Researchers from UC Davis have found a closer link between bronchitis in infants and some gases and particles in air pollution, findings that bolster efforts in the Sacramento region to control emissions from vehicles and wood-burning stoves.
In one of the first studies to look at air pollution and infants, researchers said last week they found young lungs more vulnerable to little-studied components in air pollution called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. Such contaminants get into the air from coal burning, vehicle exhaust, wood-burning stoves and tobacco smoke, and from grilling food.
"Our work suggests that regulators consider efforts to curb PAHs as well," lead researcher Irva Hertz-Picciotto said in a statement.
More from the Sacramento Bee at http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/445116.html
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Global warming: it's not just the heat -- it's the humidity!
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON - With global warming, the world isn‘t just getting hotter — it‘s getting stickier, due to humidity. And people are to blame, according to a study based on computer models published Thursday.
"This humidity change is an important contribution to heat stress in humans as a result of global warming," said Nathan Gillett of the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, a co-author of the study.
Humidity increased over most of the globe, including the eastern United States, said study co-author Katharine Willett, a climate researcher at Yale University. However, a few regions, including the U.S. West, South Africa and parts of Australia were drier.
To show that this is man-made, Gillett ran computer models to simulate past climate conditions and studied what would happen to humidity if there were no man-made greenhouse gases. It didn‘t match reality.
Gillett‘s study followed another last month that used the same technique to show that moisture above the world‘s oceans increased and that it bore the "fingerprint" of being caused by man-made global warming.
"This story does now fit together; there are now no loose ends," said Ben Santer, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab and author of the September study on moisture above the oceans. "The message is pretty compelling that natural causes alone just can‘t cut it."
It will only feel worse in the future, Gillett said.
WASHINGTON - With global warming, the world isn‘t just getting hotter — it‘s getting stickier, due to humidity. And people are to blame, according to a study based on computer models published Thursday.
"This humidity change is an important contribution to heat stress in humans as a result of global warming," said Nathan Gillett of the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, a co-author of the study.
Humidity increased over most of the globe, including the eastern United States, said study co-author Katharine Willett, a climate researcher at Yale University. However, a few regions, including the U.S. West, South Africa and parts of Australia were drier.
To show that this is man-made, Gillett ran computer models to simulate past climate conditions and studied what would happen to humidity if there were no man-made greenhouse gases. It didn‘t match reality.
Gillett‘s study followed another last month that used the same technique to show that moisture above the world‘s oceans increased and that it bore the "fingerprint" of being caused by man-made global warming.
"This story does now fit together; there are now no loose ends," said Ben Santer, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab and author of the September study on moisture above the oceans. "The message is pretty compelling that natural causes alone just can‘t cut it."
It will only feel worse in the future, Gillett said.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Diesel pollution linked to heart disease
from today's Los Angeles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-heart26jul26,1,5279648.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=2&cset=true
Pollution-cholesterol link to heart disease seen The combination activates genes that can cause clogged arteries, UCLA researchers say.
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
July 26, 2007
Strengthening the link between air pollution and cardiovascular disease, new research suggests that people with high cholesterol are especially vulnerable to heart disease when they are exposed to diesel exhaust and other ultra-fine particles that are common pollutants in urban air.
Microscopic particles in diesel exhaust combine with cholesterol to activate genes that trigger hardening of the arteries, according to a study by UCLA scientists to be published today.
The full study is at
http://genomebiology.com/2007/8/7/R149
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-heart26jul26,1,5279648.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=2&cset=true
Pollution-cholesterol link to heart disease seen The combination activates genes that can cause clogged arteries, UCLA researchers say.
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
July 26, 2007
Strengthening the link between air pollution and cardiovascular disease, new research suggests that people with high cholesterol are especially vulnerable to heart disease when they are exposed to diesel exhaust and other ultra-fine particles that are common pollutants in urban air.
Microscopic particles in diesel exhaust combine with cholesterol to activate genes that trigger hardening of the arteries, according to a study by UCLA scientists to be published today.
The full study is at
http://genomebiology.com/2007/8/7/R149
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Smog worse for women than men?
Study: Ozone affects females more than men
HERSHEY, Pa., June 27 (UPI) -- A Penn State University College of Medicine study suggests air pollution has a more significant effect on the immune systems of females than of males.
Researchers studied mice exposed to ozone and then infected with pneumonia. Significantly more females than males died from the infection.
"If we could extrapolate what we found to the human population, it would mean women with lung infections may be at higher risk for negative outcomes if they are exposed to high amounts of air pollution, and in particular, ozone," said Professor Joanna Floros.
In the study, mice were exposed for three hours either to filtered air or to air with high levels of ozone. They then were infected with a pneumonia bacteria and monitored for two weeks.
The findings, among other things, showed mice exposed to ozone before infection died more often than did mice that had breathed only filtered air. And ozone exposure significantly decreased the likelihood of surviving pneumonia exposure for the female mice compared with males.
more at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070627-14250700-bc-us-ozone.xml
HERSHEY, Pa., June 27 (UPI) -- A Penn State University College of Medicine study suggests air pollution has a more significant effect on the immune systems of females than of males.
Researchers studied mice exposed to ozone and then infected with pneumonia. Significantly more females than males died from the infection.
"If we could extrapolate what we found to the human population, it would mean women with lung infections may be at higher risk for negative outcomes if they are exposed to high amounts of air pollution, and in particular, ozone," said Professor Joanna Floros.
In the study, mice were exposed for three hours either to filtered air or to air with high levels of ozone. They then were infected with a pneumonia bacteria and monitored for two weeks.
The findings, among other things, showed mice exposed to ozone before infection died more often than did mice that had breathed only filtered air. And ozone exposure significantly decreased the likelihood of surviving pneumonia exposure for the female mice compared with males.
more at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070627-14250700-bc-us-ozone.xml
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Large Antarctic Area Has Melted
from the New York Times:
While much of the world has warmed in a pattern that scientists have linked with near certainty to human activities, the frigid interior of Antarctica has resisted the trend.
NASA’s QuikScat satellite detected extensive areas of snowmelt, shown in yellow and red, in west Antarctica in January 2005.
Now, a new satellite analysis shows that at least once in the last several years, masses of unusually warm air pushed to within 310 miles of the South Pole and remained long enough to melt surface snow across a California-size expanse.
The warm spell, which occurred over one week in 2005, was detected by scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA and the University of Colorado, Boulder...
It is too soon to know whether the warm spell was a fluke or a portent.
While much of the world has warmed in a pattern that scientists have linked with near certainty to human activities, the frigid interior of Antarctica has resisted the trend.
NASA’s QuikScat satellite detected extensive areas of snowmelt, shown in yellow and red, in west Antarctica in January 2005.
Now, a new satellite analysis shows that at least once in the last several years, masses of unusually warm air pushed to within 310 miles of the South Pole and remained long enough to melt surface snow across a California-size expanse.
The warm spell, which occurred over one week in 2005, was detected by scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA and the University of Colorado, Boulder...
It is too soon to know whether the warm spell was a fluke or a portent.
Monday, April 30, 2007
More bad climate news: artic ice retreating more rapidly
Arctic Ice Retreating More Quickly Than Computer Models Project
April 30, 2007
BOULDER
Arctic sea ice is melting at a significantly faster rate than projected by even the most advanced computer models, a new study concludes. The research, by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), shows that the Arctic's ice cover is retreating more rapidly than estimated by any of the 18 computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in preparing its 2007 assessments.http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/seaice.shtml
April 30, 2007
BOULDER
Arctic sea ice is melting at a significantly faster rate than projected by even the most advanced computer models, a new study concludes. The research, by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), shows that the Arctic's ice cover is retreating more rapidly than estimated by any of the 18 computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in preparing its 2007 assessments.http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/seaice.shtml
Friday, April 06, 2007
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Medical experts urge tougher smog standards
April 4, 2007
The Honorable Stephen L. Johnson
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
Re: Broad Scientific Consensus to Lower Ozone Air Quality Standard and Close the Rounding Loophole
Dear Administrator Johnson:
We, the undersigned scientists, doctors, and public health professionals, are writing to express strong support for a revised primary eight-hour ozone ambient air quality standard at a level that reduces the health burden experienced by the nation's population as the result of exposure to ozone air pollution. The National Ambient Air Quality Standards must accurately reflect the state of the science and fulfill the Clean Air Act's mandate of protecting the public health, including those most vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, with an adequate margin of safety.
We note that the EPA's panel of expert science advisors, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), has reviewed the scientific evidence in the EPA Criteria Document and Staff Paper and has unanimously recommended that "the primary 8-hr NAAQS needs to be substantially reduced to protect human health, particularly in sensitive subpopulations" (CASAC letter to Administrator Johnson, dated October 24, 2006). We also agree with their unanimous conclusion that “there is no scientific justification for retaining the current primary 8-hour NAAQS.” Expert opinion, including recommendations by EPA staff scientists in the final Staff Paper, holds that retaining the current standard would put large numbers of people at risk for respiratory effects, asthma exacerbations, emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and mortality.
The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee has further recommended that EPA close the “rounding loophole” which allows areas with concentrations up to 0.085 ppm to escape regulation under the current standard of 0.08 ppm, a position that we fully endorse.
The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee has further unanimously recommended an eight-hour primary ozone standard in the range of 0.060 ppm to 0.070 ppm. The Committee specifically expressed its recommendation to the third decimal place to avoid the rounding loophole. This recommendation was unanimously reconfirmed in a March 5, 2007 meeting of the Committee.
Such strongly worded consensus statements are unusual for this panel of scientists, which is deliberately selected to represent a variety of viewpoints. These unambiguous, unanimous recommendations to your office reflect the strong body of scientific literature indicating significant harm to adults and children from exposures to ozone at and below the current standard of 0.08 ppm (effectively 0.085 due to rounding).
Controlled human exposure studies of healthy adults have repeatedly demonstrated reduced lung function, increased respiratory symptoms, changes in airway responsiveness, and increased airway inflammation following 6.6 hour exposures to 0.08 ppm ozone. Recent studies demonstrate that some of the people tested experience these adverse effects at concentrations of 0.06 ppm and below. Multiple field studies have shown adverse health effects of ozone exposures below 0.08 ppm on children, especially worsening of respiratory status in asthmatics. In addition, a series of recently published meta-analyses and primary national-scale epidemiological studies have documented consistent associations between premature mortality and ozone exposures below the current eight hour standard of 0.08 ppm.
In conclusion, we strongly and solemnly request that you follow the recommendations of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and reduce the eight-hour primary ozone standard to a range between 0.060 and 0.070 ppm.
Thank you for considering our views.
Sincerely,
Jonathan I. Levy, Sc.D.
Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Risk Assessment
Harvard School of Public Health
Kent Pinkerton, Ph.D.
Director of the Center for Health and the Environment
University of California at Davis
William Rom, M.D., M.P.H.
Sol and Judith Bergstein Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine
Director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
Additional signatories
Jerrold L. Abraham, M.D.
Professor of Pathology
Director of Environmental and Occupational Pathology
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Joseph Adams, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Greater Baltimore Medical Center
Towson, Maryland
Robert Aris, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ed Avol, M.S.Department of Preventive MedicineUniversity of Southern California
John M. Balbus, M.D., M.P.H.
Health Program Director
Environmental Defense
Adjunct Associate Professor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Rebecca Bascom, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Medicine
Penn State University, College of Medicine
William S. Beckett, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Environmental Medicine and Medicine
University of Rochester School of Medicine
Kenneth A. Berkowitz, M.D., F.C.C.P.
Associate Professor of Medicine
New York University Medical Center
Jonathan A. Bernstein, M.D., F.A.A.A.A.I.
Professor of Clinical Medicine
Division of Immunology/Allergy
University of Cincinnati
Kent J. Bransford, M.D.
Monterey Bay Oncology
Monterey, California
Katherine L. Bright, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
University of Kentucky
Arezoo Campbell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Western University of Health Sciences
Lung Chi Chen, M.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
David Chong, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
David C Christiani, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Professor of Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology
Harvard School of Public Health
Devra Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Professor of EpidemiologyDirector of the Center for Environmental Oncology
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
Dorr G. Dearborn, Ph.D., M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
Chairman of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Case Western Reserve University
George L. Delclos, M.D., M.P.H.
Director of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
University of Texas
Ralph J. Delfino, M.D., Ph.D.
Epidemiology Division
University of California at Irvine
Anthony J. DeLucia, Ph.D.
Professor of Surgery
Adjunct Professor of Environmental Health
East Tennessee State University
Richard D. Dey, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy
Director of the Center for Respiratory Biology and Lung Disease
West Virginia University
Jefferson H. Dickey, M.D.
Bodkhe Dickey Health Associates
Franklin Medical Center
Greenfield, Massachusetts
Douglas W. Dockery, Sc.D.
Professor of Environmental Epidemiology
Chair of the Department of Environmental Health
Harvard School of Public Health
Lisa Doggett, M.D., M.P.H.
Austin, Texas
Martin Donohoe, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Lecturer in the Department of Community Health
Portland State University
Harold J. Farber, M.D.
Specialist of Pediatric Pulmonology and Medical Director of the Pediatric Asthma Care Management Program at Kaiser Permanente
Vallejo, California
Karl Fields, M.D.
Professor of Family Medicine
University of North Carolina
Jonathan M. Fine, M.D.
Research Associate Professor
New York University School of Medicine
Henry Jay Forman, Ph.D.
Professor and Founding FacultySchool of Natural Sciences
University of California, Merced
Mark W. Frampton, M.D.
Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine
University of Rochester Medical Center
Erica Frank, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology
University of British Columbia
Michael Friedman, M.D.
Chennai, India
George Friedman-Jiménez, M.D.
Director, Bellevue/NYU Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic
New York University School of Medicine
John R. Froines, Ph.D.
Professor of Occupational and Environmental Health
University of California at Los Angeles
Frank Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine
Keck School of Medicine
University of Southern California
Lynn Goldman, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins University
Bob Gould, M.D.
Associate Pathologist at Kaiser Hospital
San Jose, California
Roni Grad, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Tee L. Guidotti, M.D., M.P.H.
Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
Director of the Division of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology (Dept. of Medicine)
The George Washington University Medical Center
David C. Hall, M.D.
Specialist in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Seattle, Washington
Winifred J. Hamilton, Ph.D., S.M.
Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Neurosurgery
Baylor College of Medicine
S. Katharine Hammond, Ph.D., C.I.H.
Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Sciences
University of California at Berkeley
Michael R. Harbut, M.D., M.P.H., F.C.C.P.
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Ira Helfand, M.D.
Specialist in Emergency Care
Leeds, Massachusetts
Howard Hu, M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D.
Chair and Professor of Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan
Kazuhiko Ito, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
Dan Jaffe, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Science
University of Washington-Bothell
Sarah Jordan, M.D., M.S.P.H.
Specialist in Family Care Medicine at the Siler City Community Health Center
Piedmont Health Services, Inc.
Siler City, North Carolina
Patrick L. Kinney, Sc.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University
Howard M. Kipen, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine
Chief of the Clinical Research and Occupational Medicine Division
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Jane Q. Koenig, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Health
University of Washington
Dana L. Kornfeld, M.D.
Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics
George Washington University Medical Center
Ana Krieger, M.D., F.C.C.P.
Assistant Professor
New York University School of Medicine
Nino Kuenzli, M.D., Ph.D.Associate Professor
Department of Preventative Medicine
University of Southern California Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology
Barcelona, Spain
Francine Laden, Sc.D.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Epidemiology
Harvard University
William Lambert, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Oregon Health and Science University
Joyce C. Lashof, M.D.
Professor Emerita of Public Health
University of California at Berkeley
Robert S. Lawrence, M.D.
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Health Policy
Director of the Center for a Livable Future
Johns Hopkins University
Eric Leibert, M.D.Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine New York University School of Medicine
George Leikauf, Ph. D.
Professor of Environmental Health and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of Cincinnati
Deborah Leiner, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chair of the North Carolina Pediatric Society Environmental Health Group
Greensboro, North Carolina
Louis S. Libby, M.D.
Specialist in Pulmonology and Chief Medical Officer at the Oregon Clinic
Portland, Oregon
Michael Lipsett, M.D., J.D.
Associate Clinical Professor
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
University of California, San Francisco
Alan H. Lockwood, M.D.
Professor of Neurology and Nuclear Medicine
Adjunct Professor of Communicative Disorders and Sciences
State University of New York at Buffalo
Frank Martiniuk, PhD
Research Associate Professor
New York University School of Medicine
Rob S. McConnell, M.D.
Professor of Preventive Medicine
Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Siobhan McNally, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Specialist in Pediatrics
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Co-chair of the Massachusetts Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Environmental Health
Peter H. Michelson, M.D.
Department of Pediatrics
Division of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine
Duke University
Jana Milford, Ph.D., J.D.
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
University of Colorado at Boulder
Albert Miller, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
New York Medical College
Director of Pulmonary Medicine
Caritas Health Care
Jamaica, NY
Shelly L. Miller, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Environmental Engineering Program in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Colorado at Boulder
John S. Munger, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology
New York University School of Medicine
Bonnie A. New, M.D., M.P.H.
Beacon Medical Management for Industry
Coordinator of Health Professionals for Clean Air
Houston, Texas
Anna Nolan, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care
New York University School of Medicine
George T. O’Connor, M.D., M.S.
Professor of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Marie S. O’Neill, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health
University of Michigan
Peter Orris, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor and Director, Occupational Health Services Institute
University of Illinois School of Public Health
Cindy L. Parker, M.D., M.P.H.
Instructor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins University
Jerome A. Paulson, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health
Co-Director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment
George Washington University
Jennifer L. Peel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences
Colorado State University
Arnold C.G. Platzker, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
Division of Pediatric Pulmonology
University of Southern California
Jenny E. Pompilio, M.D.
Practitioner of Internal Medicine
Hillsboro, Oregon
Joan Reibman, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine
New York University
Don Richardson, M.D.
Brevard, North Carolina
Beate Ritz, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Epidemiology, Environmental Health Sciences, and Neurology
Vice Chair of the Department of Epidemiology
University of California at Los Angeles
Jonathan Samet, M.D., M.S.
Professor and Chair of Epidemiology
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Brian S. Schwartz, M.D., M.S.
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology, and Medicine
Johns Hopkins University
Joel Schwartz, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Epidemiology
Harvard University
Katherine M. Shea, M.D., M.P.H.
Adjunct Professor of Maternal and Child Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dean Sheppard, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Director of the Lung Biology Center
University of California at San Francisco
Carl M. Shy, M.D.
Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Constantinos Sioutas, Sc.D.
Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Co-director of the Southern California Particle Center
University of Southern California
John D. Spengler, Ph.D.
Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation
Harvard University
Helen Suh, S.B., M.S., Sc.D.
Associate Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Exposure Assessment
Harvard University
Tim K. Takaro, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.
Associate Professor
Faculty of Health Sciences
Simon Fraser University
Duncan C. Thomas, Ph.D.
Director of the Biostatistics Division
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Southern California
Catherine Thomasson, M.D.
Practitioner of Internal Medicine
Center for Student Health and Counseling
Portland State University
George D. Thurston, Sc.D.
Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine
New York University
Doris Tse, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
Arthur Upton, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental and Community Medicine
Rutgers University
Judith A. Voynow, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Division of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine
Duke University
Bailus Walker Jr., Ph.D, M.P.H.
Professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Toxicology
Howard University
Virginia M. Weaver, M.D., M.P.H.
Associate Professor
Division of Occupational and Environmental Health
Johns Hopkins University
Ronald H. White, M.S.T.
Associate Scientist
Department of Epidemiology
Deputy Director of the Risk Sciences and Public Policy Institute
Johns Hopkins University
Michelle Wilhelm, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor In Residence
Department of Epidemiology
University of California at Los Angeles
Peter Wilk, M.D.
Specialist in Psychiatry
Sebago, Maine
Antonella Zanobetti, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Department of Environmental Health
Harvard University
Junfeng (Jim) Zhang, Ph.D.
Professor and Acting Chairman
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
The Honorable Stephen L. Johnson
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
Re: Broad Scientific Consensus to Lower Ozone Air Quality Standard and Close the Rounding Loophole
Dear Administrator Johnson:
We, the undersigned scientists, doctors, and public health professionals, are writing to express strong support for a revised primary eight-hour ozone ambient air quality standard at a level that reduces the health burden experienced by the nation's population as the result of exposure to ozone air pollution. The National Ambient Air Quality Standards must accurately reflect the state of the science and fulfill the Clean Air Act's mandate of protecting the public health, including those most vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, with an adequate margin of safety.
We note that the EPA's panel of expert science advisors, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), has reviewed the scientific evidence in the EPA Criteria Document and Staff Paper and has unanimously recommended that "the primary 8-hr NAAQS needs to be substantially reduced to protect human health, particularly in sensitive subpopulations" (CASAC letter to Administrator Johnson, dated October 24, 2006). We also agree with their unanimous conclusion that “there is no scientific justification for retaining the current primary 8-hour NAAQS.” Expert opinion, including recommendations by EPA staff scientists in the final Staff Paper, holds that retaining the current standard would put large numbers of people at risk for respiratory effects, asthma exacerbations, emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and mortality.
The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee has further recommended that EPA close the “rounding loophole” which allows areas with concentrations up to 0.085 ppm to escape regulation under the current standard of 0.08 ppm, a position that we fully endorse.
The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee has further unanimously recommended an eight-hour primary ozone standard in the range of 0.060 ppm to 0.070 ppm. The Committee specifically expressed its recommendation to the third decimal place to avoid the rounding loophole. This recommendation was unanimously reconfirmed in a March 5, 2007 meeting of the Committee.
Such strongly worded consensus statements are unusual for this panel of scientists, which is deliberately selected to represent a variety of viewpoints. These unambiguous, unanimous recommendations to your office reflect the strong body of scientific literature indicating significant harm to adults and children from exposures to ozone at and below the current standard of 0.08 ppm (effectively 0.085 due to rounding).
Controlled human exposure studies of healthy adults have repeatedly demonstrated reduced lung function, increased respiratory symptoms, changes in airway responsiveness, and increased airway inflammation following 6.6 hour exposures to 0.08 ppm ozone. Recent studies demonstrate that some of the people tested experience these adverse effects at concentrations of 0.06 ppm and below. Multiple field studies have shown adverse health effects of ozone exposures below 0.08 ppm on children, especially worsening of respiratory status in asthmatics. In addition, a series of recently published meta-analyses and primary national-scale epidemiological studies have documented consistent associations between premature mortality and ozone exposures below the current eight hour standard of 0.08 ppm.
In conclusion, we strongly and solemnly request that you follow the recommendations of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and reduce the eight-hour primary ozone standard to a range between 0.060 and 0.070 ppm.
Thank you for considering our views.
Sincerely,
Jonathan I. Levy, Sc.D.
Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Risk Assessment
Harvard School of Public Health
Kent Pinkerton, Ph.D.
Director of the Center for Health and the Environment
University of California at Davis
William Rom, M.D., M.P.H.
Sol and Judith Bergstein Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine
Director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
Additional signatories
Jerrold L. Abraham, M.D.
Professor of Pathology
Director of Environmental and Occupational Pathology
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Joseph Adams, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Greater Baltimore Medical Center
Towson, Maryland
Robert Aris, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ed Avol, M.S.Department of Preventive MedicineUniversity of Southern California
John M. Balbus, M.D., M.P.H.
Health Program Director
Environmental Defense
Adjunct Associate Professor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Rebecca Bascom, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Medicine
Penn State University, College of Medicine
William S. Beckett, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Environmental Medicine and Medicine
University of Rochester School of Medicine
Kenneth A. Berkowitz, M.D., F.C.C.P.
Associate Professor of Medicine
New York University Medical Center
Jonathan A. Bernstein, M.D., F.A.A.A.A.I.
Professor of Clinical Medicine
Division of Immunology/Allergy
University of Cincinnati
Kent J. Bransford, M.D.
Monterey Bay Oncology
Monterey, California
Katherine L. Bright, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
University of Kentucky
Arezoo Campbell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Western University of Health Sciences
Lung Chi Chen, M.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
David Chong, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
David C Christiani, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Professor of Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology
Harvard School of Public Health
Devra Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Professor of EpidemiologyDirector of the Center for Environmental Oncology
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
Dorr G. Dearborn, Ph.D., M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
Chairman of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Case Western Reserve University
George L. Delclos, M.D., M.P.H.
Director of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
University of Texas
Ralph J. Delfino, M.D., Ph.D.
Epidemiology Division
University of California at Irvine
Anthony J. DeLucia, Ph.D.
Professor of Surgery
Adjunct Professor of Environmental Health
East Tennessee State University
Richard D. Dey, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy
Director of the Center for Respiratory Biology and Lung Disease
West Virginia University
Jefferson H. Dickey, M.D.
Bodkhe Dickey Health Associates
Franklin Medical Center
Greenfield, Massachusetts
Douglas W. Dockery, Sc.D.
Professor of Environmental Epidemiology
Chair of the Department of Environmental Health
Harvard School of Public Health
Lisa Doggett, M.D., M.P.H.
Austin, Texas
Martin Donohoe, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Lecturer in the Department of Community Health
Portland State University
Harold J. Farber, M.D.
Specialist of Pediatric Pulmonology and Medical Director of the Pediatric Asthma Care Management Program at Kaiser Permanente
Vallejo, California
Karl Fields, M.D.
Professor of Family Medicine
University of North Carolina
Jonathan M. Fine, M.D.
Research Associate Professor
New York University School of Medicine
Henry Jay Forman, Ph.D.
Professor and Founding FacultySchool of Natural Sciences
University of California, Merced
Mark W. Frampton, M.D.
Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine
University of Rochester Medical Center
Erica Frank, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology
University of British Columbia
Michael Friedman, M.D.
Chennai, India
George Friedman-Jiménez, M.D.
Director, Bellevue/NYU Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic
New York University School of Medicine
John R. Froines, Ph.D.
Professor of Occupational and Environmental Health
University of California at Los Angeles
Frank Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine
Keck School of Medicine
University of Southern California
Lynn Goldman, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins University
Bob Gould, M.D.
Associate Pathologist at Kaiser Hospital
San Jose, California
Roni Grad, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Tee L. Guidotti, M.D., M.P.H.
Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
Director of the Division of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology (Dept. of Medicine)
The George Washington University Medical Center
David C. Hall, M.D.
Specialist in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Seattle, Washington
Winifred J. Hamilton, Ph.D., S.M.
Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Neurosurgery
Baylor College of Medicine
S. Katharine Hammond, Ph.D., C.I.H.
Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Sciences
University of California at Berkeley
Michael R. Harbut, M.D., M.P.H., F.C.C.P.
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Ira Helfand, M.D.
Specialist in Emergency Care
Leeds, Massachusetts
Howard Hu, M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D.
Chair and Professor of Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan
Kazuhiko Ito, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
Dan Jaffe, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Science
University of Washington-Bothell
Sarah Jordan, M.D., M.S.P.H.
Specialist in Family Care Medicine at the Siler City Community Health Center
Piedmont Health Services, Inc.
Siler City, North Carolina
Patrick L. Kinney, Sc.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University
Howard M. Kipen, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine
Chief of the Clinical Research and Occupational Medicine Division
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Jane Q. Koenig, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Health
University of Washington
Dana L. Kornfeld, M.D.
Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics
George Washington University Medical Center
Ana Krieger, M.D., F.C.C.P.
Assistant Professor
New York University School of Medicine
Nino Kuenzli, M.D., Ph.D.Associate Professor
Department of Preventative Medicine
University of Southern California Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology
Barcelona, Spain
Francine Laden, Sc.D.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Epidemiology
Harvard University
William Lambert, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Oregon Health and Science University
Joyce C. Lashof, M.D.
Professor Emerita of Public Health
University of California at Berkeley
Robert S. Lawrence, M.D.
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Health Policy
Director of the Center for a Livable Future
Johns Hopkins University
Eric Leibert, M.D.Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine New York University School of Medicine
George Leikauf, Ph. D.
Professor of Environmental Health and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of Cincinnati
Deborah Leiner, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chair of the North Carolina Pediatric Society Environmental Health Group
Greensboro, North Carolina
Louis S. Libby, M.D.
Specialist in Pulmonology and Chief Medical Officer at the Oregon Clinic
Portland, Oregon
Michael Lipsett, M.D., J.D.
Associate Clinical Professor
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
University of California, San Francisco
Alan H. Lockwood, M.D.
Professor of Neurology and Nuclear Medicine
Adjunct Professor of Communicative Disorders and Sciences
State University of New York at Buffalo
Frank Martiniuk, PhD
Research Associate Professor
New York University School of Medicine
Rob S. McConnell, M.D.
Professor of Preventive Medicine
Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Siobhan McNally, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Specialist in Pediatrics
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Co-chair of the Massachusetts Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Environmental Health
Peter H. Michelson, M.D.
Department of Pediatrics
Division of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine
Duke University
Jana Milford, Ph.D., J.D.
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
University of Colorado at Boulder
Albert Miller, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
New York Medical College
Director of Pulmonary Medicine
Caritas Health Care
Jamaica, NY
Shelly L. Miller, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Environmental Engineering Program in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Colorado at Boulder
John S. Munger, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology
New York University School of Medicine
Bonnie A. New, M.D., M.P.H.
Beacon Medical Management for Industry
Coordinator of Health Professionals for Clean Air
Houston, Texas
Anna Nolan, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care
New York University School of Medicine
George T. O’Connor, M.D., M.S.
Professor of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Marie S. O’Neill, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health
University of Michigan
Peter Orris, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor and Director, Occupational Health Services Institute
University of Illinois School of Public Health
Cindy L. Parker, M.D., M.P.H.
Instructor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins University
Jerome A. Paulson, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health
Co-Director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment
George Washington University
Jennifer L. Peel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences
Colorado State University
Arnold C.G. Platzker, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
Division of Pediatric Pulmonology
University of Southern California
Jenny E. Pompilio, M.D.
Practitioner of Internal Medicine
Hillsboro, Oregon
Joan Reibman, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine
New York University
Don Richardson, M.D.
Brevard, North Carolina
Beate Ritz, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Epidemiology, Environmental Health Sciences, and Neurology
Vice Chair of the Department of Epidemiology
University of California at Los Angeles
Jonathan Samet, M.D., M.S.
Professor and Chair of Epidemiology
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Brian S. Schwartz, M.D., M.S.
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology, and Medicine
Johns Hopkins University
Joel Schwartz, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Epidemiology
Harvard University
Katherine M. Shea, M.D., M.P.H.
Adjunct Professor of Maternal and Child Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dean Sheppard, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Director of the Lung Biology Center
University of California at San Francisco
Carl M. Shy, M.D.
Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Constantinos Sioutas, Sc.D.
Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Co-director of the Southern California Particle Center
University of Southern California
John D. Spengler, Ph.D.
Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation
Harvard University
Helen Suh, S.B., M.S., Sc.D.
Associate Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Exposure Assessment
Harvard University
Tim K. Takaro, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.
Associate Professor
Faculty of Health Sciences
Simon Fraser University
Duncan C. Thomas, Ph.D.
Director of the Biostatistics Division
Department of Preventive Medicine
University of Southern California
Catherine Thomasson, M.D.
Practitioner of Internal Medicine
Center for Student Health and Counseling
Portland State University
George D. Thurston, Sc.D.
Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine
New York University
Doris Tse, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
Arthur Upton, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental and Community Medicine
Rutgers University
Judith A. Voynow, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Division of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine
Duke University
Bailus Walker Jr., Ph.D, M.P.H.
Professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Toxicology
Howard University
Virginia M. Weaver, M.D., M.P.H.
Associate Professor
Division of Occupational and Environmental Health
Johns Hopkins University
Ronald H. White, M.S.T.
Associate Scientist
Department of Epidemiology
Deputy Director of the Risk Sciences and Public Policy Institute
Johns Hopkins University
Michelle Wilhelm, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor In Residence
Department of Epidemiology
University of California at Los Angeles
Peter Wilk, M.D.
Specialist in Psychiatry
Sebago, Maine
Antonella Zanobetti, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Department of Environmental Health
Harvard University
Junfeng (Jim) Zhang, Ph.D.
Professor and Acting Chairman
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
New study: particle soot boosts heart disease in women
From the University of Washington:
Women living in areas with higher levels of air pollution have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease and subsequently dying from cardiovascular causes, according to a University of Washington study appearing in the Feb. 1 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The study is one of the largest of its kind, involving more than 65,000 Women's Health Initiative Observational Study participants, age 50 to 79, living in 36 cities across the United States.
UW researchers studied women who did not initially have cardiovascular disease, following them for up to nine years to see who went on to have a heart attack, stroke, or coronary bypass surgery, or died from cardiovascular causes. They linked this health information with the average outdoor air pollution levels near each woman's home, and found that higher pollution levels posed a significant hazard – much higher than previously thought – for development of cardiovascular disease.
The researchers studied levels of fine particulate matter, which are tiny airborne particles of soot or dust, and can come from a variety of sources, like vehicle exhaust, coal-fired power plants, industrial sources, and wood-burning fireplaces. These particles are less than 2.5 microns in diameter -- about 30 to 40 of them would equal the diameter of a human hair. Particulate matter levels are monitored and regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They're typically invisible to the human eye once they're in the atmosphere, though they may be visible in dense clouds as they come out of a tailpipe, smokestack or chimney, and are responsible for urban haze.
"These soot particles, which are typically created by fossil-fuel combustion in vehicles and power plants, can contain a complex mix of chemicals," explained Dr. Joel Kaufman, professor of environmental & occupational health sciences, epidemiology, and medicine at the UW, and leader of the study. "The tiny particles – and the pollutant gases that travel along with them – cause harmful effects once they are breathed in."
Fine particulate matter is measured in micrograms (or millionths of a gram) per cubic meter; cities in the study had average levels of fine particulate matter ranging from about 4 to nearly 20 micrograms per cubic meter. The researchers found that each 10-unit increase in fine particulate matter level was linked to a 76 percent increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, after taking into account known risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking. Higher long-term average levels of fine particulate matter also led to a higher overall risk of cardiovascular disease events, including stroke and heart attack.
They also found that local differences in particulate matter levels within a city, as well as exposure differences between cities, translate to a higher or lower risk of cardiovascular disease and related death.
"Our findings show that both what city a woman lived in, and where she lived in that city, affected her exposure level and her disease risk," said Kristin Miller, first author of the study and a doctoral student in epidemiology at the UW.
Previous studies have found apparent links between airborne particulate matter and cardiovascular disease, but this study was the first to look specifically at new cases of cardiovascular disease in previously healthy subjects and local air pollution levels within metropolitan areas. Researchers used data from the multi-site Women's Health Initiative Observational Study, which is funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and coordinated through a center based at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The EPA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences provided funding for the study of the effects of air pollution.
Scientists don't understand exactly how fine particulate matter may be leading to cardiovascular disease, but some believe that the soot particles are accelerating atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which is the major precursor of heart disease.
"This could be a cellular and biochemical process that starts in the lung and then proceeds from there into the cardiovascular system," Kaufman explained. "Or it could be that these very small particles actually enter the blood stream through vessels in the lung, and then begin affecting blood vessels throughout the body."
Kaufman is leading a major new EPA-funded study to uncover these mechanisms – an air-pollution study based on the NIH's Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, or MESA. The MESA Air Pollution Study tackles two key areas for understanding this problem, Kaufman said: investigating the mechanisms through which particulate matter leads to cardiovascular disease, and identifying the sources of pollution that cause the problem. "Preventing these effects requires reducing the pollution at the source," Kaufman said.
The implications of this connection could be very significant.
"More than one out of three deaths in the United States are due to cardiovascular disease – it's the leading cause of death," Miller said. "If the annual average concentration of fine particulate air pollution can be reduced, it would potentially translate on a national scale to the prevention or delay of thousands and thousands of heart attacks, strokes, and bypass surgeries, not to mention fewer early deaths."
An editorial from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital will accompany the study in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal. In that editorial, the authors suggest public health interventions to address this problem, as well as a tightening of the EPA standards regulating fine particulate matter pollution.
In addition to Kaufman and Miller, the study included researchers from the UW School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Harborview Medical Center, all in Seattle.
NOTE: To determine the average annual concentration of fine particulate matter for a particular city or county, visit the EPA's Air Trends Web site and look for "PM 2.5 Wtd AM" in the tables provided. The most recent data available from the EPA is from 2005. http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/factbook.html
Women living in areas with higher levels of air pollution have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease and subsequently dying from cardiovascular causes, according to a University of Washington study appearing in the Feb. 1 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The study is one of the largest of its kind, involving more than 65,000 Women's Health Initiative Observational Study participants, age 50 to 79, living in 36 cities across the United States.
UW researchers studied women who did not initially have cardiovascular disease, following them for up to nine years to see who went on to have a heart attack, stroke, or coronary bypass surgery, or died from cardiovascular causes. They linked this health information with the average outdoor air pollution levels near each woman's home, and found that higher pollution levels posed a significant hazard – much higher than previously thought – for development of cardiovascular disease.
The researchers studied levels of fine particulate matter, which are tiny airborne particles of soot or dust, and can come from a variety of sources, like vehicle exhaust, coal-fired power plants, industrial sources, and wood-burning fireplaces. These particles are less than 2.5 microns in diameter -- about 30 to 40 of them would equal the diameter of a human hair. Particulate matter levels are monitored and regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They're typically invisible to the human eye once they're in the atmosphere, though they may be visible in dense clouds as they come out of a tailpipe, smokestack or chimney, and are responsible for urban haze.
"These soot particles, which are typically created by fossil-fuel combustion in vehicles and power plants, can contain a complex mix of chemicals," explained Dr. Joel Kaufman, professor of environmental & occupational health sciences, epidemiology, and medicine at the UW, and leader of the study. "The tiny particles – and the pollutant gases that travel along with them – cause harmful effects once they are breathed in."
Fine particulate matter is measured in micrograms (or millionths of a gram) per cubic meter; cities in the study had average levels of fine particulate matter ranging from about 4 to nearly 20 micrograms per cubic meter. The researchers found that each 10-unit increase in fine particulate matter level was linked to a 76 percent increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, after taking into account known risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking. Higher long-term average levels of fine particulate matter also led to a higher overall risk of cardiovascular disease events, including stroke and heart attack.
They also found that local differences in particulate matter levels within a city, as well as exposure differences between cities, translate to a higher or lower risk of cardiovascular disease and related death.
"Our findings show that both what city a woman lived in, and where she lived in that city, affected her exposure level and her disease risk," said Kristin Miller, first author of the study and a doctoral student in epidemiology at the UW.
Previous studies have found apparent links between airborne particulate matter and cardiovascular disease, but this study was the first to look specifically at new cases of cardiovascular disease in previously healthy subjects and local air pollution levels within metropolitan areas. Researchers used data from the multi-site Women's Health Initiative Observational Study, which is funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and coordinated through a center based at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The EPA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences provided funding for the study of the effects of air pollution.
Scientists don't understand exactly how fine particulate matter may be leading to cardiovascular disease, but some believe that the soot particles are accelerating atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which is the major precursor of heart disease.
"This could be a cellular and biochemical process that starts in the lung and then proceeds from there into the cardiovascular system," Kaufman explained. "Or it could be that these very small particles actually enter the blood stream through vessels in the lung, and then begin affecting blood vessels throughout the body."
Kaufman is leading a major new EPA-funded study to uncover these mechanisms – an air-pollution study based on the NIH's Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, or MESA. The MESA Air Pollution Study tackles two key areas for understanding this problem, Kaufman said: investigating the mechanisms through which particulate matter leads to cardiovascular disease, and identifying the sources of pollution that cause the problem. "Preventing these effects requires reducing the pollution at the source," Kaufman said.
The implications of this connection could be very significant.
"More than one out of three deaths in the United States are due to cardiovascular disease – it's the leading cause of death," Miller said. "If the annual average concentration of fine particulate air pollution can be reduced, it would potentially translate on a national scale to the prevention or delay of thousands and thousands of heart attacks, strokes, and bypass surgeries, not to mention fewer early deaths."
An editorial from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital will accompany the study in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal. In that editorial, the authors suggest public health interventions to address this problem, as well as a tightening of the EPA standards regulating fine particulate matter pollution.
In addition to Kaufman and Miller, the study included researchers from the UW School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Harborview Medical Center, all in Seattle.
NOTE: To determine the average annual concentration of fine particulate matter for a particular city or county, visit the EPA's Air Trends Web site and look for "PM 2.5 Wtd AM" in the tables provided. The most recent data available from the EPA is from 2005. http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/factbook.html
Monday, January 29, 2007
Glaciers melting at unprecedented speed
Published: January 29 2007
Mountain glaciers around the world are melting at an unprecedented rate, according to new scientific data that will reinforce pressure on governments to take stronger action on global warming.
The World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich, Switzerland, said preliminary estimates for 2005 based on monitoring of 30 “reference” glaciers showed an average loss of 0.6 metres in ice thickness.
The 2005 figures match the average annual loss rate since 2000, which is one-and-a-half times the average annual ice loss in the 1990s and three times the loss rate of the 1980s, the WGMS said.
Mountain glaciers around the world are melting at an unprecedented rate, according to new scientific data that will reinforce pressure on governments to take stronger action on global warming.
The World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich, Switzerland, said preliminary estimates for 2005 based on monitoring of 30 “reference” glaciers showed an average loss of 0.6 metres in ice thickness.
The 2005 figures match the average annual loss rate since 2000, which is one-and-a-half times the average annual ice loss in the 1990s and three times the loss rate of the 1980s, the WGMS said.
Experts fear upcoming global warming report may understate problem
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Later this week in Paris, climate scientists will issue a dire forecast for the planet that warns of slowly rising sea levels and higher temperatures.
But that may be the sugarcoated version.
Early and changeable drafts of their upcoming authoritative report on climate change foresee smaller sea level rises than were projected in 2001 in the last report. Many top U.S. scientists reject these rosier numbers.
Those calculations don't include the recent, and dramatic, melt-off of big ice sheets in two crucial locations:
They "don't take into account the gorillas -- Greenland and Antarctica," said Ohio State University earth sciences professor Lonnie Thompson, a polar ice specialist. "I think there are unpleasant surprises as we move into the 21st century."
Michael MacCracken, who until 2001 coordinated the official U.S. government reviews of the international climate report on global warming, has fired off a letter of protest over the omission.
The melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are a fairly recent development that has taken scientists by surprise. They don't know how to predict its effects in their computer models. But many fear it will mean the world's coastlines are swamped much earlier than most predict.
Others believe the ice melt is temporary and won't play such a dramatic role.
That debate may be the central one as scientists and bureaucrats from around the world gather in Paris to finish the first of four major global warming reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel was created by the United Nations in 1988.
After four days of secret word-by-word editing, the final report will be issued Friday.
The early versions of the report predict that by 2100 the sea level will rise anywhere between 5 and 23 inches. That's far lower than the 20 to 55 inches forecast by 2100 in a study published in the peer-review journal Science this month. Other climate experts, including NASA's James Hansen, predict sea level rise that can be measured by feet more than inches.
The report is also expected to include some kind of proviso that says things could be much worse if ice sheets continue to melt.
The prediction being considered this week by the IPCC is "obviously not the full story because ice sheet decay is something we cannot model right now, but we know it's happening," said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate panel lead author from Germany who made the larger prediction of up to 55 inches of sea level rise. "A document like that tends to underestimate the risk," he said.
"This will dominate their discussion because there's so much contentiousness about it," said Bob Corell, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a multinational research effort. "If the IPCC comes out with significantly less than one meter (about 39 inches of sea level rise), there will be people in the science community saying we don't think that's a fair reflection of what we know."
In the past, the climate change panel didn't figure there would be large melt of ice in west Antarctica and Greenland this century and didn't factor it into the predictions. Those forecasts were based only on the sea level rise from melting glaciers (which are different from ice sheets) and the physical expansion of water as it warms.
But in 2002, Antarctica's 1,255-square-mile Larsen B ice shelf broke off and disappeared in just 35 days. And recent NASA data shows that Greenland is losing 53 cubic miles of ice each year -- twice the rate it was losing in 1996.
Even so, there are questions about how permanent the melting in Greenland and especially Antarctica are, said panel lead author Kevin Trenberth, chief of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado.
While he said the melting ice sheets "raise a warning flag," Trenberth said he wonders if "some of this might just be temporary."
University of Alabama at Huntsville professor John Christy said Greenland didn't melt much within the past thousand years when it was warmer than now. Christy, a reviewer of the panel work, is a prominent so-called skeptic. He acknowledges that global warming is real and man-made, but he believes it is not as worrisome as advertised.
Those scientists who say sea level will rise even more are battling a consensus-building structure that routinely issues scientifically cautious global warming reports, scientists say.
The IPCC reports have to be unanimous, approved by 154 governments -- including the United States and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia -- and already published peer-reviewed research done before mid-2006.
Rahmstorf, a physics and oceanography professor at Potsdam University in Germany, says, "In a way, it is one of the strengths of the IPCC to be very conservative and cautious and not overstate any climate change risk."
But that may be the sugarcoated version.
Early and changeable drafts of their upcoming authoritative report on climate change foresee smaller sea level rises than were projected in 2001 in the last report. Many top U.S. scientists reject these rosier numbers.
Those calculations don't include the recent, and dramatic, melt-off of big ice sheets in two crucial locations:
They "don't take into account the gorillas -- Greenland and Antarctica," said Ohio State University earth sciences professor Lonnie Thompson, a polar ice specialist. "I think there are unpleasant surprises as we move into the 21st century."
Michael MacCracken, who until 2001 coordinated the official U.S. government reviews of the international climate report on global warming, has fired off a letter of protest over the omission.
The melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are a fairly recent development that has taken scientists by surprise. They don't know how to predict its effects in their computer models. But many fear it will mean the world's coastlines are swamped much earlier than most predict.
Others believe the ice melt is temporary and won't play such a dramatic role.
That debate may be the central one as scientists and bureaucrats from around the world gather in Paris to finish the first of four major global warming reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel was created by the United Nations in 1988.
After four days of secret word-by-word editing, the final report will be issued Friday.
The early versions of the report predict that by 2100 the sea level will rise anywhere between 5 and 23 inches. That's far lower than the 20 to 55 inches forecast by 2100 in a study published in the peer-review journal Science this month. Other climate experts, including NASA's James Hansen, predict sea level rise that can be measured by feet more than inches.
The report is also expected to include some kind of proviso that says things could be much worse if ice sheets continue to melt.
The prediction being considered this week by the IPCC is "obviously not the full story because ice sheet decay is something we cannot model right now, but we know it's happening," said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate panel lead author from Germany who made the larger prediction of up to 55 inches of sea level rise. "A document like that tends to underestimate the risk," he said.
"This will dominate their discussion because there's so much contentiousness about it," said Bob Corell, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a multinational research effort. "If the IPCC comes out with significantly less than one meter (about 39 inches of sea level rise), there will be people in the science community saying we don't think that's a fair reflection of what we know."
In the past, the climate change panel didn't figure there would be large melt of ice in west Antarctica and Greenland this century and didn't factor it into the predictions. Those forecasts were based only on the sea level rise from melting glaciers (which are different from ice sheets) and the physical expansion of water as it warms.
But in 2002, Antarctica's 1,255-square-mile Larsen B ice shelf broke off and disappeared in just 35 days. And recent NASA data shows that Greenland is losing 53 cubic miles of ice each year -- twice the rate it was losing in 1996.
Even so, there are questions about how permanent the melting in Greenland and especially Antarctica are, said panel lead author Kevin Trenberth, chief of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado.
While he said the melting ice sheets "raise a warning flag," Trenberth said he wonders if "some of this might just be temporary."
University of Alabama at Huntsville professor John Christy said Greenland didn't melt much within the past thousand years when it was warmer than now. Christy, a reviewer of the panel work, is a prominent so-called skeptic. He acknowledges that global warming is real and man-made, but he believes it is not as worrisome as advertised.
Those scientists who say sea level will rise even more are battling a consensus-building structure that routinely issues scientifically cautious global warming reports, scientists say.
The IPCC reports have to be unanimous, approved by 154 governments -- including the United States and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia -- and already published peer-reviewed research done before mid-2006.
Rahmstorf, a physics and oceanography professor at Potsdam University in Germany, says, "In a way, it is one of the strengths of the IPCC to be very conservative and cautious and not overstate any climate change risk."
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Federal government: 2006 hottest year on record
We've been feeling the heat, and now the federal government confirms it:
2006 was the hottest year on record:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/s2772.htm
2006 was the hottest year on record:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/s2772.htm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)