28 December 2002. In an article published in Toxicological Sciences, Sherry Rier and Warren Foster review a series of studies that strongly link endometriosis to dioxin, through the contaminant's ability to interfere with hormone and immune system action. They also summarize data on human exposures, showing that people are exposed to dioxins at levels significantly above those inducing endometriosis in monkeys. While existing studies stop short of proving causation with certainty, what they reveal suggests it should no surprise that endometriosis forces more than 100,000 hysterectomies each year in the US alone, and has annual health care costs in excess of $1 billion. More...

27 December 2002. In a remarkable investigative article for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, reporter Andrew Schneider reveals an outrageous intervention by John Graham (White House Office of Management and Budget) to prevent EPA from warning home owners around the country about significant health risks arising from the use of asbestos-contaminated insulation. The contamination is traceable to a vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana, owned and operated by W.R. Grace.

"In that town near the Canadian border, ore from a vermiculite mine was contaminated with an extremely lethal asbestos fiber called tremolite that has killed or sickened thousands of miners and their families. Ore from the Libby mine was shipped across the nation and around the world, ending up in insulation called Zonolite that was used in millions of homes, businesses and schools across America." The EPA was prepared to issue a warning in April 2002, until Graham intervened. His nomination to head that office had been challenged by health and environment groups because of his past association with an industry-tainted research center.

27 December 2002. In his second major story on perchlorate in the Wall Street Journal in December, reporter Peter Waldman explores the disruptive impacts that perchlorate contamination is having on drinking water supplies. "Several of the nation's fastest-growing areas -- including Las Vegas, Texas and Southern California -- could face debilitating water shortages because of groundwater contamination by perchlorate, the main ingredient of solid rocket fuel." ... "Dozens of perchlorate-tainted wells have been shuttered nationwide, casting a pall on growth plans in several parched areas." According to Waldman, the chief concern about perchlorate arises from the fact it is an endocrine disrupter. More... (see below for first story)

26 December 2002. Research in Sweden reveals a link between organochlorine levels in a mother's blood and the risk that her son will develop testicular cancer, decades after birth. The son's own contamination levels, measured at the time of cancer diagnosis, provide few insights into risk. What matters is what the developing fetus experienced in the womb. These data are consistent with the proposal that testicular cancer in adulthood results from errors in fetal testicular development caused by hormone disruption. More...

16 December 2002. In a front page story in the Wall Street Journal, staff reporter Peter Waldman explores a controversy involving widespread drinking water contamination by perchlorate resulting from its use as a rocket fuel. The debate is about the possible possible health consequences of the toxin that could result from perchlorate's ability to disrupt thyroid function. At issue is whether low levels of perchlorate, present in the drinking water of millions of Americans, heighten risk to disorders like thyroid cancers and neurodevelopmental problems such as autism. Relying on old data, the Pentagon claims perchlorate is dangerous only at very high levels. In contrast, EPA is focused on perchlorate's low level effects. A sidebar in the WSJ describes perchlorate as "one of a newly recognized group of toxins called endocrine disrupters." More...

12 December 2002. A study of men living in the Boston area suggests that adult exposure to phthalates can damage the DNA of human sperm. The damage was detected at phthalate exposure levels common within the American public. It is unknown whether the amount of DNA damage involved would lead to infertility or genetic problems in offspring. More...

10 December 2002. San Francisco Medicine, a publication of the San Francisco Medical Society, has published a series of essays by scientists associated with CHE. In the lead essay, Philip Lee and Steve Helig introduce the series: "Human health is now also undeniably an environmental issue. Scientific evidence increasingly indicates linkages between chemical pollution and many important human diseases. While no one argues that chemicals are the only reason for the increase in these diseases, some very solid science is warning us that some of the tens of thousands of chemicals registered for use in the past 50 years might be a factor."

7 December 2002. In a detailed essay adapted for CHE from an article in the 2002 book, Life Support: The Environment and Human Health, Ted Schettler, Katherine Barrett, Carolyn Raffensperger examine the precautionary principle and its value for protecting public health and the environment: what it is, why it is necessary, and how to apply it. "A precautionary approach asks how much harm can be avoided rather than asking how much is acceptable. The precautionary principle acknowledges that the world is comprised of complex, interrelated systems, vulnerable to harm from human activities, and resistant to full understanding. Precaution gives priority to protection of these vulnerable systems." More...

18 November 2002. Measurements of maternal and fetal samples from Japan confirm that bisphenol A enters the human womb and reaches the fetus at concentration levels known to induce changes in experiments with animals. The highest concentrations were observed in the first trimester of pregnancy. More...

16 November 2002. According to a new study described in the Baltimore Sun and just released in the American Journal of Human Genetics, babies conceived using in vitro fertilization techniques (IVF) are more likely to be born with a rare genetic disorder called Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome. Children with this disorder at at higher risk for certain cancers before puberty and also tend to be born large with large tongues and poor closures of the abdominal wall, causing hernias that must be repaired surgically. Several researchers interviewed by the Sun cautioned that while the data are intriguing more research needs to be done before accepting the results.

16 November 2002. Good news. Two new studies confirm two simple dietary changes that can significantly reduce exposures to environmental contaminants. While these changes already made common sense, these studies provide data supporting their wisdom. One documents decreases in blood levels of a potent neurotoxin, methylmercury, following reductions in the amount of large predatory fish like tuna and swordfish in the diet. The other shows that organic produce really works: children eating organic are less likely to be consuming inappropriate levels of organophosphate pesticides.

15 November 2002. In an important review published in Environmental Health Perspectives, two EPA toxicologists summarize the literature examining links between developmental exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds and subsequent cancer risk. Two important patterns emerge: First, experiments with animals show clearly and repeatedly that early exposure to EDCs, particularly in the womb, can both cause cancer later in life as well as prolong periods of sensitivity to other carcinogens. Second, almost no studies of EDCs and people have incorporated these insights into study design. The toxicologists end their review with a question: In studies of people that almost invariably measure contamination after cancer is diagnosed, "could we be trying to correlate exposure and effect at the wrong time?" More...

12 November 2002. On the heels of a new scientific study reporting low sperm counts in Missouri men, reporter Jennifer Huget writes in the Washington Post about a new, over-the-counter kit to test whether a man's sperm count is high enough to be considered fertile. If the test shows a positive result, it indicates that the man's sperm is at least 20 million sperm per milliliter, a threshold for fertility criteria established by the World Health Organization. Roughly 40 percent of fertility problems that challenge more than 2 million couples in the US are due to reductions in male fertility. This kit will help identify men who may have difficulty conceiving. Factors other than low sperm count also undermine male fertility; this test will not provide information on these other problems.

11 November 2002. In the most sophisticated study of geographic variation in US sperm count yet conducted, scientists from four different geographic regions across America report they find important differences in sperm density and motility. Men in Missouri have the lowest sperm count compared to New York, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. The cause of these differences are not yet known. The scientists conducting the study hypothesize it may be related to the intensity of pesticide use in industrial agriculture in Missouri compared to the other, more urban areas. More...

10 November 2002. In the Sunday magazine, the New York Times carries a story about a vaccination scientist who took on his scientific colleagues by acknowledging that the use of a mercury-containing preservative in vaccines might increase the risk of neurological damage in children, including autism.

7 November 2002. The Los Angeles Times describes a large study (see above), conducted in Denmark and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, finding no association between measles-mumps-rubella vaccination and the risk of autism. MMR vaccination has been linked inconconsistently to autism by earlier, smaller studies. Danish health registries are far more complete than those kept by the United States, either federally or at the state level, and this allows more comprehensive analyses of health risks than can be conducted in the US. This work included data on 537,303 children, all Danish children born between January 1991 and December 1998. Of them, 440,655 had received an MMR vaccine and 96,648 had not. A total of 316 had been diagnosed with autistic disorder, and another 422 with related disorders. This rate is much lower than would have been expected in the US, particularly in California.

5 November 2002. In a detailed article in USA Today, reporter Anita Manning examines a new study of the health consequences of eating mercury-contaminated fish. The report, by Dr. Jane Hightower, a physician from the San Francisco area, examines health effects including hair loss, fatigue, depression, difficulty concentrating and headaches. The report concludes that anyone who consumes a lot of fish, especially large steak fish such as swordfish and shark, could be at risk. The article in USA Today also summarizes government recommendations for tuna consumption. The low limits may surprise may parents whose children eat canned tuna regularly.

The same research was also covered by San Francisco Chronicle environmental reporter Jane Kay. Her story focused on the reversibility of mercury levels in the patients studied by Hightower, who commented: "We found that if people eat fish, the mercury goes up. They stop eating the fish, the mercury goes down. It's that simple." Kay cites "Tiburon resident Susie Piallat, a longtime patient of Hightower's, [who] had been complaining for years of a flu-like feeling that she couldn't shake. When tested, her mercury level was 76 parts per billion -- more than 15 times the federal safety number..."It took almost a year for my level to drop. Now I feel so much better," said Piallat." [Note: Reversibility of fetal and early childhood effects is another matter and much less likely.]

4 November 2002. Research in New York City involving African American and Dominican women living in Dominican Heights, Central Harlem and South Bronx reveals that higher levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are associated with adverse birth outcomes, including reduced head circumference and lower body weight. The study also reported adverse effects from exposure to a pesticide, chlorpyrifos. More...

2 November 2002. A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reveals that biases built into standard analyses of cancer incidence data were obscuring the fact that rates of breast, prostate and several other cancers continue to increase in the United States. The old methods had falsely indicated that these and other cancer rates were either flat or decreasing. More...

1 November 2002. On 20 October 2002, in the Mobile Register, reporter Ben Raines describes the medical diagnoses carried out by a well-known physician in the San Francisco area, linking mercury exposure to a range of ailments. "A surgeon had tremors so bad she was afraid she'd have to give up operating. A geophysicist said he couldn't think anymore and was unable to do even simple subtraction. A mother, father and child living on a ranch in the rolling hills of wine country were losing their hair. ...Now, in a diagnosis rattling experts in San Francisco's medical community and beyond, Hightower has determined that all of those patients were suffering from mercury poisoning, and the mercury came from the fancy fish they ate."

29 October 2002. New Scientist describes research at Italy's National Research Council implicating cellphone microwave radiation in promoting leukemia. "Paradoxically, the study suggests that the radiation makes tumours grow more aggressively by initially killing off cancer cells." Work in this field remains highly controversial, although this research, if verified would add to evidence that cellphone radiation has the potential for human effects. Importantly, the focus of this research is not via cell damage by heating, the initial focus of concern, but rather on gene activation, first of genes that direct cell death (a normal part of the life stages of cells, called apoptosis), and then by turning on additional genes that promote tumor growth.

Evidence has been mounting that cellphone radiation is too weak to cause cell damage, leading to skepticism about cellphone health impacts. This alternative mechanism opens a new set of issues to explore, which may operate at exposure levels far beneath those necessary to cause damage. Confirmation of the work is essential. New Scientist quotes Colin Blakemore, a physiologist at the University of Oxford and a member of the British National Radiological Protection Board's advisory group on non-ionising radiation: "It's a very confused field."

26 October 2002. Do food additives cause tantrums? A report filed by the BBC Health News desk summarizes research that indicates food additives including common food colorings are associated with short term behavioral disorders in children. The results are controversial. More...

24 October 2002. The Associated Press and Reuters both report on a special joint hearing of the health committees of the California State Senate and Assembly about breast cancer. Dr. Ana Soto, a specialist in breast cancer at Tufts Medical School, told the committees that "Breast cancer rates in the United States have increased from one in 22 in the 1940s to one in eight today, and the factors that are known to increase the risk of breast cancer -- reproductive history, genetics, exercise and alcohol use -- account for less than half of all cases. She added "it is high time to seriously consider environmental chemicals as the most likely cause of this sudden increase in risk." Dr. Gina Solomon, a lead member of CHE's science committee and a senior scientist at the National Resources Defense Council, also testified. Dr. Solomon suggested that "drawing more links between environmental toxins and breast cancer could help to broaden understanding of who develops the disease and why."

Read Dr. Solomon's summary of what is known about the causes of breast cancer.

23 October 2002. Katherine Ellison writes in the Washington Post about an epidemiological puzzle emerging from Marin County, California, where non-Hispanic white women "have received a diagnosis of breast cancer nearly 40% higher than the national norm." According to Kenneth Olden, the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, "rates are higher here than anywhere else." Yet no explanation offered to date appears sufficient to explain the apparent epidemic. Olden, according to the article, consigns it to "demographics." One community activist, Fern Orenstein, responds "It's easy for them to say "demographcis," but--hello? There hasn't been enough research into what's in our air and in our soil and in the products we use."

20 and 22 October 2002. Both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times offer editorial opinions about the report to the California State Legislature which concludes that starkly increasing trends in autism rates among California's children are real, not artifactual. According to the New York Times, "California's self-examination has underscored the surprising lack of information about the prevalence of this relatively rare brain disorder elsewhere in the nation...nobody knows for sure what the nationwide trends are." The LA Times chimes in: "Washington's neglect of chronic-disease monitoring may have been a tragic mistake." In the meantime, comments the NY Times, "it could take years to unravel the widening mystery of autism." More on the study...

18 October 2002. Research conducted for the California State Legislature confirms the reality of a drastic increase in the rate of autism in California's children. Skeptics had sought to attribute the rise to changes in diagnosis and other artifacts. The study was unable, however, to explain why the increase has occurred. More...

16 October 2002. A ten-year study of the brain structure reports that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have brains significantly smaller than normal. The size differences are apparent in early childhood, at the earliest ages examined in the study. The authors conclude that ADHD is a biologically-based disorder with clear structural differences, and that the events initiating ADHD are likely to occur in the womb. More...

14 October 2002. Russian male pesticide workers exposed to dioxin and dioxin-like compounds father fewer boys than would be expected on the basis of world-wide and regional sex ratios. Normally slightly more boys are born than girls, with a resulting sex ratio (# boys divided by # of total births) averaging 0.51. In Ufa, a town just west of the Urals where pesticides have been produced since the 1940s, the sex ratio of children born to exposed fathers was 0.38, and that of a highly exposed subgroup was 0.23. More...

6 October 2002. A study by a distinguished group of experts on the effects of diethylstilbestrol, including Arthur Herbst, whose research first revealed DES's human toll, reports that exposure to DES in the womb elevates breast cancer risk beginning in a woman's fifth decade of life. The sample size remains small, because DES use was most prevalent in the '50s and '60s and therefore exposed "DES daughters" are only now reaching the age when breast cancer incidence rises substantially. Nevertheless, this new study clearly indicates that DES daughters over 40-yrs old are at greater risk to breast cancer than unexposed women of comparable age. More...

4 October 2002. New results from scientific studies of people exposed to dioxin during the 1976 chemical plant explosion in Seveso, Italy, reveal that immune system suppression by dioxin continues on at least 2 decades following initial exposure. Higher levels of dioxin correlate strongly with lower levels of a key immune system defense component, immunoglobulin G. More...

26 September 2002. In research sponsored by the Endometriosis Association and the US National Institute of Health, scientists report that women with endometriosis are far more likely to suffer from other endocrine and immune system disorders. Infertility is high compared to women in the general US public, and the incidence of lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, hypothyroidism and several other diseases is greatly elevated. This research may assist in treatment of these diseases and also help shed light on their causes. More...

17 September 2002. Research conducted at the University of Wisconsin reveals that a commercial mixture of lawn chemical herbicides including 2,4-D causes fetal loss in mice. A story about this research in the LA Times reports that the scientists who conducted the study obtained the herbicides by simply going to a local hardware store and buying a common brand.

Tests are usually conducted on pure components of such brands, instead of the actual mixtures sold. Tests with the pure components had indicated exposure at levels used in these experiments should not have caused effects. In fact, the lowest level used in the experiments, which caused significant fetal loss, was one-seventh the level allowed by EPA in drinking water.

These results indicate that mixtures must become a focus of regulatory testing for toxicology, and that current standards are not adequate. More...

8 August 2002. A study of breast cancer on Long Island, New York, finds no association between the risk of breast cancer and organochlorine contamination measured around the time of cancer diagnosis. While cited by some as confirmation that organochlorines are not involved in the cause of breast cancer, in fact this study justifies no such conclusion. Three flaws limit its implications: measurement of exposure at diagnosis instead of during the time of breast cancer initiation, consideration of only a limited set of organochlorines; and statistical procedures that did not incorporate mixtures. More...