http://e.hormone.tulane.edu Your gate to the Environment and Hormones http://e.hormone.tulane.edu/images_ehormone/eh-rss-logo.jpg http://e.hormone.tulane.edu The estrogen-mimicking pollutant traces to a polymer resin lining affected bottles. Consumers who switched from polycarbonate-plastic water bottles to metal ones in hopes of avoiding the risk that bisphenol A will leach into their beverages aren’t necessarily any better off, a new study finds. Some metal water bottles leach even more BPA — an estrogen-mimicking pollutant — than do ones made from the now-pariah plastic. That BPA doesn’t come from the metal, by the way, but from an epoxy-resin lining that is based on BPA’s recipe... http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/332291/title/Metal_water_bottles_may_leach_BPA A tiny plant called Arabidopsis thaliana just helped scientists unearth new clues about the daily cycles of many organisms, including humans. This is the latest in a long line of research, much of it supported by the National Institutes of Health, that uses plants to solve puzzles in human health. While other model organisms may seem to have more in common with us, greens like Arabidopsis provide an important view into genetics, cell division and especially light sensing, which drives 24-hour behavioral cycles called circadian rhythms... http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/07/13/1.more.way.plants.help.human.health Whether you swim in a river, lake, ocean or pool, the last thing you want afterward is what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls a “recreational water illness,” an infection or irritation caused by germs or chemicals contaminating the water. These unseen pollutants can cause ailments of the ears, eyes, skin, nervous system, gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts, and any cut or scratch you may have. Five years ago, the centers examined 78 waterborne disease outbreaks in 31 states associated with recreational sports, a “substantial increase” in the number of reports from previous years. The outbreaks involved 4,412 cases of illness, 116 hospitalizations and five deaths... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/health/12brody.html Mercury release rates are low, new data show, but can build to toxic levels if broken bulbs aren't cleaned up right away. The Environmental Protection Agency offers consumers guidance on how to deal with cleaning up a broken CFL. It also recommends something that we should have thought about: Don’t use these lights where they will be unprotected. Like the ceiling fixture in my daughter’s closet. What EPA failed to add: Consumers should ignore any pest that flies within swatting distance of a CFL... http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/332178/title/Some_comfort_about_broken_CFLs More than 30 years after chemical flame retardants were removed from children's pajamas because they were suspected of being carcinogens, new research into flame retardants shows that one of the chemicals is prevalent in baby's products made with polyurethane foam, including nursing pillows, car seats and highchairs... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/business/18chemical.html A recently discovered enzyme drives the production of a potent form of estrogen in human breast cancer tissue, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found. The extra-strength estrogen, called estradiol, then drives the production of even more enzyme, in what may be a lethal feed-forward mechanism. Estradiol has been implicated in exacerbating tumor growth in breast cancer... http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/05/18/enzyme.may.drive.breast.cancer.growth Two perfluorinated chemicals are linked to a delayed onset of puberty, according to a study of nearly 6,000 children living near a chemical plant (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es1038694). Since 1951, a DuPont plant near Parkersburg, W. Va., has released perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a surfactant used in Teflon production, into the air and the nearby Ohio River. As a result, people living in the area have abnormally high levels of this compound in their blood... http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i20/8920scene.html Women with lower levels of the hormone oxytocin in their blood during late stages of pregnancy are more likely to develop postpartum depression, new research suggests. The finding, published online May 11 in Neuropsychopharmacology, may be a first step toward identifying pregnant women who are at risk of becoming depressed after the birth of their babies... http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/74169/title/Bonding_hormone_linked_to_post-baby_blues Three papers in this issue of Environmental Science and Technology provide new information on human exposure to PCBs and their possible mechanisms of toxicity... http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es100689d A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same. In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States... http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/ SAN FRANCISCO — Chemists have been showing for years that bisphenol A, an estrogen-mimicking building block of polycarbonate plastics and food-can coatings, can leach into food and drinks. But other materials contain BPA — and leach it — such as certain resins used in nautical paint. And Katsuhiko Saido suspects those paints explain the high concentrations of BPA that his team has just found in beach sand and coastal seawater around the world... http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/57553/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__BPA_found_beached_and_at_sea Specialty chemicals company Cytec Industries, nonprofit Beyond Benign foundation, and software developer Sopheon have teamed up to form iSustain Alliance to promote green chemistry awareness across the global chemical enterprise. The alliance has launched a website, iSustain.com, which hosts the iSustain Green Chemistry Index, a software application to assess the "greenness" of a chemical product or process and offer insight into how to develop greener products. A public version of the program is available for free, and companies will pay a nominal subscription fee... http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/88/i13/8813news2.html Female athletes may not be eligible to compete as women if they have natural testosterone levels in the male range. The regulations cover female athletes with hyperandrogenism, a condition in which the body produces higher than normal levels of hormones called androgens, particularly testosterone. This can cause the development of bulky muscles, perhaps giving athletes an unfair competitive advantage... http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110414/full/news.2011.237.html It is known that fasting increases lead absorption in adults and consequently regular meals and snacks are recommended for children to prevent lead poisoning. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health demonstrates that having a regular breakfast is associated with lower blood lead levels in children... http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/03/31/regular.breakfast.helps.reduce.lead.poisoning.children Perfluorochemicals can protect fabrics from stains and food wrappers from grease, but the chemicals worry environmental and public health scientists. In 2000, scientists detected these persistent pollutants in the blood of humans and wildlife worldwide. Now researchers report that from 1999 to 2008, concentrations of these compounds in human blood fluctuated. The ups and downs, they found, link to voluntary and government-mandated changes in manufacturing (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es1043613)... http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i16/8916scene2.html Many black women suffer from severe permanent hair loss, but little research has been done on the causes of the problem, often dismissed as a cosmetic worry. Still, chemicals used to straighten hair have long been suspected of playing a role. Now, in one of the first attempts to assess the prevalence of hair loss among black women, researchers have reported that nearly one-third of a group of 326 black women had a type of central hair loss called central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, or C.C.C.A., which is diagnosed almost exclusively in black women... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/health/research/19hazards.html A hormone produced by bone-building cells may have a role in regulating male fertility. Osteocalcin seems to promote production of the sex steroid hormone testosterone, and reduce fertility, in male mice... http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110217/full/news.2011.107.html A new paper in PLoS ONE reports some alarming data: Bacteria living in the rivers fed by the waste streams of 90 drug production factories in India have high levels of antibiotic resistance genes. The work, from Joakim Larsson's group at the University Göteburg, Sweden, was a follow-up to his team's measurement of fluoroquinolone antibiotic and other active ingredient levels in manufacturing waste streams. In that study, sometimes the drugs turned up at therapeutic concentrations... http://cenblog.org/the-haystack/2011/02/what%E2%80%99s-your-solution-to-drugs-in-the-environment/ WASHINGTON — Huge quantities of oil that gushed from BP's well blowout last spring and summer now taint the Gulf of Mexico's seafloor, newly released video and chemical sampling data show. Within 40 miles of the damaged wellhead, the oil deposits appear extensive but patchy, and range from little spots of oil on the seafloor to localized blankets of goopy hydrocarbons several inches thick... http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/70043/title/Gulf_floor_fouled_by_bacterial_oil_feast Some fish in New York's Hudson River have become resistant to several of the waterway's more toxic pollutants. Instead of getting sick from dioxins and related compounds including some polychlorinated biphenyls, Atlantic tomcod harmlessly store these poisons in fat, a new study finds... http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/69976/title/Packing_away_the_poison Wild fish living off the coast of Norway near salmon farms are getting a free lunch – and more. The fish are eating food pellets meant for their penned neighbors – pellets that can be contaminated with chemicals known to end up in farmed fish. Now, the wild fish harbor these chemicals, too, according to recent study that compared contaminant levels in wild fish living near the pens with those that live farther away and do not eat the fish food pellets... http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/salmon-farms-contaminating-wild-fish/ A company called OlFactor Laboratories has set up a new research facility in an attempt to create an environmentally friendly method to combat mosquitoes and the deadly diseases those insects carry. OlFactor opened its lab in early December at an Orange Show Road business park. If successful, research there could result in the development of fragrances that attract or confuse mosquitoes, as opposed to a pesticide that directly kills the flying insects and is harmful to the environment... http://www.sbsun.com/business/ci_17047931 Once again, contaminated animal feed is threatening the health of consumers. The control system is too lax, and information policy is a disaster. The most recent dioxin scare shows that the authorities have learned very little from the food safety scandals of the past... http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,738610,00.html Brittany Johnson's appointment calendar is cluttered with doctors. There are her diabetes doctor; her primary care physician; her sleep apnea expert; her podiatrist; her ear, nose and throat specialist; her psychiatrist, and her bariatric surgeon. Brittany is 16. All of her medical problems can be traced to one source: She weighs more than 300 pounds... http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/01/02/1949524/path-to-obesity-may-begin-before.html