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Elaine
Faustman (Director, Research Core 3) spent the morning of August
10 at the White House at a reception hosted by Vice President Al
Gore. Disappointed in her hopes to have her picture taken with Al,
Faustman came away with something even better: five years funding
(about $6.6 million) for a new research center. At the August 10
event Gore announced the creation of the University of Washington
(UW) Center for Children's Environmental Health Risks Research,
one of eight such centers nationwide.
The
UW center will study children's health risks from pesticide exposure.
Principal investigators include several CEEH members: Lucio Costa
(RC4 director), Richard Fenske (former COEP director), Clem Furlong
(RC4), Phil Mirkes (RC3), and Zhengui Xia (RC4). The UW center will
be administered by the UW Institute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication
(IRARC), also directed by Faustman.
Research
will begin this fall in agricultural communities in the Yakima Valley.
Studies will focus on pesticides used in orchards for fruit crops
such as apples and cherries, and ways children are exposed to these
pesticides, such as aerial spraying and residues carried home by
family members. The project also includes an intervention program
that will educate farm workers about ways to reduce exposures.
The
other newly-funded children's health centers are located at the
following institutions: University of Southern California, respiratory
disease; University of California at Berkeley, agricultural pesticides;
University of Iowa, airway disease in rural communities; University
of Michigan, asthma; and Johns Hopkins University Hospital, asthma
in inner city areas. Total annual budget for the centers is about
$10 million, jointly administered by the Environmental Protection
Agency and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
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