News Briefs
Fetuses susceptible to combustion pollutants
U.K. Green Chemistry awards
cleotides in mothers and 0.22 adducts per 100 million nucleotides in newborns. Cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, was detected in the serum of 47% of newborns and 44% of mothers. The levels were also quite similar, at 1.7 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) in newborns versus 1.28 ng/mL in mothers. The higher levels of cotinine in newborns indicate that the effects of environmental tobacco smoke are only slowly cleared from the fetuses’ blood. Previous research on the same cohort of New Yorkers found that elevated levels of BP-DNA adducts in combination with secondhand smoke correlated with poor birth outcomes, including smaller head circumference and lower birth weight. “We know that there is a lot of smoking in these neighborhoods, but you would think that with nonsmoking mothers that these babies would be protected,” says Ellen F. Crain, professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “What I find interesting about this study is that we’re finally starting to look for a mechanism for some of the outcomes we find clinically.” —PAUL D. THACKER
A British company that commercialized an environmentally friendly process for metal plating and polishing is one of three groups to win a 2004 Crystal Faraday Green Chemical Technology Award, which was presented in July in Manchester, England. Scionix, the world’s largest producer of ionic liquids, says its process eliminates the need for chromium(VI), reduces energy during application, and provides a better product than the toxic chromic acid baths currently used for chrome plating. As one of 24 Faraday partnerships established to help direct U.K. researchers in new areas, Crystal fosters development and implementation of green manufacturing processes. For descriptions of all submissions, go to www.crystalfara day.org/pdfdocuments/greenchemistry awards2004.pdf.
Air pollution and secondhand smoke are bad enough for adults, but new research indicates that pollutants end up in the blood of fetuses as well.
Although guidelines have been adopted to keep organic foods free from anthropogenic chemicals, these foods may be just as likely to harbor harmful bacteria as conventionally grown foods. At the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nev., U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists presented a study showing equal levels of Salmonella in free-range organic chickens and in chickens raised under traditional commercial conditions. The researchers speculate that the bacteria stem from fecal contamination by wild and domestic animals, which is a growing problem for small organic farms without enclosures. Irrigation water can also transmit the bacteria. For more information, visit www.ift.org.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2004 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ■ 321A
USDA
Organic farming doesn’t guarantee food safety
RHONDA SAUNDERS
Despite research on rats that shows the placenta can block certain combustion-related pollutants, researchers have found that a marker of secondhand cigarette smoke accumulates at greater levels in the plasma of fetuses than that in mothers. They also discovered that cancercausing benzo[a]pyrene (BP) has more harmful effects on fetal than on maternal DNA. This study bolstered previous findings in Poland, where women were exposed to secondhand smoke and levels of BP that were 30 times higher than those in this study. Corresponding author Frederica P. Perera, director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health at Columbia University, says the results are a concern, because exposure to BP has been linked to DNA damage and increased risk of cancer. “This study demonstrates that the fetus is more susceptible to DNA damage from combustion-related pollutants than previously thought,” says Perera. Researchers from the Columbia Center and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention tracked 265 nonsmoking mothers and their newborns in New York City. The mothers were exposed to significant air pollution in their neighborhood, where the average ambient BP concentration was less than 0.5 nanograms per cubic meter of air. Perera says higher levels can be found in California and many European cities. This study was published in the July issue of Environmental Health Perspectives (Environ. Health Perspect. 2004, 12, 1133–1136). The researchers found that 45% of newborns had detectable BPDNA adducts, as did 41% of mothers. The levels of adduct formation were similar in mother and child: 0.24 adducts per 100 milllion nu-
