Center for Human Health and the Environment (CHHE)

CHHE Participates in Fracking Summit

rcsmart — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:15:41 +0000

CHHE Active in Shale Gas Extraction Summit on Public Health Implications and Prevention

Shale Gas Extraction, also known as “hydrofracking” or “fracking,” is increasingly in the news as the deployment of the technologies has expanded, rural communities have transformed overnight, public awareness has increased, and regulations have developed. In many states, early discussions about shale gas extraction neglected to critically examine the environmental and public health impacts of hydrofracking technologies. As a result, the lack of information has limited the health system’s ability to address concerns by regulators at the industry, employee, community, state and federal levels. In July 2012, North Carolina legalized shale gas extraction, resulting in use of this technology as early as October 2014.

On October 2-3, 2012, the Research Triangle Environmental Health Collaborative, in partnership with the CHHE at NC State University and other agencies and organizations, sponsored a Health Summit entitled “Shale Gas Extraction Summit: Public Health Implications/Prevention”. The Summit was held at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and was attended by more than 150 individuals from county, state, federal, academic, industry, and non-governmental entities, as well as private citizens.

The Summit explored the most important issues related to the prevention of adverse public health effects through three work groups (exposure characterizations, social impacts on communities, health impact assessments) that each addressed an individual aspect of the larger situation. Discussions and action items addressed included baseline data needs, surveillance of adverse effects on humans and potential occupational and environmental exposures (air, water, soil, etc.), communication strategies, and collaborations with local, state and federal agencies as well as with industry and public interest groups.

Mr. Martin Armes, the Executive Director of The Collaborative stated that “among our five different summits, the attendees at this Summit were by far the most engaged in terms of their overall participation and contributions in the work group settings”.

Dr. Gregory Cope, CHHE COEC Director, served on the Summit Organizing Committee and CHHE Director, Dr. Robert Smart, along with other CHHE COEC members (Dr. Catherine LePrevost and Ms. Julia Storm), and NC State University, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology graduate students participated in the highly successful summit. A “white paper” is being prepared and should be a meaningful and actionable recommendation document that many energized attendees can share with various stakeholders.

NCSU Hosts Agricultural Health Study Stakeholder Meeting

rcsmart — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 19:26:27 +0000

NC State University and NC Cooperative Extension, in collaboration with the Agricultural Health Study Executive Committee, will host the 2012 North Carolina Agricultural Health Study (AHS) Stakeholder Meeting on Wednesday, August 15 at the NCSU Centennial Campus Toxicology Building in Raleigh. Dr. Wayne Buhler, Professor and Coordinator of Pesticide Safety Education in the Department of Horticultural Science and Ms. Julia Storm, Agromedicine Information Specialist in the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology have organized this meeting of interested stakeholders in North Carolina to facilitate dialogue about the study and its findings. Storm also serves as Assistant Director for Partnership and Capacity Development of the NCSU Center for Human Health and the Environment’s (CHHE) Community Outreach and Education Core. Over 75 representatives of state agencies of agriculture, health, and labor, Cooperative Extension administration and county centers, agricultural and rural organizations, rural communities, and NC State’s CHHE and the NC Agromedicine Institute are invited.

As the AHS approaches its 20th year, scientists from the Agricultural Health Study Executive Committee will provide an update on this long term health study of 90,000 pesticide applicators and spouses from Iowa and North Carolina; 31,000 participants are North Carolina farmers and spouses. The AHS is directed by Dr. Michael Alavanja of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Dr. Dale Sandler and Dr. Jane Hoppin of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Mr. Kent Thomas of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Ms. Cynthia Hines of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The agenda features an overview of the AHS by Dr. Jane Hoppin of NIEHS, highlights of pesticide exposure study findings by Mr. Kent Thomas of EPA, and a discussion of major cancer findings and ongoing biomarker studies by Dr. Alavanja of NCI. Drs. Buhler, Ms. Storm and Dr. Catherine LePrevost, Assistant Director for Program Development and Engaged Scholarship of the CHHE COEC will provide an overview of strategies for communicating AHS results to lay audiences. Finally, Dr. Hoppin and Dr. Rob Smart, Director of the CHHE will discuss current and upcoming AHS studies and integrated health science collaborations. The stakeholder meeting is expected to be an annual event.

Michael C. R. Alavanja Seminar

rcsmart — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:46:59 +0000

Dr. Michael C. R. Alavanja, Dr.P.H. Senior Investigator, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, will be presenting a seminar entitled: “Integrating Cancer Biology and Epidemiology to Identify Human Carcinogens in the Agriculture Health Study” on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 at 10:30AM in the Toxicology Building, Room 2104, Centennial Campus. Public is invited to attend.

Alavanja Seminar

CHHE funds 5 Pilot Projects for 2012

rcsmart — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:31:21 +0000

Project 1
Title: Proteomic analyses of oxygenase expression in trichloroethylene
(TCE) –degrading Mycobacteria
PI: Michael Hyman, Professor, Department of Microbiology, CALS, NC State University

Project 2
Title: Investigation of Potential Neurotoxicological Impacts Associated with Chronic Ingestion of Manganese in North Carolina Ground Water
PI: Ricky L. Langley, MD, MPH, Adjunct Professor, Dept. EM Toxicology, NC Division of Public Health, DHHS
Co-PI: Sandra L. Mort, MS, NC Division of Public Health, DHHS, PHD student, Dept. of Biology, NCSU
Co-PI(s): Mina Shehee, PhD, CHES, DHHS, Epidemiology Section
Tanya Barros, MPH, CHES, DHHS, Epidemiology Section
Mercedes Hernandez-Pelletier, MPH, CHES, DHHS, Epidemiology Section

Project 3
Title: Exposure to environmental toxicants, a mechanism of hypermutability of cardiomyopathy – linked genes
PI: Kathryn M. Meurs, DVM, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Clinical Sciences, CVM
Co PI: Jeffrey A. Yoder, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept of Molecular Biosciences,
CVM
Co PI: Mac Law, DVM, PhD, Professor, Dept of Population Health and Pathobiology, CVM

Project 4
Title: Redefining The Network of Transcriptional Responses to Environmental Genotoxins
PI: Michael Sikes, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept of Microbiology, CALS

Project 5
Title: Linking Free Radical Chemistry and Toxicity of Engineered Nanomaterials
PI: Tatyana I. Smirnova, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, PAMS
Co-PI: Alex I Smirnova, PhD, Professor, Dept of Chemistry, PAMS

CHHE Develops New Ties with East Carolina University

rcsmart — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:30:39 +0000

CHHE has partnered East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine (ECU). Dr. Chris Mansfield, PhD Professor, Department of Public Health in the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and Director of the Center for Health Services Research and Development will serve as a member of CHHE External Advisory Board and will also help to establish interactions between ECU and CHHE. Dr. Gregory Kearney will serve as key liaison between the CHHE and the faculty at ECU and the NC Agromedicine Institute. He will be key person in the Integrative Health Science Facility Core to develop collaborative relationships between CHHE, ECU and the NC Agromedicine Institute. Dr. Kearney is an assistant professor in the Brody School of Medicine, Department of Public Health and teaches epidemiology and environmental health.

Environmental Health Research Cluster Hire Awarded to CHHE

rcsmart — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:29:21 +0000

The Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program is a cluster hire program that marks the first major initiative of the university’s 2011-2020 strategic plan, “The Pathway to the Future.” Starting in 2012, NC State will hire thirty-eight faculty in twelve research areas or “clusters” to promote interdisciplinary scholarship and the development of innovative curriculum in emerging areas of strategic strength. Environmental Health Science was identified as emerging area of strategic strength and the proposal, “Cluster Hire in Environmental Health Science” submitted by Drs. Smart, Threadgill and LeBlanc was selected for funding. The NC State Center for Human Health and the Environment is excited to invite applications starting in Spring 2012 for the research cluster in Environmental Health Science. This faculty cluster hire in Environmental Health Science includes an; i) Environmental Epidemiologist to evaluate the effects of environmental stressors on human populations; ii) Environmental Exposure Biologist to evaluate the relationships between exposure and health iii) Epigenome Scientist to elucidate the relationships among environmental stressors, the epigenome, and human health. To read more, click here

CHHE Community Outreach and Engagement Produces Results

jeff — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:43:35 +0000

Rural North Carolina residents recently received a great boost toward protecting their health from contaminated drinking water in their private wells from the Community Outreach and Engagement Core (COEC) of the CHHE at NC State University. In partnership with the Health Assessment, Consultation & Education Program of the NC Division of Public Health within the NC Department of Health and Human Services, the COEC has just completed a major outreach and education project addressing private drinking water well contamination and human health. In this project, a series of bilingual educational materials were designed and printed for distribution to the citizens of the State via the 100 County Health Departments that operate the private drinking water well program. More than two million of the approximately 11 million residents of North Carolina (40 million in the USA) currently use groundwater as a sole source for drinking water. The number of new private wells in North Carolina is increasing (estimated at 5,000 to 6,000) each year because of immigration of residents, including many people of Hispanic and Latino origin, into rural areas of the State. The contamination of groundwater in these areas from human-caused and natural sources is a serious health concern. The series of fact sheets, entitled Private Well Water and Your Health, includes an overview of well water and health concerns and associated testing programs, as well as specific topical information sheets on lead, mercury, and Coliform bacteria. Over 63,000 of the English and Spanish fact sheets have been delivered and readied for use. “These materials will provide our program staff with valuable resources that we would have not been able to provide otherwise,” says Mercedes Hernández-Pelletier, a Community Health Educator with the NC Division of Public Health. She adds that “the collaboration with the COEC has been, and will continue to be, an important link for improving the lives of the people of North Carolina.” In an associated project to the drinking water well contamination educational efforts, the team also designed and produced 25,000 copies of a bilingual fact sheet called Cancer and the Environment that will help explain the linkages among environmental exposures to pollutants and cancer. These materials will also be available through the County Health Departments and the NC Division of Public Health. All of the outreach materials are accessible free in electronic format at this web site (go to CHHE COEC webpage). For more information on any of these materials, contact Ms. Mercedes Hernández-Pelletier at mercedes.hernandez-pelletier@dhhs.nc.gov or Dr. Greg Cope at greg_cope@ncsu.edu.

Solar Radiation and Skin Cancer

jeff — Sun, 15 May 2011 18:10:59 +0000

Human skin is routinely subjected to DNA damage induced by solar radiation and UVB radiation is responsible for approximately one million nonmelanoma skin cancer cases in the U.S. each year making it the most common cancer in the U.S.

Recently, published results from Rob Smart’s lab regarding solar UVB-induce skin cancer were highlighted by NC State in form of a news release. To read more click here.

CHHE Sponsors First Workshop

jeff — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:15:54 +0000

The Center successfully sponsored its first workshop in Fall 2010 at the McKimmon Conference Center at NC State University ajoint effort with NIEHS and NIOSH. The workshop was entitled, “Evaluating the Health Effects to Local Communities of Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)”. Workshop topics included: an overview of CAFOs, respiratory and allergic health effects, fate and transport of CAFO associated ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, inflammatory responses from complex components of dust, estrogenic compounds in effluent from CAFOs, MRSA and other infectious outcomes, antibiotic resistance and endotoxin models and translation to human health.

The objectives of the meeting were:

To gain a better understanding of the transport and fate of CAFO associated compounds and pathogens and their potential risk to the health of local communities.
To identify gaps in our knowledge/science that will lead to sound scientific conclusions.
To encourage development of biologic models to investigate potential mechanisms and provide linkage of exposure assessment and epidemiologic studies.

A meeting summary has been submitted for publication in Environmental Health Perspectives. The day long workshop was well attended with over 75 participants from numerous states, including North Carolina, Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky and Nevada.