Toxic Talks Blog: September 2016

9/27/16

Toxic Tip Tuesday!! - Steer Clear of the Smoking Rear

Hey everyone!

Starting today, the last Tuesday of every month will be "Toxic Tip Tuesday!" Perhaps not as cool as Taco Tuesday, but valuable nonetheless. Short but sweet, each Toxic Tip will concisely lay out a new evidence-based way you can better your health!

Today's Toxic Tip!

Steer Clear of the Smoking Rear

That is, avoid driving directly behind large vehicles such as cargo trucks, buses, and construction vehicles when you're on the road. Why?... read on!

In 2008 I participated in a major air pollution field study led by my atmospheric chemistry professor Dr. Winer (one of my favorite profs!). As an intern for this study, my job was to drive around designated streets in downtown L.A. to measure air pollution. Yes, with probes and monitors abound, this meant piloting what you might call a "Back to the Future" mobile! I never failed to catch the eye of a passerby. Accompanied by a post-doc, I would often switch to passenger seat where I got to monitor the measuring equipment. It's what I frequently observed on the monitoring screen that I will share with you now.

While driving down random streets of L.A., one of the pollutants we measured was ultra-fine particles (UFP), which are not good to breathe! At times during our drives, UFP concentrations would suddenly spike to extremely high levels. I'm not talking about doubling or tripling, I mean jumping up 10 times background levels! Sometimes levels would even increase by 30 times! What was causing these extreme spikes in on-road pollution you ask? Large vehicles. School/city buses, cargo/shipping trucks, construction vehicles, garbage trucks, etc. These giant vehicles were exhausting giant pollution! We often think of compressed natural gas (CNG) buses as "clean," but these too were major culprits. The worst though were diesel vehicles. In spite of this blog's title, pollution was often invisible.

So what's the takeaway? It matters where you drive! If you drive directly behind these dirty giants, you'll be subjected to incredible levels of pollution. Instead, merge to another lane. At the very least, slow down to allow a gap for dilution between you and them. Dr. Winer's official study publication estimated that dirty vehicles accounted for about 30-50% of on-road UFP exposure even though such vehicles were encountered only about 5-15% of the time while driving (Hu et al. 2012). Click on the study for more details. If you look you'll even find me in the "acknowledgements" section! :D

If you enjoyed this Toxic Tip, please show your support by following my blog! Simply click "join this site" at the top right of this page, log into your account, and click "follow publicly." Thanks!! =)

Shahir Masri
Doctor of Science
Environmental Health Science

References

Hu, S., Paulson, S. E., Fruin, S., Kozawa, K., Mara, S., & Winer, A. M. (2012). Observation of Elevated Air Pollutant Concentrations in a Residential Neighborhood of Los Angeles California Using a Mobile Platform. Atmospheric Environment (Oxford, England : 1994), 51, 311–319. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.12.055

9/22/16

Firefighting Obesity - A New Study!

Firefighting a heroic profession no doubt! What you probably didn’t know is that the prevalence of obesity among firefighters is higher than almost any other profession. Yes, it’s surprising, and certainly counterintuitive. But it’s true. According to one study, this stems from fire station eating culture, sedentary work while not fighting fires, among other factors (Dobson et al. 2013). However, the reasons for firefighter obesity won’t be our focus here. Let’s turn to another study, and see what takeaways we might apply in our own lives.

In a recent cross-sectional study by my friend and colleague Dr. Maria Korre at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 400 male U.S. firefighters were randomly assessed to identify significant predictors of left ventricular (LV) mass (Korre et al. 2016). Why LV mass? The left ventricle is an important part of your heart’s pumping system, and its mass turns out to be a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease events such as sudden cardiac death and heart attack. It also turns out that high LV mass is common among U.S. firefighters.

So what were the strongest risk factors associated with high LV mass in the recent Harvard study? Or put another way, which attributes most greatly increased a firefighter’s chance of having high LV mass? Given we’re dealing with firefighters, you might suspect something wild and unique. This was not the case. It turns out the most consistent and significant predictor of high LV mass was body mass index (BMI). Yet again, BMI sounding the health alarm! Though not everyone is a male firefighter, I think such findings should flag our attention.

The importance of BMI to health and longevity has been stressed in my previous blog. Dr. Korre’s study, like many others, reinforces this. For those unfamiliar, BMI is essentially a height-adjusted weight metric that will tell you whether you are overweight. It would do us all good to know our own BMI. You can quickly and easily calculate it using this Standard BMI Calculator. To know what constitutes a healthy BMI, simply read my previous blog. For a full interview with Dr. Korre about her recent study, click here. On that note, thank you Dr. Korre for your excellent work at Harvard and for investigating the importance of BMI. Cheers to good health!

To encourage future blogs of this kind please join my blog site! Simply click “join this site” at the top right of this page, log into your account, and click “follow publicly.” Thanks!

Shahir Masri

Doctor of Science

Environmental Health Science

References

Dobson, M., B. Choi, P.L. Schnall, E. Wigger, J. Garcia-Rivas, L. Israel, and D.B. Baker. 2013. Exploring occupational and health behavioral causes of firefighter obesity: a qualitative study. Am J Ind Med. 56(7):776-790.

Maria Korre, L.G.G. Porto, A. Farioli, J. Yang, D. C. Christiani, C.A. Christophi, D.A. Lombardi, R. J. Kovacs, R. Mastouri, S. Abbasi, M. Steigner, S. Moffatt, D. Smith, S. N. Kales. 2016. Effect of Body Mass Index on Left Ventricular Mass in Career Male Firefighters. The Journal of Cardiology. Accepted Manuscript.

9/19/16

Toxic Talk of the Month – Your New Book Review!

As a new component of this blog, I’d like to introduce “Toxic Talk of the Month.” A book review! Each month, Toxic Talk of the Month will feature a new book recommendation from me to you! I promise to ONLY recommend books I have personally read. No insincere recommendations! A perk to this book review is the “no junk” filter I will apply to all reads. As I'll discuss in my next blog, identifying a credible information source can be challenging, particularly relating to complex issues of science and health. So let me do the work! In this review, books full of pseudoscience and informational inaccuracies won’t make the cut.

As you might imagine, featured books will resemble the topics we discuss in Toxic Talks Blog; namely, harmful chemicals, nutrition, and the environment. So if you like this blog, keep your eye out for the Toxic Talk of the Month. Each review will briefly discuss the focus of a book, pointing out any main highlights/shortcomings where needed. So drop by. See if a book suits you. Maybe you’ll discover your new favorite read!

To kick off this very first Toxic Talk of the Month, I have selected Nena Baker’s 2009 Gold Nautilus Book Award winner, “The Body Toxic.” Nena Baker is a former staff writer for The Arizona Republic, The Oregonian, and United Press International. Her featured book reads like a personal exposé, chronicling the world of chemical exposure through the lens of a journalist. Mostly focused on BpA exposure from food containers, phthalates in plastics and cosmetics, and fire retardants in your furniture, this book does a good job discussing the toxicity of everyday products without frazzling the non-science reader. It also dives into some of the politics surrounding chemical exposures and regulations, which I think is important.

The Body Toxic is a fairly quick read. I would especially recommend it if you’re seeking to get your feet wet in the world of chemical exposure without getting lost in the complex science. My only criticism is that it is not dense with detail. However, that is my common criticism with many books. I’ve come to realize that most books don’t contain as much detail as I’d like. Perhaps that’s why I often enjoy textbooks! In any case, if you’re not looking for a rigorous scientific read then “The Body Toxic” could be right for you. For more detail on the book and author visit The Body Toxic. Let me know what you think of this book in the comments sections below. Happy read!! =)

To encourage future blogs of this kind please join my blog site! Simply click “join this site” at the top right of this page, log into your account, and click “follow publicly.” Thanks!

Shahir Masri

Doctor of Science

Environmental Health Science

9/15/16

Hot Talk Revivals - Vaccines and Autism

Hey friends!

I want to thank you all for your readership over the years! While blogging I of course notice greater popularity of some topics over others. With that said I'd like to introduce a new feature of this blog titled "Hot Talk Revivals" through which I'll bring back a selected "hot talk," or popular blog, from the past with each coming season. Any new thoughts on the topic? Have you applied any health tips? If so, how'd it go? Or if you're new to the Toxic Talks Blog, Hot Talk Revivals will be your opportunity to catch up on the Talks!

For our first Revival, the Hot Talk I've chosen is an article I coincidentally wrote nearly five years ago today! Titled "Vaccines and Autism," this piece dives into the controversy surrounding vaccines as a potential cause of autism. View the article below:

Vaccines and Autism

As a brief followup to this article, it's worth mentioning that the field of environmental health continues to make headway in uncovering the etiology of autism. That is, scientists have not been content in accepting an unknown cause of autism. They have pressed forward towards other potential environmental causes for autism. One suspected cause is air pollution. In fact, studies coming out of my former department at Harvard have begun to show this connection (Roberts et al. 2013; Roberts et al. 2015). Check them out! Of course more studies are needed before we can draw firm conclusions, but the results are nonetheless fascinating.

Debate we hear now relating to vaccines and autism is largely residual debate confined to public and political circles. It bears no reflection of the current state of public health research. The scientific community has moved on to other hypotheses. Now let us all move on.

If you liked this article, please encourage more articles to come by joining this blog site! Simply click “join this site” at the top right of this page, log into your account, and click “follow publicly.” Thanks!

References

Roberts, A.L., K. Lyall, J.E. Hart, F. Laden, A.C. Just, J.F. Bobb, K.C. Koenen, A. Ascherio, and M.G. Weisskopf. 2013. Perinatal Air Pollutant Exposures and Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Children of Nurses’ Health Study II Participants. Environ Health Perspect. 121(8):978-985.
Raz, R., A.L. Roberts, K. Lyall, J.E. Hart, A.C. Just, F. Laden, and M.G. Weisskopf. Autism Spectrum Disorder and Particulate Matter Air Pollution before, during, and after Pregnancy: A Nested Case–Control Analysis within the Nurses’ Health Study II Cohort. Environ Health Perspect. 123(3):264-270.

Shahir Masri
Doctor of Science
Environmental Health Science

9/12/16

Dakota Access Pipeline - The Latest!

Dear bloggies, I’ve been long-wanting to cover this issues which has been unfolding in North Dakota. It’s heavily tangled in emotion, involving economics and social justice. Or more simply, corporate America vs. Native America. The issue is the Dakota Access Pipeline. It's been all over social media, but peculiarly devoid from most mainstream news.

What’s the Issue?

The Dakota Access pipeline, if fully constructed, would run 1,100 miles from oil fields in northwest North Dakota to a refinery and port in Illinois. Although most of the pipeline would cross private land owned by Energy Transfer Partners, the project still needs U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval as there are portions that cross federal waterways. Since April, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe along with hundreds of Native protestors have been demonstrating on tribal land near the Missouri River in opposition to the project. The gathering represents one of the largest Native protests in ages.

In July, following approval of the project, the Standing Rock Tribe sued the U.S. Army Corps, alleging that the pipeline’s construction would destroy nearby sacred and burial sites. They also claimed it would contaminate the tribe’s drinking water if the pipeline ever leaked. The tribe sought a temporary injunction to halt construction. Sadly this attempt would be in vain as the court declined the request for an injunction. James Boasberg of the D.C. district court stated that federal law had been appropriately followed in approving the pipeline.

However, almost immediately following this devastating defeat last Friday the tribes won an enormous victory, at least temporarily, as the Obama administration made a surprise announcement that it would not permit the project to continue for the time being. The U.S. government has requested that the pipeline company “voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe,” said a joint statement from the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Army. The Army Corps will now “reconsider any of its previous decisions” regarding whether the pipeline adheres to federal law, especially concerning the National Environmental Policy Act, said the statement.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Does industry have the ethical right to build this pipeline, potentially threatening sacred sites of the Native Americans? Is this merely another egregious marginalization of the priorities of Native Americans? What about securing oil for the U.S. economy, how should this tie in? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave your comments below and we can get a discussion going. And if you’ve missed any of the action, here is a video clip filmed by Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, who captured the heart of the demonstration. There is currently a warrant out for her arrest for trespassing during the demonstration, I might add. Do some of your own research too in order to learn more, and visit YouTube for more videos of the action!

Please join this blog to help support my upcoming projects. Cick “join this site” at the top right of this page, log into your account, and click “follow publicly.” Thanks!!

Shahir Masri
Doctor of Science
Environmental Health Science

9/6/16

Health & Science – Questioning What You "Know"

Imagine a recent conversation where you recommended dietary advice to someone. Or maybe you suggested how best they rid their cold. Or perhaps you were explaining climate science. Now take a step back. Reflect on the assertions you made and the “facts” you knew. Where did you learn your facts? A health magazine? CNN? Online? A family friend? Maybe they were facts you’ve simply always known.

My focus in grad school was to understand the world of chemical exposures. Before grad school, I knew a bit about chemical toxicity through word of mouth and reading. While school reinforced and expanded this knowledge, near the end of grad school there were still previously held “facts” of mine that professors failed to mention. Why was this? One such issue was surrounding the chemical Teflon™ used to coat non-stick pots and pans. Since I was a kid I had known Teflon™ was toxic, so I should be careful not to use metal cooking utensils because this would scrape off the toxic Teflon™ particles into my food. Why didn’t my professors know about this public health concern? Why didn’t they discuss it? I decided to dig on my own through the peer-reviewed scientific literature. I discovered info on the inhalation of Teflon™ fumes (still not healthy!), but nothing about consuming particles while cooking. My search yielded negative results. Why were these articles so hard to find?? I gave up my initial search for a while. It wasn’t until another year that I resumed. Still, negative results! I began to question this “fact” I had always known. Was it fact at all?

By chance the following month a guest lecturer spoke at my class. She was an expert on Teflon™-like chemicals. Yes! Finally I could ask an expert who specialized in this stuff. But disheartened I would remain, for her response did not support my “fact.” Rather than push forward with my search, it was time to sit back and reflect. Where had I first heard this fact? Well I had always known it. This meant I must have heard it when I was a kid…so either from another kid, a grown-up, or the T.V. Really?! Neither children nor the media are trustworthy sources of information. And most grown-ups are no better. I would not cite any of these sources if I was writing a paper! Yet this was the basis of my long-held “fact” about Teflon™. Something I was told as a kid and simply accepted into adulthood. What a disappointing realization! But it made sense. I wasn’t finding scientific support for my fact, because it wasn’t fact. This was not the finding I sought, but an important one nonetheless. And I’m glad I got to the bottom of it.

I’m sharing this story with you because it’s imperative for each of us to sit back and reflect on our sources before we propagate information forward. We all know “facts” about a variety of issues, from climate change to healthy eating. But just because we know “facts” doesn’t mean we know facts. And facts we’ve “always known” may be nothing more than well-intentioned messages that imprinted on our minds during childhood. Facts from magazines and websites are just as worthy to question. In an age where reading is becoming increasingly rare, people are relying on ever-smaller volumes of literature to establish their known beliefs; thus leading to the increased propagation of misinformation. This has been no thanks to the wealth of biased websites on the internet (discussed in a later blog)! So let us remember to think critically about the facts we hear and read, and to not cling stubbornly to previously held beliefs. Beliefs come from somewhere. Ask yourself where yours came from. Are they credible?

Please join this blog to help support my upcoming projects. Cick “join this site” at the top right of this page, log into your account, and click “follow publicly.” Thanks!!

Shahir Masri
Doctor of Science
Environmental Health Science