Environmental Engineering & Toxicology

For one week, 92 preschool-aged children in Oregon sported colorful silicone wristbands provided by researchers from Oregon State University. The children’s parents then returned the bands, which the researchers analyzed to determine whether the youngsters had been exposed to flame retardants. The scientists were surprised to find that the kids were exposed to many polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), chemicals that are no longer produced in the U.S., as well as to organophosphate flame retardants, which are widely used as substitutes for PBDEs.

Like rainwater harvesters and solar panels, biodigesters generate power by reinvesting natural resources back into their own ecosystems. Because of their potential to reduce both waste and operating costs, it seems like every family farm should have one on hand. Fellow Alexander Eaton's company, Sistema Biobolsa, is working to create a base of users that leads to a tipping point.

Did you know every time you step on your car’s brake – whether at a stoplight, an intersection or while parking– small amounts of copper debris are released onto the streets and into the air, eventually making it into California’s waterways? Considering the millions of drivers in the state, and the number of times we all hit our brakes, the cumulative impact of copper debris takes a toll on California’s environment.

Fellow Rachel Morello-Frosch believes, despite the uncertainties, doctors and other clinicians can offer women very useful advice. For example, diets rich in organic foods reduce exposures to pesticides, as measured by urinary levels of their metabolites. And people can choose not to buy body lotions known to contain phthalates or furniture with foam cushions steeped in flame-retardants. Indeed, advising patients on the best ways to reduce potentially toxic chemical exposures is an essential component of public health prevention.

While blood lead levels were declining, scientific evidence was mounting to show there is no safe level of exposure to lead in infants and young children. Studies showed that adverse neurological effects were happening at lower and lower levels of lead exposure. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reduced the level of lead in blood used to identify those with elevated exposure to 5 µg/dL. Today, approximately 500,000 children have levels at or above 5 µg/dL.

A yellow torpedo prowls the Monterey Canyon, gliding over fields of eerie red and white clams nearly 3,000 meters below the surface. The submarine then slips down deep to survey the little-known creatures sprawled beneath it. Here in the darkness, otherworldly life abounds in the cold, crushing depths of the Pacific.

Purdue University will play host to a three-day Ideas Lab this month [January 2016]. The goal of the event is to create interdisciplinary teams and research pre-proposals for new agricultural technologies in food security.

Standing on the edge of Schoolhouse Pond, Chris Roman and Marcella Thompson watched as an unmanned kayak traveled back and forth across the pond in a series of calculated switchbacks. When it had completed its mission, the vessel returned to its starting point, where the two University of Rhode Island researchers were waiting.

COEH faculty affiliate Asa Bradman from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health became chair of Biomonitoring California’s Scientific Guidance Panel (SGP) effective November 2015. Dr. Bradman has been a member of the SGP since 2007, first appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and later reappointed by Governor Jerry Brown. Dr. Bradman will coordinate with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), one of three state departments that implement Biomonitoring California, to facilitate three SGP meetings annually. ...