Testing Teens Helps Track Pollution's Effects

Ordinarily, researchers use scientific instruments to directly measure the levels of pollutants found in soil, water or air. But measuring levels in people's bodies offers a better gauge of pollutants' health effects

                       

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Friday May 25 5:20 PM ET

Testing Teens Helps Track Pollution's Effects

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Scientists in Belgium report that testing the blood and urine of teens offers a new approach to monitoring the environment for harmful pollutants and gauging the effects of these contaminants on human health.

Ordinarily, researchers use scientific instruments to directly measure the levels of pollutants found in soil, water or air. But measuring levels in people's bodies offers a better gauge of pollutants' health effects, note Dr. Jan A. Staessen of the University of Leuven and colleagues in the May 26th issue of The Lancet.

``Youngsters are especially vulnerable to a large number of noxious agents and their protection is an important public health challenge,'' Staessen said in a prepared statement.

Staessen and colleagues analyzed blood and urine samples and medical records from 200 teenagers. Half lived in two suburbs close to various polluting industries, including waste incinerators and a lead smelter. The other half lived in a rural area with no industrial activity and little automobile traffic.

The team found that the teens living in suburbs where the pollutant sources were located had higher blood levels of lead, cadmium, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxin-like compounds. The same teens also had higher levels of volatile organic compounds in their urine

``Children who lived near the waste incinerators matured sexually at an older age than others, and testicular volume was smaller in boys from the suburbs than in those living in rural areas,'' the authors report.

In addition, kidney function abnormalities were identified as a result of blood lead and cadmium levels and DNA damage correlated with certain pollutants was identified.

``Bio-monitoring of adolescents is a sensitive method to track exposure to common environmental pollutants of different classes and their biological effects long before overt disease develops,'' Staessen said in a prepared statement.

``Our findings suggest that current environmental standards are insufficient to avoid measurable biological effects, which may be the harbinger of disorders in adult life,'' he concluded.

SOURCE: The Lancet 2001;357:1660-1669

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