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Tag: Environmental Health

  • Ash Borer Beetle Spreading in Canada

    The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) this week confirmed that the emerald ash borer beetle has moved into Kawartha Lakes, Ontario. The discovery raises the number of Ontario counties the beetle has been found into 32, alongside seven in Quebec.

    The emerald ash borer is a green beetle species that originated in Asia, but has spread throughout many parts of North America. Outside of Asia and Russia, the beetle can devastate populations of ash trees, wreaking environmental havoc on forests.

    The CFIA has extended prohibitions on moving materials such as logs, branches, wood chips, and firewood from the sites where the beetle was found. The agency has also announced that currently regulated areas in Ontario and Quebec will be consolidated into one large area starting in April 2014.

    In addition to recruiting the public to help prevent the spread of the emerald ash borer, the CFIA will consider further regulation after the completion of survey work this year. The agency has already approved the release of two stingless wasp species as “biological control agents” to combat the beetle. One species of wasp parasitic to ash borer larvae, Tetrastichus planipennisi, has already been released in southwestern Ontario.

  • Breast Cancer Risks Linked to Working Environment

    A new study shows that some occupations, such as those that expose workers to carcinogens and endocrine disrupters, raise risks for breast cancer. Jobs sectors that showed an increased risk included agriculture, bar/gambling, automotive plastics manufacturing, food canning, and metal-working.

    The study, published in the journal Environmental Health, looked at 1006 breast cancer cases in Southern Ontario, Canada. The patients took surveys and were interviewed, providing researchers with their occupational histories. The jobs were then coded for their likelihood of exposure to carcinogens and endocrine disruptors.

    The researchers found that women in jobs with high potential exposures to carcinogens and endocrine disruptors had an “elevated” risk for breast cancer. Premenopausal breast cancer risk was found to be highest for the automotive platics and food canning professions.

    “Our results highlight the importance of occupational studies in identifying and quantifying environmental risk factors and illustrates the value of taking detailed occupational histories of cancer patients,” said James Brophy, lead author of the study. “Mounting evidence suggests that we need to re-evaluate occupational exposure limits in regulatory protection.”

    The study also found that women with lower socioeconomic status’ also had an elevated risk of breast cancer. The researchers speculated that this increased risk may stem from higher exposures to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in low-income jobs in the manufacturing and agricultural industries.