Release
UAlbany Researchers Link
PCBs to Respiratory Diseases
Contact: Karl Luntta (518) 437-4980
ALBANY, N.Y. (December 7, 2004) -- University
at Albany researchers have found a link between
respiratory diseases and New York State residents
who live in or near hazardous waste sites containing
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and persistent
pesticides.
The report, published this month in Environmental
Toxicology and Pharmacology (volume 18,
issue 3, 2004, available on ScienceDirect.com)
studied diseases of hospitalized patients who
live near hazardous waste sites containing persistent
organic pollutants (POP), which include PCBs
and persistent pesticides. UAlbany scientists
discovered that the rates of hospitalizations
due to chronic bronchitis and other infectious
respiratory diseases from those sites exceeded
that of the general New York State population
by some 20 percent.
In order to eliminate other factors that contribute
to respiratory diseases such as income, excess
smoking, and lack of exercise, the researchers
also investigated a separate subset of the PCB-contaminated
sites by studying residents who live along the
Hudson River from Hudson Falls south to Manhattan.
This area has fewer smokers, higher per capita
income, and better diet and exercise habits
than much of the rest of the state. Scientists
discovered that the frequency of hospitalization
for respiratory infections of residents along
the Hudson was more elevated than populations
not living in or by PCB-contaminated sites.
"These observations shows us that the
higher frequency of respiratory disease cannot
be explained by the usual suspects of bad diet
and smoking," said David O. Carpenter,
an author of the study and director of the Institute
for Health and the Environment at the University
at Albany. "It strengthens our hypothesis
that populations living by the Hudson are breathing
in PCBs, which causes their immune systems to
malfunction, leading to more infections."
In all, the scientists studied hospitalization
statistics for 213 New York State zip codes
(with a 2000 Census population of some 2.8 million)
containing or abutting a POP-contaminated site.
The sites were identified by the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the New York Department
of Environmental Conservation (DEC), as well
as the International Joint Commission (IJC),
a U.S.-Canadian body that advises the two governments
on issues relating to boundary waters. Of the
POP sites, 78 abutted the PCB-contaminated portion
of the Hudson River, which is the river south
of Hudson Falls to Manhattan. They compared
these hospitalization rates to 1,382 zip codes
identified as clean sites, containing a 2000
population of 4.7 million.
Specifically, the results showed statistically
significant increases in pneumonia, influenza,
and chronic bronchitis in men and women aged
45-74, and in unclassified chronic airway obstructions
in men and women over the age of 45.
"It is usually thought that exposure
to POPs comes primarily from eating contaminated
fish and other animal products, but our observations
cannot be explained by different patterns of
ingestion," said Carpenter. "Our results
suggest that simply living near a contaminated
site increases the risk of exposure to POPs,
and that this increases the risk of infections
as a result of suppression of the immune system."
In an earlier report, Carpenter showed that
hospitalization for five infectious diseases
of childhood was 30 percent greater in POP-contaminated
areas than in clean zip codes. More recent studies
have demonstrated that Dutch infants exposed
to dioxins and PCBs have elevated incidence
of recurrent middle-ear infections and chicken
pox, and a lower prevalence of allergic reactions
(Weisglas-Kuperus et al., Environ. Health Perspect.
108: 1203-1207, 2000).
For a PDF of the report, visit https://www.albany.edu/news/pdf_files/ETP.pdf
or ScienceDirect.com.
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