Health & Environment

Memories of John Newby from his friend and academic mentor, Vyvyan Howard

It is with sadness that we announce the sudden passing of John Newby, CPES’ enormously capable Medical Information Scientist. CPES funded John’s Masters degree and here Vyvyan Howard recalls their time together at university:

I met John after he had received his degree. It was clear that he was heading for a First Class Honours degree before he was struck down in his prime by systemic sclerosis. John was one of the brightest students that the Department of Anatomy and Human Biology had had. He wanted dearly to continue his academic studies in biological science at a postgraduate level, but it was clear that because of the disabilities resulting from his condition that laboratory research would not be possible. We managed to find money from various charitable sources to initially study for a Masters degree which was subsequently transferred to a full Doctor of Philosophy.

John had to retrain completely and study the field of epidemiology and environmental chemistry. This he did with gusto and it was clear to me that his illness had, mercifully, not affected his exceptional intellect in the slightest. The result was that he developed a new statistical index for determining whether the average age of onset of a cancer within a population was becoming progressively younger or older.

In his thesis he demonstrated that for cancers of the breast, testis and prostate the age of onset was receding, that is people were getting the disease at a younger age, on average. Many epidemiologists have taken an interest in this since we published the paper. It will be part of John’s legacy to see the modelling, that he started, refined into a powerful tool that could be put to use to help modify public health policy in the future.

John Newby was an exceptional man and it has been a privilege to know him and to work with him. Despite having been dealt an awful blow to his health and wellbeing when in the prime of his life, he always remained positive, looking for the next challenge.

We went together to a conference on the Aegean island of Kos a good number of years ago. I was his ‘chariot’ driver as we negotiated busy airports. His wry sense of humour, on that and many other occasions, will remain with me and I will miss him badly.

Vyvyan Howard. Coleraine, 24^th October  2011

5&5: News and science highlights from March

News

Cancer rise and sperm quality fall ‘due to chemicals’: “The best working theory we have to explain why sperm counts may be declining is that chemicals from food or the environment are affecting the development of testicles of boys in the womb or in their early years of life,” says Dr Allan Pacey, University of Sheffield (UK).

Scientists want to help regulators decide safety of chemicals: The NYT reports on groups representing 40,000 researchers and clinicians which are urging federal agencies responsible for the safety of chemicals to examine the subtle impact a chemical might have on the human body, rather than simply ask whether it is toxic.

Food sold in recycled cardboard packaging ‘poses risk’: Leading food manufacturers are changing their packaging because of health concerns about boxes made from recycled cardboard, reports the BBC.  Recycled cardboard can be contaminated with toxic inks.

UCSF Team Shows How to Make Skinny Worms Fat and Fat Worms Skinny: Researchers exploring human metabolism at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have uncovered a handful of chemical compounds that regulate fat storage in worms, offering a new tool for understanding obesity and finding future treatments for diseases.

Chemical-free pest management cuts rice waste: Science Daily describes a “novel way of bringing sustainable, pesticide-free processes to protect stored rice and other crops from insects and fungi can drastically cut losses of stored crops and help increase food security for up to 3 billion daily rice consumers” – not to mention reducing risks to health posed by pesticide use.

Science

Combating Environmental Causes of Cancer: An important contribution in the New England Journal of Medicine from Harvard’s David Christiani, MD, MPH, emphasising the importance of improving our understanding of how chemicals in the environment may be contributing to cancer incidence.

Several current-use, non-PBDE brominated flame retardants are highly bioaccumulative: Study finding that non-PBDE BFRs have similar bioaccumulative properties as PBDEs. PBDEs are currently being phased out due to environmental concerns – it may be the case that their substitutes are no better.

Endocrine disruptors: from endocrine to metabolic disruption. A good review of endocrine disrupting compounds and metabolism, including diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and more. It includes both epidemiological and mechanistic studies, and is particularly helpful for not assuming detailed knowledge on the part of the reader.

Food Packaging and Bisphenol A and Bis(2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalate Exposure: Findings from a Dietary Intervention: Evidence that exposure to BPA and DEHP can be substantially reduced by restricting the consumption of packaged food.

Environmental pollutants and type 2 diabetes: a review of mechanisms that can disrupt beta cell function: A new review of the association between chemical exposure and diabetes, finding that clear evidence that “some environmental pollutants affect pancreatic beta cell function.”

5&5: News and Science Selections from February 2011

Science

A nerve cell. Image: Wikimedia

PBDE Disruption of Thyroid Hormone–Induced Purkinje Cell Dendrite Arborization. A technical study which looks at how disruption of the thyroid system may hamper brain development, by changing how nerve cells develop. EHP synopsis here.

Mitochondrial dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders. Systematic review finding that, although many studies suffer from limitations, the evidence supports the notion that environmentally-induced mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with autism spectrum disorders. A different study has also found a role for mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease (synopsis here).

Prenatal Organochlorine Compound Exposure, Rapid Weight Gain, and Overweight in Infancy. Study finding prenatal DDE exposure to be associated with rapid weight gain in the first 6 months and elevated BMI later in infancy, among infants of normal-weight mothers.

Widely Used Pesticides with Previously Unknown Endocrine Activity Revealed as in Vitro Anti-Androgens. Study finding that which finds many agricultural pesticides disrupt male hormones. These include some which had previously not been tested for this yet are commonly found in food. Synopsis by EHN here.

Prenatal environmental exposures, epigenetics, and disease. This review summarizes recent evidence that prenatal exposure to diverse environmental chemicals dysregulates the fetal epigenome, with potential consequences for subsequent developmental disorders and disease manifesting in childhood, over the lifecourse, or even transgenerationally.

News

Toxic Chemicals in Pregnant Women? An uncomplicated Q&A with Dr Sarah Janssen, MD, about the difficult issues presented by research finding that pregnant women have a range of possibly harmful chemicals in their bodies.

Green Cleaning Spruces Up Environment. WebMD asks: what does “going green” actually mean, when it comes to cleaning products? The answer, they say, has to do with the fact that much of the cleaning we do “isn’t cleaning, it’s polluting”.

Home Pesticide Chemical May Hurt Kids’ Cognition. Data analyzed for almost 350 children found that increase in exposure to piperonyl butoxide — a chemical mixed with pyrethroid pesticides to improve its efficacy — was associated with delayed mental development at age 3 years. Original study here.

Clorox comes clean: Company discloses all ingredients in all products. The maker of bleach, Pine-Sol and other popular cleaning products has announced it will disclose the specific preservatives, dyes and fragrances it uses in its cleaning, disinfecting and laundry products sold in the U.S. and Canada.

First Chemicals Banned In European Union. Chemical & Engineering News provide a lucid explanation of what the new chemical phase-outs under REACH actually mean. The phase-outs have in places been mis-described as bans.