Does Going to Work Make You Sick?
For an increasing number of workers, it's not the idea of going to work that makes them sick, it's the exposure to a variety of chemical, fungal, and other hazardous emissions in the indoor air of the workplace once they get there that makes them ill. The Focus article explores the exent of the problem with indoor air and what can be done to fix "sick" buildings.
Building Better Buildings
Sustainable design is a "new" idea that uses ancient strategies to create buildings that are healthy for the people who inhabit them, and for the environment from which the building materials come. The Focus article explores some of the strategies being used to integrate manmade structures and the environment, as well as some of the roadblocks to the continued use of sustainable design.
Report on Risk
The Spheres of Influence article examines the preliminary findings of a June draft report of the congressionally authorized Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management. Topics covered in the report include a new framework for managing risks, recommendations for the use of risk assessment in regulatory decision making, and an analysis of the costs and benefits of using data on risk.
Shedding New Light on an Old Problem
Despite advances in hygiene, more than half of the world's population is exposed to water contaminated with bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens that put humans', especially children's, health at risk. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a method, described in the Innovations article, that uses UV light to inactivate the DNA of water pathogens thereby rendering them harmless.
Prenatal Lead Exposure and Neurotoxicity
A review of research on lead toxicity by Goyer emphasizes the sensitivity of the developing fetal nervous system to lead and the positive impacts on health of reducing exposure by removing lead from gasoline, solder, and new and old paint products. Economic, nutritional, and sociological factors, which are exacerbated by poor prenatal care, enhance risk from lead exposure during fetal development.
Developmental Toxicity from Drinking Water Disinfectants
Reif et al. review epidemiological data on a potential association between disinfection by-products in drinking water and reproductive and developmental toxicity. The authors suggest that present findings are inconclusive and recommend a multidisciplinary approach to investigations of drinking water disinfectants using laboratory animal studies in conjunction with epidemiologic studies.
Mechanisms of Skin Tumorigenesis
Albert et al. investigated skin tumorigenesis in a transgenic mouse model (TG.AC) to determine whether contact sensitizers constitute a cancer hazard. Results of giving dinitrofluorobenzene, an electrophilic chemical that causes protein adduction, in conjunction with the synthetic corticosteroid fluocinolone acetonide, suggest that DNFB tumorigenesis was mainly due to cytotoxicity and not sensitization.
Lead Toxicity in Pregnant Women from Mexico
Farias et al. reported blood lead in some 300 women from public clinics and 200 women from private hospitals, with respective averages of 12.75 and 8.5 
g/dl. Principal determinants for blood lead were found to be lead-glazed ceramics in the former and season of the year in the latter. Consumption of dietary sources rich in calcium was associated with reduced blood lead levels, while administration of supplements to pregnant women with insufficient calcium intake was beneficial.
Environmental Sources of Lead in Lactating Women
A cross-sectional study of post-partum women in Mexico City by Hernandez-Avila et al., using K X-ray fluorescence to measure trabecular bone lead, indicated that higher blood lead concentrations were associated with food storage in lead-glazed ceramic ware, lower milk intake, and higher lead levels in patella bone. A 34 g/g increase in patella bone lead was associated with an increase in blood lead of 2.4 g/dl. These data suggested that patella bone contributes to blood lead during lactation and that ingestion of high calcium content foods may protect against lead accumulation in bone.
Screening Chemicals with Estrogenic Activity
An estrogen screening procedure for chemicals, described by Klotz et al., uses a yeast estrogen screen, a competitive binding assay using recombinant human estrogen receptors, and estrogen-responsive MCF-7 cells transiently transfected with a plasmid containing two estrogen response elements linked to the luciferase gene. The authors validated the tests using several xenobiotics and propose that this procedure could be used to rapidly identify environmental chemicals with estrogenic activity.
Xenoestrogens and Cryptorchidism
The potential relationship between estrogenically active pesticides and reproductive dysfunction characterized by failure of testicular descent during development was evaluated in a Spanish epidemiological study by Garcia-Rodriguez et al. Hospital records of surgical repair indicated that cryptorchidism may have been associated with the geographical distribution of pesticide usage.
Fish Model as Monitor for Sewage Pollution
A fish model was used by Folmar et al. as a biomarker for endocrine disrupting chemicals in sewer effluent released into Minnesota rivers. Male carp collected below a metropolitan sewage treatment plant exhibited elevated egg protein concentrations and decreased serum testosterone compared to concentrations from carp collected from a clean river site. This suggests that rivers in North America, like those in Great Britain, are contaminated with biologically active estrogenic chemicals.
Immunotoxicity of Mercury
MacDougal et al. report that low doses of mercuric chloride inititate autoimmune processes in fish by activating lymphocytes but that high doses inhibit lymphocyte growth and induce calcium influx and tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins. The authors hypothesize that, as in mammals, low doses of mercury may alter susceptibility to opportunistic environmental pathogens in natural fish populations .
Cigarette Smoke Toxicity from Vapor Phase
Penn et al. demonstrate in an avian model that, although cigarette smoke is the single greatest known environmental cause of cancer, there is little direct evidence that the tar fraction is the primary source of environmentally relevant cigarette smoke toxicants. Present data suggest that the major health threatening components of cigarette smoke are in the vapor phase.
Last Update: August 8, 1997
