Dr. John's Health Matters
Welcome to Dr. John's Health Matters blog.
The articles posted here are from various sources who are duly acknowledged. I would appreciate being immediately notified, if any copywritten material needs to be removed. This blog is not intended to replace the qualified advice of a licensed health practitioner. Readers should exercise their own judgment. Enjoy, subscribe, participate and tell others :)
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Posts tagged "pollution"
Wednesday, Sep 2nd, 2009 ↓Diesel Exhaust Is Linked To Cancer Development Via New Blood Vessel Growth →
Sept 2, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Scientists have demonstrated that the link between diesel fume exposure and cancer lies in the ability of diesel exhaust to induce the growth of new blood vessels that serve as a food supply for solid tumors.
The researchers found that in both healthy and diseased animals, more new blood vessels sprouted in mice exposed to diesel exhaust than did in mice exposed to clean, filtered air. This suggests that previous illness isn’t required to make humans susceptible to the damaging effects of the diesel exhaust.
The tiny size of inhaled diesel particles, most less than 0.1 microns in diameter, potentially enables them to penetrate the human circulatory system, organs and tissues, meaning they can do this damage just about anywhere in the body. A micron is one millionth of a meter.
Diesel exhaust exposure levels in the study were designed to mimic the exposure people might experience while living in urban areas and commuting in heavy traffic. The levels were lower than or similar to those typically experienced by workers who use diesel-powered equipment, who tend to work in mines, on bridges and tunnels, along railroads, at loading docks, on farms and in vehicle maintenance garages, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
“The message from our study is that exposure to diesel exhaust for just a short time period of two months could give even normal tissue the potential to develop a tumor,” said Qinghua Sun, senior author of the study and an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Ohio State University.
“We need to raise public awareness so people give more thought to how they drive and how they live so they can pursue ways to protect themselves and improve their health. And we still have a lot of work to do to improve diesel engines so they generate fewer particles and exhaust that can be released into the ambient air.”
For full article, see link above.
Tags: disesel exhaust air damage risk cancer blood vessel tumor organ tissues circulatory system traffic environmental pollution
Heart Suffers From Just a Few Whiffs of Smoke →
Sept 1, 2009 (Therapytimes.com)—Just a few whiffs of tobacco smoke or dirty air can have a profound negative impact on your heart’s health.
Study results released today by the American Heart Association suggest that exposure to even a small amount of smoke — whether it’s from your own cigarette or someone else’s — greatly increases your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. The same goes for breathing in air polluted with carbon monoxide emissions.
“It doesn’t require extreme exposure to have significant cardiovascular effects. Even passive exposures to ambient air pollution and secondhand smoke contribute to significant increases in cardiovascular mortality,” study author C. Arden Pope III, PhD, says in a statement.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: heart cardiovascular risk disease smoke tobacco risk danger exposure cigarette breathing air pollution
Romantic, Candle-lit Dinners: An Unrecognized Source Of Indoor Air Pollution →
Aug 19, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Burning candles made from paraffin wax –– the most common kind used to infuse rooms with romantic ambiance, warmth, light, and fragrance –– is an unrecognized source of exposure to indoor air pollution, including the known human carcinogens, scientists report.
Levels can build up in closed rooms, and be reduced by ventilation, they indicated in a study presented at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
In the study, R. Massoudi Ph.D., and Amid Hamidi , Ph.D., said that that candles made from bee’s wax or soy, although more expensive, apparently are healthier. They do not release potentially harmful amounts of indoor air pollutants while retaining all of the warmth, ambience and fragrance of paraffin candles (which are made from petroleum).
“An occasional paraffin candle and its emissions will not likely affect you,” Hamidi said. “But lighting many paraffin candles every day for years or lighting them frequently in an un-ventilated bathroom around a tub, for example, may cause problems.”
Besides the more serious risks, he also suggested that some people who believe they have an indoor allergy or respiratory irritation may in fact actually be reacting to air pollutants from burning candles.
Adapted from materials provided by American Chemical Society, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Tags: candle enviroment pollution burning paraffin wax fragrance indoor carcinogen ventilation bee's soy petroleum risk allergy respiratory
Industrial Air Pollution Worse Than Vehicle Exhaust For Breathing Problems In Children →
July 23, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Increasing numbers of children around the world are suffering from respiratory problems – coughing, wheezing and asthma attacks. Although the key external causes of these diseases were identified a long time ago (traffic and industrial air pollution), it had not previously been possible to distinguish clearly between these two factors so as to have a targeted impact on them.
Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the University of Leipzig carried out research in this area together with colleagues from the University of La Plata and can now confirm that air pollution caused by industry has even more grave effects than vehicle exhaust fumes.
The recently completed study on ‘Combined effects of airborne pollutants as risk factors for environmental diseases’ was conducted as part of a long-standing collaborative venture, supported by the international office of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, between the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the University of Leipzig and the University of La Plata in Argentina. The results have been published in several journals, including the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Toxicology.
For full article see link above.
Tags: pollution environment asthma respiratory cough wheezing traffc industrial children child airborne air
Summer Is Here And The Mercury Is Rising ... Literally →
July 16, 2009 (sciencedaily.com)—Hot town, summer in the city. When it comes to air-quality advisories, city residents are no strangers, especially during the dog days of summer. But smog is made up of an array of air pollutants, including the mad hatter’s muse, mercury. One Ryerson University researcher has found that summer is the peak season for this atmospheric toxin, and that higher levels of mercury species exist in the urban atmosphere as compared to rural regions.
Julia Lu is an Associate Professor in Ryerson’s Department of Chemistry and Biology, where she conducts research identifying and quantifying different forms of trace metals in the environment. Her main focus, however, is mercury, an element that can be found in many places, which explains why Dr. Lu’s work has involved such diverse locales as the Canadian Arctic and, more recently, Toronto, Canada’s largest city.
One of many contributing poor air factors, mercury is well-known for its toxic effects on the environment and human health. Airborne mercury’s greatest threat is that it will settle into the surface environment and be converted into the much more toxic organomercury species which can be accumulated and magnified up the food chain, reaching our dinner table through fish and shellfishconsumption.
For full article see link above.
Environmental Manganese Good In Trace Amounts But Can Correlate To Cancer Rates →
July 13, 2009 (sciencedaily.com)—In the first ecological study of its kind in the world, a Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researcher has uncovered the unique finding that groundwater and airborne manganese in North Carolina correlates with cancer mortality at the county level.
Lead researcher John Spangler, M.D., professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest Baptist, found that groundwater manganese appears to be positively associated with total cancer, colon cancer and lung cancer death rates, while airborne manganese concentrations appear to be inversely associated with total cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer death rates.
“People need manganese in trace amounts, but if you get too much of it, manganese can be dangerous,” Spangler said. “It’s my hope that the impact of this study will be to spark additional interest and research. This really just raises the concern that something may be going on and argues for further research into these issues.”
For full article see ink above.
Tags: environment pollution groundwater airborne manganese cancer mortality colon lung breast risk danger
Flame Retardant Chemicals Found in U.S. Coastal Waters and Great Lakes →
July 8, 2009 (Naturalnews.com)—Toxic flame retarding chemicals are found in all U.S. coastal waters and in the Great Lakes, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances.
“This is a wake-up call for Americans concerned about the health of our coastal waters and their personal health,” said John Dunnigan, assistant administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA’s) National Ocean Service. “Scientific evidence strongly documents that these contaminants impact the food web and action is needed to reduce the threats posed to aquatic resources and human health.”
The chemicals in question, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were first produced in the 1970s, and have since been banned in a variety of countries across Asia and Europe. Manufacture of most varieties was voluntarily discontinued by companies in the United States, but other kinds are still produced to this day. They are chemically similar to PCBs, which have been banned in the United States and throughout the world.
Studies have indicated that PBDEs accumulate in the blood, body fat and breast milk of humans and other animals, and can be passed from mother to infant. They have been implicated in causing damage to the liver, kidneys and immune system, and to result in impaired neurobehavioral development. Like most persistent organic pollutants, they are especially dangerous to pregnant women and children.
For full article see link above.
Tags: danger risk water toxic resource PCB PBDE accumulation blood body fat milk immunity pregnancy development neurobehavioral pollution environment
Smog Stresses Your Skin Cells →
June 29, 2009 (mercola.com)—Research suggests that ozone, a key component of smog, puts stress on human skin cells. Cars and factories emit pollutants into the air that combine with the sun’s rays to form photochemical smog. Ozone in the lower atmosphere contributes to the smog that’s visible to the eye. Researchers exposed human skin cells to the smog-related ozone in the laboratory, and found that it turned on cellular machinery that normally responds to stress, suggesting ozone may be toxic to human skin. Smog breaks down into free radicals when zapped by the sun. These free radicals bounce around destructively inside cells. Free radical damage has been implicated in diseases such as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Sources: 
Live Science June 25, 2009
Pollution Causes Genetic Changes that Lead to Asthma →
May 10 09 (NaturalNews) Prenatal exposure to air pollution appears to cause genetic changes that predispose unborn infants to asthma later in life, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the Center for Environmental Genetics a the University of Cincinnati and published in the journal PLoS ONE.
“Our data support the concept that environmental exposures can interact with genes during key developmental periods to trigger disease onset later in life, and that tissues are being reprogrammed to become abnormal later,” lead researcher Shuk-mei Ho said.
Researchers had pregnant women wear backpack air monitors that analyzed the women’s exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a type of pollution produced by combustion that is characteristic of the air in high-traffic areas. The researchers also examined the expression of the ACSL3 gene in their unborn children.
For full article, see link above.
Future Climate Change Likely To Cause More Respiratory Problems In Young Children →
ScienceDaily (May 11, 2009) — More children will end up hospitalized over the next decade because of respiratory problems as a result of projected climate change, according to a new study from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. See also: Health & Medicine * Children’s Health * Lung Disease * Personalized Medicine Earth & Climate * Environmental Issues * Ozone Holes * Air Quality Reference * Consensus of scientists regarding global warming * Tropospheric ozone * Ozone layer * Nitrogen oxide The lead author of this research is Perry Elizabeth Sheffield, MD, Pediatric Environmental Health Fellow in the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine and the Department of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.* Mount Sinai worked with Natural Resources Defense Council and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health on this eye-opening research that finds a direct connection between air pollution and the health of children.
For full article, see link above.
Greenhouse Gases Pose Threat To Public Health, EPA Finds →
ScienceDaily (Apr. 18, 2009) — After a thorough scientific review ordered in 2007 by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed finding on April 17 that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare.
For full article, see link above.
Environmental Air Pollution May Stunt Fetal Growth →
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 08 09 - Increased air pollution during pregnancy, particularly pollution associated with road traffic, appears to raise the risk of fetal growth restriction. According to investigators at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Piscataway, some late pregnancy complications may make the fetus even more vulnerable to these adverse effects.
To study these issues, Dr. David Q. Rich and his associates accessed New Jersey databases to identify full-term single births between 1999 and 2003. Their findings were released online today by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
For full medical article, see link above.
Fish Oil Supplements Contain No or Negligeable Mercury →
Apr 09 09 (mercola.com) — Fish oil supplements are increasingly popular, but it has sometimes been suggested that they could also expose you to the harmful pollutants found in some species of fish.
However, studies have found that most of the widely available supplements contain little or no mercury, dioxins or PCBs.
Most companies use species of fish that are lower on the food chain, like cod and sardines, that accumulate less mercury. Many companies also distill their oils to help remove contaminants.
A report by ConsumerLab.com, which conducts independent tests of supplements, examined 41 common fish oil products and found none contaminated with mercury or PCBs. Another report, by researchers at Harvard Medical School and at Massachusetts General Hospital, studied five popular brands of fish oil and found that the brands had “negligible amounts of mercury.”
Sources:
New York Times March 23, 2009ConsumerLab.com March 7, 2009
Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Dec 2003;127(12):1603-5 (Free Full Text Article)
Airplane Cabin Air Filled with Toxic Chemicals →
(NaturalNews) A new undercover investigation has found traces of toxic chemicals on board the planes of several popular commercial airlines, bolstering claims from pilots and others that contamination of the air in jet cabins is widespread.
A Swiss and German television network collaborated to secretly swab the cabins of 31 airplanes from several popular airliners. The swabs were then sent off to the University of British Columbia for analysis. Twenty-eight of them tested positive for high levels of a jet oil ingredient called tricresyl phosphate (TCP).
TCP is used to prevent wear inside jet engines, but is also known to cause respiratory distress, drowsiness, headaches or other neurological problems in humans.
This cluster of symptoms is known as Aerotoxic Syndrome. Former British Airways pilot Tristan Loraine has conducted research into the condition for seven years, leading eventually to a documentary about his findings. Loraine claims that it was contaminated cabin air that made him unable to work after 19 years as a pilot.
For full article, see link above.
