Flea Collars for Pets Endanger Kids – Research by SF PSR Steering Committee member Dr. Gina Solomon in the San Francisco Chronicle 4/24/09

The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/04/24/MN63177TIM.DTL

Friday, April 24, 2009 (SF Chronicle)
Group says flea collars for pets endanger kids
Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer
(04-23) 15:12 PDT OAKLAND
Some cat and dog flea collars leave chemicals
on fur that are hazardous to the pets and their owners, in violation of California’s anti-toxics laws, according to a national environmental
group’s lawsuit Thursday. The Natural Resources Defense Council urged federal
regulators to remove the products from the market. Two chemicals in the pet collars left residue sufficient to pose the risk of cancer and neurological damage to children – as much as 1,000 times higher than levels established by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the group said.
“Just because a product is sold in stores
doesn’t mean it’s safe,” said Dr. Gina Solomon, a physician and a toxicologist with the
environmental group and an author of the study. Under California’s Proposition 65, which was approved by state voters in
1986, “consumers have a right to know if a
flea-control product could make
their pets or families sick,” Solomon said.
The group asked the federal environmental agency to cancel the registration for use of the two chemicals – propoxur and TCVP, or tetrachlorvinphos- on pets. The EPA has deemed exposure to flea collars insignificant.
Still, the agency considers the chemicals to be
carcinogens and neurotoxins. Propoxur is on the state’s list of carcinogens regulated by
Prop. 65, and the state is considering adding TCVP to the list.

The federal agency did not immediately respond to the environmental group’s petitions and allegations that regulators failed to safeguard the public and their pets from dangerous pesticides. In its lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court, the group alleges that 16 retailers and manufacturers, including chain pet supply and grocery stores, failed to warn consumers that they were exposed to unsafe levels of propoxur in violation of state law. Officials at Central Life Sciences in Schaumburg, Ill., which has taken over two of the defendants named in the suit -
manufacturers Wellmark International Corp. and Farnam Co.s – had not seen the study and could not comment, said Mark Newberg, director of corporate affairs. Other manufacturers named in the suit – Hartz Mountain Group, Sergeant’s Pet Care Products Inc. and Virbac Inc. – could not be reached for comment.

The environmental group conducted tests on nine dogs and five cats, a sample that was equal to or larger than studies used by the
EPA to determine exposure to pesticides from flea collars, the authors said. The tests for TCVP were conducted on Hartz Advanced Care
3-in-1 Control Collar for Cats and Hartz Advanced Care 2-in-1 Reflecting Flea & Tick
Collar for Dogs. Tests for propoxur were done on Zodiac Flea & Tick Collar for dogs and Bio Spot Flea and Tick Collar for dogs. Pet owners calling the National Pesticide Information
Center have complained that dogs and cats wearing collars containing the ingredients
had stopped eating or drinking and showed symptoms including vomiting, twitching and diarrhea. There was no confirmation that the
collars caused the problems. The environmental group’s researchers followed
common protocols, including wiping fur to simulate petting. Measured residues were compared to the EPA’s acceptable levels using standard exposure and risk assessments for
cancer and other ill health effects. For TCVP, after three days, 60 percent of the dogs
and 40 percent of the cats had residue levels that would exceed the EPA’s acceptable level
for developing brains of toddlers who spend an average amount of time with a pet. For toddlers who have a lot more pet contact or have more than one pet, residue levels on 80 percent of the dogs and all of the cats would exceed the acceptable level. After two weeks, none of the pets had residue levels that exceeded the acceptable level for average contact with a pet, but 67 percent of the
dogs and all of the cats had residue levels that could be dangerous for children who have a lot of contact with a pet. For propoxur, after three days, all of the dogs had residue levels that would exceed the EPA’s acceptable level for developing brains of toddlers spending an average amount of time with a pet.

After 14 days, 75 percent of the dogs had residue levels exceeding the acceptable level for average contact with a pet, while all of the dogs had residue levels that could be dangerous for children having a lot of
contact with a pet.

In 2000, the environmental group identified seven organophosphate insecticides as dangerous ingredients in flea-and-tick-control products. The EPA has since canceled residential uses for six of them, including in
pet products, leaving only TCVP. Toxics and pets.

Read the Poisons on Pets II study at
links.sfgate.com/ZGWC.

See the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Green Paws product guide at links.sfgate.com/ZGWA.

E-mail Jane Kay at jkay@sfchronicle.com.
Copyright 2009 SF Chronicle

NPR’s Story on Low Carbon Diets

On yesterday’s All Things Considered (NPR), SF PSR President Dr. Robert Gould was interviewed in a story on low-carbon diets. Listen to it (the print version is truncated and somewhat inaccurate) at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103375820

SF PSR’s Healthy Foods in Hospitals work on All Things Considered today

A story on reducing carbon emissions by changing what you eat runs on NPR’s All Things Considered this afternoon, Wednesday April 22. SF PSR’s Healthy Foods in Hospitals work, and it’s connection to climate change through the development of the Balanced Menus program, will be featured. Dr. Robert Gould and staff of SF PSR were interviewed for the story. If you miss the broadcast today and want to hear the story, it will be archived and available at www.npr.org.

SF PSR President Dr. Robert Gould Speaks on Nuclear Weapons on KPFA Radio–Listen Here

Terra Verde – November 7, 2008 at 1:00pm

Click to listen (or download)

Author Aaron Glantz Coming To SF and Oakland To Discuss His New Book–The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans

The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against
America’s Veterans

Aaron Glantz, unembeded journalist, broadcaster from Winter
Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan has just come out with his new
book.

The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle against
America’s Veterans is the first book to systematically
document the U.S. government’s neglect of soldiers
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Aaron Glantz, who
reported extensively from Iraq during the first three years
of this war and has been reporting on the plight of veterans
ever since, levels a devastating indictment against the Bush
administration for its bald neglect of soldiers and its
disingenuous reneging on their benefits. The book also
supplies the reader with extensive, easy-to-use resource
information for those who need help now, not when policy has
changed.

- – - – - – - – — – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - — -
City Lights Bookstore presents Aaron Glantz
Wednesday, January 28th @ 7 PM
Columbus & Broadway, San Francisco

—

Saturday, January 31, 2009, 8:00 PM
First Congregational Church of Oakland
2501 Harrison Street, Oakland

“The War Comes Home”

With Aaron Glantz and Norman Solomon
Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans
With San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar + US Army vet Walter
Williams
Tickets: $12 advance, $15 door,
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/52728
or at supporting bookstores
Benefits KPFA Radio
Info: 510.848-6767X611

Aaron’s Schedule so far  Online calendar with additional
> information http://calendar.yahoo.com/aaronfglantz

SFPSR Steering Committee Member Dr. Sarah Janssen Cited in Article on Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals

Panel: EPA must consider effects of chemical barrage

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

Chemicals that interfere with the male hormone system are so common — and so potentially damaging — that the government should stop studying them one by one and consider their combined effect, an expert panel said Thursday.

Phthalates and other hormone-disrupting chemicals pollute the air, water and dust and are found in hundreds of consumer products — including bug spray, perfume, pesticides, shower curtains, food containers, and plastic toys, according to a report released today from the National Research Council, which advises the government on science policy.

Studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and independent scientists have found phthalates in virtually everyone, including pregnant women and babies.

The Environmental Protection Agency typically studies the impact of these and other chemicals individually. But that approach may underestimate the effect of being exposed to many different chemicals with similar effects, says the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry’s Deborah Cory-Slechta, chairwoman of the committee that wrote the report.

The best way to protect people — especially infants and fetuses, whose reproductive systems are still developing — is to measure the cumulative impact of this hormonal barrage, Cory-Slechta says. In fact, she says that the EPA should always consider cumulative effects — not just for hormone disruptors, but for all potential toxins.

That will allow the EPA to figure out the maximum level to which humans can safely be exposed and create regulations to protect Americans from exposures that could be harmful, says Sarah Janssen of the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. Janssen says she hopes that other government agencies — such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission — will also consider the cumulative effect of hormone disruptors in food additives, medical equipment, toys and other products.

“We’re exposed to a complex soup of chemicals,” Janssen says. “It’s a warning we can’t ignore.”

There’s enough evidence to start that assessment right away, instead of waiting until additional studies are finished, Cory-Slechta says.

Although the report focused primarily on phthalates, Cory-Slechta note that other products, such as pesticides used in food, also lower testosterone levels.

Animal and human studies link all of these chemicals to a wide spectrum of problems, from reduced sperm counts to genital malformations. Scientists are also studying the chemicals’ link to testicular cancer and other problems, the report says.

Although most of the research has been done in animals, there’s no reason to think that the substances wouldn’t affect humans the same way, says report co-author Paul Foster, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

But the American Chemistry Council, an industry group, says that considering the risks of so many chemicals that affect male hormones would be “remarkably ambitious” — and maybe impossible.

“This essentially could result in a study without limits, financially or otherwise,” says the council’s Chris Bryant in a statement.

Lawmakers and business around the world already have taken steps to limit phthalate exposure.

The European Union has restricted phthalates in cosmetics and children’s toys. A growing number of hospitals are phasing out phthalates in neonatal intensive care units, hoping to protect premature and sickly newborn boys.

Congress last summer passed a ban banning several phthalates in children’s products. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has said that it will allow stores to continue selling toys made with phthalates, as long as they were manufactured before the law takes effect Feb. 10th.

Drs Gina Solomon and Sarah Janssen of SFPSR to Teach Environment and Health Course at UCSF. Auditors Welcome

Environment and Health
Winter 2009; Wednesdays 5:00-7:00 PM
Room: Toland Hall (UC Hall, Room U-142, UCSF Parnassus)

1 unit (5 sessions) through M170C Department of Medicine
OR
2 units (10 sessions) through N248 School of Nursing
Auditors Welcome

Faculty of Record:
Gina Solomon, MD, MPH, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine gina.solomon@ucsf.edu
Barbara Burgel, RN, PhD, FAAN, Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing Program: Barbara.burgel@nursing.ucsf.edu or

Grading:  Pass/Fail
Course Description:
This interdisciplinary course will introduce a broad range of environmental health topics affecting health status. Exposure assessment, risk communication, prevention strategies, and environmental health policies will be covered with special attention to childbearing families, children and communities at risk for environmental injustice. Directed readings in environmental health and critical thinking skills are emphasized.

Objectives:
1)    Explore the environmental factors that potentially adversely affect the health of people in the community, home, and work environments.
2)    Determine the chemical and biological mechanisms involved in environmental exposures, leading to adverse health outcomes.
3)    Recognize adverse health effects due to environmental exposures through a comprehensive environmental health history.
4)    Identify populations at risk for environmental exposures, including childbearing families, children, and communities at risk for environmental injustice.
5)    Outline strategies to mitigate environmental exposure for individuals and communities.
6)    Analyze public policies, including standards and regulations, which serve to safeguard the health of individuals and communities from environmental exposures.

Recommended readins will be provided for each week, and posted on the Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) Course Website

Student Expectations:
1.    Active engagement in environmental health topics, to include completion of course assignments/readings prior to class, active debate and dialogue, and application of content, when applicable, in clinical work.
2.    Sign in to each class session.
3.    Register on CLE to gain access to readings, case studies, etc.
4.    For those taking 1 unit course:  attendance of five sessions of your choice;
5.    For those taking 2 unit course:  complete an annotated bibliography of 5 articles on an environmental topic of your choice.  Focus on exposure definition, how exposure was measured, sensitivity of outcome and how measured, and how study results, if significant could be used for environmental policy.  Due no later than March 11, 2009 to Barbara Burgel.
6.    Optional Tour at end of quarter—space limited, sign up required.

Schedule

January 7, 2009:      Course Introduction:  Environmental Health from Global to Local
Scope of the problem /Current challenges and solutions
Understanding toxicology and risk assessment
Taking an Environmental Health History
Case Studies
[Faculty: Burgel, Solomon]

January 14, 2009:    Overview of Environmental Health and Pediatrics
Risks to children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable groups
Pediatric Toolkit for EH Issues
[Faculty: Miller, Janssen, Duderstadt]

January 21, 2009:    Exposure Assessment
Challenges of exposure assessment
Biologic monitoring —how to evaluate/interpret results
CDC and California biomonitoring programs
Risk communication challenges
[Faculty: Solomon, Roisman]

January 28, 2009:     Global Occupational and Environmental Health
Climate Change
International occupational health
[Faculty: Smith, LaDou]

February 4, 2009:     International EH case studies:
Water quality in Chile
Air quality in Guatemala
[Faculty: Steinmaus, Thompson]

February 11, 2009:        California Air Quality: Policy and Regulatory Challenges
[Faculty: Balmes]

February 18, 2009        California Health and Policy Challenges and Victories
Endocrine disrupting chemicals in toys
Cosmetics, flame retardants, etc.
[Faculty: Janssen, Rizzo]

February 25, 2009      Local: Mercury in fish – Health risks and education needs.
[Faculty: Segovia-Bain, Ablog, Solomon]

March 4, 2009:     Local: Indoor Air Quality
Tools for Schools
[Faculty: Chan, Miller]

March 11, 2009:     Preparing for climate change in the Bay Area
Sea level rise, heat waves, storms, infectious disease
What health care providers can do
[Faculty: Solomon, Duderstadt]

Gina M. Solomon, M.D., M.P.H. is an associate clinical professor in the division of occupational and environmental medicine at UCSF and the associate director of the UCSF Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit. She is a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national nonprofit environmental advocacy organization. She is also Vice-President of San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility. Dr. Solomon was involved in the environmental health assessment of New Orleans after Katrina.

Barbara Burgel, R.N., ANP, PhD, FAAN is a clinical professor in the Department of Community Health Systems at UCSF, in occupational and environmental health nursing. She was co-founder of the Community Occupational Health Project, focusing on low-wage worker health and safety in Alameda County, an initiative funded by the California Wellness Foundation from 2000-2006.

Sarah Janssen, M.D., Ph.D. is an assistant clinical professor in the division of occupational and environmental medicine at UCSF and a science fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Dr. Janssen is also a reproductive biologist with expertise in the topic of endocrine disruption.

Mark Miller, M.D., M.P.H. is an assistant clinical professor in the division of occupational and environmental medicine at UCSF and is the director of the UCSF Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit. He is also a scientist at the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

Karen Duderstadt, RN, PNP, PhD is a clinical professor in family health care nursing department at UCSF, in the advanced practice pediatric nursing.  Dr. Duderstadt has interests in pediatric environmental health and adverse health effects from climate change, amongst other topics.

Rachel Roisman, MD is a public health medical officer with the California Environmental Protection Agency, and is currently a member of the California Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring Program.

Joe Ladou, MD, is a professor emeritus from UCSF, who has been director of the International Center for Occupational Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco since 1992.  Dr. LaDou’s study of the global migration of hazardous industries has led to efforts to control occupational and environmental hazards. Dr. LaDou is the editor of Current Occupational and Environmental Medicine, currently in its 4th edition.

Kirk Smith, PhD is professor of global environmental health at UC Berkeley, is chair of the graduate group in environmental health sciences, and coordinator of the graduate program in health, environment and development in the School of Public Health.  Dr. Smith serves on a number of national and international scientific advisory and editorial boards including the Executive Committees for the Global Energy Assessment and the Global Air Quality Guidelines.

Craig Stienmaus, MD, MPH is assistant adjunct professor at UC Berkeley school of public health, with research focused on arsenic in drinking water and perchlorate.
Lisa Thompson, RN, FNP, PhD is assistant professor in family health care nursing department at UCSF, in the family nurse practitioner program.  Dr. Thompson brings her expertise exploring adverse health effects in children from indoor air pollution arising from cookstoves in homes in Guatemala.

John Balmes, MD, MPH is professor at UCSF division of occupational and environmental medicine, and the school of public health at UC Berkeley. Dr. Balmes is the Director of the Northern California Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, and a recent appointee to the California Air Resources Board.

Rossana Segovia-Bain. RN, MS, OHNP is assistant clinical professor in the department of community health systems, in the occupational and environmental health nursing program.  Rossana is providing technical support to the Safe Fishing Project, in collaboration with Literacy for Environmental Justice(LEJ), in the Bayview-Hunter’s Point neighborhood of San Francisco.

Jeanne Rizzo, RN, is executive director for the Breast Cancer Prevention Fund, which focuses on identifying the environmental causes of breast cancer and preventing the disease.  BCPF has two prominent campaigns to remove pthalates in children’s toys, and to remove carcinogens in personal care products, specifically cosmetics.

Myla Ablog is the ecologist with LEJ, coordinating the Safe Fishing Project, amongst other environmental and ecologic projects.

Jackie Chan, MPH is an industrial hygienist working with the San Francisco Unified School District on indoor air quality.

Public Health Expert Dr. Dick Jackson To Speak At DEC. 15th SFPSR Event–Please Join Us

SF Bay Area Physicians For Social Responsibility

December Event

Join Us Monday December 15^th at 6:30 PM

-Hear a talk by UCLA Professor and public health expert Dr. Dick Jackson

-Meet SF PSR Staff and Steering Committee

-Mingle with other PSR Members

-Hear about our chapter activities and how to get involved

Where: At the home (1515 16^th Ave., SF) of Steering Committee Member Tom Hall (Directions Below)

When: December 15^th

6:30-7:30 Eat, Meet and Greet (a light buffet supper will be served)

7:30-8:30 –Dr. Dick Jackson-Professor and Chair Dept. of Environmental

Health Sciences-UCLA School of Public Health-Converging Crises in

Environmental and Public Health

–Dr. Robert Gould SF PSR President-Chapter Overview

Please RSVP by contacting Executive Director Evan Krasner at evanpsr@gmail.com or 510-845-8395

This is a free event for our members. Donations are always welcome, so bring a checkbook if you are so inclined.

Directions To Tom Hall’s House

From UCSF: west on Parnassus to 7th Ave., left/south two blocks to Lawton, right/west to the left-turning curve onto 16^th Ave; From San Francisco/East Bay, west on Lincoln (on south side of GG Park), left on Funston (first traffic light west of 9^th Ave traffic light), up hill 4 blocks and then right on Lawton for 0.2 mile until you reach the left-turning curve with 16^th Ave; From the south, via I-280 and 19^th Ave., turn right/east on Lawton up 3 short blocks to 16^th Ave., left at the “T” for one block to the curve. From the north, via GG Bridge, go south through the GG Park, four blocks after exiting the Park turn right on Kirkham for one block, left on 20th Ave., left on Lawton and cross 19th Ave, go up a steep hill for three 3 short blocks to 16^th Ave., left at the “T” for one block to the curve. — Note: 16^th Ave. is discontinuous (except by 148 stair steps) due to a steep hill. Our house would be better numbered as 980 Lawton St., where Lawton meets 16^th Ave. at the curve. Don’t park on the curve; Muni buses swing wide and it is illegal. Parking is usually easy within a block of our house.

SF PSR President Dr. Robert Gould To Be Heard On KPFA Radio 94.1 Today, November 7

Dr. Gould will appear on KPFA Radio (94.1) 1-1:30 this afternoon (Nov. 7) to discuss the Environmental/Public health impacts of the nuclear weapons complex.

SFPSR Steering Committee Member Dr. Thomas Newman Publishes Book Review In New England Journal Of Medicine

From New England Journal Of Medicine 10/23/2008 Issue

Prescription for Survival:

A Doctor’s Journey to End

Nuclear Madness

By Bernard Lown. 436 pp., illustrated. San Francisco,

Berrett–Koehler, 2008. $35. ISBN 978-1-57675-482-5.

In Prescription for Survival, Bernard Lown

tells the remarkable story of how he and Eugene

Chazov, cardiologists whose countries were on

opposite sides of the Cold War, created and nurtured

the organization International Physicians

for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) from

its inception in 1980 through its receipt of the

Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. The writing is crisp

and the detail remarkable — Lown takes us through

dozens of trips, conferences, and meetings, giving

accounts of who said what, noting sources,

and explaining how conflicts were resolved. Lown’s

training as a scientist is evident from his frequent

citations of specific albums from his personal

archives, which allowed him to reconstruct the exciting

story in extraordinary detail.

This is not an autobiography but the story of

the formation of an organization. Thus, it is not

until midway through the book that Lown explains

why, as a world-famous cardiologist and inventor

of a cardiac defibrillator, his academic appointment

was at the Harvard School of Public Health

instead of Harvard Medical School. (After he refused

to sign a loyalty oath during the McCarthy

era, the medical school refused him employment.)

The Cold War ended almost 20 years ago, which

makes it easy to forget how thoroughly ingrained

in the American psyche was distrust of the Soviet

Union. As Lown puts it, “For Americans raised

during the Cold War years the words Soviet and

propaganda went together like hamburger and

ketchup.” Opposition to the fledgling IPPNW came

from some who labeled it a communist front and

others who feared that the idealistic physicians

who were its members were unwittingly being

used by the communists. These sentiments were

magnified, rather than quieted, when the IPPNW

received the Nobel Peace Prize. The Wall Street Journal

published an editorial titled “The Nobel Peace

Fraud,” which began, “The Nobel Peace Prize hit

a new low.” The New York Daily News headline was

“Soviet Propaganda Wins the Prize.” The San Diego

Union labeled it “A Tarnished Prize.” West

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl issued an appeal

to the Nobel Committee to rescind the prize.

Today the Cold War is over, but the challenge

of organizing against nuclear weapons remains

relevant. It is not easy to focus on a single issue,

even one as important as nuclear weapons, when

other problems and outrages are begging for attention.

Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR)

struggles to stay focused on nuclear disarmament

when the United States has launched one war of

aggression and is threatening to start another.

However, the more issues an organization takes

on, the more disagreements are likely over priorities

and strategies. The many meetings and

discussions that are detailed in this memoir convincingly

illustrate how difficult it is for likeminded,

good people to agree on how to keep

working together despite their disagreements.

The most important message I was left with

after reading this book is this: the struggle

against nuclear weapons was so much harder then.

Lown, his colleagues in the IPPNW and PSR, and

other activists have done most of the heavy lifting.

Around the world, citizens and their leaders

now know that a nuclear war would not be survivable,

and the vast majority of people support

the global elimination of nuclear weapons. Even

former “cold warriors” such as George Schultz

and Henry Kissinger have called for a world free

of nuclear weapons. And yet, in 2008, the United

States and Russia still maintain thousands of nuclear

weapons on hair-trigger alert. As Lown puts

it, “Responsible governments were holding entire

nations hostage with a suspended sentence of

mass murder. . . . By acquiescing to such policies

we were engaging in the most abysmal

collective failure of social responsibility. . . .

Where was the unrelenting outcry against nuclearism

from academic and religious leaders?

Where were the voices of moral outrage?”

These questions are even more relevant today,

since the administration of President George W.

Bush has expanded the strategic role of nuclear

weapons from one of deterrence to include possible

preemptive use. As physicians in the 21st

century, we have the responsibility to contribute

to one of the most important goals in history: the

global elimination of nuclear weapons. In Prescription

for Survival, Lown encourages us to help finish

the job he and his colleagues at the IPPNW and

PSR so capably started — before it is too late.

Thomas B. Newman, M.D., M.P.H.

University of California, San Francisco

San Francisco, CA 94143