Environmental and Occupational Health: November 2004 Archives

Study Examined Ozone Levels in 95 U.S. Cities

Changes in ground-level ozone were significantly associated with an increase in deaths in many U.S. cities, according to a nationwide study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The risk of death was similar for adults of all ages and slightly higher for people with respiratory or cardiovascular problems. The increase in deaths occurred at ozone levels below the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clean air standards. The study appears in the November 17, 2004, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA.)

John Hopkins: Public Health Newsletter

Ozone and Short-term Mortality in 95 US Urban Communities, 1987-2000
Michelle L. Bell, PhD; Aidan McDermott, PhD; Scott L. Zeger, PhD; Jonathan M. Samet, MD; Francesca Dominici, PhD

JAMA. 2004;292:2372-2378.

Context Ozone has been associated with various adverse health effects, including increased rates of hospital admissions and exacerbation of respiratory illnesses. Although numerous time-series studies have estimated associations between day-to-day variation in ozone levels and mortality counts, results have been inconclusive.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004 Posted: 4:00 PM EST (2100 GMT)

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Increases in air pollution caused by cars, power plants and industry can be directly linked to higher death rates in U.S. cities, a study said Tuesday.

Reducing such ozone pollution by about 35 percent on any given day could save about 4,000 lives a year across the country, researchers at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies said.

The conclusion came from a look at 95 urban areas where about 40 percent of the U.S. population lives, comparing spikes in ozone pollution there with death rates from 1987 to 2000.

CNN Health

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is undertaking a $3 million, three-year effort to see how specific genes might contribute to environmentally-related disease. NIEHS will develop a new RNAi library to help fight disease through its National Center for Toxicogenomics. RNAi, or RNA interference, is a new technology which silences specific genes.
RNAi technology "turns off" specific genes so scientists can learn more about how the genes influence the cell. Knowing how a gene responds to a stress allows scientists to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how chemicals and toxins can undermine our health.

EurekAlert.com