Chemicals in Consumer Products and Food
Environmental Health Laboratory
Sources of environmental chemicals and their impact on infant health are being investigated by pediatrician Sheela Sathyanarayana, an adjunct assistant professor and member of the Northwest Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit in our department. She leads the Seattle arm of a multi-site cohort study, The Infant Development and the Environment Study (TIDES), funded by the National Institutes of Health. Sathyanarayana and her colleagues are collaborating with researchers at institutions in Rochester, New York; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and San Francisco, California; to recruit up to 800 pregnant women and their infants after they are born for the TIDES cohort. Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates have raised concerns because they may have toxic effects on fetal and infant endocrine, reproductive, and neurobehavioral systems. Animal studies have shown that early-life exposure to phthalates—in the womb or shortly after birth through a mother’s milk—increased the risk of genital disorders and reproductive function in rodents. BPA has also been closely linked to abnormalities in offspring after exposure to the chemical in utero. BPA is used to make plastic and is found in the lining of canned food. Phthalates are similarly ubiquitous in consumer products. They are used to soften plastics and are found in children’s toys and many personal care products, such as lotions, powders, and shampoos. Children are especially vulnerable because they often put plastic toys and other objects into their mouths, and their metabolic systems are still developing. Environmental chemicals can more profoundly affect smaller bodies than adult ones because of a child’s compact surface area and faster metabolism. Findings from the TIDES study can help us understand how environmental chemicals like these affect a child’s health.
Supporting research at the UW and workplaces around the state
4 states
Accredited by the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the Environmental Health Laboratory provides support for research at the University of Washington and serves Washington state workplaces. A small staff of six researchers analyze environmental and occupational healthrelated samples for studies in the department, including those led by Professor Elaine Faustman as part of the Pacific Northwest Center for the National Children’s Study and those led by Adjunct Assistant Professor Sheela Sathyanarayana (see stories at left and on opposite page). The laboratory also responds to industrial hygiene service requests from a variety of organizations and agencies, including those from our department’s Field Research and Consultation Group, and provides consultation on the chemicals produced during industrial processes. Lab Director Russell Dills is adept at methods development, setting up an analytical lab procedure that replicates the occupational process to identify the contaminant of concern.
The Northwest Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit serves clinicians and public health professionals in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, helping them identify, prevent, diagnose, manage, and treat environmentally related health effects in children. http://depts.washington.edu/pehsu/
2009–2011 Biennial Report
13