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UPDATE no.15 November 2001 INCHES
December 11, 2001-The International Network on Children's Health, Environment and Safety
Dear member of INCHES,
Just a quick reminder to those of you who did not send in teir questionnaire and still want to do that. Please take a few minutes and help the network to develop into a better organisation for you!
In this update :
News items
Inter-american region
European region
Eurasian region
INCHES funding
Children's Environmental Health Topics
New member
The Gazi University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology in Turkey has become the next member of the network. The university is based in Ankaral in Turkey. The contact person of the new member is Prof. Dr. Sema Burgaz (sema@gazi.pharmacy.edu.tr).
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CHILDREN: General Assembly Special Session Rescheduled For May 2002
For the rescheduled U.N. General Assembly's special session on children, one of several meetings delayed by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, for May 8-10 in New York, we are seeking people who can represent INCHES during the meeting. The meeting, previously scheduled for Sept. 19-21, is a follow-up of the 1990 conference that set the guidelines for governments, interest groups and U.N. agencies to improve child education, healthcare and living conditions, with a particular focus on young girls and the poorest nations. The text of the governments is almost finished. Some paragraphs still need some consensus. The main activity for INCHES and its members will be representing children's environmental health issues at the many side events. Many organisations at the summit don't have a good idea about the environmental impact on children. We need to inform them!
If your organisation is planning to be at this summit and/or you want to represent INCHES at the summit, get in touch with Peter van den Hazel (pvdhazel@inter.nl.net) before the end of January.
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The Winter Olympics in Salt Lake city are calling organisations to send in applications for an award related to environmental activities. You can find information on this "Spirit of the Land" award at www.saltlake2002.com (click on environment in one of the dragdown menus). The date has been extended to send in the forms but you have to hurry. So if you have done anything on environmental education, on other environmental projects this year, take a look at their site.
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CA panel convened by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
has concluded that power frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are possible human carcinogens. In doing so, the panel has agreed with previous evaluations by committees assembled by the U.S. and the U.K. governments. In 1998, a working group of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) also classified EMFs as possible carcinogens, a decision reaffirmed the following year in NIEHS' report to the U.S. Congress. Earlier this year, an advisory group to U.K. government, chaired by Sir Richard Doll, also pointed to a possible leukemia risk among children.
Over ten years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reached a similar conclusion -- that report was never officially completed and published, however, due to intense political pressure from electrical utilities and the military.
A copy of the IARC press release appears below.
IARC FINDS LIMITED EVIDENCE THAT RESIDENTIAL MAGNETIC FIELDS INCREASE RISK OF CHILDHOOD LEUKAEMIA
Press Release Lyons, France, June 27, 2001
An expert scientific working group of the Monographs Programme of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has concluded its review of health effects of static and extremely low frequency (ELF) electric and magnetic fields.
Such fields include the earth's magnetic field, and also originate from electrical power transmission lines, electrical wiring in buildings, and electric appliances.
Magnetic fields are measured in units of microTesla; the earth's static magnetic field, to which everyone is exposed, varies from 25 microTesla at the equator to 65 microTesla at the poles. Most research on health effects has been done on ELF magnetic fields with frequencies of 50 or 60 Hz.
Reports were first published in 1979 that childhood cancer might be associated with exposures to residential ELF fields.
Numerous studies in many countries have been undertaken since then of possible increased cancer risks in children and adults from ELF magnetic field exposures. Special attention has focussed on leukemia and on brain tumors, which early reports had suggested might be increased. IARC has now concluded that ELF magnetic fields are possibly carcinogenic to humans, based on consistent statistical associations of high level residential magnetic fields with a doubling of risk of childhood leukemia. Children who are exposed to residential ELF magnetic fields less than 0.4 microTesla have no increased risk for leukemia.
Because of insufficient data, static magnetic fields and static and extremely low frequency electric fields could not be classified as to carcinogenic risk to humans.
However, pooled analyses of data from a number of well-conducted studies show a fairly consistent statistical association between a doubling of risk of childhood leukemia and power-frequency (50 or 60 Hz) residential ELF magnetic field strengths above 0.4 microTesla.
In contrast, no consistent evidence was found that childhood exposures to ELF electric or magnetic fields are associated with brain tumors or any other kinds of solid tumors.
No consistent evidence was found that residential or occupational exposures of adults to ELF magnetic fields increase risk for any kind of cancer.
Studies in experimental animals have not shown a consistent carcinogenic or co-carcinogenic effects of exposures to ELF magnetic fields, and no scientific explanation has been established for the observed association of increased childhood leukemia risk with increasing residential ELF magnetic field exposure.
Health effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, which are produced by such sources as radio and television transmission towers, portable telephones, and radar, were not evaluated by the IARC working group. These exposures will be reviewed by the IARC Monographs Programme when research that is currently in progress has been published, most likely in 2005.
For further details of the Monographs evaluation, consult http://monographs.iarc.fr, under "Agents most recently evaluated," or inquire by e-mail to cie@iarc.fr.
For further details of current research at IARC on electric and magnetic fields, inquire by e-mail to cardis@iarc.fr. ; For more general information, contact: Dr Nicolas Gaudin, Chief,
Communications (gaudin@iarc.fr).
On December 6th, 2001 the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) launched a new website - http://children.cape.ca - geared to health professionals, but written in plain enough English to be useful for everyone. It provides the information that parents and doctors need to know about the environment and children's health from environmental history
taking to health impacts - ranging from reproductive to neurobehavioural effects on children.
This attractive and easy to use website can be found at http://children.cape.ca (no www) or through the CAPE website at www.cape.ca.
Check out the site and build a link from your web site to this useful resource today. Help us tell other people about this web site. For more information about CAPE or the website content, contact Dr. Kapil Khatter, CAPE, kap@yorku.ca or call (416) 463-3080.
The president of the Albanian Ecological Club, Ali Eltari, is asking other INCHES members to provide him with simple english material for their colorful magazine on children's environmental health issues. Maybe you have some leaflet on a specific educational topic that could be translated into Albanian and can be used in the magazine. Please send any material to INCHES email or directly to Ali Eltari (eco-club@san.com.al).
The large meeting in Munich, Germany was a great success. The Forum Kinder-Umwelt und Gesundheit was held for two days on the 23 and 24 of November. Our Austrian member, Hanns Moshammer has made a report on this meeting in German. Anyone interested in this short report can request a copy at the Inches-email address.
No news this issue
Conferences
We thought we should forward this to you. Kindly get your schools/groups children's in your communities to urgently nominate children for the Conference. More information on the Conference can be found on <www.iccCANADA2002.org>.
I am sure that you have all received the application brochures and forms for the 2002 International Children's Conference on the Environment which will take place in Victoria, BC, Canada from 21 to 25 May 2002. For those of you who would be between 10 to 12 years old at the start of the Conference, 21 May 2002, please urgently complete the application form and send to Canada. Also pass the information about the Conference around to your friends, other kids in your schools and in your communities. We are sure that there many children who would be interested in participating in the Conference. Remember that the Conference is organized to give children an opportunity to make their voices heard.
If you have any questions or need us to send you more hard copies of the application brochures and forms, please e-mail either (theodore.oben@unep.org or kathryn@molloy.ca)
HEALTHY CHILDREN HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS
A Conference of Significant Global Dimensions Washington, DC June 1 - 3, 2002
The National Safety Council in partnership with the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, the Children¹s Environmental Health Network, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Coalition for Lead-Safe Kids, is sponsoring a three day International Conference on Lead Poisoning Prevention.
To receive program, hotel and registration information, contact:
Janet Phoenix, MD, MPH, Manager, Public Health Programs
The National Safety Council¹s Environmental Health Center
Phone: 202.974.2474; Fax: 202.659.1192; Email: phoenixj@nsc.org
Address: 1025 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20036-5405
Did you locate a possible sponsor?
Any donations (or suggestions of possible donors) are welcome at bank account nr.: 526292490 ABN AMRO (swiftcode ABNANL 2A), Dieren, the Netherlands.
General requests for funding at the Rockefeller Foundation and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation were returned with remarks that INCHES did not fit in their priority concerns. Anybody has any experience with these foundations and knows another route of entrance?
Children's Environmental Health Topics
In this paragraph we would like to place some items that are important for their contents. If anyone wishes to send in an abstract on any topic related to children's environmental health and safety, mail it to the email address of the update.
The topic of today is related to dealing with PCB's in home.
Walkowiak, J., Wiener, J., Fastabend, A., Heinzow, B., Krämer, U., Schmidt, E., Steingrüber, H., Wundram, S., Winneke, G., 2001.
Environmental exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and quality of the home environment: effects on psychodevelopment in early childhood. Lancet 358: 1602-07
Summary
Background
There is uncertainty whether environmental levels of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) adversely affect mental and motor development in early childhood. We aimed to establish whether such an effect is of only prenatal or additional postnatal origin, and if a favourable home environment can counteract this effect.
Methods
Between 1993 and 1995 we recruited 171 healthy mother-infant pairs and prospectively measured psychodevelopment in newborn infants aged 7, 18, 30, and 42 months. We estimated prenatal and perinatal PCB exposure of newborn babies in cord blood and maternal milk. At 42 months we measured postnatal PCB concentrations in serum. At 18 months the quality of the home environment was assessed using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment scale. Mental and psychomotor development of the children were assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development until 30 months and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children at 42 months.
Findings
Negative associations between milk PCB and mental/motor development were reported at all ages, becoming significant from 30 months onwards. Over 30 months, for a PCB increase from 173 (5th percentile) to 679 ng/g lipids in milk (95th percentile) there was a decrease of 8·3 points (95% CI -16·5 to 0·0) in the Bayley Scales of Infant Development mental scores, and a 9·1 point decrease (95% CI -17·2 to -1·02) in the Bayley Scales of Infant Development motor scores. There was also a negative effect of postnatal PCB exposure via breastfeeding at 42 months. Home environment had a positive effect from 30 months onwards (Bayley Scales of Infant Development mental score increase of 9·4 points [95% CI 2·2-16·7]).
Interpretation
Prenatal PCB exposure at current European background levels inhibits, and a favourable home environment supports, mental and motor development until 42 months of age. PCB exposure also has an effect postnatally.
- Any reactions or additions are welcome -
The Coordination committee expects from each organization that endorses INCHES to send at least one item of interest of their work that could be relevant for the other participants in the network. Please send material, ideas, reports or suggestions for distribution to Peter van den Hazel or Marie Louise Bistrup. We will distribute information af general interest through e-mails, electronic networks or place it at the INCHES web-site.
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We are looking for some fact sheets on different children's environmental topics, like reducing risk from lead, risk from mercury, risk from pesticides, risk form solvents, risk from indoor air pollution, risk from environmental tobacco smoke. We would like to produce factsheets on these and other topics and have them translated in different languages. If your organisation has produced a gact sheet, please make it available to the network. We will try to have it translated and make it usuable for different countries. PLEASE MAIL your FACTSHEETS to: pvdhazel@inter.nl.net
Last updated 01May 2002
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