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Distinguishing chemical mixtures in terms of the similarity vs. dissimilarity of their components' mechanisms or modes of action (MOAs) is perceived as a key issue in mixture risk assessment. However, [...]

Low-dose extrapolation model selection for evaluating the health effects of environmental pollutants is a key component of the risk assessment process. At a workshop held in Baltimore, Maryland, on 23-24 [...]

BACKGROUND: The Love Canal is a rectangular 16-acre, 10-ft deep chemical waste landfill situated in a residential neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York. This seriously contaminated site first came to [...]

BACKGROUND: Ozone is a potent photochemical oxidant that produces transient, reversible decrements in the lung function of acutely exposed individuals. A recent study provided previously unavailable clinical data for 30 [...]

OBJECTIVE: Pentachlorophenol, a fungicide widely used as a wood preservative, was classified in 1999 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a possible human carcinogen. We reviewed currently [...]

BACKGROUND: Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a long history of using risk-based approaches for regulatory purposes, pollutant limits for pathogens in biosolids are not currently based on quantitative [...]

Background: Environmental heat exposure is a public health concern. The impacts of environmental heat on mortality and morbidity at the population scale are well documented, but little is known about specific exposures that individuals experience. Objectives: The first objective of this work was to catalyze discussion of the role of personal heat exposure information in research and risk assessment. The second objective was to provide guidance regarding the operationalization of personal heat exposure research methods. DISCUSSION: We define personal heat exposure as realized contact between a person and an indoor or outdoor environment that poses a risk of increases in body core temperature and/or perceived discomfort. Personal heat exposure can be measured directly with wearable monitors or estimated indirectly through the combination of time-activity and meteorological data sets. Complementary information to understand individual-scale drivers of behavior, susceptibility, and health and comfort outcomes can be collected from additional monitors, surveys, interviews, ethnographic approaches, and additional social and health data sets. Personal exposure research can help reveal the extent of exposure misclassification that occurs when individual exposure to heat is estimated using ambient temperature measured at fixed sites and can provide insights for epidemiological risk assessment concerning extreme heat. CONCLUSIONS: Personal heat exposure research provides more valid and precise insights into how often people encounter heat conditions and when, where, to whom, and why these encounters occur. Published literature on personal heat exposure is limited to date, but existing studies point to opportunities to inform public health practice regarding extreme heat, particularly where fine-scale precision is needed to reduce health consequences of heat exposure. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP556, Introduction Environmental heat is a natural and anthropogenically enhanced hazard with well-documented adverse impacts on human health and well-being (Gasparrini et al. 2015; Parsons 2014). Despite decades of physiological, epidemiological, [...]

The coastal zone of the Pacific Rim is home for about one-third of the world's population. Disproportionate growth of Far Eastern economies has produced a disproportionate share of related environmental difficulties. As the region searches for acceptable compromises between growth and environmental quality, its influence on global environmental health is certain to increase. Consequences of global environmental change such as habitat alteration, storms, and sea-level rise will be particularly acute among Pacific Rim nations. Adverse health effects from arsenic exposure in Pacific Rim nations have been used to justify drinking water standards in the United States and elsewhere. As global manufacturing in the Pacific Rim increases, the centroid of global air quality and waste management issues will shift further toward Far Eastern nations. The Eleventh International Conference of the Pacific Basin Consortium (PBC) was held in September 2005 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The purpose of the conference was to bring together individuals to discuss regional challenges to sustainable growth. The historic emphasis of the conference on hazardous wastes in relation to human health makes the PBC an ideal forum for discussing technical aspects of sustainable economic growth in the Pacific region. That role is reflected in the 2005 PBC conference themes, which included management of arsenic in potable waters, air quality, climate change, pesticides, mercury, and electronics industry waste--each with emphasis on relationships to human health. Arsenic management exemplifies the manner in which the PBC can focus interdisciplinary discussion in a single technical area. The conference program provided talks on arsenic toxicology, treatment technologies, management of arsenic-bearing residuals from water treatment, and the probable societal costs and benefits of arsenic management. Key words: arsenic, electronics waste, environmental sustainability, global climate change, hazardous waste, human health, Pacific basin, persistent organic pollutants, pesticides. Environ Health Perspect 115:1770-1775 (2007). doi:10.1289/ehp.9620 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 18 October 2007], Mission of the Pacific Basin Consortium About 2 billion people live in nations on the Pacific Rim. These include the most populous countries in the world as well as some [...]

In this report we present the findings from a nanotoxicology workshop held 6-7 April 2006 at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. Over 2 days, 26 scientists from government, academia, industry, and nonprofit organizations addressed two specific questions: what information is needed to understand the human health impact of engineered nanoparticles and how is this information best obtained? To assess hazards of nanoparticles in the near-term, most participants noted the need to use existing in vivo toxicologic tests because of their greater familiarity and interpretability. For all types of toxicology tests, the best measures of nanoparticle dose need to be determined. Most participants agreed that a standard set of nanoparticles should be validated by laboratories worldwide and made available for benchmarking tests of other newly created nanoparticles. The group concluded that a battery of tests should be developed to uncover particularly hazardous properties. Given the large number of diverse materials, most participants favored a tiered approach. Over the long term, research aimed at developing a mechanistic understanding of the numerous characteristics that influence nanoparticle toxicity was deemed essential. Predicting the potential toxicity of emerging nanoparticles will require hypothesis-driven research that elucidates how physicochemical parameters influence toxic effects on biological systems. Research needs should be determined in the context of the current availability of testing methods for nanoscale particles. Finally, the group identified general policy and strategic opportunities to accelerate the development and implementation of testing protocols and ensure that the information generated is translated effectively for all stakeholders. Key words: nanomaterials, nanoparticle, nanotechnology, nanotoxicology, particle toxicology. Environ Health Perspect 115:1664-1659 (2007). doi:10.1289/ehp.10327 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 14 August 2007], Close to 400 manufacturer-identified nanotechnology-based consumer products are now on the market (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars 2007). Using increasingly sophisticated levels of control over the assembly of atoms [...]

BACKGROUND: Biomarkers are considered the method of choice for determining exposure to environmental contaminants and relating such exposures to health outcomes. However, the association between many biomarkers and outcome is [...]

Differential exposure to mixtures of environmental agents, including biological, chemical, physical, and psychosocial stressors, can contribute to increased vulnerability of human populations and ecologic systems. Cumulative risk assessment is a [...]

BACKGROUND: The field of risk assessment has focused on protecting the health of individual people or populations of wildlife from single risks, mostly from chemical exposure. The U.S. Environmental Protection [...]

We present a phased approach for evaluating the effects of physical, biological, chemical, and psychosocial stressors that may act in combination. Although a phased concept is common to many risk-based [...]

Cumulative risk refers to the combined threats from exposure via all relevant routes to multiple stressors including biological, chemical, physical, and psychosocial entities. Cumulative risk assessment is a tool for [...]

Developmental neurotoxicity testing (DNT) is perceived by many stakeholders to be an area in critical need of alternatives to current animal testing protocols and guidelines. To address this need, the [...]

The toxic potency of ammonia is examined, with a focus on the possibility of reducing emergency planning zones around ammonia facilities. Topics discussed include odor and odor threshold, vapor density, acute toxic inhalation effects, the interaction between concentration and exposure duration to produce toxic effects, acceptable risk criteria, fatal exposure concentration, and irreversible injury concentration.

The US EPA has determined that any exposure to chloroform, occasionally found in drinking water, increases cancer risk for human beings. This finding is contested by the Chlorine Chemistry Council, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, and 11 water utility companies. This group is suing the EPA for failing to set appropriate chloroform standards.

Scientists have linked heat waves to adverse health effects and premature deaths. (1) Most studies of heat waves and health have been conducted in a single city or region, but [...]

In vitro systems to identify and characterize effects of endocrine-active chemicals (EACs) may reduce screening costs, testing time, and animal use while providing an experimental platform to characterize molecular and [...]

Is there anything quite like the smell of a chlorinated indoor pool? That smell, a quick olfactory clue that pool water has been sanitized for swimmers, also betokens the presence [...]

Bisphenol A (BPA), an industrial chemical used in a variety of consumer products, is ubiquitous in the modern environment, with residues found in the urine of an estimated 93% of [...]

As primary author and co-principal investigator of the 16 Cities Study (Jenkins et al. 1996), I was disappointed to read the article by Barnes et al. (2006). Their methodology, relying [...]