Environmental Factor, February 2011, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
This month in EHP
By Matt Goad
February 2011
(http://twitter.com/ehponline/)
With its image of an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts, the cover of the February issue of Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP)(http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/home.action) is a fitting backdrop for the journal's feature news story - "Does the Smoke Ever Really Clear? Thirdhand Smoke Raises New Concerns." The article takes a look the mixture of toxicants that lingers on surfaces and resorbs into the air, well after the smoke itself clears, and discusses why some researchers believe this so-called thirdhand smoke may be a cause for concern. The issue's second news story, "Avoiding Health Pitfalls of Home Energy-Efficiency Retrofits," examines some of the unhealthy exposures that can accompany popular home weatherization measures.
In this month's podcast(http://www.ehponline.org/podcasts), NIEHS grantee and Heinz Award winner Frederick vom Saal, Ph.D.(http://www.biology.missouri.edu/people/person.lasso?-Search=Action&-Table=Faculty_Research&-Database=Tracking&-KeyValue=97) 
, talks to host Ashley Ahearn about new research addressing the question of whether results seen in laboratory animals exposed to bisphenol A can be reasonably extrapolated to humans.
Among the reviews and research studies included in this issue are:
- Chemical Contamination of U.S. Butter
- PBDEs and Thyroid Hormone-Mediated Neuronal Development
- Mercury-Containing Products in New York City
- Heat Waves and U.S. Mortality Risk
- Arsenic-Induced Inflammation in Placenta
(Matt Goad is a contract writer with the NIEHS Office of Communications and Public Liaison.)
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