National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Focus Sharpens on Climate Change and Public Health

After decades of popular discussion and media coverage of climate change focusing on polar bears and glaciers, human health has received unusual attention in a series of high-visibility initiatives, both in the U.S. and globally. The attention peaked one day in June, when the White House held a Summit on Climate Change and Public Health and the British journal Lancet released the report from its 2015 Commission on Health and Climate Change.

These initiatives build on scientific evidence learned through studies funded by NIEHS and others. The Summit explored ways for public and private sectors to work together to prevent or respond to climate-change health effects. The Lancet Commission reviewed the science to ensure the highest attainable standards of health for populations worldwide and to map out necessary policy responses.

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GEH Podcasts

A Global Network to Advance Children’s Health (2-part series)

Children around the world face serious health consequences from harmful environmental exposures. The Children’s Environmental Health Collaborating Centres Network is a global collaboration among research institutions with a focus on reducing this important health burden. NIEHS is involved in this network as part of the Institute’s role as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. In this podcast series, we explore how the network helps to advance research and interventions to improve children’s health around the world.

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Pesticides and Neurobehavioral Effects Among Thai Children

Assessing pesticide exposure and resulting health effects is becoming more and more important in Thailand, which has experienced a four-fold increase in the use of pesticides for crop production since 2000. A new study found that children living on rice farms in Thailand experienced higher exposures to organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides compared with U.S. farm children of similar age. However, the high exposures did not predict adverse outcomes in neurobehavioral tests.

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Voices from the Field

Building sustainable research capacity is critical for developing and implementing evidence-based practice and policy solutions to address urgent environmental health needs in resource-limited countries around the world. Building such capacity requires appropriate infrastructure, resources, mentorship and leadership training, funding, and research partnerships, accompanied by the highest levels of ethical, legal, and socially appropriate standards for research — a tall order, but one that a group of researchers from the U.S. and Bangladesh have navigated successfully.

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Other Research

• Mechanisms Underlying Latent Disease Risk Associated with Early-Life Arsenic Exposure: Current Research Trends and Scientific Gaps
• Parma Consensus Statement on Metabolic Disruptors
• Prenatal Programming and Toxicity (PPTOX) Introduction
• Developmental Origins of Health and Disease: Integrating Environmental Influences
• Life-Long Implications of Developmental Exposure to Environmental Stressors: New Perspectives
• Manufacturing Doubt about Endocrine Disrupter Science - A Rebuttal of Industry-Sponsored Critical Comments on the UNEP/WHO Report "State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals 2012"

A new video from Pure Earth, featuring NIEHS’ Dr. Bill Suk, explores the health impacts of electronic waste (e-waste).

• FAQ’s for Emerging Global Leader Award
• PAR-15-291: International Research Scientist Development Award (IRSDA) (K01)
• PAR-15-292: Emerging Global Leader Award (K43)

Resources

• Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Draft for Adoption
  The final draft of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) has been released prior to adoption by the UN General Assembly meeting in September 2015.
• Cities Vulnerability to Climate Change
  The European Environment Agency (EEA) recently published a series of interactive maps, illustrating various climate threats European cities face as well as cities’ capacity to respond to these threats. This new ‘map book’ provides background information and allows users to view the maps, selecting different parameters.
• Meeting the challenges of a changing climate
  The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit provides scientific tools, information, and expertise to help people manage their climate-related risks and opportunities, and improve their resilience to extreme events. The site is designed to serve interested citizens, communities, businesses, resource managers, planners, and policy leaders at all levels of government.
• Becoming Climate-Ready: The new Laboratory Priority
  In the Summer 2015 edition of Lab Matters, The Association of Public Health Laboratories highlights the health impacts of climate change and how public health labs are impacted and can act. NIEHS’ Dr. John Balbus is featured in the ‘15 Minutes with’ section.