Environmental ▼News The beat goes on: Researchers consider aging baby boomers’ health
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waste dump for 40 years or more, exposures to environmental hazards are higher than for other groups. “We need new research into the microenvironments that older adults live in,” urges Andrew Geller, with EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD). PHOTODISC
he U.S. EPA is undertaking a first-of-its-kind “aging initiative”, a comprehensive research program designed to link environmental hazards and the health of older people. The push to study seniors’ health problems is all the more urgent now that the nation’s baby boomer generation moves into its 60s. The 76 million people born between 1946 and 1964 will begin to turn 65 years old in 2011, according to EPA figures, making it clear that in the next 20 to 30 years, the number of Americans over 65 will double, creating the largest cohort in history. President Bush has proposed $1 million to fund the initiative in the upcoming fiscal year (FY) budget, which begins in October. EPA leaders envision the research involving several government groups, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the National Institute on Aging, where research on the elderly is already under way. But with the recent budget crunch, many government researchers privately worry that the funds won’t come through. Seniors behave differently than younger adults in ways that can negatively affect their health, and their older immune systems are less able to recover from hazardous exposures, senior advocates note. They typically spend more time at home than kids and middle-aged adults, many as much of 95% of their time, and are exposed to indoor air risks such as mold and dust, which can trigger life-threatening asthma. Water-borne pathogens in drinking water can be deadly. And for retirees who have lived near a toxic
The United States is rapidly graying, and senior citizens have different environmental health concerns than younger people.
Those over 65 typically ingest several different medications and have been exposed to higher levels of synthetic chemicals from food residues and other sources. All of these factors can make them more vulnerable to environmental hazards, but for most of these issues, there are great gaps in research. “It must be noted that our current elderly population has been exposed to a cumulative dose of environmental chemicals above and beyond that of past generations,” said Jane Lipscomb, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, speak-
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ing in May at an EPA “listening session” on the initiative. “Despite this, to date the elderly’s lifetime exposure and unique vulnerability to synthetic chemicals in the environment have not been a focus of epidemiology or toxicological study.” At the same time, the elderly metabolize chemicals differently than kids or younger adults. “A rapidly accumulating literature regarding changes in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics with advancing age suggest that the elderly are particularly vulnerable to drug reactions,” Lipscomb added. “In the absence of research exploring the harmful effects of multiple drug and environmental chemical interactions, we can only project the vulnerability of this population to the harmful effects of these complex mixtures.” The initiative was a favorite of former EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, who shortly after taking office asked staffers from the Office of Children’s Health Protection about agency efforts to protect those older than 65, says Kathy Sykes, aging initiative coordinator. For the past decade, EPA researchers have taken a close look at children’s health issues, leading to decisions that differ when applied to adults. Whitman asked for a similar focus on older people, and researchers are urging the same. EPA launched its initiative during a December 2002 workshop with the National Academy of Sciences where experts considered environmental hazards and their impact on respiratory and cardiovascular disease, as well as neurotoxicity, infectious disease, and cancer. If the funds are approved, ORD officials will direct EPA’s research projects, says Geller. Other EPA offices are involved as well. An inventory of EPA activities from 1996 to the present shows that a total of $12.8 million has been spent so far © 2003 American Chemical Society
older citizens. The agency wants to hear from outsiders about how the migration of retirees to regions with warmer climates might cause ecological pressure. And agency staffers are interested in recruiting retirees to volunteer to speak about ecological preservation. Once information about this topic is made public, baby boomers are likely to act, notes Steven Wallace, professor of Public Health at the University of California–Los Angeles’ Center for Health and Policy Research. “It is the generation that changed things in the 1960s,” Wallace says. “They have definitely been seen as a group that is hyper about their health concerns.” For more information, go to www. epa.gov/aging. —CATHERINE M. COONEY
Declining water resources raise food concerns Citizens of dozens of poor African and Asian countries could face starvation in the next 30 years, according to the first-ever quantitative analysis of water resources and a country’s capability to grow food. In the July 15 issue of ES&T (pp 3048–3054), scientists at the Swiss Institute for Environmental Science & Technology (EAWAG) introduce a statistical model that correlates renewable water resources with a country’s cereal grain imports. They find that although many countries have become more efficient at using their freshwater for agriculture, 35 countries in this region lack enough water to feed their expanding populations without food imports by the year 2030. In most countries, more than two-thirds of the total water resources are used by agriculture. Therefore, say the researchers, a country’s water resources are linked to its capacity for food production. When food supplies fail to meet demand, cereal grains are the most
common food import. The EAWAG researchers analyzed data for African and Asian countries from the World Resources Institute, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the World Bank that covered the years 1980 to 2000. They found food imports exponentially grew when water resources were lower than a key “water threshold” variable. Previous estimates of this water stress threshold presumed it was constant. The EAWAG analysis, however, found that this threshold has dropped in Asian and African countries from 2000 cubic meters per capita per year [m3/(capita year)] in the early 1980s to 1500 m3/ (capita year) in the late 1990s because of an expansion of irrigated areas and an improvement in water use efficiency. The calculated decline in water threshold is important, says Hong Yang, senior scientist with EAWAG and first author of the study, because it means that “we should not
News Briefs Fighting environmental crime Environmental crime is one of the most profitable and fastest-growing areas of international criminal activity, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). To help combat the multibilliondollar illegal trade in ozonedepleting substances, toxic chemicals, hazardous wastes, and endangered species, UNEP is teaming up with Interpol (the international criminal police organization) and the World Customs Organization to train border guards to better spot and apprehend criminals trafficking in “environmental commodities”. “The illegal traffic of toxic waste negatively impacts on the environment and health of thousands in the developing world,” said Klaus Töpfer, UNEP’s executive director. “At the same time criminal groups smuggle environmentally harmful products like ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), whose legal trade is subject to stringent international restrictions,” he adds. Local and international crime syndicates worldwide earn $22–31 billion annually from dumping hazardous wastes, smuggling proscribed hazardous materials, and exploiting and trafficking protected natural resources, says Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. The “Green Customs” initiative aims to improve coordinated intelligence gathering and ensure that customs officers receive training that covers all relevant environmental agreements. A key feature of the project is the Green Customs website: Go to www.unepie. org/ozonaction/customs to learn more about the project.
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on 75 projects, with 31 of those from ORD. Forty-six of the total are research studies. Many medical and health research groups support the initiative. Janet Allen, dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, says that nurses, who are often the first to see emergency room patients, are not trained in the appropriate diagnosis or treatment of illness related to environmental hazards in older persons. As the number of retirees rises, more will be entering emergency rooms. “I commend EPA for doing this before it becomes a critical health problem,” Allen said. EPA officials are seeking public comments on actions that local governments or planners can take to anticipate the needs of today’s
