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BCERF held its Spring Cancer and Environment Forum on June 10, 2005 in Millbrook, NY at the Farm and Home Center. Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Dutchess County served as host to this event, which was attended by approximately 60 people from throughout the lower Hudson Valley area, plus New York City, Long Island, and the Catskill region.
Patrick Phillips' (US Geological Survey) presentation "Emerging Contaminants in New York and the United States," set the stage for the majority of the day's discussion about new efforts to understand chemical contaminants in the environment and human exposures. Emerging contaminants was broadly defined as "any synthetic or naturally occurring chemical or microorganism that is not commonly monitored in the environment, but has the potential to enter the environment and cause known or suspected adverse ecological and/or human health effects." Phillips emphasized that actual occurrence in the environment may not be new, but ability to detect low levels in the environment may be. These emerging chemical contaminants tend to be produced industrially but are dispersed to the environment from domestic, commercial and industrial uses. In addition to a baseline evaluation of emerging contaminants, Phillips focused on wastewater treatment processes and their effects on the presence of these contaminants.
Dr. Betsy Lewis-Michl (NYS Deptartment of Health) provided an example of a new human exposure monitoring effort. She presented a talk on the "New York State Volatile Organic Compounds Exposure Registry: Health Outcome Surveillance for Exposed Populations." Exposure registries document individual-level exposures in the hopes of learning about any subsequent health outcomes. She described how registries work in general, and the specifics of this project. Additional sites have been added following the two original sites selected for their historic contamination with the solvents TCE (trichloroethylene) and PCE (tetrachloroethylene), for a current total of nine sites and 865 individuals. Dr. Lewis-Michl discussed challenges to the registry such as low response rates; participants were able to offer some ideas to address this challenge.
The afternoon session featured a panel of community representatives (three cancer advocates, a representative of the Dutchess County Environmental Management Council, and an elected official, Representative Marge Horton of the Dutchess County Legislature). Panelists were invited by Dr. Rodney Page, Director of BCERF and facilitator of the Forum, to provide background on their organizations' objectives as well as their responses to the morning's presentations. They were also asked to comment on how they thought Forum participants - whether they are professionals involved with these issues, or simply as concerned citizens - could get involved to address the day's issues.
The final presenter, Dr. Barbour Warren, BCERF Research Associate, gave an overview of the USDA-funded project, "Obesity Prevention and Breast Cancer Risk Reduction in Rural Areas." He described the project's scientific rationale and the environmental approach to modifying risk. This includes looking at community influences of the built and social environment. Dr. Warren provided an update on the BCERF pilot project in Stamford, NY that is testing the approach of community leaders identifying and implementing locally selected interventions.
Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors
Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine
Vet Box 31, Ithaca, NY 14853-6401
Phone: 607.254.2893; Fax: 607.254.4730
Email: breastcancer@cornell.edu
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