EHP: The Researcher's Perspective

Exposure to certain chemicals or stressors in utero can cause immediate health effects for fetuses and babies including lowered birth weight, birth defects, and impaired neurodevelopment. New lines of research are now showing that prenatal exposures may also contribute to health problems that typically arise later in life—such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Parkinson disease—via changes to DNA transcription and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. In this podcast, Deborah Cory-Slechta discusses the phenomenon known as the fetal basis of adult disease. Cory-Slechta is a professor of environmental medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Visit the podcast webpage to download a full transcript of this podcast.

In the United States more than 40,000 women die of breast cancer each year, and almost 200,000 women develop the disease. Although survival rates have improved and risk factors have been identified, the causes of breast cancer remain unclear. In 2004 researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) began recruiting sisters of breast cancer patients for a study to explore environmental and genetic factors behind this disease. Now that more than 50,000 women have been recruited, Dale Sandler discusses what comes next for the Sister Study. Sandler is the principal investigator of the Sister Study and chief of the Epidemiology Branch at the NIEHS. Visit the podcast webpage to download a full transcript of this podcast.

Flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are added to products such as furniture, car seats, textiles, and electronics. These chemicals improve safety by giving consumers more time to react if a fire breaks out. But now they are also showing up in the food we eat, the dust in our houses, and the bodies of possibly the entire U.S. population; meanwhile, recent evidence suggests the potential for worrisome neurodevelopmental effects. In this podcast, Heather Stapleton discusses what we know about routes of PBDE exposure and how these exposures may affect human health. Stapleton is an assistant professor of environmental chemistry at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and coauthor of "Metabolism of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) by Human Hepatocytes in Vitro." Visit the podcast webpage to download a full transcript of this podcast.

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In the 1950s biologists began noticing unusual behavior and various reproductive health problems in wild animals. Environmental health analyst Theo Colborn was one of the first to start asking what those trends might mean for humans. In this podcast marking the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Colborn discusses her research on the endocrine-disrupting effects of chemicals in the Great Lakes ecosystem—research that broke new ground in the field of environmental toxicology. Colborn, co-author of Our Stolen Future, now heads The Endocrine Disruption Exchange in Paonia, Colorado, and is a professor emeritus at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Visit the podcast webpage to download a full transcript of this podcast.

Every year about 2,000 new chemicals are submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for safety approval. Figuring out how a chemical might affect human health involves lab studies that can cost millions of dollars and take years to complete. Now a team of researchers at the EPA is working on a way to make the safety testing process more efficient and less expensive. In this podcast, Robert Kavlock describes the EPA ToxCast™ project, which uses existing toxicity knowledge as a blueprint for broad-scale chemical assessment. Kavlock is director of the EPA National Center for Computational Toxicology and coauthor of "In Vitro Screening of Environmental Chemicals for Targeted Testing Prioritization: The ToxCast Project." Visit the podcast webpage to download a full transcript of this podcast.

An estimated 1-1.5 million Americans live with autism, a neural disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication. Some research suggests environmental factors play a role in autism, while other findings point to a genetic basis. More recently there's been a heated public debate about whether autism is caused by the mercury in vaccines commonly given to children. In this podcast, Irva Hertz-Picciotto discusses the implications of research comparing blood mercury levels of autistic children with those of typically developing children. Hertz-Picciotto is an environmental epidemiologist with the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) Institute at the University of California, Davis, and the first author of "Blood Mercury Concentrations in CHARGE Study Children with and without Autism." Visit the podcast webpage to download a full transcript of this podcast.

DDT is unique among the "dirty dozen" compounds banned under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants because specific exceptions are made for the indoor spraying of this pesticide to control the mosquitoes that spread malaria. DDT is a cheap, effective weapon against the spread of this disease, which infects nearly 250 million people each year and kills nearly 1 million. However, little is known about the long-term human health effects of exposure to DDT in the context of indoor spraying. In this podcast, Brenda Eskenazi describes research issues surrounding the use of DDT to control disease vectors. Eskenazi is a member of the DDT Expert Group of the Stockholm Convention, and is the Maxwell Professor of Maternal and Child Health and Epidemiology and director of the Center for Children's Environmental Health Research at the University of California, Berkeley. She also is the first author of "The Pine River Statement: Human Health Consequences of DDT Use." Visit the podcast webpage to download a full transcript of this podcast.

Industrial-scale farms known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have become an increasing focal point for environmental health research because of their emissions and concerns they may contribute to antibiotic resistance, adverse community impacts, and zoonotic disease outbreaks. They are also a source of political controversy in states including North Carolina and Missouri where government agencies are grappling with decisions about CAFO monitoring and permitting. In this podcast, Peter Thorne describes some of the health concerns surrounding these facilities. Thorne, director of the NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Research Center at the University of Iowa, is the lead author of an EHP mini-monograph on environmental health effects of CAFOs. Visit the podcast webpage to download a full transcript of this podcast.

A number of recent studies have reported finding measurable levels of persistent organic pollutants in human milk, and many daily activities expose nursing women to toxic chemicals that can end up in their milk. Although many of these chemicals can cause adverse health effects in humans, studies consistently conclude that, overall, the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the potential toxicity threats posed to nursing children. In this podcast, Lynn R. Goldman discusses why breastfeeding is still the optimal method of infant feeding despite the presence of pollutants in human milk, and describes precautions that mothers can take to protect their milk. Goldman is a principal investigator for the Johns Hopkins University Center for the National Children's Study and a coauthor of "Global screening of human cord blood proteomes for biomarkers of toxic exposure and effect." Visit the podcast webpage to download the full transcript of this podcast.

Heat waves kill more people in the United States each year than any other natural hazard, and many regions worldwide are experiencing more frequent and more severe heat waves. But not all people and not all places have the same vulnerability to heat-related health effects. Identifying those who are more vulnerable will be critical to effective public health interventions. In this podcast, Colleen Reid discusses an innovative method for mapping the sections of urban areas across the United States where residents are more likely to suffer heat-related health effects. Reid is the lead author of "Mapping Community Determinants of Heat Vulnerability" and a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. Visit the podcast webpage to download a full transcript of this podcast.