Belief in fake causes of cancer is rife

London: Mistaken belief in mythical causes of cancer is rife, according to new research from UCL and the University of Leeds. The findings, published today in the European Journal of Cancer, show that out of 1,330 people in England more than 40% wrongly thought that stress (43%) and food additives (42%) caused cancer. A third incorrectly believed that electromagnetic frequencies (35%) and eating GM food (34%) were risk factors, while 19% thought microwave ovens and 15% said drinking from plastic bottles caused cancer despite a lack of good scientific evidence.

Noise brings the heart out of the rhythm

Mainz: As the level of noise increases, the incidence of atrial fibrillation increases dramatically. Scientists from the Department of Cardiology at the Mainz University Medical Center were able to prove this with data from the Gutenberg Health Study. They found that the incidence of atrial fibrillation in subjects with extreme noise annoyance reactions increases to 23 percent, compared to just 15 percent without this environmental impact. Looking at the proportion of sources of extreme noise pollution, aircraft noise came first with 84 percent during the day and 69 percent during sleep. These results from the Gutenberg Health Study were published today in the current issue of the renowned "International Journal of Cardiology".

Prenatal exposure to endocrine disruptors and behavioral problems in children

INSERM: An epidemiological study carried out by Inserm on families from the EDEN cohort (500 boys born between 2003 and 2006 and their mothers) shows that exposure during pregnancy to certain phenols and phthalates is associated with behavioral problems in boys between 3 and 5 years of age. The most worrying compounds in this respect are bisphenol A, triclosan and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). The results of this study have recently been published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Researchers conduct first blind taste test of recycled wastewater

Riverside: Here’s a blind test taste like Pepsi never imagined. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, recently published a study of recycled wastewater that did not focus on its safety-which has long been established-but rather its taste. After years of drought, the notion of drinking recycled wastewater has gained momentum in California. Thoughts turned to all the water being discarded—to supplementing “conventional” groundwater with recycled water. But consumers were quick to flag the euphemism of “recycled.” Some have even branded the technology “toilet to tap.”

Eating out increases exposure to harmful phthalates

Berkeley: A new study has found that people who ate more fast food were exposed to higher levels of potentially harmful chemicals known as phthalates than people who ate more home-cooked meals.
Lead author Julia Varshavsky, who did the research while she was a grad student at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and is now a post doc in reproductive health and the environment at UCSF, studied data from the 10,253 participants in a national survey. They were asked to recall what they ate and where their food came from in the previous 24 hours. The researchers analyzed the links between what people ate and the levels of phthalate breakdown products found in their urine.

Greater Exposure to Flame Retardants Might Be Associated with Thyroid Cancer

Duke: Higher exposure to chemicals used to reduce the flammability of furniture, carpets, electronics and other household items appears to be associated with papillary thyroid cancer, according to study conducted by the Duke Cancer Institute and the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. Reporting April 1 at the ENDO 2017 meeting in Orlando, the Duke research team found a significant association between higher levels of certain flame retardants in household dust and being a patient with papillary thyroid cancer, which is increasing at the fastest rate of any cancer in the United States.

Fracking: what impact on water?

Duke: Fracking has not contaminated groundwater in northwestern West Virginia, but accidental spills of fracking wastewater may pose a threat to surface water in the region, according to a new study led by scientists at Duke University. “Based on consistent evidence from comprehensive testing, we found no indication of groundwater contamination over the three-year course of our study,” said Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. ”However, we did find that spill water associated with fracked wells and their wastewater has an impact on the quality of streams in areas of intense shale gas development.”
“The bottom-line assessment,” he said, “is that groundwater is so far not being impacted, but surface water is more readily contaminated because of the frequency of spills.”

Mercury in Fish, Seafood May Be Linked to Increased ALS Risk

Dartmouth: There is an important association between eating fish and seafood with higher levels of mercury and being at a higher risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a preliminary study released this week. Results of the study will be shared during the 69th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, which will be held in Boston April 22 to 28, 2017. “For most people, eating fish is part of a healthy diet,” said study author Elijah Stommel, MD, PhD, a professor of neurology at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, a neurologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “But questions remain about the possible impact of mercury in fish.”

Why Artificial Turf May Truly Be Bad For Kids

Georgia: If you want to get a soccer mom’s attention, bring up the subject of artificial turf, the preferred playing surface for children from pre-K to college – or at least preferred by school boards and parks and recreation departments. From concerns about concussions to cancer, parents have become alarmed by reports in the media of increased injuries and illnesses. And there is the further question of who is responsible for assuring the safety of these fields: the Environmental Protection Agency? The Centers for Disease Control? The Consumer Product Safety Commission?

Nanoparticles found in dozens of products can be inhaled, absorbed through the skin and ingested.

Georgia: Silently helping our clothes resist stains, allowing spray-on sunscreen to more easily protect our skin and enhancing paints, coatings and plastics. Nanoparticles have even made their way into our food, including powdered sugar on pastries, chewing gum and other products. Christa Wright, assistant professor of environmental health in the Georgia State School of Public Health, researches the potential health impacts of nanoparticles, which can also be found in such everyday items as cosmetics, the toner in photocopiers and artificial turf.

Extreme temperatures may increase risk for low birth weight at term, study suggests

NIH: Extreme hot or cold temperatures during pregnancy may increase the risk that infants born at term will be of low birth weight, according to a study of U.S. women by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. The study was published in Environmental Research. The authors found that exposure to atypically cold temperature during the entire pregnancy, or just during the second trimester and third trimester, increased the risk for low birth weight. Exposure to atypically hot temperatures during the whole pregnancy, or during the third trimester, also increased this risk. The odds for low term birth weight were highest when the whole pregnancy was exposed to extreme temperatures.

Exposure to certain insecticides linked to childhood behavioural difficulties

BMJ: Exposure to a particular group of chemicals widely used in pest control for people, pets, and crops, may be linked to behavioural difficulties in 6 year olds, suggests research published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine. Pyrethroids are synthetic chemicals which are found in a range of products, including treatments for head lice, scabies, and fleas, and some mosquito repellants. They are a safer alternative to organophosphates. But like many classes of insecticides, they work by damaging nerves, and concerns have recently been raised about the potential impact of children’s exposure to them.

Globe-trotting pollutants raise some cancer risks four times higher than predicted

Oregon: A new way of looking at how pollutants ride through the atmosphere has quadrupled the estimate of global lung cancer risk from a pollutant caused by combustion, to a level that is now double the allowable limit recommended by the World Health Organization. The findings, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition online, showed that tiny floating particles can grow semi-solid around pollutants, allowing them to last longer and travel much farther than what previous global climate models predicted.

NYC Toddlers Exposed to Potentially Harmful Flame-Retardants

Columbia: Researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) within the Mailman School of Public Health report evidence of potentially harmful flame-retardants on the hands and in the homes of 100 percent of a sample of New York City mothers and toddlers. The study also found that, on average, toddlers in New York City had higher levels of common flame-retardants on their hands compared to their mothers.

Millennials Are Helping Make Cities Safe for Walking and Biking

Columbia: There’s nothing controversial about physical activity: everyone agrees it’s an essential part of health. Yet fewer than half of Americans meet the Surgeon General’s minimum standard for exercise: 30 minutes, five times a week. How come? It’s not laziness. Many public health experts agree that our built environment has engineered us out of active living: Absent adequate sidewalks and well-designed bike lanes, we’re a lot less likely to take a walk or get on our bikes. In a recent talk, Lawrence Brown, professor of Health Policy and Management, looked at some of the obstacles and incentives cities encounter as they attempt to remake their streets to support physical activity. In 2002, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded grants to 25 U.S. cities to promote active living through changes to the built environment. They asked Brown to evaluate progress by surveying key players in four of the communities. He is now writing up the findings for a book.

How solvents affect the skin

Lund: Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a method that makes it possible to see how individual molecules from solvents in skin creams, medicated ointments and cleaning products affect and interact with the skin’s own molecules. In the study, the researchers have examined how molecules added to the skin through various liquids and creams affect the skin, and how the same molecules are affected by being inside the skin.

Scientists Are Building a Drone to Protect Us from Air Pollution

Columbia: Since joining the Mailman School this fall as Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Markus Hilpert has already accomplished an impressive feat: his research team is the first approved by Columbia University to use unmanned aerial vehicles—a.k.a. drones—for scientific research in the U.S. Hilpert and collaborators at the School of Engineering and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are building a research platform for a remote control multirotor helicopter to measure pollution spewing from industrial smokestacks. Once complete, the drone will ascend up to 400 feet to collect samples for later analysis in a lab.

Researcher traces molecular association between BPA exposure and atherosclerosis

Lexington: An array of scientific evidence demonstrates a correlation between diets high in fat and cholesterol content and blockages in the arteries, which lead to cardiovascular disease (CVD). But a lesser-known risk factor for CVD is exposure to the chemical compound biphenyl A, or BPA, a base component of consumer plastic products such as water bottles. A fundamental and ubiquitous commodity in modern life, plastics are inexpensive to produce, with more than 300 million tons processed in 2010.  The World Economic Forum warns the amount of plastic in the world’s oceans will exceed the amount of fish, in terms of weight, by 2050 at the current rate of production.

Study Links Extreme Heat to Increased Hay Fever in U.S. Adults

Maryland: Hay fever, or seasonal allergic rhinitis, affects 17.6 million adults in the United States and results in $11.2 billion in related medical expenses. A new multi-institutional study led by researchers from the University of Maryland's School of Public Health and College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences shows that exposure to more frequent “extreme heat events” increases the prevalence of hay fever among US adults.
“It is well established that extreme heat events are on the rise, and this trend is projected to continue in response to changing climate,” explained Amir Sapkota,PhD, associate professor in the School of Public Health’s Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and senior author of the study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in Practice. “Our study is the first to provide evidence of how such increases in extreme heat events contribute to allergic diseases such as hay fever at a national level.”

Why transport projects aren’t as good for your health as they could be

TheConversation: Large transport infrastructure projects, which can cost billions of dollars, are major drivers of the economy, and political flagships. They have significant impacts on health and wellbeing. Yet our research finds these impacts are not as well considered in the project assessment phase as they should be. A recent Lancet series is the culmination of knowledge linking transport and health. For example, it recommends reducing reliance on private cars and enhancing opportunities for walking, cycling and public transport use. It argues this will improve health both by reducing air and noise pollution, and by promoting physical activity, community connectedness and better access to goods and services, particularly for the socio-economically disadvantaged.