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While all links worked when entries were posted to the database, different publishers
have different policies about retaining articles and providing access to archived material.
Thus some of the links, particularly older ones, may no longer be functional.
For links no longer working, you may be able to gain paid access to text via the publisher's site.
Scientific research links cardiovascular disease to a number of environmental exposures, including air pollution, metals and solvents.
Recent research on air pollution indicates that the annual health impacts in the US from particulate air pollution attributable just to diesel exhaust from cars, trucks, and construction equipment includes 21,000 premature deaths and 27,000 non-fatal myocardial infarctions, plus a range of other impacts. 25 June 2005. More...
A study in Connecticut finds that women with a specific form of a gene are at significantly greater risk to breast cancer if they are exposed to relatively higher levels of PCBs.
The risk is even higher if they are also past menopause. Earlier studies of the same population that did not include information on genetic makeup found no elevation of risk, indicating that epidemiological studies lacking genetic information can miss impacts on vulnerable subpopulations. 17 December 2004. More...
Women with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity are likely to differ genetically from women without the condition.
The genetic differences were found by Canadian scientists in genes important to detoxifying chemicals. The largest differences were noted when two genes were studied simultaneously: women with MCS were more than 18-times more likely to have a specific genotype compared to controls. 22 November 2004. More...
Research in Iowa finds that children of farmers licensed to apply pesticides are at greater risk to cancer.
For all cancers combined, their childrens' risk was increased by 36%. The risk of childhood lymphoma was doubled. Children whose fathers did not wear chemically resistant gloves faced twice the risk of developing cancer, compared to children whose fathers wore them. 2 October 2004. More...
Epidemiological data link two persistent organic pollutants to an increased risk of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
People with higher levels of both heptachlor epoxide and dieldrin are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with NHL. And with widespread bans of these and related organochlorine contaminants now yielding decreases in contamination levels in people, rates of NHL have slowed or stopped increasing, at least in some countries. 30 August 2004. More...
Even at levels considered safe by the U.S. EPA, exposure very early in development to lawn care and farm chemicals resulted in serious developmental injury to mouse embryos.
All but one of the 13 chemicals tested individually on pre-implantation mouse embryos impaired normal development. All 6 mixtures created to resemble environmentally- realistic mixtures caused damage. 23 August 2004. More...
A large retrospective study of UK veterans who served in 1990-91 Gulf War finds indications of fertility impairment.
Vets who served in the Gulf have an increased risk of fertility and a longer time to conception compared to other veterans. 3 August 2004. More...
Exposure to phthalates is linked to three childhood allergic diseases: asthma, rhinitis and eczema.
A study of children in Sweden reports a 2-3 fold increase in risk associated with phthalate levels found in bedroom dust. Effects differ among different phthalates studied. DEHP was linked to asthma while BBzP was linked to rhinitis and eczema. 24 July 2004. More...
Pollutant levels in NYC air undermine fetal development.
A study of mothers and babies in two NYC minority communities finds that environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are both associated with reduced birth weight and head circumference. The PAH effect is apparent, however, only in subjects exposed to ETS. 16 July 2004. More...
Farming activities such as driving diesel tractors, working with solvents and repairing pesticide equipment are associated with higher risks of wheezing.
Wheezing is a common respiratory symptom of asthma, a disease that is becoming increasingly widespread in the general population. 8 July 2004. More...
Low-level magnetic radiation within the range experienced by people in their homes and workplaces causes DNA damage in rat brains and kills cells abnormally.
The study provides clues to the mechanism by which this damage occurs, and suggests possible links to several neurodegenerative diseases in people, including ALS, Alzheimers and Parkinsons. 7 July 2004. More...
Various environmental factors, including infectious and chemical agents, are known, suspected, or theorized to play a role in causation of autism.
Autism prevalence is generally thought to be increasing, though changing diagnostic criteria and increased reporting are likely to be contributing somewhat to that increase. Genetic factors are important in the causation of autism but are not fully explanatory. 19 June 2004. More...
Assumptions about "acceptable" levels of exposure are being proven wrong.
The implications for this new realization are profound, because it means that the safety standards used to protect public health are built upon false assumptions and likely to be inadequate. 17 June 2004. More...
Nearly half of all pregnancies in the US today result in the loss of the baby or a child born with a birth defect or chronic health problem.
Genetic, nutritional, infectious, and other environmental factors, such as radiation, pharmaceuticals, and toxic chemicals, contribute to the total incidence of birth defects, but the percentage attributable to each is not known. 10 June 2004. More...
Researchers look for a link between exposure to lead in the womb and the development of schizophrenia.
This is the first study to investigate of a potential relationship. The results suggest a link, but fall just short of statistical significance. 1 April 2004. More...
Pregnant women exposed to higher levels of two insecticides had smaller babies than other mothers, but after an EPA phase-out not only were exposures substantially lower but the association between newborn size and exposure disappeared.
Newborn size is an important predictor of health later in life. 26 March 2004. More...
Ovarian cancer is an uncommon but very serious form of cancer, much more common in women in North America or Europe than anywhere else.
Hormonal, environmental and genetic factors play roles in the risk for developing the disease. Epidemiology points to some occupational exposures, including solvents in the graphics and printing industries. 17 February 2004. More...
An extensive review of published scientific research on human health finds links between environmental exposures and approximately 200 different diseases.
Many compounds in widespread use are implicated by these results. The strength of association varies widely, for example from well-understood causal links between asbestos and mesothelioma to recurring but weak patterns linking certain pesticides and chronic bronchitis. 4 February 2004. More...
Infants exposed to herbicides and pesticides are much more likely to develop early persistent asthma.
Children with early persistent asthma were 10 times more likely to have been exposed to herbicides during their first year of life than children without asthma. Exposures to pesticides, farm animals and farm dust are also associated with an increased risk of early persistent asthma. In contrast, exposure to several types of smoke as well as cockroaches were linked to early transient wheezing, but neither to early nor late persistent asthma. Several findings of the study contradict predictions made by the "hygiene hypothesis," which suggests that the asthma epidemic underway today is a result of fewer immune system challenges early in life. 15 January 2004. More...
A study revealed that farmed salmon contain much higher levels of contaminants like PCBs, dieldrin, dioxins and toxaphen than wild salmon.
Levels in Scottish and Faroe Island farmed salmon were high enough to suggest consumption should be limited to no more than one meal every other month, based solely on considerations of cancer risk. The risk assessment did not incorporate the beneficial effects of fish consumption, nor additional risks associated with organochlorine exposure such as immune, neurocognitive or reproductive effects. 9 January 2004. More...
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. 15 October 2003. More...
Phthalate linked to preterm birth.
A study from Italy finds that not only are DEHP and MEHP detectable in most Italian newborns, but that those with higher levels of MEHP are more likely to be born prematurely. This result suggests that at least some of the scientific effort to understand why the incidence of premature birth in the US has increased 23% since the early 1980's should focus on environmental contaminants in the womb, and specifically on phthalates. 4 September 2003. More...
Risks of infertility higher in women using herbicides and fungicides.
A study comparing infertile and fertile women in Wisconsin finds that women who were infertile were 27 times more likely to have mixed or applied herbicides in the two years prior to attempting conception than women who were fertile. The weight of animal and human evidence now clearly indicates that risks of infertility rise in association with current uses of agricultural chemicals. 4 September 2003. More...
Microwave radiation from cell phones damages rat brains at levels experienced commonly by users of mobile phones. The damage involves increases in blood-brain barrier permeability, and resultant neuronal death.
A team of Swedish researchers has published research documenting significant damage in rat brains following one-time exposures to cell phone radiation. The damage involved decreases in the effectivness in the blood brain barrier and increases in neuron deformities. The scientists reporting this work expressed concern about possible human impacts, and the journal publishing the paper recommends that users use headsets. 26 August 2003. More...
Strong link established between pesticide exposure and reduced sperm quality in mid-West men.
Research in the US mid-West has discovered that men with elevated exposures to alachlor, diazinon and atrazine are dramatically more likely to have reduced sperm quality. The study is the first to show such a link for common, current-use pesticides, and its findings are particularly troubling because the most likely route of exposure is through drinking water. The three pesticides implicated by the research are widespread contaminants in mid-West water systems. 16 August 2003. More...
Calculations suggest high adverse impacts of DDT use on infant mortality.
Writing in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a publication of the US Centers for Disease Control, two scientists from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences conclude that DDT may cause an increase in infant mortality comparable to the number of infant lives that are saved when DDT is used to control malaria in Africa. They base their calculations on research that has shown associations between DDE in mothers' blood and increased risks of preterm birth and decreased length of time spent breastfeeding, both of which cause increases in infant mortality. While far from definitive, their research opens a new chapter in the international debate about whether, when and where to use DDT. 10 August 2003. More...
Green tea extracts interfere with one way that dioxin increases cancer risk.
Research into the molecular activity of plant compounds in green tea shows they suppress the ability of dioxin and related compounds to turn genes on that are involved in the development of cancer. This new result provides insight into earlier work with people and with animals suggesting that green tea has beneficial health impacts. 5 August 2003. More...
Testicular cancer linked to environmental exposures early in life.
Finnish men who immigrate to Sweden are much less likely to develop testicular cancer than Swedish men, no matter how old they were when they emigrated from Finland nor how long they lived in Sweden. These findings implicate exposures in the womb as important determinants of testicular cancer, and are consistent with an emerging theory about the causes of a pattern of testicular maladies, testicular dysgenesis syndrome. 20 July 2003. More...
Brain growth patterns in autistic children differ from normal beginning in the womb.
A study of growth rates of autistic children's heads reveals striking differences in how their heads and brains develop compared to normal children, beginning prior to birth. These results indicate that the causation of autism begins long before overt signs of autistic behavior are evident, suggesting that exposure to mercury in vaccines delivered at age 3-4 may not be the cause of autism. A role for such exposures, however, cannot be eliminated on the basis of these observations. 16 July 2003. More...
Cadmium provokes estrogenic responses at extremely low levels of exposure.
Research published in Nature Medicine reveals that cadmium provokes estrogenic responses in rats at levels much less than 1% of those traditionally used in toxicological studies. The effects include alterations in the uterus and mammary gland, increases in estrogen-controlled gene expression, and, following exposure in the womb, increases in adult weight and the speed of reaching sexual maturity. The authors call for more research on links between breast cancer and cadmium exposure. 13 July 2003. More...
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