Documents Clapp, Richard W. 15 results

"Perfluorinated alkyl substances have been in use for over sixty years. These highly stable substances were at first thought to be virtually inert and of low toxicity. Toxicity information slowly emerged on perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate. More than thirty years ago, early studies reported immunotoxicity and carcinogenicity effects. The substances were discovered in blood samples from exposed workers, then in the general population and in community water supplies near U.S. manufacturing plants. Only recently has research publication on perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate intensified. While the toxicology database is still far from complete, carcinogenicity and immunotoxicity now appear to be relevant risks at prevalent exposure levels. Existing drinking water limits are based on less complete evidence that was available before 2008 and may be more than 100-fold too high. As risk evaluations assume that untested effects do not require regulatory attention, the greatly underestimated health risks from perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate illustrate the public health implications of assuming the safety of incompletely tested industrial chemicals."

"BACKGROUND:
Cancer registries can be used to monitor mesothelioma cases and to identify occupations and industries previously and newly associated with mesothelioma-causing asbestos exposure by using standard registry data on the "usual" occupation and industry of the case.

METHODS:
We used the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Standardized Occupational Industry Coding Software to code 564 mesothelioma cases for occupation and 543 for industry of the 1,424 incident mesothelioma in the Massachusetts Cancer Registry from 1988 to 2003. Additionally, we coded the occupation and industry of 80,184 comparison cancer cases (35% of comparison cases in our database). These were used to compute Standardized Morbidity Odds Ratios (SMORs).

RESULTS:
Seventeen occupations and 11 industries had statistically significant elevated SMORs for mesothelioma. Occupations and industries historically associated with mesothelioma remained elevated in these results. However, we also found statistically significant elevated SMORs for several occupations and industries for which there was previously weak or no association such as chemical engineers, machine operators, and automobile mechanics and machine manufacturing, railroads, and the U.S. Postal Service.

CONCLUSIONS:
Incident cases of mesothelioma do not appear to be declining in Massachusetts, as legacy exposures to asbestos continue to produce cases in individuals involved in shipbuilding and construction. Exposures in occupations and industries not previously associated with mesothelioma also contribute cases. Cancer registries, with improved data collection, should continue to be monitored for mesothelioma cases and asbestos exposures."

"This book is a selection of New Solutions articles, published over the past two decades, from the Scientific Solutions section of the journal. The section is intended as a forum for the presentation of scientific results or summaries of scientific data that call for strong action to protect public health, even in the absence of definitive proof of cause and effect. In this volume, the articles are grouped into three sections: critical science, precautionary science, and solutions science. In the first section, the contributors challenge current ways in which science is practiced or interpreted and call for new ways of thinking about environmental and occupational risks. In the second section, the contributors offer new ways of understanding scientific data that will lead to more protective policies or regulations. The third section broadens the framework for future actions to ensure public health. The final essay proposes a way forward, from thinking mainly about problems to thinking mainly about solutions. The three sections constitute a logical progression from scientific knowledge to fashioning bold solutions to problems in environmental and occupational health. Readers are introduced to some of the most important issues in the field, described by leading progressive thinkers and proponents of solutions. This collection can be used as a reader in courses, and by worker health and safety and environmental health advocates in the United States and other countries. Intended Audience: College or graduate students in science and public health; worker health and safety advocates; policymakers; environmental health advocates."

"The goal of this analysis was to determine the patterns of mortality among deceased workers of the former Uniroyal, Inc. Plant in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who were exposed to solvents. After collecting information on cause of death, we conducted a standardized proportional mortality ratio (PMR) and proportional cancer mortality ratio (PCMR) analysis. The results of the PCMR analysis indicate that former Uniroyal workers experienced elevated mortality due to cancers, especially lymphohematopoietic cancers, compared to other Wisconsin decedents. The former workers and family members were pursuing litigation at the time of publication. We received the list of deceased workers from plaintiffs' attorney and were compensated for conducting the analysis; the funder did not directly participate in any part of the study or influence the results. We conclude there is evidence of excess lymphohematopoietic cancer in this worker cohort."

"During an investigation of a novel interstitial lung disease in a cohort of nylon flock workers, a former worker was found to have developed bilateral synchronous pulmonary adenocarcinomas three decades after he quit smoking, suggesting that exposures in this industry might pose excessive risk of lung cancer. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of lung cancer incidence in the original study cohort (n = 162) from August 15, 1998, to August 14, 2008. The Rhode Island Cancer Registry identified cohort members with lung cancer and provided age-gender-era-specific rates of lung cancer in Rhode Island. Five cases of lung cancer occurred among cohort members versus 1.61 cases expected for a standardized incidence ratio of 3.1 (95%CI, 1.01–7.23). The observed threefold increase in lung cancer incidence could not be readily ascribed to chance, study bias, or uncontrolled confounding. Workers in this industry should be notified of their potentially increased risk of lung cancer."

"The increasing incidence of a variety of cancers after the Second World War confronts scientists with the question of their origin. In Western countries, expansion and ageing of the population as well as progress in cancer detection using new diagnostic and screening tests cannot fully account for the observed growing incidence of cancer. Our hypothesis is that environmental factors play a more important role in cancer genesis than it is usually agreed. (1) Over the last 2e3 decades, alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking in men have significantly decreased in Western Europe and North America. (2) Obesity is increasing in many countries, but the growing incidence of cancer also concerns cancers not related to obesity nor to other known lifestyle-related factors. (3) There is evidence that the environment has changed over the time period preceding the recent rise in cancer incidence, and that this change, still continuing, included the accumulation of many new carcinogenic factors in the environment. (4) Genetic susceptibility to cancer due to genetic polymorphism cannot have changed over one generation and actually
favours the role of exogenous factors through geneeenvironment interactions. (5) Age is not the unique factor to be considered since the rising incidence of cancers is seen across all age categories, including children, and adolescents. (6) The fetus is specifically vulnerable to exogenous factors. A fetal exposure during a critical time window may explain why current epidemiological studies may still be negative in adults. We therefore propose that the involuntary exposure to many carcinogens in the environment, including microorganisms (viruses, bacteria and parasites), radiations (radioactivity, UVand pulsed electromagnetic fields) and many xenochemicals, may account for the recent growing incidence of cancer and therefore that the risk attributable to environmental carcinogen may be far higher than it is usually agreed. Of major concern are: outdoor air pollution by carbon particles associated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; indoor air pollution by environmental tobacco smoke, formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds such as benzene and 1,3 butadiene, which may particularly affect children and food contamination by food additives and by carcinogenic contaminants such as nitrates, pesticides, dioxins and other organochlorines. In addition, carcinogenic metals and metalloids, pharmaceutical medicines and some ingredients and contaminants in cosmetics may be involved. Although the risk fraction attributable to environmental factors is still unknown, this long list of carcinogenic and especially mutagenic factors supports our working hypothesis according to which numerous cancers may in fact be caused by the recent modification of our environment."

"Since 1971, a series of annual Environmental Surveillance ... reports have served as the official public record of Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL) environmental performance. In northern New Mexico, where past LANL emissions are a public health concern, there is public skepticism over the accuracy of information contained in these reports. To test the hypothesis that LANL Environmental Surveillance ... reports systematically understate past emissions, we compared the data on releases in LANL's own internal Occurrence Reports Collection (ORC) to the data reported to the public in the Environmental Surveillance ... reports. A data set of 89 environmental occurrences recorded in the ORC in the time period from 1971 through 1980 was assembled. We did not find a systematic pattern of quantitative underreporting of source terms. However, 17 of the 89 (19%) environmental occurrences recorded in the ORC were not reported to the public in the Environmental Surveillance ... reports. The observed discrepancies are discussed in terms of their relevance to public health concerns. Methodological caveats dictate restraint in applying these findings beyond the scope of the relative comparison performed here. Possible social origins for the rejected hypothesis are discussed. Areas for further consideration by the Centers for Disease Control's dose reconstruction study of LANL are identified.

"This paper summarizes recent scientific evidence of environmental and occupational links to nearly 30 types of cancer. It includes a critique of the 25 year-old analysis by Doll and Peto and subsequent analyses that attribute an extremely small fraction of cancer deaths to involuntary environmental and occupational exposures. The paper presents the state of the evidence on causal associations between environmental and occupational exposures and specific cancer types. The discussion of each cancer type is introduced by highlights of trends in incidence and mortality rates. Lastly, the paper considers additional indications that involuntary exposures are linked to cancers, such as patterns observed in different geographic areas and among different populations, including patterns of cancer in children. ...

The sum of the evidence regarding environmental and occupational contributions to cancer justifies urgent acceleration of policy efforts to prevent carcinogenic exposures. By implementing precautionary policies, Europeans are creating a model [REACH] that can be applied in the U.S. to protect public health and the environment. To ignore the scientific evidence is to knowingly permit tens of thousands of unnecessary illnesses and deaths each year."

(From the executive summary )

"The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and collaborating agencies have proclaimed great progress in the U.S. "war on cancer," while at the same time presenting more reasons for concern than celebration. We reviewed various documents and data files and found that incidence and mortality rates for all cancer sites combined remain higher than they were when the "war on cancer" was declared in 1971, despite very recent, modest decreases. The burden of the disease has risen from three million to nearly ten million people. Black Americans, men of all races, and other segments of the population disproportionately bear the burden of cancer. We also looked at data for malignant breast cancer and found that incidence rates increased 36% from 1973 to 2000, while mortality for all population groups combined declined slightly. Breast cancer mortality is 34% higher among black women than among white women, even though white women are generally more likely to get the disease. The $50 billion spent on the "war on cancer" over the last 33 years has yielded few gains. The NCI's resources must be refocused on preventing cancers we know how to prevent. "

"The health risks facing workers involved in decommissioning nuclear facilities are a critical concern as the nuclear weapons complex and nuclear power plants begin to be dismantled. In addition to risks from exposure to radioactive materials, there are risks from other common industrial materials like crystalline silica dust and asbestos. We discuss these issues in the context of recent research on the risk of low-level ionizing radiation, the classification of crystalline silica as a carcinogen, and early experience with decommissioning nuclear facilities in the United States. Health and safety advocates will need to be vigilant to prevent worker exposure. "