March 2002

The Lancet 2002, Vol 359, No 9306,
February 16, pp 564-571.

New viral infections
A Daley and D Dwyer of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in New South Wales, Australia, have called for vigilance to ensure early recognition of emerging viral infections in children. These new emerging viruses include known viruses that have increased in incidence or geographic range (such as enteroviruses and Japanese encephalitis virus) and new viruses such as Australian bat lyssavirus which are associated with known diseases. The study also talks about new viruses associated with previously unrecognised diseases like Hendra and Nipah viruses and says that some of these viruses may have a predilection for children.

Journal of Paediatric Child Health 2002,
Vol 38, No 1, February, pp 1-3.

Antisocial lead
Exposure to lead in early childhood could be the reason behind the rising levels of crime and other antisocial behaviour. A comprehensive study carried out by Kim Dietrich, Associate Director at the Children’s Environmental Health Centre at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre, US, followed 195 adolescents between 1997 and 1999 to assess the links between lead exposure and antisocial behaviour. Blood lead levels were taken from mothers during pregnancy and from children every three months between birth and age 6, thus covering the time when maximum developmental growth takes place. The study found that exposure to lead was associated with antisocial behaviour, even after adjusting for other factors (home environment, low birth weight, parental intelligence and social class) that could lead to similar behaviour.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases,
March 01, 2002.

Adolescents and lead
To investigate the association between lead levels and renal tubular damage among adolescents, F Sonmez et al of the department of pediatrics, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, Aydin, Turkey conducted a study among 39 adolsecent workers engaged in auto repair workshops. Taking a control group of 13 adolescents working in battery production workshops and 29 healthy rural adolescents, blood lead levels and urinary N-acetyl beta D glucosaminidase (NAG) activity was tested. Blood lead levels and urinary NAG in auto repair workers were significantly higher than the rural control group but lower than the battery workers. Amongst those adolescents working in auto repair shops, 8 were painters and they had higher levels of lead exposure and urinary NAG activity than the other workers; suggesting that chronic low dose lead exposure was found to cause renal tubular injury in children workers of auto repair workshops.

Journal of Adolescent Health 2002,
Vol 30, No 3, March, pp 213-216.

Childhood cancer
Peggy Reynolds and her colleagues at the California Department of Health Services, California, US, investigated at total of 7,143 children under 15 years of age for exploring linkages between childhood cancer and agricultural pesticide. Though childhood leukemia rates were found to be significantly elevated in groups with the highest use of the pesticide propargite, no specific dose-response trend was noticed with increasing exposure categories.

Environmental Health Perspectives 2002,
Vol 110, No 3, March, pp 319-324.

Pesticides in diets
Diet samples from preschool children aged 2 to 5 years of Washington State, US, were collected and studied to assess the level of organophosphorous pesticide exposure patterns. A total of 88 individual food category samples were collected and analysed for 15 organophosphorous (OP) pesticides. Sixteen individual food category samples were found to contain detectable levels of at least one OP pesticide, and two of these samples had two OP pesticides. Of the 15 targeted pesticides, 6 were detected and fresh fruit and vegetable category had the most frequent pesticide determinations followed by beverages.

Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 2002,
Vol 1, January 12, pp 21-28.

WEBSITE REFERENCES The Center for Children’s Health and the Environment (CCHE) http://www.childenvironment.org/ The Children’s Environmental Health Network http://www.cehn.org/ Children’s Health and Environment http://www.cepis.ops-oms.org/ enwww/salunino/infonoex.html International Network on Children’s Health, Environment and Safety (INCHES) http://www.inchesnetwork.org/ about.html The Children’s Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) www.cehi.org United States Environmental Protection Agency-Office of Children’s Health Protection http://www.epa.gov/children/ World Health Organisation site for children’s environmental health http://www.who.int/peh/ceh/ topics.htm Children’s Health Environmental Coalition http://www.checnet.org

Premature links
New research points towards examining the associations between environmental exposures of mothers and developing fetuses and subsequent premature birth. Disruptive at any point during pregnancy, environmental toxicants are known to bring about genetic, cellular and molecular changes. Mathew Longnecker an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, US, says there is some suggestive, though not conclusive, evidence for environmental toxicants triggering preterm birth. Studies on community-level air pollution suggest a modest association with preterm birth. In an earlier study done to determine the associations between exposure to DDE and preterm birth Longnecker and colleagues found a statistically significant though Longnecker cautions that more research is needed. In line with that need, Longnecker’s current research focuses on the effects of DDT/DDE in a highly exposed Mexican population of pregnant women and their offspring. Another area, which needs to be explored with caution,` is the gene-environment interactions so that conclusive evidence can be drawn on the linkages between environment and premature deliveries.

Environmental Health Perspectives 2002,
Vol 110, No 2, February, pp A78-79.

Organochlorine chemicals
In their editorial in The Journal of Pediatrics, Mary S Wolff and P J Landrigan speak of the harmful effects of organochlorine chemicals (OCs) on children’s health. Organochlorine chemicals include dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), as well as halogenated dioxons and furans. In utero exposure to OCs have been linked to reduction in intelligence and behaviour. Elevated levels of dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE)–a major metabolite of DDT and PCB have been associated with preterm birth and smaller size newborns.

The Journal of Pediatrics 2002,
Vol 140, No 1, January, editorial.