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Links for Health Professionals – Health and the Environment

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Articles: Health and the Environment

Revitalizing Toxicology–Davis address to the National Toxicology Program
For Devra Davis, Ph.D., the war on cancer is a prime example of the way economic and social forces can shape scientific inquiry and public health policy — and highlights the shortcomings of today’s toxicology… read more


Community Health Profile of Windsor, Ontario, Canada: The rates of mortality, morbidity as hospitalizations, and congenital anomalies in the Windsor Area of Concern ranked among the highest of the 17 Areas of Concern on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes for selected end points that might be related to pollution in this relatively highly industrialized city.

  1. Gilbertson and Brophy, “Community Health Profile of Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Anatomy of a Great Lakes Area of Concern”, Environ Health Perspect. 2001 December; 109(Suppl 6): 827–843, View on PubMed

Contaminants in Freshwater Fish: Toxicity, Sources and Risk Communication: One major project of the Center researchers has been the Pittsburgh Fish Consumption Study, which examines heavy metals and other toxicants commonly found in fish in the rivers of Pittsburgh that are a staple in the diet of many local residents.  Many of the data from the study were presented at the 135th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in November 2007; click this link to read about the presentations in greater detail.


Healthy Choices, Healthy Lives Fall 2007 Newsletter from the Center for Environmental Onocology: Click here to view articles on “The Environmental Safety of Toys” by Jonathan Weinkle, MD and “The Falling Age of Puberty in U.S. Girls: What We Know; What We Need to Know” By Sandra Steingraber, PhD


Mercury, lead, and zinc in baby teeth of children with autism: This study determined the level of mercury, lead, and zinc in baby teeth of children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children.

  1. JB, Romdalvik J, Ramanujam VM, Legator MS. “Mercury, lead, and zinc in baby teeth of children with autism versus controls,” J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2007 Jun;70(12):1046-51. View on InformaWorld

Power Lines and Health in Later Life: Studies have shown an association between electromagnetic fields and childhood leukaemia. This study reported that children raised for the first five years in home environments exposed to EMF within 300 meters of a high voltage power line have a five-fold (a 500 percent increased risk of developing some kinds of cancers sometime in later life. For children from newborn to 15 years of age; it is a three-fold risk of developing cancer later in life.

  1. R. M. Lowenthal, D. M. Tuck, I. C. Bray (2007) ‘Residential exposure to electric power transmission lines and risk of lymphoproliferative and myeloproliferative disorders: a case-control study’ Internal Medicine Journal 37 (9), 614–619. View on PubMed

Prenatal Exposure to bisphenol A: Humans are routinely exposed to bisphenol A (BPA), an estrogenic compound that leaches from dental materials, food and beverage containers, and other consumer products. Prenatal exposure to BPA has produced long-lasting and profound effects on rodent hormone-dependent tissues that are manifested 1–6 months after the end of exposure.

  1. Durando, Kass, Piva, et al. “Prenatal Bisphenol A Exposure Induces Preneoplastic Lesions in the Mammary Gland in Wistar Rats” – Environ Health Perspect. 2007 Jan; 115(1):80-6. – View on PubMed

Wildlife as sentinels of human health effects: This study addresses the fact that there is no existing formal, long-term program for gathering evidence of the incidence and severity of the health effects of toxic substances in wildlife. However, research-based studies of bald eagles, herring gulls, night herons, tree swallows, snapping turtles, mink, and beluga over the past 30 years have revealed a broad spectrum of health effects in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin including thyroid and other endocrine disorders, metabolic diseases, altered immune function, reproductive impairment, developmental toxicity, genotoxicity, and cancer.

  1. Fox GA, “Wildlife As Sentinels of Human Health Effects in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Basin,” Environ Health Perspect. 2001 Dec;:853-61. View PDF on PubMed

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