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PubMed1987

Neurotoxicology in regulation and risk assessment.

It is well recognized that a wide variety of chemicals exert toxic effects on the structure and function of the nervous system. Regulatory agencies, charged with the protection of human health from toxicant exposures, should therefore consider neurotoxicological evaluations in the risk assessment process. Over the last decade, several expert panels have recommended testing schemes for evaluating neurobehavioral toxicity. In general, these panels have recommended behavioral measures performed in tandem with neuropathological evaluations. In keeping with these recommendations, the Environmental Protection Agency has developed seven neurotoxicity test guidelines for use in evaluating new and existing chemicals. Further refinement and extension of these test guidelines will flow from a better understanding of the cellular/molecular events which underly neurotoxicant-induced functional alterations.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Applying environmental product design to biomedical products research.

The principal themes for the Biomedical Research and the Environment Conference Committee on Environmental Economics in Biomedical Research include the following: healthcare delivery companies and biomedical research organizations, both nonprofit and for-profit, need to improve their environmental performance; suppliers of healthcare products will be called upon to support this need; and improving the environmental profile of healthcare products begins in research and development (R&D). The committee report begins with requirements from regulatory authorities (e.g., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], the U.S. Food and Drug Administration), and the healthcare delivery sector). The 1998 American Hospital Association and EPA Memorandum of Understanding to reduce solid waste and mercury from healthcare facilities is emblematic of these requirements. The dominant message from the requirements discussion is to ensure that R&D organizations do not ignore customer, environmental, and regulatory requirements in the early stages of product development. Several representatives from healthcare products manufacturers presented their companies' approaches to meeting these requirements. They reported on efforts to ensure that their R&D processes are sensitive to the environmental consequences from manufacturing, distributing, using, and disposing of healthcare products. These reports describe representatives' awareness of requirements and the unique approaches their R&D organizations have taken to meet these requirements. All representatives reported that their R&D organizations have embraced environmental product design because it avoids the potential of returning products to R&D to improve the environmental profile. Additionally, several reports detailed cost savings, sustainability benefits, and improvements in environmental manufacturing or redesign, and increased customer satisfaction. Many companies in healthcare delivery are working to improve environmental performance. Fundamental to these efforts is the necessity of motivating suppliers to improve the environmental profile of new products used in the healthcare delivery sector.

Biomedical Technology↗
PubMed2003

Potential exposures to airborne and settled surface dust in residential areas of lower Manhattan following the collapse of the World Trade Center--New York City, November 4-December 11, 2001.

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which destroyed the World Trade Center (WTC) in lower Manhattan, the New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), with assistance from the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps Readiness Force and the WTC Environmental Assessment Working Group, assessed the composition of outdoor and indoor settled surface and airborne dust in residential areas around the WTC and in comparison areas. This report summarizes the results of the investigation, which found 1) similar levels of airborne total fibers in lower and in upper Manhattan, 2) greater percentage levels of synthetic vitreous fibers (SVF) and mineral components of concrete and building wallboard in settled dust of residential areas in lower Manhattan than in upper Manhattan, and 3) low levels of asbestos in some settled surface dust in lower Manhattan residential areas. Based in part on the results of this investigation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is cleaning and sampling residential areas as requested by lower Manhattan residents. In addition, to assess any short- or long-term health effects of smoke, dust, and airborne substances around the WTC site, DOHMH and ATSDR are developing a registry that will track the health of persons who were most highly exposed to these materials.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1992

Exposure to airborne asbestos in buildings.

The concentration of airborne asbestos in buildings and its implication for the health of building occupants is a major public health issue. A total of 2892 air samples from 315 public, commercial, residential, school, and university buildings has been analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. The buildings that were surveyed were the subject of litigation related to suits alleging the general building occupants were exposed to a potential health hazard as a result of exposure to the presence of asbestos containing materials (ACM). The average concentration of all asbestos structures was 0.02 structures/ml (s/ml) and the average concentration of asbestos greater than or equal to 5 microns long was 0.00013 fibers/ml (f/ml). The concentration of asbestos was higher in schools than in other buildings. In 48% of indoor samples and 75% of outdoor samples, no asbestos fibers were detected. The observed airborne concentration in 74% of the indoor samples and 96% of the outdoor samples is below the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act clearance level of 0.01 s/ml. Finally, using those fibers which could be seen optically, all indoor samples and all outdoor samples are below the Occupational Safety and Health Administration permissible exposure level of 0.1 f/ml for fibers greater than or equal to 5 microns in length. These results provide substantive verification of the findings of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency public building study which found very low ambient concentrations of asbestos fibers in buildings with ACM, irrespective of the condition of the material in the buildings.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed2005

Open-path tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy for acquisition of fugitive emission flux data.

Air pollutant emission from unconfined sources is an increasingly important environmental issue. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a ground-based optical remote-sensing method that enables direct measurement of fugitive emission flux from large area sources. Open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (OP-FTIR) has been the primary technique for acquisition of pollutant concentration data used in this emission measurement method. For a number of environmentally important compounds, such as ammonia and methane, open-path tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (OP-TDLAS) is shown to be a viable alternative to Fourier transform spectroscopy for pollutant concentration measurements. Near-IR diode laser spectroscopy systems offer significant operational and cost advantages over Fourier transform instruments enabling more efficient implementation of the measurement strategy. This article reviews the EPA's fugitive emission measurement method and describes its multipath tunable diode laser instrument. Validation testing of the system is discussed. OP-TDLAS versus OP-FTIR correlation testing results for ammonia (R2 = 0.980) and methane (R2 = 0.991) are reported. Two example applications of tunable diode laser-based fugitive emission measurements are presented.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1988

A retrospective look at Rn-induced lung cancer mortality from the viewpoint of a relative risk model.

The potential contribution to U.S. lung cancer deaths from 1930 to 1987 from indoor 222Rn exposures is investigated from the standpoint of a constant relative risk model. Based on this model, which assumes a Rn risk proportional to the baseline lung cancer risk from other causes, the rate of Rn-induced lung cancer mortality has been increasing sharply since 1930. However, the estimated proportion of lung cancer deaths attributable to Rn has remained fairly constant. Applying the range of coefficients the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employs in assessing the risk from indoor Rn, it is estimated that 8-25% of all current lung cancer deaths are "attributable to" past Rn exposures. The major sources of uncertainty in the estimates are discussed.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed2001

Essentials of environmental health. Enhancing your occupational health nursing practice (Part II).

1. In the United States, approximately 24 million people use water daily from unregulated water supplies. Agents of water pollution can be categorized as biological (e.g., Cryptosporidium parvum), chemical (e.g., industrial solvents), or radionuclide (e.g., radon). 2. More than 600 chemicals are registered with the Environmental Protection Agency as pesticides in the United States. Human exposure occurs through direct contact or dermal absorption, inhalation, and ingestion of food, water, and breast milk. It is estimated that 50% of all the pesticides ingested in a lifetime are ingested in the first 5 years of life. 3. Children are at particular risk for exposure to environmental toxicants like pesticides because of time spent crawling and playing on floors, lawns, and other potentially contaminated surface areas, and hand to mouth behaviors. At this time, toxicity data for many pesticides in common use are inadequate to determine potential for neurotoxicity and adverse effects on the developing immune and endocrine system. 4. To meet the challenge of environmental health issues, occupational and environmental health nurses have important opportunities to promote health in the workplace and the community through research, direct clinical services, advocacy, and education.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed2004

A reevaluation of the literature regarding the health assessment of diesel engine exhaust.

While the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified diesel exhaust (DE) as a"probable"carcinogen in 1989 based primarily on"sufficient"animal data, other investigators have since concluded that the lung tumors found in the rat studies were a result of particle overloading. Subsequent health risk assessments of DE have not used the rat cancer data. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in developing its 2002 Health Assessment Document (HAD) for DE, primarily considered the epidemiology studies of railroad workers and truck drivers to develop health risk assessments of DE. However, both sets of epidemiology studies have serious weaknesses that make them unsuitable for cancer risk assessment. Major shortcomings were the lack of contemporaneous measurements of exposures to DE, difficulties with exposure history reconstruction, and adequately accounting for other exposures such as gasoline exhaust and cigarette smoke. To compound these problems, there was not, and there is still not, a specific exposure marker for DE. Interestingly, in the underground mining industry, where diesel exposures are much higher than observed in railroad workers and truck drivers, there was no increase in lung cancer. These problems and concerns led the U.S. EPA to conclude that while DE was a"likely"carcinogen, a unit risk value or range of risk cannot be calculated from existing data and that the risk could be zero. In addition, the DE emissions have changed and continue to change with the implementation of new emission control technologies. The HAD recognized this fact and noted that further studies are needed to assess new diesel engine emissions. Recent chemical characterization studies on low-emitting diesel engines with catalyzed particulate filters have shown emissions rates for several chemicals of concern that are even lower than comparable compressed natural gas (CNG)-fueled engines. With lower emissions, better fire safety, and improved cost-effectiveness of new low-emitting diesels compared to CNG, current efforts to restrict use of low-emitting diesels seems misguided.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1988

Chemical scoring system for hazard and exposure identification.

To assist in the preliminary evaluation of compounds of toxicological and environmental interest to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a scoring system was devised as a collaborative effort between the EPA and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The scoring system combines objective guidelines with professional judgment to evaluate chemicals and consists of 11 separate scoring parameters, 6 of which pertain directly to toxicity, e.g., aquatic toxicity and oncogenicity. The remaining parameters are related to environmental fate and occupational, consumer, and environmental exposure. The scoring system was designed to rapidly score chemicals in a minimal amount of time with readily available information. It is used by the Office of Toxic Substances of the EPA as a tool to help set priorities in conjunction with other criteria. It is particularly useful in performing preliminary evaluations involving large chemical classes, such as petroleum distillates.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed2006

Measured partitioning coefficients for parent and alkyl polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in 114 historically contaminated sediments: part 1. K(OC) values.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) partitioning coefficients between sediment organic carbon and water (K(OC)) values were determined using 114 historically contaminated and background sediments collected from eight different rural and urban waterways in the northeastern United States. More than 2100 individual K(OC) values were measured in quadruplicate for PAHs ranging from two to six rings, along with the first reported K(OC) values for alkyl PAHs included in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. EPA) sediment narcosis model for the prediction of PAH toxicity to benthic organisms. Sediment PAH concentrations ranged from 0.2 to 8600 microg/g (U.S. EPA 16 parent PAHs), but no observable trends in K(OC) values with concentration were observed for any of the individual PAHs. Literature K(OC) values that are commonly used for environmental modeling are similar to the lowest measured values for a particular PAH, with actual measured values typically ranging up to two orders of magnitude higher for both background and contaminated sediments. For example, the median log K(OC) values we determined for naphthalene, pyrene, and benzo[a]pyrene were 4.3, 5.8, and 6.7, respectively, compared to typical literature K(OC) values for the same PAHs of 2.9, 4.8, and 5.8, respectively. Our results clearly demonstrate that the common practice of using PAH K(OC) values derived from spiked sediments and modeled values based on n-octanol-water coefficients can greatly overestimate the actual partitioning of PAHs into water from field sediments.

Carbon↗
PubMed2002

Development of a Monte Carlo sampling shell for the pesticide root zone model and its application by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Environmental Modeling Validation Task Force.

A user interface to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pesticide root zone model (PRZM) was constructed to allow Monte Carlo sampling of input parameter distributions. The interface was constructed employing the Visual Basic for Applications development environment, along with the functionality of the Crystal Ball Professional forecasting and risk analysis package. The tool has been utilized by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Environmental Model Validation Task Force to perform detailed statistical analyses of model input parameter uncertainty and the propagation of this uncertainty on the model outputs as well as comparisons of modeled and field-measured data.

Environment↗
PubMed1999

Health effects of passive smoking-10: Summary of effects of parental smoking on the respiratory health of children and implications for research.

BACKGROUND: Two recent reviews have assessed the effect of parental smoking on respiratory disease in children. METHODS: The results of the systematic quantitative review published as a series in Thorax are summarised and brought up to date by considering papers appearing on Embase or Medline up to June 1998. The findings are compared with those of the review published recently by the Californian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Areas requiring further research are identified. RESULTS: Overall there is a very consistent picture with odds ratios for respiratory illnesses and symptoms and middle ear disease of between 1.2 and 1.6 for either parent smoking, the odds usually being higher in pre-school than in school aged children. For sudden infant death syndrome the odds ratio for maternal smoking is about 2. Significant effects from paternal smoking suggest a role for postnatal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. Recent publications do not lead us to alter the conclusions of our earlier reviews. While essentially narrative rather than systematic and quantitative, the findings of the Californian EPA review are broadly similar. In addition they have reviewed studies of the effects of environmental tobacco smoke on children with cystic fibrosis and conclude from the limited evidence that there is a strong case for a relationship between parental smoking and admissions to hospital. They also review data from adults of the effects of acute exposure to environmental tobacco smoke under laboratory conditions which suggest acute effects on spirometric parameters rather than on bronchial hyperresponsiveness. It seems likely that such effects are also present in children. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial benefits to children would arise if parents stopped smoking after birth, even if the mother smoked during pregnancy. Policies need to be developed which reduce smoking amongst parents and protect infants and young children from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. The weight of evidence is such that new prevalence studies are no longer justified. What are needed are studies which allow comparison of the effects of critical periods of exposure to cigarette smoke, particularly in utero, early infancy, and later childhood. Where longitudinal studies are carried out they should be analysed to look at the way in which changes in exposure are related to changes in outcome. Better still would be studies demonstrating reversibility of adverse effects, especially in asthmatic subjects or children with cystic fibrosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Ethylene glycol ethers: an environmental risk assessment.

Ethylene glycol ethers and acetates are used as intermediates, solvents, and plasticizers. They primarily enter the environment from manufacturing effluents and emissions and during their use in commercial products. Therefore, an examination of their ultimate fate and toxicity, as well as their potential for exposure, was performed. Overall, these data show that ethylene glycol ethers and acetates are not persistent in the environment, are not bioaccumulative, are generally classified by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) procedures as "practically non-toxic" to aquatic organisms based on acute toxicity, and that conservatively calculated exposures are mostly below concentrations of concern for chronic risks to aquatic life.

Acetates↗
PubMed2005

Dietary exposure assessment of infants to bisphenol A from the use of polycarbonate baby milk bottles.

The residual bisphenol A (BPA) levels in 28 different brands of polycarbonate (PC) baby milk bottles available in the Singapore market were measured. With a detection limit of 3 mg/kg, BPA residues were detected in 19 out of the 28 PC baby milk bottles at levels between 4.01 and 141 mg/kg, with a mean of 28.1 +/- 31.4 mg/kg and a median of 17.2 mg/kg. The potential migration of BPA from each of the 28 PC milk bottles was also measured using food-simulating solvents and time conditions recommended by the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), but using temperatures more severe than actual use. The highest upper-bound mean BPA migration levels of 0.64 +/- 0.48 microg/in2 in 10% ethanol at 70 degrees C and 0.43 +/- 1.25 microg/in2 in corn oil at 100 degrees C were observed after incubating cut portions of the milk bottles for 240 h. With this migration data and using US FDA's procedure for estimation of dietary exposure, the worst-case dietary exposure assessment for the intake of BPA by infants between birth and three months of age was below the oral Reference Dose of 0.05 mg/kg bw/day established by the US Environmental Protection Agency. This study showed that the dietary exposure to BPA from actual uses of PC milk bottles is unlikely to pose a health risk in infants.

Benzhydryl Compounds↗
PubMed2006

Estimation of daily bisphenol a intake of Japanese individuals with emphasis on uncertainty and variability.

The purpose of this study was to comprehensively assess the exposure of Japanese individuals to bisphenol A (BPA) with emphasis on uncertainty and variability in available information. The uncertainty and variability in parameters were numerically analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation. The uncertainty in the functional relationship between sources and exposure was treated by comparing two approaches: one was to aggregate ingestion and inhalation through all possible exposure pathways and the other was to estimate the intake from urinary excretion by backward calculation. For individuals aged 6 months or above, food was the most significant source of intake. The alteration of the method used in inactivating the inside surface of drink cans slightly contributed to the decrease in daily intake. By the backward calculation approach based on urinary excretion, 95% confidence intervals for the daily intake for high-exposure populations were estimated to be 0.037-0.064 microg/kg/day for males and 0.043-0.075 microg/kg/day for females. Even conservatively estimated daily intakes were lower than the EU's temporary tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 10 microg/kg/day as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)'s reference dose (RfD) of 50 microg/kg/day. Thus, it is unlikely that humans, including infants and young children, are at unacceptable risk from possible BPA exposure.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Chemical mixtures: current risk assessment methodologies and future directions.

Some of the most challenging problems that toxicologists confront are determining how biological effects of components in a complex mixture may interact, determining how these interactions affect the overall toxicity of the mixture, and determining how to incorporate this information into risk assessments of chemical mixtures. There has been considerable effort in this area since the publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines for risk assessment of chemical mixtures in 1986. This paper reviews the terminology used to describe chemical interactions and the methodologies that have been developed for conducting risk assessments of chemical mixtures. Particular attention is directed towards an examination of the applicability and validity of the methods for the assessment of risk posed by exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of chemical mixtures. Limited, yet compelling, data are reviewed that suggest that for noncancer endpoints, adverse effects are unlikely to occur when the individual components in the mixture are present at levels well below their respective thresholds. Synergistic or antagonistic effects, not readily predicted from the mechanisms of action of the individual components, are possible when the mixture components are present at levels equal to or above their individual thresholds. Finally, synergistic carcinogenic effects have been observed in animal studies of mixtures, even at relatively low doses.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Advances in the determination of inorganic ions in potable waters by ion chromatography.

Ion chromatography (IC) is now a well-established methodology for the analysis of ionic species. The technique is applicable to the determination of a wide range of solutes in many sample types, although the determination of inorganic ions in potable waters continues to be the most widely used application of ion chromatography. Many standardization and regulatory bodies, such as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have approved methods of analysis based upon IC, most of which have been published within the last decade. Recent developments in the field of IC, such as the use of higher capacity columns, larger loop injections, more complex sample preparation and detection schemes, have been incorporated into these new approved methods. These advances allow the determination of environmentally significant contaminants, such as common inorganic anions, bromate, perchlorate and chromate, at trace levels in potable waters using ion chromatography.

Chromatography, Ion Exchange↗
PubMed2002

Apartment residents' and day care workers' exposures to tetrachloroethylene and deficits in visual contrast sensitivity.

Tetrachloroethylene (also called perchloroethylene, or perc), a volatile organic compound, has been the predominant solvent used by the dry-cleaning industry for many years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified perc as a hazardous air pollutant because of its potential adverse impact on human health. Several occupational studies have indicated that chronic, airborne perc exposure adversely affects neurobehavioral functions in workers, particularly visual color discrimination and tasks dependent on rapid visual-information processing. A 1995 study by Altmann and colleagues extended these findings, indicating that environmental perc exposure at a mean level of 4,980 microg/m(3) (median=1,360 microg/m(3)) alters neurobehavioral functions in residents living near dry-cleaning facilities. Although the U.S. EPA has not yet set a reference concentration guideline level for environmental exposure to airborne perc, the New York State Department of Health set an air quality guideline of 100 microg/m(3). In the current residential study, we investigated the potential for perc exposure and neurologic effects, using a battery of visual-system function tests, among healthy members of six families living in two apartment buildings in New York City that contained dry-cleaning facilities on the ground floors. In addition, a day care investigation assessed the potential for perc exposure and effects among workers at a day care center located in the same one-story building as a dry-cleaning facility. Results from the residential study showed a mean exposure level of 778 microg/m(3) perc in indoor air for a mean of 5.8 years, and that perc levels in breath, blood, and urine were 1-2 orders of magnitude in excess of background values. Group-mean visual contrast sensitivity (VCS), a measure of the ability to detect visual patterns, was significantly reduced in the 17 exposed study participants relative to unexposed matched-control participants. The groups did not differ in visual acuity, suggesting that the VCS deficit was of neurologic origin. Healthy workers in the day care investigation were chronically exposed to airborne perc at a mean of 2,150 microg/m(3) for a mean of 4.0 years. Again, group-mean VCS, measured 6 weeks after exposure cessation, was significantly reduced in the nine exposed workers relative to matched controls, and the groups did not differ significantly in visual acuity. These results suggested that chronic, environmental exposure to airborne perc adversely affects neurobehavioral function in healthy individuals. Further research is needed to assess the susceptibility of the young and elderly to perc-induced effects, to determine whether persistent solvent-induced VCS deficits are a risk factor for the development of neurologic disease, and to identify the no observable adverse effect level for chronic, environmental, perc exposure in humans.

Adolescent↗