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June 2000 Forum Summary
Cancer and Environment Forums

Almost 40 people gathered in the Carriage House at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale, Long Island on June 21 for the most recent meeting of the BCERF Ad Hoc Discussion Group. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County hosted participants in this beautiful setting.

Ann Lemley, the Associate Director of BCERF, facilitated the meeting and provided the group with an update and information on the transition between directors (see last issue of The Ribbon). Rodney Dietert, new BCERF Director, will facilitate the coming meeting. Ann updated the group on the progress made on Critical Evaluations and print materials, as well as the BCERF Education Tool Kit. The five modules of the Tool Kit were completed in draft form and "unveiled" at the Cornell Cooperative Extension System conference in the first week of June. Field testing will begin in September.

What's Going on with West Nile Virus?

Dr. Lois Levitan, Program Leader for the Environmental Risk Analysis Program in the Cornell Center for the Environment, provided the first presentation, on the West Nile Virus. Lois' work addresses the simultaneous concerns of the dangers of the virus and the potential hazards of pesticide use in dealing with mosquitoes (one type of mosquito is the critical link in transmission to humans). She reviewed the transmission cycle of this virus, and the history of its arrival to this side of the Atlantic. She compared this season to date with last year, and credited the efforts of the New York State Department of Health (DOH) with its winter and early spring surveillance and prevention program. As of the time of her presentation, three diseased crows had been discovered. She noted that the probability of recurrence among humans is unknown, but that the elimination of mosquito breeding sites and larval control reduces this risk. Lois described the DOH guidance plan for counties, available on the world wide web and reachable through her program's web site: http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/risk/ Lois also emphasized the important contributions individuals can make to this effort, for example by cleaning up all standing water, and noted the critical role that citizens asking good questions has played in the conscientiousness with which NYS is addressing this problem.

The Challenges of Historic Reconstruction of Pesticide Use: A Long Island Case Study

Dr. Ruth Allen, Environmental Epidemiologist and EPA Program Director for the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project, provided the next timely and informative presentation. Dr. Allen's project involves collaborative, cross-disciplinary and public participatory efforts to bring us closer to understanding the extent and type of pesticide exposures that have occurred on Long Island. As the group is well aware, the period of the 1930's through the present has been a time of complex and changing pesticide use practices on Long Island. Dr. Allen's work - environmental exposure characterization - has been underway since about 1995, and fits into a trend in research in which large scale geographic patterns and scientific work such as microbiology are coming together. Her presentation provided a lot of context to help the group understand the progress which has been made in environmental epidemiology, and where the discipline is headed. For example, in her overview of the "four eras of epidemiology," she described the current era as that of ecoepidemiolgy and ecogenetics, in which gene-environment interactions are the focus. She described the criteria and methods for historic reconstruction of pesticide use, and methodological challenges. The group was very interested in detailed graphs Dr. Allen displayed on historical pesticide use; she described these as "a labor of love" by a colleague of hers, which were extremely difficult to construct. Dr. Allen can be reached at Allen.Ruth@epamail.epa.gov

Pesticide Sales and Use Registry (PSUR)

Robert Haggerty of the NYS DEC Bureau of Pesticide Management and William Smith of Cornell's Pesticide Management Education Program (PMEP) brought the group up to date on PSUR. Available on the PMEP web site at http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/regulation/psur/ are final reports for 1997 and 1998 and a preliminary report for 1999.

Last Update 08.04.05