Wednesday, October 10, 2012
The Drive for a safer Chemicals Policy in the United States
Posted on 10:28 PM by Unknown
The Drive for a safer Chemicals Policy in the United States
http://www.chemicalspolicy.org/downloads/Belliveau.pdf
"This article analyzes the history, policies and politics of the modern era of safer chemical policy reform in the United States. In the last decade, state laws have modeled a chemical policy framework to phase out unnecessary dangerous chemicals in favor of safer alternatives. These state drivers, along with market campaigns to reduce downstream business use of hazardous chemicals, have weakened the chemical industry's resistance to fixing the broken federal chemical safety system. The obsolete Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) has failed to protect public health and the environment and has stifled innovation toward greener chemistry. Health advocates with a progressive policy vision tempered by legislative pragmatism have launched a TSCA reform campaign to challenge chemical industry power in a weak Congress. The opportunity and limits to winning meaningful TSCA reform are characterized and marked as a critical milestone on the path to a truly comprehensive safer chemical policy for the United States."
http://www.chemicalspolicy.org/downloads/Belliveau.pdf
"This article analyzes the history, policies and politics of the modern era of safer chemical policy reform in the United States. In the last decade, state laws have modeled a chemical policy framework to phase out unnecessary dangerous chemicals in favor of safer alternatives. These state drivers, along with market campaigns to reduce downstream business use of hazardous chemicals, have weakened the chemical industry's resistance to fixing the broken federal chemical safety system. The obsolete Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) has failed to protect public health and the environment and has stifled innovation toward greener chemistry. Health advocates with a progressive policy vision tempered by legislative pragmatism have launched a TSCA reform campaign to challenge chemical industry power in a weak Congress. The opportunity and limits to winning meaningful TSCA reform are characterized and marked as a critical milestone on the path to a truly comprehensive safer chemical policy for the United States."
The Air Quality Health Index and Asthma Morbidity: A Population-Based Study
Posted on 10:24 PM by Unknown
The Air Quality Health Index and Asthma Morbidity: A Population-Based Study
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/2012/10/the-air-quality-health-index-and-asthma-morbidity-a-population-based-study/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-air-quality-health-index-and-asthma-morbidity-a-population-based-study
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/2012/10/the-air-quality-health-index-and-asthma-morbidity-a-population-based-study/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-air-quality-health-index-and-asthma-morbidity-a-population-based-study
Citation: Teresa To, Shen S, Atenafu EG, Guan J, McLimont S, Stocks B, Licskai C. The Air Quality Health Index and Asthma Morbidity: A Population-Based Study. Environ Health Perspect (): .doi:10.1289/ehp.1104816
Received: December 4, 2011; Accepted: October 10, 2012; Published: October 10, 2012
Received: December 4, 2011; Accepted: October 10, 2012; Published: October 10, 2012
Abstract
Background: Exposure to air pollution has been linked to the exacerbation of respiratory diseases. The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), developed in Canada, is a new health risk scale for reporting air quality and advising risk reduction actions.
Objective: We used the AQHI to estimate the impact of air quality on asthma morbidity adjusting for potential confounders.
Methods: Daily air pollutant measures were obtained from 14 regional monitoring stations in Ontario. Daily counts of asthma-attributed hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, and outpatient visits were obtained from a provincial registry of 1.5 million individuals with asthma. Poisson regression was used to estimate health services rate ratios (RR) as a measure of association between the AQHI or individual pollutants and health services use. We adjusted for age, sex, season, year, and region of residence.
Methods: Daily air pollutant measures were obtained from 14 regional monitoring stations in Ontario. Daily counts of asthma-attributed hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, and outpatient visits were obtained from a provincial registry of 1.5 million individuals with asthma. Poisson regression was used to estimate health services rate ratios (RR) as a measure of association between the AQHI or individual pollutants and health services use. We adjusted for age, sex, season, year, and region of residence.
Results: The AQHI was significantly associated with increased use of asthma health services on the same day and on the two following days, depending on the specific outcome assessed. A unit increase in the AQHI was associated with a 5.6% increase in asthma outpatient visits (RR=1.056; 95% CI: 1.053, 1.058) and a 2.1% increase in the rate of hospitalization (RR=1.021; 95% CI: 1.014, 1.028) on the same day, and with a 1.3% increase in the rate of ED visits (RR=1.013; 95% CI: 1.010, 1.017) after a 2-day lag.
Conclusions: The AQHI was significantly associated with the use of asthma related health services. Timely AQHI health risk advisories with integrated risk reduction messages may reduce morbidity associated with air pollution in individuals with asthma.
Altering the Primal Environment: Health Effects Associated with Assisted Reproductive Technologies
Posted on 10:20 PM by Unknown
Altering the Primal Environment: Health Effects Associated with Assisted Reproductive Technologies
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/2012/10/altering-the-primal-environment-health-effects-associated-with-assisted-reproductive-technologies/
"When Darine El-Chaar began her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Ottawa five years ago, she grew curious about the potential health repercussions of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), the catchall term for procedures used to help couples artificially conceive a child. ART involves surgically removing eggs from a woman's ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the womb.1 Women undergoing ART take "fertility drugs" such as clomiphene citrate and gonadotropins to stimulate the production of many eggs rather than the single egg that would normally grow during their monthly menstrual cycle.2"
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/2012/10/altering-the-primal-environment-health-effects-associated-with-assisted-reproductive-technologies/
"When Darine El-Chaar began her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Ottawa five years ago, she grew curious about the potential health repercussions of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), the catchall term for procedures used to help couples artificially conceive a child. ART involves surgically removing eggs from a woman's ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the womb.1 Women undergoing ART take "fertility drugs" such as clomiphene citrate and gonadotropins to stimulate the production of many eggs rather than the single egg that would normally grow during their monthly menstrual cycle.2"
BPA Exposure Impacts Pregnant Women's Thyroids, Study Suggests
Posted on 10:13 PM by Unknown
BPA Exposure Impacts Pregnant Women's Thyroids, Study Suggests
"Widely used chemical linked to lower levels of hormone in newborn boys, but not girls"
Pesticides blamed by report for illnesses
Posted on 10:12 PM by Unknown
Pesticides blamed by report for illnesses
http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/Report-links-pesticides-and-child-illness-3933168.php
"Pesticides pervade the environment, from the air we breathe to the food we eat, and they are making children sicker than they were a generation ago, a new report warns."
http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/Report-links-pesticides-and-child-illness-3933168.php
"Pesticides pervade the environment, from the air we breathe to the food we eat, and they are making children sicker than they were a generation ago, a new report warns."
Mercury in Fish Associated with ADHD
Posted on 10:10 PM by Unknown
Mercury in Fish Associated with ADHD
"Prenatal exposure to mercury through maternal fish consumption was associated with attention-deficit and hyperactivity behaviors in children, yet fish in the mother's diet also appeared to be neuroprotective, a population-based study suggested."
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