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New UI center to study effects of exposure to toxicants in fish
Jim
Barlow, Life Sciences Editor
(217) 333-5802; b-james3@illinois.edu
10/25/01
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The
University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine is home to a new
federally funded center that will study the effects of exposure to toxicants
in fish being eaten in large quantities by Laotian and Hmong refugees
in Green Bay and Appleton, Wis.
Researchers from five institutions will work in the UI-based consortium,
which also will develop outreach programs to help the refugees reduce
their consumption of the fish contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls
and methyl mercury.
The FRIENDS Children's Environmental Health Center at the UI was among
four new children’s environmental health research centers announced
today in Cincinnati. They were established under a joint program of
the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Environmental
Protection Agency. The centers each will receive about $1 million
per year for the next five years.
FRIENDS stands for
Fox River Environment and Diet Study. The Fox River cuts through the
heart of the city of Green Bay. It is one of the most heavily PCB-contaminated
sites in the Great Lakes basin and is the single largest source of PCBs
entering Lake Michigan.
"This center will build on several already established research
collaborations and will be organized around refugees we have been recruiting
in this area," said Susan L. Schantz, who will serve as director.
"A large percentage of these refugee families is at high risk for
PCB exposure. While methyl mercury levels are not as high, we want to
know if methyl mercury exposure has adverse health ramifications, either
separately or in combination with PCBs."
PCBs and methyl mercury often occur together in the environment, but
there has been little research that addresses the health effects resulting
from combined exposure. Members of the refugee groups have been involved
in the design of the study and will have continuing roles, said Schantz,
a professor of veterinary biosciences and of psychology.
In addition to studying the health impact of chemicals in the fish,
researchers will be educating the communities about safe fishing locations,
which species of fish are safe to eat, and preparation and cooking methods
to help limit their exposure to the toxicants.
"Because of language and cultural barriers, many of these people
are largely unaware of the risks associated with eating the fish,"
Schantz said.
Researchers will be looking specifically at the effect of eating contaminated
fish on the motor, sensory and mental development of the refugees’
children. They also will study, in laboratory rodents, the mechanisms
by which the pollutants cause neurological harm.
The UI center also will involve researchers at the University of Illinois
at Chicago, Michigan State University, the State University of New York
at Buffalo, the New York State Department of Health, and the University
of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Earlier this year, Schantz and colleagues published findings showing
that adults over age 49 who had consumed more than 24 pounds of PCB-contaminated
sport-caught fish for several years now are having problems learning
and remembering new verbal information. It was the first study to show
that such problems were occurring in adults. Previous studies had focused
on the effects of exposure on children.
In a combined ceremony today, the NIEHS and EPA also announced the establishment
of a center at the Children’s Hospital of Cincinnati, which will
be devoted to assessing and reducing the impact of home and neighborhood
pollutants on children’s hearing, behavior and test scores. Separate
centers at the University of California at Davis and the Robert Wood
Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey will be devoted to the possible role of pollutants on childhood
autism.
