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Long-Term Goal 4-06: Research Description
Back to Long-Term Goal 4 (LTG 4):
Research Descriptions and Posters
Title: Children's Environmental Health Centers: Research Translation Informing Policy
Presenters: Nigel Fields, NCER, Frank Gilliland, University of Southern California, and Elaine Faustman, University of Washington
Contributors: Deborah Segal and Richard Callan (NCER); Frederica Perera and Robin Whyatt (Columbia University); Brenda Eskenazi, Asa Bradman and Nina Holland (University of California, Berkeley); James Gauderman and Rob McConnell (University of Southern California); Mary Wolff and Jia Chen (Mount Sinai School of Medicine); Clement Furlong (University of Washington)
Science Questions:
Can a relationship be established between adverse health outcomes in young children, such as developmental delays, and the sources of pollution in a community setting? How do susceptibility factors, for example, genetic polymorphisms, play a role in this relationship? Can these research findings be translated and used by policymakers? Can prenatal exposure to pollutants be linked to the early onset of chronic illnesses, such as childhood asthma? Can biomarkers be developed to help elucidate the key steps linking prenatal exposures to adverse outcomes? Can interventions reduce the negative health effects resulting from early life exposures?
The Research:
In order to evaluate public health outcomes of risk management decisions, a clearer understanding of the sequence of events that link changes in the environment to health outcomes (e.g., disease) is needed. In addition, developing indices that directly link environmental policies and actions to changes in exposure and health outcomes is critical. The Children's Environmental Health Research Centers, which are funded through NCER's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program in collaboration with the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and Centers for Disease Control, have conducted research successfully linking many of these key events. The multidisciplinary, integrated nature of the Children's Centers has enabled research that examines key events in the dose to exposure to health outcome continuum, and ultimately, to tie these events to environmental policies and actions.
Impact and Outcomes:
- Research findings and subsequent testimony on Integrated Pest Management by Mount Sinai investigators influenced the passing of:
- NYC Pesticide Reduction Law (Intro 329A) – promotes alternatives to pesticides in all city owned and leased properties, banning all EPA Class 1 chemicals by Feb 2007
- Neighborhood Notification Law (Intro 328A) – requires 48-hour notification to adjacent neighbors before spraying non-residential, outdoor insecticides.
- California Air Resources Board's Emissions Reduction Plan for Ports and Goods Movement (2006) cites multiple peer-reviewed air pollution and health effects articles of the USC Children's Center.
- Providing evidence of the take-home pathway, the findings of the University of Washington's Exposure Pathway's Project were influential in EPAs decision to phase out azinphos-methyl (Class 1) by 2011.
- EPA's FIFRA Science Advisory Panel incorporated epidemiological findings on children's birth and developmental outcomes from 3 of the Children's Center cohorts where low-dose exposures to Chlorpyrifos during pregnancy were shown to have adverse effects on childhood development.
Key Products:
Bradman A, Salvatore A, Boeniger M, Castorina R, Snyder J, Barr D, Jewell N, Kavanagh-Baird G, Striley C, Eskenazi B (2009). Community-based intervention to reduce pesticide exposure to farmworkers and potential take-home exposure to their families. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 19(1):79-89.
Chen J, Chan W, Wallenstein S, Berkowitz G, Wetmur JG (2005). Haplotype-phenotype relationships of paraoxonase-1. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 14(3):731-4.
Choi H, Rauh V, Garfinkel R, Tu Y, Perera FP. (2008) Prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and risk of intrauterine growth restriction. Environ Health Perspect. 116(5):658-65.
Eskenazi B, Marks AR, Bradman A, Harley K, Barr DB, Johnson C, Morga N, Jewell NP. (2007) Organophosphate pesticide exposure and neurodevelopment in young Mexican-American children. Environ Health Perspect. 115(5):792-8.
Furlong C, Holland N, Richter R, Bradman A, Ho A, Eskenazi B (2006) PON1 status of farmworker mothers and children as a predictor of organophosphate sensitivity.Pharmacogenet Genomics. 16(3):183-90.
Gauderman, W. J., E. Avol, F. Lurmann, N. Kuenzli, F. Gilliland, J. Peters and R. McConnell (2005). Childhood asthma and exposure to traffic and nitrogen dioxide. Epidemiology 16(6): 737-743.
Gilliland, F. D., Y.-F. Li, H. Gong and D. Diaz-Sanchez (2006). Glutathione-s-transferase M1 and P1 prevent aggravation of allergic responses by secondhand smoke. American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine
McConnell R, Berhane K, Yao L, Jerrett M, Lurmann F, Gilliland F, Kunzli N, Gauderman J, Avol E, Thomas D, Peters J, (2006). Traffic, susceptibility, and childhood asthma. Environ Health Perspect. 114(5):766-72.
Narváez R, Hoepner L, Chillrud S, Yan B, Garfinkel R, Whyatt R, Camann D, Perera F, Kinney P, Miller R. (2008). Spatial and temporal trends of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other traffic- related airborne pollutants in New York City. Environ Sci Technol. 42(19):7330-5.
Perera FP, Rauh V, Whyatt RM, Tsai WY, Tang D, Diaz D, Hoepner L, Barr D, Tu YH, Camann D, Kinney P (2006). Effect of prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on neurodevelop-ment in the first 3 years of life among inner-city children. Environ Health Perspect. 114(8):1287-92.
Rauh VA, Garfinkel R, Perera FP, Andrews HF, Hoepner L, Barr DB, Whitehead R, Tang D, Whyatt RW. (2006) Impact of prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure on neurodevelopment in the first 3 years of life among inner-city children. Pediatrics 118(6):e1845-59.
Salvatore AL, Bradman A, Castorina R, Camacho J, López J, Barr DB, Snyder J, Jewell NP, Eskenazi B. (2008) Occupational behaviors and farmworkers' pesticide exposure: findings from a study in Monterey County, California. Am J Ind Med. 51(10):782-94.
Wallenstein S, Chen J, Wetmur JG. (2006) Comparison of statistical models for analyzing genotype, inferred haplotype, and molecular haplotype data. Mol Genet Metab. 89(3):270-3.
Whyatt R, Garfinkel R, Hoepner L, Andews H, Holmes D, Williams M, Reyes A, Diaz D, Perera F, Camann D, and Barr B (2008). A biomarker validation study of prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure within an inner-city cohort during pregnancy. Environmental Health Perspectives, in press