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. 

Ped Med: Keeping Toxins Away From Kids
http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20051031-021628-7862r
With potentially harmful pollutants infiltrating even a mother's womb, there appear to be few places where children can run and hide from threats to their health. At the University of Rochester, scientists are investigating the effects on an infant of a pregnant woman's exposure to chemicals, such as phthalates. The hormone-disrupting compounds used to soften plastics are found in many cosmetics, lotions, shampoos and baby products.
 

Bisphenol A (BPA) Has Been Linked to Damage in Developing Brain Tissue
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=14790
The chemical bisphenol A (BPA), widely used in products such as food cans, milk container linings, water pipes and even dental sealants, has now been found to disrupt important effects of estrogen in the developing brain.

Scientists Union Opposes EPA's Pesticide-test Plan
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.union08dec08,1,3857689.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true
The union representing scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency added its voice yesterday to critics who are protesting the agency's proposed rule for human experimentation in testing pesticides. The rule, which Congress ordered the agency to develop earlier this year, has been criticized by several members of Congress and some EPA personnel as allowing unethical experimentation and failing to protect children and pregnant women.

Lindane: A Pesticide’s Toxic Legacy
http://www.cec.org/trio/stories/index.cfm?ed=16&ID=178&varlan=english
Lindane production, once thriving in the United States and Europe, is now limited to China, India, Romania and possibly Russia. But its legacy still lingers on in the form of waste sites that threaten the environment and human health.
 

US Slow to React to Possible Toxic Compounds as Europeans are Setting the Pace for Reforms
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_3301909
Like many new Berkeley parents, Michele Hammond and Jeremiah Holland try to live as green a life as they can, making as informed a choice on synthetic chemicals as possible.

 
A Fight Over Easing Rules for Reporting Toxic Emissions

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1206/p01s02-sten.html
Gracie Lewis is on a crusade to save the Toxics Release Inventory, a trove of federal pollution data vital to helping her - and activists nationwide - win community battles for cleaner air and water.
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Two New Documents Released on Environmental Contaminants

http://www.healthandenvironment.org/working_groups/fertility

Announcing the release of The Vallombrosa Consensus Statement on Environmental Contaminants and Human Fertility Compromise and its companion lay background paper, Challenged Conceptions: Environmental Chemicals and Fertility. These two documents are available as downloadable PDF.

Fact Sheet on How Some Environmental Chemicals Can Disrupt the Thyroid Hormone

www.iceh.org/LDDI.html

The thyroid hormone is essential for the development of the brain and other organs in fetuses and children. Visit the website listed to download this fact sheet in PDF format.

Testing the Additivity Assumption: Chemical Mixtures and Thyroid Function
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2005/113-11/ss.html#test
The study also showed that the mixture exerted an effect on [thyroid hormone] even though concentrations of its constituent chemicals were at least an order of magnitude below [the doses at which they're known to have a toxic effect]. This indicates that considering individual chemicals in isolation may not predict their effects in mixtures because, even though chemicals may not be potent enough by themselves to cause effects, the cumulative effects of low doses of many chemicals may be enough to do so.

Pollutants Linked to Diabetes Risk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4478192.stm
Exposure to high levels of a class of environmental pollutants may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, research suggests.

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Toxic Dangers
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/2094204.shtml
Susan Thornfeldt knows firsthand what chemical exposure can do to a child. Thornfeldt and her husband unintentionally exposed their baby boy to lead dust when they renovated their 180-year-old home in Portland.
 

Doctors Debate Level at which Lead Becomes Harmful

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/dec05/375565.asp
No one disputes that lead is unsafe. The discussion is over where to set the bar: At what level do the harmful effects of lead poisoning begin?

How Safe is Tuna?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512130114dec13,1,2843261.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
The tuna industry has failed to adequately warn consumers about the risks of eating canned tuna, while federal regulators have been reluctant to include the fish in their mercury advisories--at times amid heavy lobbying by industry. The full article can be found at:
 

Toxic Risk on Your Plate
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-mercury-3-story,0,4192281.story
In one of the nation's most comprehensive studies of mercury in commercial fish, testing by the newspaper showed that a variety of popular seafood was so tainted that federal regulators could confiscate the fish for violating food safety rules. The testing also showed that mercury is more pervasive in fish than what the government has told the public, making it difficult for consumers to avoid the problem, no matter where they shop.

Kids' Jewelry Recalled For Lead Risk
http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/30/news/midcaps/recall_necklaces/?cnn=yes
About 6 million children's metal necklaces and zipper pulls are being recalled for safety reasons, the government said. Stravina Operating Co. of Chatsworth, Calif., is recalling the products, which pose a serious risk of lead poisoning to young children, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement.

State Laws May Hurt US Flu Efforts
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/33770/story.htm
State laws forbidding the use of a controversial vaccine preservative could threaten efforts to protect the population against an avian flu pandemic, health officials said Wednesday. They said more than 20 US states have laws pending that would limit or forbid the use of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative. Six states have enacted legislation that takes effect as soon as January 2006.

Fact Sheet: Lead Poisoning And The Brain - Cognitive Deficits And Mental Illness
http://www.lead.org.au/fs/fst28.html
Over the past few decades, research on the neurotoxic effects of lead has predominantly focused on cognitive deficits in children and infants. Evidence demonstrating various learning and behavioral problems resulting from lead exposure is voluminous, and links have been discovered between lead-poisoned children and deficits in a variety of functions.
 

Fact Sheet: Mercury Emission Trends and Sources
http://toxics.usgs.gov/pubs/FS-051-02/index.html
This is a very interesting fact sheet from USGS showing mercury emission/deposition trends and sources over approximately 200 years in the US.
 

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The Need for Healthier Schools
http://www.gothamgazette.com/article//20051212/202/1673
Most people think all asbestos was removed from New York City public schools years ago. So participants in a New York State Assembly hearing on healthy schools earlier this year were shocked to learn that last year construction workers who were replacing a gym floor at P.S. 219 in Brownsville, Brooklyn inadvertently released the flaky white substance throughout the building.

Hair Study Raises Health Questions
http://www.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=212161&c=87
The evidence is puzzling, with no answer forthcoming. But authorities say a pilot study of 32 children in Miami was quite revealing in that it raised some important questions. Hair samples from the children were analyzed via a mass spectrometer for four heavy metals: arsenic, manganese, cadmium and lead. In half of the hair samples, arsenic and manganese were detected at varying levels. The children were given a battery of problem-solving, visual, spatial, verbal and memory tests. The tests, which spanned 21/2 hours, showed one thing: Verbal learning was reduced in the children who had been exposed to both arsenic and manganese.

Schools in 45 States Can Be Built On Contaminated Land
http://www.childproofing.org/sitingadvisory.htm
On Tuesday, December 6, 2005, community groups fighting local schools being built on contaminated land in Alabama, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island will host coordinated press events to release a new report, Building Safe Schools, Invisible Threats, Visible Actions, with the national group, the Center for Health, Environment and Justice. Subsequent research of all 50 states revealed that only five states prohibit a school from being built on a site identified as hazardous.

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New The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) Website
http://www.HealthandEnvironment.org
CHE now has redesigned its website. Some of the highlights of features on the new site include: the new CHE Toxicants and Disease Database, a searchable database that summarizes links between chemical contaminants and approximately 180 human diseases or conditions; downloadable MP3 files of CHE National Partnership Calls, which to enable visitors to listen to past calls; a space for CHE Partners to announce events; a specialized feed of specialized environmental health news and science content; a "What's New" section featuring current CHE events and announcements, such as upcoming National Partnership Calls, new papers, etc.; and a new CHE Partner Directory, where you can search for Organizational and Individual Partners by state, by type of organization or alphabetically...and more.

Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/353/17/1848?query=prevarrow
"Recent studies of maternal diet during pregnancy indicate, for example, that the higher a mother's intake of fish, if the fish is low in mercury content, the higher the child's score will be on a test of cognition, and the higher the mother's calcium intake, the lower the child's blood-pressure level will be."

Saving the Environment, One Quarterly Earnings Report at a Time
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/22/business/22enviro.html
A few years ago, scientists at Cargill Inc. learned how to make rigid, transparent plastics from corn sugars. There was just one problem: they cost a lot more than the oil-based plastics they would replace. But that was before the price of oil shot up and companies came under pressure from consumers and investors to find economically sound ways to adopt "green" packaging and other environmentally friendly products and processes. This year, Wal-Mart, Wild Oats Market and many other retailers, as well as food suppliers like Del Monte and Newman's Own Organics, all embraced corn-based packaging for fresh produce.
 

Parents Ask How Air Pollution Affects Kids
http://www.columbian.com/news/APStories/AP12142005news65096.cfm
The people who breathe the nation's most unhealthy factory air worry about more than just asthma and other respiratory problems. They also want to know if their daily dose of toxic pollution is slowing the academic and physical development of their children.

New Website Launched: Health Care Without Harm
http://www.noharm.org/
A global coalition of 443 organizations in 52 countries working to protect health by reducing pollution in the health care industry. No Harm's website contains comprehensive tools and resources to help hospitals reduce pollution in their communities, create safer environments, and lessen exposures to hazardous chemicals and materials.

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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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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.

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

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