“Human-animal medicine explores the unprecedented convergence of human, animal, and environmental health in an increasingly crowded and interdependent world,” said Dr. Peter Rabinowitz of the 91Ě˝»¨School of Public Health. “Recent global pandemics such as SARS and influenza H1N1 require that we look at new paradigms for healthy coexistence.”

Rabinowitz of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and the Department of Global Health, recently arrivedĚý from Yale University.Ěý He directs the 91Ě˝»¨Animal-Human Medicine Project.

He and Dr. Ali Mokdad of the Department of Global Health and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation will lead separate studies in what Ěýis called One Health, which integrates veterinary, ecological and medical sciences. Projects headed by Rabinowitz and Mokdad were two of the 81 proposals worldwide Ěýto be awarded Grand Challenges in Global Health Exploration Round 11 Grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Ěýthis week.

Rabinowitz’s team will investigate whether intestine-cohabitating microorganisms shared between livestock and children might be a key to correcting malnutrition in developing nations.

Malnutrition causes nearly half of the deaths in children under 5 worldwide.Ěý The global burden of this disease is shouldered predominately in Africa and Southeast Asia and is difficult to alleviate.

In Kenya, East Africa, the researchers will to see whether children living in close proximity to domestic animals harbor gut microbes that can affectĚý nutritional status.

If this is the case, the researchers say, it’s possible that resetting the gut microbiome in livestock can be a sustainable intervention to improve children’s health and development.Ěý Gut microbiome refers collectively to the tiny organisms residing and interacting in the lower digestive tract.

Rabinowitz and his colleagues at the UW, Washington State University, and Centers for Disease Control Kenya will conduct the research in an area of western Kenya w here more than Ěý90 percent of the households own livestock.

“Disturbance in the balance of bacterial communities in the intestines can make it hard for children to absorb nutrition and grow and develop normally,” Rabinowitz said. Ěý“When humans and animals live closely together, there may be sharing of these microbial communities. As we work to improve childhood nutrition globally it is important to explore these relationships.”

Also involved in the Ěýproject are Dr. Judd Walson of the 91Ě˝»¨Department of Global Health; Dr. Wes Van Voorhis of the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the 91Ě˝»¨Department of Medicine; Dr. Guy Palmer of the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health at Washington State University and a 91Ě˝»¨affiliate associate professor of global health; and Dr. Joel Montgomery of the ĚýCenters for Disease Control-Kenya.

In a different project in Zambia, metrics specialist Mokdad and his team will amalgamate data on animals, the environment and people to measure their overall impact on human disease and mortality. This is the first attempt to integrate such data, which will include temperature and rainfall, and the physical condition and sales of animals and crops. The team hopes to generate an enhanced human health metric that incorporates the effects of animal health. They also plan to recommend improvements in data collection. They call the project “One Metric for One Health: A New Approach.”

Grand Challenges Explorations funds individuals worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in solving persistent global health and development challenges.Ěý Successful projects have the opportunity to receive future support up to $1 million.

The residents of the Georgetown and South Park neighborhoods in Seattle’s Duwamish Valley now know how much diesel exhaust they are exposed to. The data were collected by the 91Ě˝»¨ School of Public Health and Puget Sound Sage, a nonprofit coalition in Seattle. A on findings from the air pollution study are published online Sept. 13.

A large volume of traffic travels through these South Seattle communities due to nearby highways, industry, train routes, and the Port of Seattle. Sixty percent of neighborhood residents surveyed in 2009 by Puget Sound Sage believed pollution from commercial trucks affected the health of their families.Ěý Long-term occupational exposures to high concentrations of diesel exhaust have been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular health problems as well as cancer.

“Residents were most concerned about commercial truck traffic. They see these trucks travel through their neighborhoods every day. They wanted us to monitor pollution levels where people lived,” said Dr. Julie Fox, a senior fellow in environmental and occupational health sciences at the 91Ě˝»¨School of Public Health.

It was in response to community concerns and support from the Kresge Foundation that the 91Ě˝»¨School of Public Health partnered with Puget Sound Sage to help residents measure levels of diesel exhaust in the South Park and Georgetown neighborhoods.

“We were able to develop a much more refined understanding of exposureĚý and the impacts of various sources of exposure Ěýfor this particular area of the city. Using the skills and expertise from 91Ě˝»¨scientists to respond to community concerns, we were able to provide detailed community-level data on pollutants that are markers of diesel exhaust,” said Fox.

Researchers collected data over a two-week period in summer 2012 and winter 2012-2013 on four primary pollutants that serve as markers of traffic-related air pollution. They are 1-nitropyrene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon that is a by-product of combustion from diesel engines; black carbon, oxides of nitrogen, and particulate matter less than 2.5 ÎĽm in diameter.

The researchers also compared these measurements to pollutants measured in residential sites in Queen Anne and Beacon Hill, which are located atop hills and have less commercial truck traffic.

Pollution levels in Seattle fall within Environmental Protection Agency national standards for air pollution., The study, however, Ěýwas not designed to determine compliance with standards, andĚý1-nitropyrene and black carbon are not regulated.

“Choosing diesel-specific markers limits direct comparison to other metropolitan areas, but gives us confidence that among the different sources of air pollution we characterized diesel exhaust,” said Fox.

Results indicate that residents of South Park and Georgetown are likely exposed to higher levels of diesel exhaust than residents of ĚýBeacon Hill and Queen Anne. Also, within the two Duwamish Valley neighborhoods, pollution levels varied, even across small areas. Residents near busy roads and industrial areas faced higher levels of diesel exhaust pollution.

Other 91Ě˝»¨Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences researchers Ěýwho worked on the Diesel Exhaust Exposure in the Duwamish Study, also known as DEEDS,Ěý include Dr. Joel Kaufman, Jill Schulte,Ěý Dr. Sheryl Magzamen, a former postdoctoral research scientist, and Nancy Beaudet, of the 91Ě˝»¨Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic.

The project is funded byĚý.

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Exposure to diesel exhaust may render friendly, cholesterol-fighting molecules incapable of performing their important job. A new study suggests that the traffic air pollutant may prevent good cholesterol from battling the bad, artery-clogging cholesterol that promotes heart attack and stroke.

The study’s team included environmental health scientists led by Michael E. Rosenfeld at the 91Ě˝»¨School of Public Health and heart disease specialist Jesus Araujo and his colleagues in the Division of Cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Their , published in the June issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, is the first to report that exposure to traffic sources of air pollution — diesel exhaust from combustion engines — can alter the protective nature of normal high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, and set in motion biological mechanisms that lead to cardiovascular disease.

Best known for its ability to scavenge harmful “bad” cholesterol from blood vessels and excrete it from the body, HDL is also an antioxidant powerhouse. Set against bad cholesterol — low-density lipoprotein or LDL — HDL blocks oxidation, a process that induces inflammation in the blood vessels and leads to the hardening of arteries, explained Rosenfeld, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences. But that’s not all. An additional virtue of HDL’s “goodness” lies in its ability to prevent inflammation caused by white blood cell patrols honing in tissues antagonized by air pollution particulates.

All of this adds up. Scoring high levels of HDL in blood tests at the doctor’s office has generally been accepted as protective against cardiovascular disease. Higher levels of HDL mean less risk of heart attack and stroke. That is, until now.

Researchers found that exposure to diesel exhaust led to the loss of the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of the HDL.

“It turned the good cop into a bad cop,” said study co-author Timothy Larson, Ěý 91Ě˝»¨professor of environmental and occupational health sciences.

HDL normally performs protective functions, but if the molecules are exposed to pollution, they lose their protective quality.

In the arm of the study completed at the UW, mice were exposed to diesel exhaust over a two-week period at levels comparable to those we encounter everyday. The lab is one of the few in the country that can accurately simulate ambient air pollution exposures in a controlled environment. Results of the mice’s exposure were compared to a control group that received only clean filtered air. In a second experiment, a third group was exposed to diesel exhaust for two weeks and filtered air for an additional week. Researchers wanted to assess whether a week was sufficient time for the HDL to return to normal.

“What was really surprising: the one week of recovery time was not sufficient,” said Rosenfeld, who is also a 91Ě˝»¨professor of pathology. “This has some pretty significant implications for how exposure to air pollution can impact development of cardiovascular disease. Even short-term exposures to pollution can have pretty long-term effects.”

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health, supported the research through grant number R01 ES016959/ES/NIEHS.

In February, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a plan to clean up the Duwamish. The new Health Impact Assessment details changes in health that may result from the cleanup. The report also makes recommendations about how to minimize health impacts, maximize health benefits, and reduce health disparities.

“Our findings demonstrate that EPA’s cleanup plan will significantly impact particular communities,” said Dr. William Daniell, an environmental and occupational epidemiologist and associate professor in the 91Ě˝»¨ School of Public Health.

More than a century of industrial and urban waste has contaminated the river with a mix of 41 toxic chemicals. In 2001, the EPA placed it on the Superfund National Priorities List.Ěý Of the chemicals most concerning to human health, polychlorinated biphenyls, more commonly known as PCBs,Ěý carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, arsenic, dioxins and furans top the list. Exposure to these toxins comes from eating resident fish or shellfish and coming into contact with contaminated sediment.

The Health Impact Assessment report was produced by researchers at the 91Ě˝»¨School of Public Health in collaboration with community health researchers from Just Health Action and the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition/Technical Advisory Group.

In reference to prior assessments done by the agency, Daniell said: “EPA studies focused on disease outcomes and generally fail to identify and evaluate broader health implications. We hope that they will incorporate our findings and recommendations.”

EPA’s proposed plan will reduce health risks, but it will not succeed in meeting the levels obtained in Puget Sound. Nor will resident seafood be safe to eat for subsistence fishers or for Native American tribal members.

The 91Ě˝»¨report outlines recommendations to protect the health of the Duwamish, Muckleshoot and Suquamish Tribes, who are affected by the cleanup. In particular, the researchers suggest EPA collaborate with these tribes to address their health concerns and restore their safe access to natural resources and fish.

In terms of the impact on local residents, construction-related activities and rail and truck traffic could increase air and noise pollution if not properly managed.Ěý In addition, the cleanup may cause gentrification and displacement of local residents. If done correctly, cleanup may generate new jobs and revitalize the South Park and Georgetown neighborhoods.

“Disadvantaged people who have more life stress, such as poverty, exposure to crime, and less leisure time, are more vulnerable to contamination, which can explain some health disparities” said Linn Gould, executive director of Just Health Action. Gould Ěýwas the primary author of the Duwamish Valley Cumulative Health Impacts. It showed that, compared to King County residents, people who live in the Duwamish Valley have a shorter life expectancy, higher mortality from lung cancer, more hospitalizations for children with asthma, higher rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In addition, more Duwamish Vally residents lack health insurance.

“Residents and other people who use the river have real and valid concerns about how to best protect their healthĚýduring and after cleanup,”Ěýsaid BJ Cummings, community health projects manager for the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition/Technical Advisory Group, which serves as EPA’s Community Advisory Group for the Superfund site cleanup.

“This study helps identify ways we can improve the result, especially for those who are most affected,” Cummings said

A final version of the report, with findings and recommendations for mitigation measures, will be provided to the EPA in June.

Support for the health impact assessment was provided by a grant from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Read the

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Eating peppers — which are in the same botanical family as tobacco — may reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease. The findings are reported in the May 9 edition of the Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society.

Nearly one million people in the United States are living with Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that results from the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells. In early stages, Parkinson’s is characterized by difficulties in controlling movement. Initial symptoms include hand tremors, limb rigidity, and problems walking.ĚýAs the disease progresses, cognitive problems may develop and advance into dementia.

Dietary sources of nicotine may prove protective.

“Eating peppers twice or more per week was consistently associated with at least 30 percent reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Susan Searles Nielsen, a research scientist in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the 91Ě˝»¨School of Public Health.

The investigation of dietary sources of nicotine stems from the puzzling epidemiologic findings that repeatedly show that people who have regularly used tobacco have about half the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, explained Searles Nielsen. In 2012, she published a study that suggested that second-hand smoke also might reduce risk of the disease.

“It’s possible that people predisposed to Parkinson’s disease simply don’t respond well to tobacco smoke and therefore avoid it.Ěý However, if tobacco is actually protective, and if the reason is nicotine as some experimental studies suggest,” said Searles Nielsen, “then our hypothesis was that other plants in the Solanaceae family that contain nicotine might also be protective.”

The subjects interviewed for the study included 490 Parkinson’s patients newly diagnosed at the 91Ě˝»¨Neurology Clinic or Group Health Cooperative between 1992-2008.Ěý The control study subjects were 644 unrelated, neurologically normal people.

While she and the study co-authors investigated the association between Parkinson’s and the subjects’ dietary consumption of a variety of vegetables, including nicotine-containing peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes in the Solanaceae family, peppers showed the greatest protection.Ěý The decreased risk of disease grew stronger with increasing pepper consumption and occurred mainly in people with little or no prior use of tobacco, which contains much more nicotine than the foods studied.

Searles Nielsen cautions that further studies are needed to confirm these findings and explore whether a similar but less toxic chemical shared by peppers and tobacco might be equally or more protective than nicotine.

Study co-authors included Dr. Harvey Checkoway and Dr. Gary Franklin from the 91Ě˝»¨Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and Dr. W.T. Longstreth and Dr. Phillip Swanson from the Department of Neurology in the 91Ě˝»¨School of Medicine.

Funding for the study was provided by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, in part through the 91Ě˝»¨Superfund Research Program.

The Workers Memorial Day ceremony is being organized by the 91Ě˝»¨Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the School of Public Health, , 91Ě˝»¨students, local union leaders, and the . The organizers are active in raising awareness and strengthening commitment to job safety and healthy work environments for Washington workers.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was signed into federal law to protect employees from workplace hazards. Yet, according to the event organizers, more effort is needed to keep American workers safe from preventable, job-related injuries, disease and death.

They note that in 2010, nationwide 4,547 workers were killed on the job, and another 5,000 lost their lives to occupation diseases.Ěý For that same year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 3.1 million job injuries and illnesses among private-sector employees and 820,000 injuries and illnesses among public employees. The organizers added that, due to underreporting, these numbers might understate the problem.

Ten of those whose lives will be remembered April 24 were from King County, Wash. Among them were firefighters, home-care aides, laborers, longshoremen, park rangers, sales clerks, and taxi drivers. The names of the fallen workers will be read during the 91Ě˝»¨ceremony.

Nationally and internationally Workers Memorial Day is commemorated April 28, with events also held in the days leading up to the official date.Ěý It was started by the Canadian Union of Public Employees in 1984, and recognized in the United States beginning in 1989.

The program for the April 24 91Ě˝»¨ceremony:

Presentation of Colors
91Ě˝»¨ Air Force ROTC Honor Guard
Karl Zapf, Bagpiper
Seattle Firefighters Pipes and Drums

Master of Ceremonies
David Freiboth, executive secretary, King County Labor Council

Keynote Address
The Importance of Workers’ Rights and Safety: A Call to Action
Michael Honey, professor of ethnic gender and labor studies, 91Ě˝»¨Tacoma

Memorial Recognition
Karen Hart, President SEIU 925
Our Fallen Workers – 2012
Names read by 91Ě˝»¨students, staff, and faculty, and community members
Our Fallen Workers Serving in the Armed Services – 2012
Names read by Cadet Justin Rees

A Message from Sen. Patty Murray

Moving Forward
Jeff Johnson, president, Washington State Labor Council
Marty Cohen, 91Ě˝»¨Field Research and Consultation Group
Megan Karalua, UAW Local 4121
Emily Garverick, 91Ě˝»¨United Students Against Sweatshops
Dow Constantine, King County Executive

Closing
Music by Michael Laslett and Mike Honey

While water bottles may tout BPA-free labels and personal care products declare not among their ingredients, these assurances may not be enough. According to a study published February 27 in the Nature Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, we may be exposed to these chemicals in our diet, even if our diet is organic and we prepare, cook, and store foods in non-plastic containers.Ěý Children may be most vulnerable.

“Current information we give families may not be enough to reduce exposures,” said , lead author on the study and an environmental health pediatrician in the 91Ě˝»¨School of Public Health and at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. She is a physician at Harborview Medical Center’s Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, and a 91Ě˝»¨assistant professor of pediatrics.

Phthalates and bisphenol A, better known as BPA, are synthetic endocrine-disrupting chemicals.Ěý Previous studies have linked prenatal exposure to phthalates to abnormalities in the male reproductive system. Associations have also been shown between fetal exposure to BPA and hyperactivity, anxiety, and depression in girls.

The researchers compared the chemical exposures of 10 families, half of whom were given written instructions on how to reduce phthalate and BPA exposures. They received handouts prepared by the national Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units, a network of experts on environmentally related health effects in children. The other families received a five-day catered diet of local, fresh, organic food that was not prepared, cooked or stored in plastic containers.

When the researchers tested the participants’ urinary concentrations of metabolites for phthalates and BPA, they got surprising results.Ěý The researchers expected the levels of the metabolities to decrease in those adults and children eating the catered diet.

Instead, the opposite happened. The urinary concentration for phthalates were 100-fold higher than the those levels found in the majority of the general population. The comparison comes from a study conducted by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This isĚý a program of studies managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States.

The concentrations were also much higher for children as compared to the adults. The researchers then tested the phthalate concentrations in the food ingredients used in the dietary intervention. Dairy products—butter, cream, milk, and cheese—had concentrations above 440 nanograms/gram. Ground cinnamon and cayenne pepper had concentrations above 700 ng/g, and ground coriander had concentrations of 21,400 ng/g.

“We were extremely surprised to see these results.Ěý We expected the concentrations to decrease significantly for the kids and parents in the catered diet group. Chemical contamination of foods can lead to concentrations higher than deemed safe by the US EPA,” said Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana.

Using the study results, the researchers estimated that the average child aged three to six years old was exposed to 183 milligrams per kilogram of their body weight per day. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended limit is 20 mg/kg/day.

“It’s difficult to control your exposure to these chemicals, even when you try,” said Sathyanarayana. “We have very little control over what’s in our food, including contaminants. Families can focus on buying fresh fruits and vegetables, foods that are not canned and are low in fat, but it may take new federal regulations to reduce exposures to these chemicals.”

The other researchers in the study included Garry Alcedo (Seattle Children’s Research Institute), Brian E. Saelens and Chuan Zhou ( 91Ě˝»¨Department of Pediatrics, Seattle Children’s Research Institute), Russell L. Dills and Jianbo Yu ( 91Ě˝»¨Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences) and Bruce Lanphear (BC Children’s Hospital and Simon Fraser University).

Their paper is titled, “Unexpected results in a randomized dietary trial to reduce phthalate and bisphenol A exposure.”

The study was supported through Ěýby the Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences in the 91Ě˝»¨School of Public Health. A grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health provides major support for the center

Read about Sathyanarayana’s to protect children from environmental exposure to toxic chemicals.

Researchers in the in the 91Ě˝»¨ School of Public Health have assisted gun ranges by evaluating their ventilation systems and testing their employees’ exposure to airborne lead levels.

The evaluations are part of the occupational health and safety consultations offered by the to companies that request assistance. Consultants observe work practices, collect air and wipe samples, and make recommendations for controlling workplace exposures.

Firing ranges should have a well-designed and operating ventilation system, said Martin Cohen, director of the Field Research and Consultation Group and senior lecturer in environmental and occupational health Sciences. The ventilation system should capture and remove airborne lead to prevent deposits on surfaces. It also reduces exposures to lead, for those workers at the range, the public, and people in occupations that require gun practice and training as part of their jobs—namely, police officers and military personnel.

But designing and installing an effective ventilation system that works well in a firing range can be tricky.

Explained Cohen. “Usually the space is fairly tight. There are practical considerations for where you can put a duct system and it needs to be designed and operated properly.”

It’s also expensive, added Gerry Croteau, a research industrial hygienist with the Field Research and Consultation Group. He has evaluated ventilation systemsĚý and monitored worker airborne lead exposures at several gun ranges.

If a workers’ eight-hour average airborne lead levels exceeds Ěýthe “action level” of 0.03 milligrams per cubic meter, the facility is required to comply with stringent regulations involving respiratory protection, ventilation controls, housekeeping and practices to keep the worker from leaving the facility with lead on their clothes or body. These regulations were promulgated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In our state the regulations are enforced by—the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (part of the Department of Labor and Industries)..

Gun range employees typically don’t spend a lot of time on the actual firing range, with the exception of range cleaning and maintenance activities

Every day or two, the bullet casings and target remnants need to be cleaned off the range floor. Some ranges use soil or sand berms behind the target to stop the bullets. These also must be periodically cleaned.

Cohen said that the methods that the employer and workers use to clean and maintain the range are crucial to protecting the workers from lead exposure. If workers sweep, fine lead dust particles can become airborne and produce a respiratory exposure hazard.

“One best practice is to use a vacuum with a HEPA filter. It can keep the dust from becoming airborne during cleaning,” said Cohen. HEPA is an acronym for High-Efficiency Particulate Air.

Workers should wear a Tyvek suit, gloves, and a respirator while cleaning. Tyvek is a Dupont trademark for its protective, non-woven fabric. Regulations stipulate that work shoes and clothing are not allowed to be worn outside the facilityĚý as lead laden clothing can potentially contaminate the home environment.

Increasing evidence shows urban and rural children are regularly exposed to low levels of pesticides that can have serious long-term health effects, according to a report issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The technical report and an accompanying policy statement on pesticide exposure in children appear in the December 2012 issue of Pediatrics.

, an environmental health pediatrician in the 91Ě˝»¨School of Public Health and the School of Medicine, co-authored both papers, which recommend public and professional approaches to the issue of childhood pesticide exposure.

Pediatricians don’t get this information or training in their routine medical education and are likely not aware of the wealth of studies that have been published up to now on the subject, said Karr, who served on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Environmental Health from 2005-2011. She believes doctors can play a significant role in protecting children’s health by recognizing, treating, and preventing exposure to pesticides.

The ubiquitous chemicals are as varied as their uses. For example, lawns are treated with weed killer, sprays or foggers kill fleas indoors, and pesticides control coddling moths that can destroy large-scale apple production.

Karr observed that the product label, “while providing some information on acute toxicity, doesn’t inform consumers or workers about chronic toxicity, such as whether the product contains a carcinogen or whether it is linked to reproductive or developmental toxicity.”

Epidemiological studies associate both acute and chronic pesticide exposures in children with pediatric cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders. Pesticide exposure has even been implicated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and low-birth weight.

Children are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of pesticides than are adults because of their smaller size and faster metabolism. Youngsters can be exposed by breathing the chemicals in the air, getting them on their skin, or unintentionally ingesting the pesticides. Kids crawl or play on surfaces that may have chemical residues, and they often put their fingers and other objects in their month.

The dietary contribution from food residues provides cumulative, chronic exposure.

“For most kids in the United States, it’s probably the major component,” said Karr. She pointed to a by alumnus Chensheng Lu, who received a Ph.D., in 1996 from the 91Ě˝»¨in industrial hygiene and safety. He is now on faculty at Harvard University.Ěý His study was conducted with researchers in the at the UW.

For five days, the researchers substituted most of children’s conventional diets with organic food items. They measured the metabolites for organophosphorus pesticides in the children’s urine and compared the levels before and after changes in diet. They found the metabolites disappeared after the organic diet was introduced and remained undetectable until the conventional diet was reintroduced.

These results shouldn’t be interpreted to mean non-organic food is bad. Karr notes a recent American Academy of Pediatrics review on organic foods found no evidence that the nutritional content varies, and the health benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables in children’s diet are clear.

“Given the often increased expense, some families might choose to be selective in choosing organic foods, she said. “The levels of pesticide residues tend to be lower in some conventionally grown fruits and vegetables and consumer guides are readily available on these topics.”

She also recommends thoroughly washing produce. Karr published on reducing their child’s exposure to pesticides in food and from other common sources.

Of the numerous recommendations to doctors and policymakers in the published statement, one resonates very clearly for Karr

“I think we could make a big difference if all healthcare providers who take care of children felt they had a basic knowledge base on pesticides that enabled them to include pesticide safety counseling in routine health visits and to think about pesticide exposure in relevant sick visits,” said Karr, who also put together a guide for pediatricians on how to talk with parents about pesticides. It’s available on AAP’s website.

The technical report details the major classes of pesticides, their adverse health effects, and evaluation and treatment. Symptoms of pesticide exposure might not be easily recognized, explained Karr. In one case, a child might have a rash or a headache. In another case, a child might be vomiting or have diarrhea.

“Having pesticide exposure in your mind as a possibility,” she noted, “requires an index of suspicion which you develop only when you know a little bit about pesticides and what you can do.”

Healthcare providers might also be interested in a local resource. Karr directs the Ěýbased at the UW. ĚýThe unit provides expertise and training for health professionals, trainees, and the public on environmentally related health effects in children, including pesticide exposure. In collaboration with the 91Ě˝»¨CenterĚýfor ChildĚýEnvironmental HealthĚýRisks Research led by Elaine M. Faustman, professor of environmental health, and with corresponding research center partners in California, the Northwest Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit is creating an educational module on pesticides. It will be available in the next year.

Firefighters and medics may be, perhaps not surprisingly, at a higher risk for carrying methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) than the average person, according to results from a new study conducted by Marilyn Roberts, a 91Ě˝»¨ professor of environmental and occupational health sciences. Roberts, a microbiologist, recently conducted the first-ever environmental health study on MRSA in Northwest fire stations and on fire personnel to determine the extent of related contamination.

In the last ten years, the number of hospital- and community-acquired MRSA infections—those often contracted in schools, public gyms, and in workplaces–has risen. Because MRSA can be transmitted from surfaces to people and from person to person, the increase in incidence has led to concern for first responders, including police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel. Fire personnel interact with both hospital and community populations as part of their job and have the potential to be exposed to MRSA as part of their daily duties.

“Firefighters and paramedics are at the crossroads between the public and hospital environments,” said Roberts. “Their job includes administering first-response care to patients, many of whom are more likely to be MRSA carriers or have MRSA infections then the general population. This puts them at increased risk for MRSA infections.”

Roberts found MRSA in four percent of more than 1,000 samples collected from surfaces inside Snohomish County fire stations, medic and fire trucks, and outer protective gear. But in each of the nine areas sampled, at least one sample tested positive for MRSA, and both hospital- and community-acquired MRSA were found.

Roberts conducted the study after being contacted by firefighters who asked for help in determining whether they were being exposed to MRSA on the job. “Firefighters and medics were part of an advisory board that helped us develop the study,” she said.

Firefighter and paramedic Kevin Fetter said that he had questions about a new disinfection system, including: What was on the surfaces or being transmitted that might cause infection or illness? As the wellness coordinator for , Fetter called labs all over the country asking for help in testing before connecting with Roberts at the 91Ě˝»¨. The district is made up of 12 fire stations that field 13,000 emergency calls each year.

Fetter and colleagues knew that MRSA was being studied in hospital settings, but didn’t know how MRSA affected them. Except for a small study in Arizona, no one else had looked at this setting and firefighter exposure.

“We now recognize it as a problem,” said Fetter, referring to the firefighter community. The 91Ě˝»¨study results have attracted attention in other regional fire departments, since findings showed firefighters can be carriers.

The research team found more than 20 percent of the fire personnel who volunteered to be tested carried MRSA and an additional 10 percent carried Staphylococcus aureus in their noses. Normally, 25 to 35 percent of the general population carries S. aureus in the nose. Also, in studying the genetic characteristics of the different strains of bacteria, Roberts found that MRSA strains on fire personnel were related to the environmental MRSA strains, suggesting transmission between personnel and the environmental surfaces.

Roberts and her team looked at MRSA contamination in fire stations and determined which locations were most likely to be contaminated. The study also was conducted to improve decontamination of the station and truck environmental surfaces and to use the information to develop and distribute educational materials on best practices for disinfection protocols.

Roberts said she hopes to expand the study to determine if the results from the initial study are representative of the larger firefighter population within Washington state and throughout the United States.

Funding for the project was sponsored by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries’ Safety & Health Investment Project (SHIP) and from Snohomish County Fire District 1. is directed at preventing workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities in Washington state.