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Collaborative on Health and the Environment
eNewsletter -- August 2008
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Contents
CHE Partnership and Working Group Calls
Working and Regional Group Updates
Tools and Announcements
August Science News
Dear CHE Partners:

Three major environmental health developments have surfaced in the United States over the past month. The first is that the international controversy about health concerns related to cell phone use has finally broken into the mainstream U.S. media. The second is that the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, a major bill with provisions to protect children from phthalates and other contaminants, has passed Congress and is expected to be signed by the President. The third is that the President's Cancer Panel, an important supervisory entitity of the National Cancer Institute, will focus this year on cancer and the environment.

Many CHE Partners contributed to progress on the science on cell phones and EMF exposure, including:
  •     Cindy Sage, initiator and co-author of the BioInitiative Report;
  •     Louis Slesin, Editor of Microwave News;
  •     Nancy Evans of the Breast Cancer Fund;
  •     David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., a leading French scientist and author; and
  •     Devra Davis, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute  
It was Devra's boss, Ron Herberman, M.D., Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, whose precautionary warning to his staff about cell phone use triggered the major U.S. publicity.

The bill to protect children from phthalates in toys was a legislative landmark for a precautionary approach to environmental health. Many CHE Partners worked on the science that informed the debate over this legislation.

The President's Cancer Panel's year-long hearings on cancer and the environment are an important opportunity for CHE Partners who care about comprehensive cancer prevention to make their views known. Each of the panel's four hearings will focus on a different aspect of exposure to environmental cancer contributors. The Panel will report to the next President on its views on environmental cancer prevention priorities for the National Cancer Institute and other federal agencies.

The first hearing, to be held Sept. 16th in New Brunswick, New Jersey, will center on industrial and manufacturing exposures. Subsequent meetings will address agriculture, air and water pollution, EMF and more. The panel's report will advise the next President of the United States about the direction of the National Cancer Institute and the reauthorization of the War on Cancer legislation.

CHE is organizing a series of CHE Cancer teleconferences to highlight and complement the President's Cancer Panel hearings. The first call, on Thursday, Sept. 4, at 10 AM Pacific/ 1 PM Eastern, will cover the forthcoming draft CHE Cancer Consensus Statement and the future of cancer prevention. You can find more information about the panel, the meetings, and the CHE Cancer teleconferences at CHE's President's Cancer Panel resource page, http://www.healthandenvironment.org/articles/doc/4199.

CHE will also offer a CHE Partnership Call this fall exploring the scientific and policy significance of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, pioneering legislation taking a precautionary approach to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. As you know, CHE does not take positions on policy. But when events warrant, we do explore the implications of new approaches to protecting public health.

Progress in environmental health sciences and precautionary approaches to protecting our health can be painfully slow. These developments remind us that we are making progress. Our work makes a difference.

Thanks for being part of CHE.

Michael Lerner
Founding CHE Partner

CHE Partnership and Working Group Calls



The Future of Cancer: Primary Prevention, the President's Cancer Panel, and the New CHE Cancer Consensus Statement
Hosted by the CHE Cancer Working Group

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 at 10 AM Pacific / 1 PM Eastern

What would a science-based cancer prevention agenda look like?

As the President's Cancer Panel begins its series of four hearings on different aspects of cancer and the environment, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE), in collaboration with Organizational Partners the Breast Cancer Fund and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, is taking action to make sure the panel gets the message: Preventing cancer requires more than encouraging people to quit smoking.

Please join us on Thursday, Sept. 4 at 10 AM Pacific/ 1 PM Eastern for a teleconference about the President's Cancer Panel, the new CHE Cancer Consensus Statement, and the future of cancer prevention in the United States and around the world. All CHE Partners (and non-Partners too!) are invited to attend this call, which will be hosted by the CHE Cancer Working Group.

Preventing cancer means acknowledging that cancer is caused by the interaction of many different factors, including genetics, lifestyle choices, and exposures to chemical carcinogens and other environmental agents. Preventing cancer means looking at how cancer-contributing chemicals get into our air, water, food, consumer products and occupational environments in the first place. Preventing cancer begins with getting informed. We hope you will join us.

RSVP for "The Future of Cancer"

Learn more about the President's Cancer Panel

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Resources from recent CHE Partnership calls
If you missed any of the following CHE Partnership Calls, you may listen to MP3 recordings and find supporting materials at the following links:
And of course, you can always explore our archived resources from past Partnership calls.
CHE Working and Regional Group Updates



CHE EMF
~ coordinated by Nancy Evans, Health Science Consultant, Breast Cancer Fund and Cindy Sage, Sage Associates Environmental Consultants. Nancy can be reached at: nancywrite@comcast.net and Cindy can be reached at: sage@silcom.com

Shattering the silence about possible health risks from cell phones, the U.S. media shot from 0 to 900 articles in 24 hours after the director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) sent a cautionary advisory to faculty and staff. UPCI Director Dr. Ronald Herberman authorized the advisory based on an Appeal for caution issued in June by an international panel of experts. The panel included UPCI colleagues Drs. Devra Davis and David Servan-Schreiber. Both the Appeal and the UPCI announcement emphasized protecting children because their heads are smaller, their skulls thinner, and their brains are still developing and therefore more vulnerable to any environmental exposure.

Most print media outlets ran some version of the Associated Press story, which contained misinformation and distorted reporting. Louis Slesin, editor of Microwave News offers excellent analysis of the AP reporting in his News & Comment for July 25 at www.microwavenews.com.

EMF News Resources
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CHE LDDI
~ coordinated by Elise Miller, emiller@iceh.org

Policy Training
An invitational policy training for key leaders in the learning and developmental disabilities sector will be held in Baltimore in January 2009. Leading environmental health advocates will also be invited to work with the LDD leaders on state and national policy initiatives.

Biomonitoring initiative
LDDI members and others in the environmental health field are exploring an opportunity to conduct a biomonitoring project that would include a mix of LDD leaders and self-advocates in the study. Assuming funding comes through, participants and the list of chemicals tested will be finalized this fall. The intention is to highlight concerns about the possible health implications of neurotoxicants.

Other updates
Donna Ferullo has joined the Austism Society of America as the new director of their Environmental Health Project. She is based in Boston and can be reached at: dferullo@autism-society.org

Laura Abulafia, director of the American Association on Intellectual Disabilities' Environmental Health Initiative, is now based in Los Angeles and can be reached directly now at: 310-451-7543. She still has the same e-mail address - laura@aaidd.org.

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CHE Washington
~ coordinated by Aimee Boulanger, aboulanger@iceh.org

Environmental Health and the Spokane River
CHE-WA co-hosted a workshop June 18th with Spokane-based nonprofit The Lands Council on environmental toxics of concern to human health detected in Spokane River sediments. The Spokane River is one of the three most contaminated waterways in the state; of particular concerns are high levels of PCBs, PBDE flame retardants (the highest levels so far detected in the state), and lead from upstream mining activity in Idaho. Participants in the workshop included even numbers of government agency staff, local citizens' organizations, and members of the public.

Together we discussed the river's implications for human health, how best to communicate potential risks to the public, the potential sources of the pollution, and how to improve the quality of the river and the health of those who use it most. In early August, we held a follow-up conference call to talk about new research being conducted and future fish consumption advisories. Doing this work with The Lands Council has also highlighted new opportunities for those in the urban Puget Sound region and those on the more rural east side of the state to work together on common issues of concern.

CHE-NW science-based conference call
On July 15th, CHE-WA members joined CHE-Alaska in a collaborative CHE-NW science presentation conference call. We welcomed Dr. Shanna Swan and Dr. Linda Giudice speaking on human fertility and the environment. Both gave excellent presentations on the topic, and we appreciated the focus on both male and female fertility. For more information, visit www.washington.chenw.org.

Children's Environmental Health working group
Our CHE-WA working group on children's environmental health continues to be busy planning for a conference on children's environmental health to be held in Seattle in fall 2009. Tentative plans for the conference involve a day of sessions looking at the latest science linking environmental factors with children's disease and disability, a day focused on policy to protect children's health, and also a health "fair" day of sessions and information specifically for parents and caregivers.

Puget Sound networking meeting
Our next in-person CHE-WA meeting will be held in mid-September 2008. This meeting will provide CHE-WA members across the region a chance to update one another on environmental health education programs, latest research, policy efforts, and how environmental health might be profiled in the upcoming state legislature.


Tools, Announcements and Resources


Toxics, Public Health & the Environment 2008 Conference
September 12, 2008
Mezzanine Level
World Trade Center
Portland, Oregon

You are invited to participate in the 2008 Conference on Toxics, Public Health & the Environment. The conference, sponsored by the Environmental Law Education Center brings together the Region's topic experts on Toxics programs, policies, laws, industry and municipality responses, science & technical data. Speakers will address the latest information, proposed policies and legislation and cutting edge approaches to addressing toxic exposure. This conference should be attended by anyone working on toxics, public health & the environment including: municipalities, industries, citizen organizations, state and federal regulators, scientists, attorneys, NPDES Permittees and others. Please join us for this timely and important conference. See website for registration details.
 
Environmental Law Education Center
Portland, Oregon
Website: http://www.elecenter.com/
Email: info@elecenter.com
Phone: 503-282-5220
Fax: 503-282-8520

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LDDI Invites Policy Statement Sign-Ons
The Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI), a national working group of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, invites you to sign on to our newly drafted policy consensus statement on environmental agents associated with neurodevelopmental disorders (see URL below). This policy statement is based on the scientific consensus statement that LDDI published earlier this year and details specific policy initiatives to be taken to protect children from exposures that may contribute to learning and developmental disabilities and autism.

Everyone is encouraged to sign on to the statement no later than Monday, September 1st. Please forward this to other colleagues you know in the field. We will need your name, credentials and affiliation (note that we will not take those without a stated affiliation). The policy statement, the scientific statement, and the signature form for the policy statement are all available on the LDDI website.

Visit the LDDI website to learn more about the policy statement

If you have any questions regarding the statement, please contact Steve Gilbert, PhD, DABT (primary author) at sgilbert@innd.org or Nancy Snow, MS at nsnow@iceh.org.

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Kresge Foundation Announces New Grantmaking Programs in Health and Environment
Deadline: Open

The Kresge Foundation has announced two new comprehensive grantmaking programs: the Health Program and the Environment Program.

Historically, the foundation has worked in six fields of interest: health, the environment, arts and culture, education, human services, and community development. With the announcement of  these two new programs in health and the environment, the foundation is expanding its commitment and narrowing its focus in  each field for maximum long-term impact in its strategic areas  of interest.

Both the Health and Environment Programs address health and environment-related social issues, particularly those affecting minority, low-income, and other underserved communities. The Environment Program seeks to have tangible effects on the practices and policies associated with climate change and environmental sustainability. The programs are in the development stage; program teams will be refining their grantmaking focus and strategy over the next year.

For both programs, applicants must be 501(c)(3) organizations or government entities that have financial statements prepared and certified by a certified public accountant in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or Government Accounting Standards. Private foundations, individuals, and elementary and secondary schools are ineligible and may not apply.

To learn more about each program, their goals, eligibility criteria, and processes for submission of project ideas, visit the Health Program and Environment Program sections of the Kresge Web site.

RFP Link

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2008 Request for Proposals - US EPA Region 9, Indoor Air Program
Indoor Environments: Reducing Public Exposure to Indoor Pollutants
PROPOSALS MUST BE RECEIVED BY EPA REGION 9 ) by WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

Read the full text announcement with project descriptions, application/submission information, and eligibility information.

Proposals will be accepted for projects addressing three indoor air priority areas:

(1) Improving Indoor Air Quality in Schools
(2) Reduce Exposure to Indoor Asthma Triggers in Homes
(3) Indoor Asthma Trigger Management Education in Schools

This funding opportunity will also be posted on www.grants.gov. The Funding Opportunity Number is: EPA-R9-AIR6-08-005

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Clearinghouse of Training Resources
CHE-WA is pleased to provide a new service to our members: a searchable clearinghouse of environmental health training resources available in Washington State. This clearinghouse was supported by a grant from the Washington Tracking Network, a CDC-funded program working to improve the availability and interpretation of environmental public-health information. This clearinghouse includes not only in-person and online trainings, but also materials from presentations to posters that our members may want to use when conducting their own trainings. Users can search by the type of resource, the target audience and/or the location of the resource.

To access the clearinghouse, use the "Resources" navigation tab at the top of any CHE-WA website page or click the link below.
Washington State Environmental Health Training Resources Clearinghouse
 
Please contact Nancy Snow, our Research and Communications Manager, if you would like us to be aware of any environmental health training materials and events that you have available.

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2nd Annual NIH Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation: Building Research Capacity to Bridge the Gap From Science to Service
The goal of this conference is for the research community to exchange ideas, explore contemporary topics and identify concepts, methods and strategies to build research and organizational capacity for dissemination and implementation science. Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for Think Tanks and abstracts for oral presentations/panels, and posters. More about the conference

Applicants are encouraged to refer to the Trans-NIH Program Announcement, Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health, for the range of
scientific topics that will be given priority for presentation at theconference. Program announcement

All innovative and stimulating topics relevant to dissemination and implementation research will be considered for oral/poster presentations and think tanks.

The conference is scheduled for January 28-29, 2009 at the Natcher Conference Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

Questions? Please contact:

Dr. Helen Meissner
Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
National Institutes of Health
301-594-2105
August Environmental Health Science News
Articles gleaned from Environmental Health News



Study looks at health of farmworkers
The life of farmworkers is physically demanding and exposes them to dust and other environmental hazards. Their health is key to helping provide a safe and secure domestic food supply, says new research.
Fresno Bee, California
August 13, 2008

More evidence of vitamin D benefits
Adults with low blood levels of vitamin D face a 26 per cent higher risk of death than those with adequate levels of the sunshine vitamin, say U.S. researchers.
Toronto Star, Ontario
August 13, 2008

Allergists warn global warming will make pollen more abundant, potent
Just in time for ragweed's arrival, allergists are warning that global warming is fueling more abundant and potent pollen and otherwise threatening easy breathing.
Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
August 13, 2008

Industry fights effort to ban baby product chemical
State officials and scientists are criticizing a chemical-industry campaign, saying its ads are misleading and designed to scare consumers into keeping products that could harm children on the market.
Orange County Register, California
August 10, 2008

Even viruses get sick
Even viruses can go down with a viral infection, French scientists reported on Wednesday, in a discovery that may help explain how they swap genes and evolve so rapidly.
Reuters
August 8, 2008

Bug attacks disease-causing chemicals
An Australian scientist has discovered a soil bacterium that will destroy some of the worst cancer-causing substances in the polluted modern urban environment.
Australian Associated Press
August 4, 2008

Worker safety
A nine-word sentence written in federal bureaucratese could fundamentally change the way the government determines workplace safety. The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed allowing worker exposure to higher levels of chemicals, for shorter periods of time.
Living On Earth
August 3, 2008


New Partners
We welcome the many new CHE Partners who have joined since the July newsletter. To see the list of new CHE Partners and the growing list of all CHE Partners, please visit http://www.healthandenvironment.org/base/partners-recent.
Thank you for taking the time to read the latest about CHE. As always, we welcome your questions and suggestions. Please direct comments to Eleni Sotos, CHE Program Director, at Eleni@HealthandEnvironment.org.


Best wishes,

Eleni Sotos, MA, Program Director
Shelby Gonzalez, Administrative Coordinator
Julia Varshavsky, Program Associate
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