In order to better understand leukemia it may be necessary to examine it from the perspective that it is an environmental disease.

The Bone Marrow Niche, Stem Cells, and Leukemia: Impact of Drugs, Chemicals, and the Environment. In order to better understand leukemia it may be necessary to examine it from the perspective that it is an environmental disease.

May 29 – 31, 2013 The New York Academy of Sciences Presented by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and the New York Academy of Sciences

Over 20,000 Americans are diagnosed each year with bone marrow failure syndromes. Environmental, chemical, and genetic factors have been linked to the development of lymphomas, leukemias, and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Additionally, some anti-cancer drugs have been shown to themselves induce DNA damage and secondary cancers. In light of increasing societal exposure to toxic environmental agents that may be carcinogenic, including chemicals and pharmaceuticals, we face the potential for a rise in the incidence of bone marrow failure and malignancy. In order to better understand leukemia it may be necessary to examine it from the perspective that it is an environmental disease.

Read Full Post »

Study Exposes Multi-generational Impacts of pesticide exposure

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=10312

Report Finds an Increase in Pyrethriod Pesticides in California Waters

Study Exposes Multi-generational Impacts of pesticide exposure

Beyond Pesticides, April 24, 2013) Using the aquatic species Daphnia, commonly referred to as “water fleas,” scientists at North Carolina State University (NC State) determined that exposure to the pesticide pyriproxyfen impacted multiple generations, ultimately resulting in more male offspring, and causing reproductive problems in female offspring. Lead author Gerald LeBlanc, PhD, notes, “This work supports the hypothesis that exposure to some environmental chemicals during sensitive periods of development can cause significant health problems for those organisms later in life –and affect their offspring and, possibly, their offspring’s offspring.” The study, published in the journal PLoS One, provides the scientific community with new information on how organisms respond to the environmental signals resulting from pesticide exposure.

Read Full Post »

The Precautionary Principle Matters

Press Release-  On April 27^th, in celebration of Earth Day, the entire community is invited to learn about why the Precautionary Principle is a crucial management practice when it comes to the health of our children.  In this era of widespread chemical exposure to children, the Precautionary Principle matters! 

The Precautionary Principle advocates the elimination of potential hazards to health at the onset of an activity, rather than accepting a level of harm.” Recent science such as the National Cancer Institute’s meticulously written research entitled  Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk, published in 2010, shows that toxins are responsible for making our children chronically ill with conditions from autism to cancer.

The logical solution is we must reduce toxic risks to children in their everyday lives. 

Read Full Post »

Arsenic risk assessment scope and planning.

Arsenic – Stakeholder recommendations regarding US EPA’s Toxicological Review of Inorganic Arsenic – Scoping and Planning

Republished with permission  by Sciencecorps 168 Burlington St. Lexington, MA 02420 January 22, 2013

These recommendations are respectfully submitted to the US EPA and NAS Arsenic Toxicology Review Panel by the following: Dr Kathleen Burns and Dr Micheal Harbut

Kathleen Burns, Ph.D.  Director Dr Kathleen Burns Ph.DSciencecorps 168 Burlington St. Lexington, MA 02420 (Corresponding author:  kmb@sciencecorps.org)

Michael R. Harbut, MD, MPH, FCCP Professor (Clinical), Internal Medicine Director, Environmental Cancer Program Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University Detroit, Michigan

The following recommendations are brief summaries on issues we consider important to the arsenic risk assessment scope and planning.  Most are also more broadly relevant to the IRIS evaluations of all hazardous chemicals. We make these recommendations based on our experience in toxicology, epidemiology, risk assessment, public health, and medicine, with the goal of obtaining more informative, public health-oriented, and scientifically current toxicological reviews from US EPA. We will provide additional technical information and citations related to these issues when we submit recommendations regarding technical aspects that are scheduled by US EPA to be addressed in the near future.

Our written comments submitted at the January 8-9 US EPA arsenic stakeholder meeting titled “Toxicological Review of Arsenic Must Include Consideration of Disproportionately High Rates of Cardiovascular Disease in African Americans” are being submitted with these recommendations. 

Read Full Post »

Cancer is a Preventable Disease that Requires Major Lifestyle Changes

Cancer is a Preventable Disease that Requires Major Lifestyle Changes.  These observations indicate that most cancers are not of hereditary origin http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/

Preetha Anand, Ajaikumar B. Kunnumakara, Chitra Sundaram, Kuzhuvelil B. Harikumar, Sheeja T. Tharakan, Oiki S. Lai, Bokyung Sung, and Bharat B. Aggarwal 

This year, more than 1 million Americans and more than 10 million people worldwide are expected to be diagnosed with cancer, a disease commonly believed to be preventable. Only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90–95% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle. The lifestyle factors include cigarette smoking, diet (fried foods, red meat), alcohol, sun exposure, environmental pollutants, infections, stress, obesity, and physical inactivity. The evidence indicates that of all cancer-related deaths, almost 25–30% are due to tobacco, as many as 30–35% are linked to diet, about 15–20% are due to infections, and the remaining percentage are due to other factors like radiation, stress, physical activity, environmental pollutants etc. Therefore, cancer prevention requires smoking cessation, increased ingestion of fruits and vegetables, moderate use of alcohol, caloric restriction, exercise, avoidance of direct exposure to sunlight, minimal meat consumption, use of whole grains, use of vaccinations, and regular check-ups. In this review, we present evidence that inflammation is the link between the agents/factors that cause cancer and the agents that prevent it. In addition, we provide evidence that cancer is a preventable disease that requires major lifestyle changes.

Key Words: cancer, environmental risk factors, genetic risk factors, prevention

Read Full Post »

Epigenetic transfer of disease thru multi generational inheritance of altered stress responses caused by exposure to chemical pesticides and fungicides

Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of altered stress response David Crews^a,¹,², Ross Gillette^a, Samuel V. Scarpino^a, Mohan Manikkam^b, Marina I. Savenkova^b, and Michael K. Skinner^b,¹,²

Author Affiliations Edited by Fred H. Gage, The Salk Institute, San Diego, CA, and approved April 18, 2012 (received for review November 15, 2011)  http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/05/15/1118514109.abstract

Abstract- Ancestral environmental exposures have previously been shown to promote epigenetic transgenerational inheritance and influence all aspects of an individual’s life history. In addition, proximate life events such as chronic stress have documented effects on the development of physiological, neural, and behavioral phenotypes in adulthood. We used a systems biology approach to investigate in male rats the interaction of the ancestral modifications carried transgenerationally in the germ line and the proximate modifications involving chronic restraint stress during adolescence. We find that a single exposure to a common-use fungicide (vinclozolin) three generations removed alters the physiology, behavior, metabolic activity, and transcriptome in discrete brain nuclei in descendant males, causing them to respond differently to chronic restraint stress. This alteration of baseline brain development promotes a change in neural genomic activity that correlates with changes in physiology and behavior, revealing the interaction of genetics, environment, and epigenetic transgenerational inheritance in the shaping of the adult phenotype. This is an important demonstration in an animal that ancestral exposure to an environmental compound modifies how descendants of these progenitor individuals perceive and respond to a stress challenge experienced during their own life history.

Read Full Post »

Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit

Safe and Healthy Children curriculum addresses environmental health in farmworker children

The children of migrant farmworkers are at risk for toxic chemical exposures and other environmental hazards. PSR has released a new train-the-trainer curriculum and education packet on preventing harm to this vulnerable population. Targeting staff and community health workers of the Head Start Seasonal and Migrant Farmworker program, the curriculum augments PSR’sPediatric Environmental Health Toolkit. It includes hands-on activities for parents, brief anecdotes about chemical exposures, information on chemical policy, and principles of participatory education. http://www.psr.org/resources/pediatric-toolkit.html

http://appprecautionaryprinciple.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/prenatal-exposures-a-continuum-of-vulnerability-to-environmental-toxicants/

Funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, PSR worked with partner organizations Academy for Educational Development and Health Outreach Partners to provide training for Migrant and Seasonal Head Start workers on the unique vulnerability of children, exposures to environmental hazards, and prevention strategies.

View the Safe and Healthy Children curriculum

Read Full Post »

Poisoned by Synthetic Pyrethroid Pesticides by Pat Smith

Poisoned by Synthetic Pyrethroid Pesticides  by Pat Smith

During the summer of 2003 I began to have headaches. They got more intense and became almost constant. I thought I was tired and promised myself I would take a vacation that fall after my daughter’s wedding. Little did I know I was coming to the end of my career because I was being poisoned every day at my workplace and it would destroy my health.

Read Full Post »

Teratogenic Effects of Glyphosate-Based Herbicides: Divergence of Regulatory Decisions from Scientific Evidence Published in Environmental & Analytical Toxicology by Antoniou et al., J Environ Anal Toxicol 2012, S:4 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161-0525.S4-006

http://earthopensource.org/files/pdfs/Roundup-and-birth-defects/Antoniou-Teratogenic-Effects-of-Glyphosate-Based-Herbicides.pdf

Teratogenic Effects of Glyphosate-Based Herbicides: Divergence of Regulatory Decisions from Scientific Evidence  Published in Environmental & Analytical Toxicology  by 

Antoniou et al., J Environ Anal Toxicol 2012, S:4 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161-0525.S4-006

Abstract: The publication of a study in 2010, showing that a glyphosate herbicide formulation and glyphosate alone caused malformations in the embryos of Xenopus laevis and chickens through disruption of the retinoic acid signalling pathway, caused scientific and regulatory controversy. Debate centred on the effects of the production and consumption of genetically modified Roundup Ready® soy, which is engineered to tolerate applications of glyphosate herbicide. The study, along with others indicating teratogenic and reproductive effects from glyphosate herbicide exposure, was rebutted by the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, BVL, as well as in industry-sponsored papers. These rebuttals relied partly on unpublished industry-sponsored studies commissioned for regulatory purposes, which, it was claimed, showed that glyphosate is not a teratogen or reproductive toxin.

However, examination of the German authorities’ draft assessment report on the industry studies, which underlies glyphosate’s EU authorisation, revealed further evidence of glyphosate’s teratogenicity. Many of the malformations found were of the type defined in the scientific literature as associated with retinoic acid teratogenesis. Nevertheless, the German and EU authorities minimized these findings in their assessment and set a potentially unsafe acceptable daily intake (ADI) level for glyphosate. This paper reviews the evidence on the teratogenicity and reproductive toxicity of glyphosate herbicides and concludes that a new and transparent risk assessment needs to be conducted. The new risk assessment must take into account all the data on the toxicity of glyphosate and its commercial formulations, including data generated by independent scientists and published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, as well as the industry-sponsored studies.

M Antoniou1, MEM Habib2, CV Howard3, RC Jennings4, C Leifert5, RO Nodari6, CJ Robinson7* and J Fagan8*

1Head, Gene Expression and Therapy Group, Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, King’s College London School of Medicine, UK 2Professor of entomology, former director, Institute of Biology, UNICAMP, and former provost of extension and community affairs, UNICAMP, São Paulo, Brazil 3Professor, Centre for Molecular Biosciences, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland,4Affiliated research scholar, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, UK 5Research development professor for ecological agriculture at the University of Newcastle, UK. Interests: director and trustee of the Stockbridge Technology Centre Ltd (STC), UK 6Professor, Center for Agricultural Sciences (department of plant science), Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil 7Research director, Earth Open Source, London, UK. Interests: editor, GM Watch, UK 8Director, Earth Open Source. Interests: employed at a GMO testing and certification company 

Read Full Post »

UCLA researchers uncover further proof of a link between Pesticides and Fungicide Exposure and Parkinson’s Disease Onset

Pesticides and Parkinson’s: UCLA researchers uncover further proof of a link. Study suggests potential new target in fight against debilitating disease By Mark Wheeler January 03, 2013

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/pesticides-and-parkinson-s-more-242364.aspx

For several years, neurologists at UCLA have been building a case that a link exists between pesticides and Parkinson’s disease. To date, paraquat, maneb and ziram — common chemicals sprayed in California’s Central Valley and elsewhere — have been tied to increases in the disease, not only among farmworkers but in individuals who simply lived or worked near fields and likely inhaled drifting particles

Read Full Post »