The legacy of the Gulf oil spill: Analyzing acute public health effects and predicting chronic ones in Louisiana

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Diaz, MD, MPH, DrPH, FACOEM, FACMT
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Crude Oil ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Chronic Health ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Adverse Health ◽  
Cleanup Workers

Objectives: To describe the acute health impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Louisiana as compared with the acute health impacts reported from prior crude oil spills. To predict potential chronic health impacts in Louisiana as compared with the chronic health impacts reported from prior crude oil spills.Setting: Offshore and onshore coastal southeastern Louisiana.Patients and participants: Oil spill offshore and onshore cleanup workers and the general population of coastal southeastern Louisiana.Interventions: Not applicable to an observational study.Main outcome measures: Adverse acute health effects of petrochemical and dispersant exposures in highly exposed offshore and onshore cleanup workers and the general population; prior chronic adverse health effects reported from prior oil spills; and predicted chronic adverse health effects based on intensity of chemical exposures and on seroprevalences of genetic polymorphisms.Results: Acute health effects in cleanup workers mirrored those reported in cleanup workers following prior oil spills as ranked by systems (and by symptoms). Acute health effects in lesser exposed members of the general population mirrored those reported in similar coastal residents following prior oil spills but differed from cleanup workers as ranked by systems (and symptoms).Conclusions: Subpopulations of cleanup workers and the general population with specific conditions or genetic polymorphisms in enzyme systems that detoxify polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in petrochemicals and glycols in dispersants will require long-term surveillance for chronic adverse health effects including cancer, liver and kidney diseases, mental health disorders, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Adverse Health Effects of Exposure to Visible Laser Radiation in the General Population: A Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 44-49
Author(s):  
MD Petrova ◽  
NYu Mal’kova
Keyword(s):  
Laser Radiation ◽  
General Population ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Morphological Changes ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Adverse Health ◽  
Russian Science Citation Index ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Visible Laser

Introduction: With the spread of laser technologies in various spheres of human activity, the number of exposures to laser radiation of a wide range of users unfamiliar with specifics of its health effects, including those in everyday life, has increased, thus resulting in an increased number of traumas in the general population in recent years. Objectives: To search for data on the biological mechanisms of action of visible laser radiation in Russian and foreign scientific literature and to analyze adverse health effects of this exposure encountered in domestic and international practice. Methods: We searched for Russian and foreign full-text open access literary sources in Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI) and PubMed databases of biomedical publications for 1969–2019 and selected the most appropriate ones for review. Results: Both Russian and foreign researchers note that human exposure to laser radiation induces specific and non-specific responses at all tissue levels of organization. The extent and nature of developing morphological changes depend on the radiation wavelength, exposure time, power, energy and its density per unit of the irradiated surface. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that portable laser pointers and powerful laser projectors may cause retinal damage, traumatic macular holes and, in some cases, loss of vision. Despite frequently registered good visual recovery, general availability of commercial laser devices poses potential danger, especially for minors, and substantiates the need to raise public awareness of laser safety.

Cancer in agricultural populations

2020 ◽  
pp. 837-837
Author(s):  
K. . Togawa
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
General Population ◽  
Cohort Studies ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Cancer Incidence ◽  
Lower Prevalence ◽  
International Consortium ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Specific Cancer ◽  
Cancer Types

Agricultural workers can be exposed to a wide variety of agents (e.g. pesticides), some of which may have adverse health effects, such as cancer. To study the health effects of agricultural exposures, an international consortium of agricultural cohort studies, AGRICOH, was established. The present analysis compared cancer incidence between the AGRICOH cohorts and the general population and found lower overall cancer incidence in the AGRICOH cohorts, with some variation across cohorts for specific cancer types. The observed lower cancer incidence may be due to healthy worker bias or lower prevalence of risk factors in the agricultural populations. Further analysis is underway.

scholarly journals Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial examining the effect of blood and plasma donation on serum perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) levels in firefighters

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. e044833
Author(s):  
Gabriel Silver ◽  
Yordanka Krastev ◽  
Miriam K Forbes ◽  
Brenton Hamdorf ◽  
Barry Lewis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Whole Blood ◽  
Sulfonic Acid ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Plasma Donation ◽  
Adverse Health ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Randomised Controlled

IntroductionPerfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of compounds that have been used in hundreds of industrial applications and consumer products including aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) for many years. Multiple national and international health and environmental agencies have accepted that PFAS exposures are associated with numerous adverse health effects. Australian firefighters have been shown to have elevated levels of PFAS in their blood, specifically perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), due to the historical use of AFFF. While PFAS concentrations decline over time once the source of exposure has been removed, their potential adverse health effects are such that it would be prudent to develop an intervention to lower levels at a faster rate than occurs via natural elimination rates.Methods and analysisThis is a randomised controlled trial of current and former Australian firefighters in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade/Fire Rescue Victoria, and contractors, with previous occupational exposure to PFAS and baseline elevated PFOS levels. The study is investigating whether whole blood donation every 12 weeks or plasma donation every 6 weeks will significantly reduce PFAS levels, compared with a control group. We have used covariate-adaptive randomisation to balance participants’ sex and blood PFAS levels between the three groups and would consider a 25% reduction in serum PFOS and PFHxS levels to be potentially clinically significant after 12 months of whole blood or plasma donation. A secondary analysis of health biomarkers is being made of changes between screening and week 52 in all three groups.Ethics and disseminationThis trial has been approved by Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee (reference number: 3855), final protocol V.2 dated 12 June 2019. Study results will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences.Trial registration numberAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12619000204145).

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