The Global Burden of Lead Toxicity Attributable to Informal Used Lead-Acid Battery Sites.

Background: Prior calculations of the burden of disease from environmental lead exposure in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have not included estimates of the burden from lead-contaminated sites because of a lack of exposure data, resulting in an underestimation of a serious public health problem.

Objective: We used publicly available statistics and detailed site assessment data to model the number of informal used lead-acid battery (ULAB) recyclers and the resulting exposures in 90 LMICs. We estimated blood lead levels (BLLs) using the US Environment Protection Agency's Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic Model for Lead in Children and Adult Lead Model.

Comments on the Causation of Malignant Mesothelioma: Rebutting the False Concept That Recent Exposures to Asbestos Do Not Contribute to Causation of Mesothelioma.

Background: European asbestos manufacturers and their expert witnesses have advanced the claim that recent exposures to asbestos are not of significance in the causation of malignant mesothelioma. They argue that in cases of prolonged exposure to asbestos only the earliest exposures contribute to mesothelioma induction.

Methods: The Collegium Ramazzini examined this claim and compared it with the findings of the Epidemiology and Public Health Working Group of the Second Italian Consensus Conference on Pleural Mesothelioma.

Implications of the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) for the public health response to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11, 2001 resulted in a serious burden of physical and mental illness for the 50,000 rescue workers that responded to 9/11 as well as the 400,000 residents and workers in the surrounding areas of New York City. The Zadroga Act of 2010 established the WTC Health Program (WTCHP) to provide monitoring and treatment of WTC exposure-related conditions and health surveillance for the responder and survivor populations. Several reports have highlighted the applicability of insights gained from the WTCHP to the public health response to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

World Trade Center disaster: assessment of responder occupations, work locations, and job tasks.

Background: To date there have been no comprehensive reports of the work performedby 9/11 World Trade Center responders.

Methods: 18,969 responders enrolled in the WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program were used to describe workers’ pre-9/11 occupations, WTC work activities and locations from September 11, 2001 to June 2002.

Results: The most common pre-9/11 occupation was protective services (47%); other common occupations included construction, telecommunications, transportation, and support services workers.