Dr. Emily Moody presented on the effects of lead in adults at the 20th National Environmental Conference at Tar Creek and was interviewed by the Joplin Globe. Dr. Moody said she’s always been interested in recognizing the differences of toxic metals and how it affects people. “Any exposure that we do have (to lead) comes from our own history,” Moody said. “We mined lead and have used it in many products over a millennia, and that’s how it gets into our environments and our bodies.” Lead affects adults and children differently. The toxic metal affects children’s overall growth and development. Exposures to lead in children can cause decreased bone and muscle growth, lower IQ, nervous system damage, kidney damage and learning disabilities. In adults, lead is stored in the bones and can affect the kidneys, the cardiovascular system, the reproductive system, the nervous system and the digestive system. To read the full article click here.

On September 18, 2018, Dr. Rosalind Wright was interviewed by Daily Mail to discuss how mothers who experienced trauma are more likely to have underweight baby boys. Researchers from our center at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York say that their new study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, found those exposed to serious trauma at some point and who secreted high levels of cortisol in late pregnancy were prone to low birthweight sons.  Dr. Rosalind Wright explains “given the disproportionate exposure to stressors among racial minorities and women of lower socioeconomic status, there are important implications for understanding intergenerational perpetuation of health disparities and for understanding how to intervene.” To read the full Daily Mail article click here. 

The NIH Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH) highlighted our Artificial Turf & Children’s Health Factsheet as part of their Featured Material newsletter. The infographic describes how artificial turf poses a health risk to children and provides tips for safer play on artificial surfaces. To read more about PEPH and Materials in Action click here.

On September 05, 2018, The American Thoracic Society Morning Minute highlighted our paper, “Prenatal Particulate Air Pollution and Asthma Onset in Urban Children. Identifying Sensitive Windows and Sex Differences.” This is the first study to leverage weekly PM2.5 exposure estimates over gestation combined with data-driven statistics to characterize susceptibility windows, removing the subjectivity that currently guides the decision of when to assess exposure effects. These data demonstrate that increased prenatal PM2.5 exposure at mid-gestation (16–25 wk gestation) was associated with asthma development by age 6 years in boys. To read more about ATS and our paper click here.

Allan Just, PhD, P30 center member at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Itai Kloog, PhD, from the Ben-Gurion University of Negev in Israel and Adjunct Professor in EMPH, are collaborating on a new research program focused on temperature variability, air pollution, and birth outcomes in a changing climate. This work will be undertaken in collaboration with Joel Schwartz, PhD, from the Harvard School of Public Health and is funded by the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) 

The U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) promotes scientific relations between the U.S. and Israel by supporting collaborative research projects in a wide area of basic and applied scientific fields, for peaceful and non-profit purposes. Eligible projects must demonstrate outstanding scientific merit and clear collaboration between Israeli and American researchers from institutions throughout the two countries. Congratulations to Allan Just and Itai Kloog for receiving this award! 

On July 25, 2018, Dr. Manish Arora was interviewed by NY1 to discuss how teeth may be key in diagnosing autism earlier. Dr. Arora and researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital collected the baby teeth of sibling pairs and analyzed layers in teeth like growth rings in trees. “Just like you can count back the rings and make assumptions about past weather, we can count rings in baby teeth and we can make very precise measurements of all the exposures we experienced even before we were born,” explained Dr. Arora.  “These early life signatures, even present at birth, can predict the emergence of autism later in childhood, with about 90 percent accuracy. So we are very excited about this but this is just a first step,” Dr. Arora noted. The hope is the findings will lead to a diagnostic test for autism and potential new therapies. To read the full article and watch the interview, click here.

On July 23, 2018, Dr. Galvez was mentioned in CNN Article discuss how certain chemicals might have a range of side effects, especially for children.  A policy statement published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, a leading US medical organization representing more than 60,000 pediatricians, recommended that parents and children avoid certain chemicals used in food processing and called for the government to adjust its methods of deeming substances to be safe. Dr. Galvez further elaborated on the importance of regulating chemicals before entering the market “Chemicals used in everyday products need to be rigorously evaluated for their full potential of human health impacts before they are made widely available in the marketplace. To read the full CNN article click here.

On July 02, 2018, Drs. Manish Arora and Paul Curtin were featured in NYT Article “In Baby Teeth, Links Between Chemical Exposure in Pregnancy and Autism” to discuss the association of past environmental exposures and autism. Dr. Arora and a team of researchers developed an innovative technique using baby teeth, which start to develop toward the end of the first trimester, and form a new layer each day, growing in what he called an “incremental archival manner.” The layers can capture traces of chemicals, so that they serve as “biologic hard drives,” records of what exposures occurred during fetal development, and when they occurred, in a manner similar to the rings on trees. Using the teeth that children have shed between the ages of 6 and 12, Dr. Arora said, it’s possible to look back at exposures during fetal development, and at other aspects of early metabolism to see whether children who later go on to develop autism are biologically different early on. In a study published in Science Advances in May, scientists used this technique to compare early zinc and copper metabolism in children with autism with their siblings without autism.Dr. Arora said this could lead to a biomarker for autism, a diagnostic test which could be administered before a child shows behavioral differences. To read more click here.

Levels of air pollution well below what is considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization are causing an increased risk of diabetes worldwide, according to a study published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health. “Ten or 15 years ago, we thought that air pollution caused pneumonia, asthma and bronchitis and not much more than that,” said Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, professor of environmental medicine and public health and dean for global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who was not involved in the study. “We now know that air pollution is a very important cause of heart disease and stroke and contributes to chronic lung disease, lung cancer and chronic kidney disease.” While obesity, lack of exercise and genetic risk are major drivers for diabetes, studies have shown a link between the disease and pollution. Air pollution is thought to trigger inflammation and reduce the ability of the pancreas to manage insulin production. “This is a very well-done report, very believable, and fits well with this emerging knowledge about the impacts of air pollution on a series of chronic diseases,” Dr. Landrigan concluded. Click here to learn more.

Additional coverage:

• Science Daily
• EcoWatch
• Interesting Engineering
• NBC2 News

Dr. Landrigan discussed in the July issue of Earth Magazine how lead still appears in many products, particularly cosmetics, traditional medicines and folk remedies that are often lightly regulated. “We’ve made tremendous progress in this country against the traditional sources of lead,” says Dr. Philip Landrigan. But today, according to the CDC, more than half a million children in the U.S. are still affected by high blood lead levels, often from exposure to decades-old peeling paint, lead-polluted soils, or what scientists classify as “atypical sources,” a group that includes cosmetics and folk remedies. To continue making progress against lead poisoning, doctors and scientists need to determine where the metal is still slipping through the cracks into our everyday lives. To read the EARTH Magazine article click here.