A Safer Bet?
http://www.startribune.com/535/story/848547.html
A sweeping federal review of pesticides is nearly complete, 10 years after it began. The debate over safety continues, but even critics agree that children are safer.

New Health Care Without Harm Asthma Report

http://www.noharm.org
Unbeknownst to many health care providers, the indoor hospital environment may be making people sick. A new report reveals that substances commonly found in hospitals – including chemicals used to clean floors and medical equipment, fumes from building materials, latex gloves, and other common substances – can trigger an asthma attack or cause the disease. The first-of-its-kind report presents rigorously researched information about asthma triggers and asthmagens found in health care settings, and shows how to reduce problematic exposures.
 

Asthma: An Epidemic No One Understands
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/health/28seco.html
When our first son developed asthma as a 3-year-old, my husband and I felt pretty much blindsided. We were only a little less shocked when the same thing happened to our second son, at the same age.
 

Researchers Find Method for Reducing Arsenic Levels
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/science/09cnd-rust.html
A common mineral similar to rust, fashioned into a powder of tiny crystals, could provide a simple, inexpensive method for removing hazardous levels of arsenic from drinking water, researchers at Rice University in Houston are reporting. That would help reduce the risk of cancer for tens of millions of impoverished villagers in China and southeast Asia, where high levels of arsenic occur naturally in many water supplies, the researchers said in telephone interviews.

Canadian Cities Petition U.S. to Curb Air Pollution
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2006/11/01/environmental-petition.html
Thirteen Canadian municipalities plan to file a petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that calls for reduced emissions from 150 coal-fired plants in seven U.S. Midwestern states. "The 150 coal-fired plants are polluters on a massive scale and are among the oldest and dirtiest in the United States." The seven states in which the plants are located are Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

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Tons of Mercury Could Hit Market; U.S. Agency Considers Selling Toxic Stockpile
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611270205nov27,1,802493.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
While the Bush administration promotes efforts to scrub mercury from the environment, one federal agency is considering selling a huge stockpile of the toxic metal on the world market. The Department of Energy acknowledged last week that it is mulling whether to unload more than 1,300 tons of mercury it collected over the years for processing materials used to make hydrogen bombs.
 

22 States Say EPA is Too Soft on Mercury
http://www.forbes.com/business/healthcare/feeds/ap/2006/11/17/ap3186847.html
Air quality regulators in at least 22 states have concluded that the Bush administration's approach to cutting mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants is too weak and are pursuing tougher measures of their own. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that accumulates in fish and poses the greatest risk of nerve and brain damage to pregnant women, women of childbearing age and young children. Emissions of mercury total about 48 tons a year, most of it in the form of air pollution that winds up in waterways. The 22 states listed as having tougher mercury-cutting plans than the federal government includes Michigan.

Whole-Body Lifetime Occupational Lead Exposure and Risk of Parkinson's Disease
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/9102/abstract.html
Several epidemiologic studies have suggested an association between Parkinson's disease (PD) and exposure to heavy metals using subjective exposure measurements. In this study, the group investigated the association between objective chronic occupational lead exposure and the risk of PD.

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Report: Environmental Pollutants and Disease in American Children: Estimates of Morbidity, Mortality and Costs for Lead Poisoning, Asthma, Cancer and Developmental Disabilities
http://www.childenvironment.org/reports/Environmental-PAPER.htm
The costs of pediatric environmental disease are high and contrast with the limited resources directed to research, tracking and prevention.

Study: Exposure to Hexachlorobenzene During Pregnancy Shows Decrease in Competent Social Behavior at Age 4 Years
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/9314/abstract.html
A large study in Spain of the impacts of prenatal exposure to the organochlorine, hexachlorobenzene, finds that children with higher levels of HCB are less competent socially and more at risk to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Measurements of contamination were obtained at birth and examined in relation to behaviors at the age of 4 years. Exposures were for people living in an area where HCB exposure was elevated because of proximity to an electrochemical factory.

Study: Impact of Prenatal Chlorpyrifos Exposure on Neurodevelopment in the First 3 Years of Life Among Inner-City Children
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/peds.2006-0338v1?papetoc
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos on 3-year neurodevelopment and behavior in a sample of inner-city minority children.
 

Autism Picture Still Incomplete: Are Vaccines to Blame?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20061122-14102200-bc-pedmed-autismresearch-1.xml
Going against the mainstream grain, some parents and physicians tie neurodevelopmental and certain other chronic health problems increasingly diagnosed in America's children to the mercury-based preservative thimerosal, once widely used in vaccines and still present in some booster and flu shots. Others are convinced potential harm also may lurk in other components of the ever-expanding childhood immunization schedule.

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Michigan's Executive Directive No. 2006-6
http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-36898-153806--,00.html
This directive, signed by Governor Granholm on October 17, 2006, promotes green chemistry for sustainable economic development and protection of public health in Michigan. See related article: http://www.ecocenter.org/releases/20061018_greenchem.shtml
 

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas: New Offerings Can Make This Holiday Eco-friendly
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-ml.green03dec03,0,3445814.story
A tall, just-cut evergreen, its branches festooned with countless twinkling lights, and underneath are piles and piles of brightly wrapped presents. Could there be a more perfect image of the holiday season?

Free Science Education Lesson Plans for Teachers
http://www.ehponline.org/science-ed/
The EHP Science Education Program comprises an EHP Student Edition of news articles published in EHP and environmental health science lessons based on selected articles. Lessons are aligned with National Science Education Standards in biology, chemistry, environmental science, geology, and physical science, and are targeted at students in grades 9-12. The EHP Student Edition and corresponding lessons (as well as individual news articles) can be downloaded for FREE from this website.
 

Mark Your Calendars: 2006 National Environmental Public Health Conference

Dates/Location: December 4-6, 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia
Description: The National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR), CDC, will host its seventh National Environmental Public Health Conference. The theme of the conference is “Advancing Environmental Public Health: Science, Practice, New Frontiers.”  The conference will bring together a cross-section of federal, state, tribal, and local, and international colleagues within the field of environmental public health and its allied professions.

Contact: For more information, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/conference/index.htm

Mark Your Calendars: CHE Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility
Dates/Location: January 28-30, 2007 in San Francisco, California
Description: Join fellow research, health care, community and advocacy leaders at the University of California, San Francisco’s new Mission Bay Conference Center for a pioneering national conference that will explore the critical relevance of environmental health science to reproductive and developmental health.
Contact: For more information visit http://www.ucsf.edu/coe/prhesummit.html.

Mark Your Calendars: 7th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment
Dates/Location: February 1-2, 2007 in Washington, DC
Description: The conference theme is "Integrating Environment and Human Health." Over 850 scientists, policymakers, businesspeople, and civil society representatives will explore the linkages between the environment and human health. The conference will address the many essential roles the environment plays on our well-being as well as the multi-dimensional relationships between human health and environmental components, which may have far-reaching consequences for society. Over 120 experts will speak in plenary sessions, symposia, and topical breakout sessions.
Contact: For more information, visit http://www.NCSEonline.org/2007conference/ or contact conference2007@ncseonline.org.

Mark Your Calendars: LDDI National Conference 2007 "Priming for Prevention: An Ecological Approach to Research, Education and Policy"

Dates/Location: May 10-11, 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia

Description: More information coming soon. Former US Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, among other distinguished speakers, will be presenting at this conference.

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The Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan is pleased to offer grants to 501(C) 3 non-profit organizations located in Michigan for educational programs/events/materials which will help inform key stakeholders of the existing and emerging science linking certain chemical exposures to learning, behavioral, and developmental disabilities. Priority will be given projects which target families and disability groups and/or promote action towards creating a healthier environment for all children. Grantees will be responsible for submitting a final project report, documentation of all expenditures, and copies of materials produced. Maximum award $400. Click here to download an application (PDF).

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Call toll free at 888-597-7809 or 517-485-8160
 

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For more information on The Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan's Healthy Children Project visit http://www.ldaofmichigan.org/healthychild.htm.

 
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For more information on the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative, coordinated by the Institute for Children’s Environmental Health visit http://www.iceh.org/LDDI.html. To join the the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI), please complete the form at http://www.iceh.org/LDDImembers.html.

 
For more information on The Beldon Fund visit http://www.beldon.org/.

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