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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.
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Men -- but not women -- exposed to low levels of cadmium have an increased risk of death from cancer and heart disease.
To date, excess deaths due to cancer -- lung, prostrate and renal -- and cardiovascular disease have been found in people with high and occupational exposures to cadmium. Based on data from the CDC, this is the first study to show similar results in the general population. 3 April 2009. More...
In this first study examining infants’ exposure to bisphenol A, premature babies hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units had levels of BPA in their urine 10 times higher than the general population.
The source of exposure most likely was plastic medical devices used in the hospital, although some could have come from infant formula. BPA is a plastic compound that is linked to various health abnormalities in humans and lab animals. 12 January 2009. More...
People living in agricultural areas of Belgium have higher blood levels of certain markers that identify chemical exposure than people living in nonagricultural areas.
Knowing who has been exposed and which populations are most at risk may help better monitor and predict diseases that are related to the chemical exposures. 17 December 2008. More...
New data link low birth weight and body mass to very low levels of commonly used chemicals found in consumer products ranging from Teflon-coated cookware to water and stain repelling textiles.
Analyzing the relationship between vital statistics of newborns born at a city hospital in Baltimore, MD--measurements such as weight, length, and head circumference-- scientists found that babies with higher levels of perfluorinated compounds in their cord blood tended to be slightly but significantly smaller than those with lower exposure. 16 August 2007. More...
Scientists report that almost all babies measured in a large study in Baltimore had been exposed to perfluorinated contaminants -- PFCs -- while in the womb.
PFCs are widely used in consumer products like Teflon and Gore-Tex. They are extremely persistent. The levels observed were well beneath those shown in most experiments to be necessary to cause developmental harm in animals. 23 April 2007. More...
In a pilot study of young girls in 3 US cities, a wide spectrum of hormonally-active compounds were found, some at relatively high concentrations.
Eighteen of 25 measured compounds were found in at least 94% of subjects. Phytoestrogens as a group had the highest levels and were most frequently found; phthalates were intermediate. Four phytoestrogens, four phthalates and two phenols had maximum values above 1 ppm. Environmental Health Perspectives. 26 October 2006. More...
Dioxin levels were higher in pregnant women who lived longer near the site of a former pentachlorophenol manufacturing plant in Taiwan.
Those living in the area more than 3 years had dioxin levels over 40% higher than those who had been there less time. Dioxin-like PCBs were almost 80% higher. Chemosphere. 22 October 2006. More...
A survey of PBDE levels in US foods indicates that food alone cannot be the source of very high body burdens of PBDEs that have been measured in Americans.
Indoor air may be an important exposure route because of volatilized PBDEs and PBDEs in dust. The foods sampled had levels ranging from 7.9 parts per trillion (milk) to 3,726 (sardines). EHP. 19 July 2006. More...
A detailed analysis of the studies industry uses to defend bisphenol A reveals deep flaws and strong biases against finding adverse effects.
Not only is industry's own research flawed, but they have repeatedly chosen to ignore all but a handful of the studies on low level effects of bisphenol A that have been published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Most Americans are exposed to this contaminant at levels that cause effects in animals. 10 January 2006. More...
Science Byte: Estimates of pesticide exposures based on questionnaires correlate only moderately with direct measurements of agricultural pesticides in farmers' urine.
These results indicate that traditional approaches based upon questionnaires are likely to have many misclassifications, weakening the ability of the studies to find patterns, and increasing the likelihood that they will conclude a product is safe when it is not. Epidemiology. 26 December 2005. More...
Science Byte: Anglers who eat fish caught in the lower Hudson River had blood mercury levels almost twice as high as those who never ate local fish.
People eating local fish more than once a week had higher levels than those who ate them less frequently. Environmental Research. 5 November 2005. More...
Men using personal care products have increased urinary excretion of phthalate metabolites.
Men who used cologne or aftershave within 48 hr before urine collection had a doubling of monoethyl phthalate (MEP). Use of an additional product increased MEP concentrations by 33%. The identification of personal care products as contributors to phthalate body burden is an important step in exposure characterization. Environmental Health Perspectives 1 November 2005. More...
A new assessment concludes that a larger portion of human infertility may be caused by environmental exposures than thought possible even a decade ago.
Laboratory data demonstrate conclusively that some contaminants can impair fertility in animals at levels to which people are commonly exposed. While it is well established that high levels of some contaminants can cause infertility, very few human data are available on the impacts of contaminants known to cause impacts at low-levels in animals. 31 October 2005. More...
Science Byte: Body burden measurements of a socioeconomically disadvantaged urban neighborhood revealed children were exposed simultaneously to a combination of VOCs, heavy metals, OC pesticides and PCBs.
Many of these chemicals are known or suspected carcinogens and neurotoxicants. A comparison with CDC data indicates that the exposures for these children may be near the high end of exposures experienced by the general public. EHP 15 October 2005. More...
A case-control study of women in Belgium finds an association between increased PCDD/PCDF and PCB body burden and endometriosis.
Serum concentrations of dioxin (PCDD), furan (PCDF) and dioxin-like PCBs were measured and standardized to toxic equivalent factors. Women with endometriosis had higher mean TEQ levels than controls. The risk of endometriosis increased 3 fold for each 10 pg increase in TEQ levels/g lipids. Fertility and Sterility 1 August 2005. More...
Over 100 scientists with active research programs studying endocrine disruption from 15 countries have issued a joint, signed statement concluding that scientific uncertainty should not delay precautionary action on reducing the exposures to and the risks from endocrine disrupters.
According to their assessment, current safety standards are ill-equipped to deal with risks caused by endocrine disrupters and that current testing procedures may lead to serious underestimations of risk. Effects in wildlife are well established; People in some countries are experiencing high prevalence of disorders consistent with endocrine disruption effects. Because there are inherent difficulties in establishing causality in humans, precautionary action be taken before epidemiological data provide certainty. 23 June 2005. More...
For the first time, researchers have identified an association between pregnant women’s exposure to phthalates and adverse effects on genital development in baby boys.
The adverse effects are seen at phthalate levels below those found in one-quarter of women in the US, based on CDC data. Boys in the highest exposure group were 90 times more likely to have altered genital development than those in the lowest. 27 May 2005. More...
Science Byte: While dioxin and PCB levels have declined markedly in US blood samples since 1973, polybrominated flame retardant levels are much higher now than 30 years ago, when almost none were detectable.
The levels measured in US samples taken in 2003 were the highest reported from anywhere in the world. Although no human health studies have been conducted on PBDEs, they are of concern because in vivo and in vitro animal studies show nervous system, reproductive, developmental, and endocrine effects, as well as cancer in high-dose studies. JOEM. 13 March 2005. More...
Science Byte: A study in Spain finds a strong relationship between particularly toxic forms of PCBs and colorectal cancer.
People with the highest levels were almost 3 times more likely to develop the disease, which is the third most common cancer in Western countries. Levels of some less toxic forms of PCBs were not related to cancer risk. EHP. 1 November 2004. More...
Science Byte: Evidence has slowly been building to indicate that exposures to chemicals and other environmental substances can have a profound impact on cardiovascular health
The link between environmental agents and CVD was once considered tenuous by much of the medical and scientific establishment. But with a surge of data emerging in the past 5 years, more and more scientists and doctors are acknowledging the importance environmental cardiology. EHP. 1 November 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...
Science Byte: Polybrominated diphenyl ether concentrations have increased exponentially in people by a factor of 100 over the last 30 years.
Levels in people from the US currently are over 10 times those measured in Europeans. 28 January 2004. More...
Contamination of umbilical cord blood in Inuit infants found to decrease over 7 year period.
In Northern Quebec from 1994-2001, cord blood concentrations of the organochlorines decreased exponentially with 8-9% decreases per year for PCBs and DDT and 6.6% decreases in hexachlorobenzene. Lead and mercury concentrations also decreased but there was no clear linear or exponential trend. These changes are most likely due to changes in dietary habits and a decrease in food contamination. Environmental Health Perspectives 1 October 2003. More...
Researchers report that exposure to persistent organic pollutants in the womb has declined in the eastern Canadian arctic.
Researchers document sharp drops in umbilical cord blood levels of several persistent organic pollutants, including PCBs, DDT and HCB. Lead and mercury also declined. The researchers conclude the decreases are likely due both to long-term efforts around the world to reduce environmental releases (and thus contamination of the food chain) as well as to changes in the Inuit diet that shift away from contaminated native foods. 2 July 2003. More...
Falling rate of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Sweden may be due to decreased chemical exposures.
Two Swedish scientific experts on the epidemiology of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) propose that recent declines in the incidence of this cancer may be a result of bans and restrictions on certain chemicals that began to be put in place in the 1970s. Their theory rests on research consistently finding links between these chemicals and NHL, and reductions in exposures to the chemicals that now are clearly evident in body burden measurements. If true, this is one cancer on which we are starting to win the war for prevention. 2 July 2003. More...
Brominated flame retardants increasing rapidly in California women.
Petreas et al. confirm indications from preliminary sampling in California that over the past 3 decades contamination by brominated flame retardants in California women has risen dramatically. Stored samples from the 1960s had no polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) contamination. Levels measured from samples taken in the 1990s, in contrast, reveal levels 3 to 10 times higher than measurements from Europe obtained during the same period. 10 March 2003. More...
High levels of brominated flame retardants found in maternal and fetal serum.
In this publication, Mazdai et al. report finding levels of brominated flame retardants in maternal and fetal serum in Indiana far exceeding levels that moved Sweden to ban PBDEs in that country. Laboratory data indicate that flame retardants intefere with thyroid hormone, and are thus suspected of disrupting neurological development. 10 March 2003. More...
Nine people studied in an assessment of chemical body burden had an average of 91 out of 210 compounds measured.
Most of the contaminants found did not exist 75 years ago. The contamination reflects lifelong exposure to industrial chemicals in thousands of consumer products and in air, water, food and soil. 31 January 2003. More...
CDC releases the second national report on American body burdens of contaminants.
In the largest and most extensive survey of American body burdens of environmental chemicals ever undertaken, the Centers for Disease Control found widespread low-level contamination in a random sample of Americans in 1999-2000. The good news is that steps taken to reduce exposures are having a positive effect, and that current levels of most of the chemicals measured are beneath those known to cause harm. The bad news? Some chemicals are present at levels associated with health effects. 31 January 2003. More...
A review of existing studies of the causes of endometriosis strongly link the condition to dioxin, through the contaminant's ability to interfere with hormone and immune system action.
1 December 2002. More...
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