OCCUPATIONAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH SPECIALTY SECTIONNEWSLETTER

Specialty Section of the Society of Toxicology

Fall 2005

MISSION

The Occupational and Public Health Specialty Section (OPHSS) is a newly formed Section resulting from the merger of the Occupational Health and the Epidemiology Specialty Sections. The goal of the OPHSS is to advance the integration of exposure, toxicological and epidemiological principles and research approaches in addressing occupational, environmentally-related and public health issues. The OPHSS seeks to achieve this goal by: (1) identifying and encouraging integrative research to further the understanding of the impact of exposure to chemicals, pollutants and pharmaceutical drugs on the general and susceptible populations, and, in turn, (2) better informing regulatory decisions and actions that impact both individual and population health, (3) identifying and promoting the continual development and application of emerging methods, tools, and models, and (4) sponsor and support activities to attract the next generation of scientists to occupational and environmental public health.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

I am happy to report that the “new” Occupational and Public Health Specialty Section (OPHSS) is off to great start following the successful merger of the Occupational Health Specialty Section and the Epidemiology Specialty Section last year. The officers of the OPHSS have been busy working on a number of issues since the annual meeting in March. Speaking of working together, I would like to commend all of the officers for their efforts and interest in our specialty section. The current officers of OPHSS represent individuals that were originally members of either the Epidemiology Specialty Section or the Occupational Health Specialty Section. While mergers can often create conflict, all of the officers have displayed a great willingness to work together to make our “new” Specialty Section a vibrant and self-sustaining organization.

Some of the things we have been working on since the 2005 Annual Meeting include:

Developing and reviewing proposals for sessions at the 2006 Meeting Revising our by-laws to reflect the merger Updating our site on SOT’s website (Go to www.toxicology.org, click on

Specialty Sections, then click on Occupational and Public Health) Gaining approval from SOT for a lunch time reception rather than the

usual evening reception at the annual meeting Contacting SOT about adding a late-breaking session to the 2006 SOT

Meeting regarding the public health implications following Hurricane Katrina

Participating in an SOT sponsored meeting of all Specialty Sections in Chicago this summer

Developing ideas to improve participation of members as well as to increase student membership

Concerning the last item, I want to encourage your participation as well as others that may be interested in our Specialty Section. With this thought in mind, please feel free to forward our newsletter to those that may have an interest in our group. Additionally, I would like to ask all advisors/mentors to encourage their students to join our Specialty Section. As you may know, membership in one specialty section is free for students. We are planning a “Student’s Table” at our lunch reception to try to make students feel as welcome as possible. Who said there is no such thing as a free lunch?

Finally, I would like to welcome Jianyong Wang as the new Web Design Chairperson and also as OPHSS’s student representative. Dr. Wang has been working diligently on a much needed redesign of our website and will be representing OPHSS on SOT’s Student Advisory Committee. We appreciate his willingness to help and his hard work!

As we plan for the upcoming meeting in San Diego, I also reflect back on the 2005 meeting in the New Orleans’ Convention Center. The city of New Orleans and our meeting there are a reminder of how things can change. I am hopeful that SOT will again one day choose to visit this city following its “rebirth.” For now, we plan to discuss public health issues involving this great old city at the upcoming meeting in San Diego. We will provide more information about this program and others in another newsletter early next year.

Regards,

Heather Burleigh-Flayer

Special Message to Student Members of SOT

Are you interested in nanotechnology, occupational asthma, cancer clusters, Sick Building Syndrome, Children's Health Initiatives, or biomonitoring?

Members of the Occupational and Public Health Specialty Section (OPHSS) work on these issues as well as many others involving protecting the health of workers and the public.

One of OPHSS's goals is to improve and increase student participation in our Specialty Section. OPHSS provides students with newsletters, two student awards (Best Abstract Award and Best Manuscript Award each worth $500), and the opportunity to participate in our reception at the annual Society of Toxicology meeting. At our reception, we will be providing a "Students Only" table and the chance to meet all of the officers of OPHSS. Although OPHSS is a smaller Specialty Section, it is composed of toxicologists, epidemiologists and other occupational and public health specialists employed by a wide variety of organizations. As such, you will have the opportunity to network and find out more about careers in one of the governmental agencies, pharmaceutical companies, academia, and/or industry. OPHSS also has outreach to, and collaboration with, other related societies (e.g., ISEE, SOEH, APHA, AIHA) as part of its agenda. For more information about the OPHSS, please visit the SOT website (http://www.toxicology.org/isot/ss/specsection.asp#OPHSS) or contact our student representative, Jianyong Wang via e-mail at wangjianyong@uams.edu. We look forward to your participation in the Occupational and Public Health Specialty Section!

Research News Related to Occupational and Public Health:

Overview of the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) and the National Toxicology Program (NTP) Research to Determine the Carcinogenicity and Mode of Action of Acrylamide

Interest in the potential adverse health effects of arcylamide has increased following a Swedish study reported in 2002.  It appears that frying or baking starchy foods, particularly French fries and potato chips, at temperatures greater than 250 degrees creates acrylamide, a chemical designed as a “probable” human carcinogen by the IARC and World Health Organization.  Acrylamide is extensively distributed throughout the modern diet and it has been estimated that up to 40% of total caloric intake contains measurable levels.  Because of these findings, acrylamide was nominated by the U.S. FDA to the National Toxicology Program (NTP) for a thorough evaluation, including new cancer bioassays and a series of studies to determine the mode of action for acrylamide-induced adverse effects.  Under an Interagency Agreement between the NTP and the NCTR, these studies are well under way. 

 Toxicokinetic assessments of acrylamide (AA) and glycidamide (GA—the suspected active metabolite) have been completed in F344 rats and in B6C3F1 mice dosed by IV, gavage, and through AA-fortified diets.  Species differences in formation of GA from AA were apparent, with the mouse showing more extensive conversion than rats.  Bioavailability measurements in rats and mice are consistent with extensive absorption from the GI tract, and conversion of AA to GA shows important first-pass effects that result in the most efficient conversion occurring from administration of low doses in the diet. 

 Biomarker assessments (DNA and hemoglobin adducts) have been completed in both rats and mice with species- and dose-dependent differences noted.  When treated with high doses of AA, the mouse consistently shows greater metabolism of AA to GA than does the rat, based on higher levels N7-GA-guanine and N3-GA-adenine DNA adducts in tissues and leukocytes and GA-hemoglobin adduct levels.  However, at low doses of AA, the species differences in DNA adducts are minimized.  In all cases, the formation of DNA adducts was directly correlated with the AUC measured for GA.  Repeated dosing with AA produces accumulation of DNA adducts in both rats and mice and steady state levels are achieved after approximately two weeks.  DNA adduct loss from steady state levels was also measured in both rats and mice and the kinetics were consistent with spontaneous depurination of adducts as opposed to enzymatic repair processes. 

 Transgenic Big Blue mice were used to test for genotoxicity by repeated dosing (3-4 weeks) with either AA or GA in drinking water.  Mutant frequencies were significantly increased at the Hprt and cll loci in blood lymphocytes and liver, respectively, and GA was more mutagenic than AA.  In addition, micronucleus frequency (a measure of clastogenicity) was increased in the red blood cells from mice exposed to high doses of AA and GA. Sequencing of the cll mutants showed that the preponderance of mutations formed were consistent with DNA damage at guanine, the major GA-derived adduct previously identified.  Genotoxicity was also investigated in neonatal transgenic Tk+/- mice treated with either AA or GA.  Increased mutant frequencies at Tk and Hprt loci from spleen lymphocytes were observed only with GA, consistent with the incomplete development in neonatal mice of CYP2E1, which converts AA to GA.  The consistent findings of DNA adducts and mutations in vivo strongly suggest that AA is a genotoxic carcinogen and that GA is the active metabolite. 

 The toxicokinetic measurements made in blood and tissues from rats and mice dosed with AA and GA have been incorporated into a PBPK model.  In addition, formation of DNA adducts and hemoglobin adducts have also been integrated as toxicodynamic endpoints for use in extrapolation to human exposure data. This model provides a link between defined exposures to AA and measurements of DNA damage in experimental animals and human exposures to AA in food for use in cancer risk assessment.

Finally, dose range finding (14-day) and subchronic (90-day) studies of AA and GA in mice and rats have been completed.  Chronic cancer bioassays (2-year) in both sexes of rats and mice using AA and GA administered in drinking water and a 2-year study of rat developmental neurotoxicity from orally administered AA have recently been started.

(Thanks to Dr. Dan Doerge, NCTR Principle Investigator for the acrylamide research program for providing the information for this article.)

2006 Occupational and Public Health Sponsored Sessions at the Annual Meeting

Please look for these events at the San Diego SOT Meeting and plan to attend!

Session Title Contact Person FINAL Presentation Type

Determinants of Manganese Neurotoxicity: From Worms to Man

Tomas Guilarte Symposium

Integrating biomonitoring into epidemiology and toxicology research

Carol Burns Workshop

Advanced Technologies and Approaches for Quantitative Biological Monitoring and Modeling for Chemical Exposures

Charles Timchalk Workshop

Models and Mechanisms of Occupational/Environmental Asthma

Jean Regal Symposium

Dendritic Cells and Skin Sensitization: Biological Roles and Uses in Hazard Identification

Ian Kimber Workshop

The War on Ozone in the 3rd Millennium: Toxicology and Health Effects Update

Deepak Bhalla Symposium

Air Pollution: Vanguard Toxicological Approaches Considering Atmospheric Aging

Annette Rohr Symposium

Late Breaking Session on Hurricane Katrina—Don’t Miss it! Check the meeting program for the location of this special OPHSS-sponsored session.

OPHSS Meeting in San Diego

Please check the meeting program for the location of our specialty section meeting and join us for lunch on Monday, March 6th.

CALL FOR OPHSS PRE- and Postdoctoral AWARD NOMINATIONS:

Award Group SOT 

Award Title Occupational and Public Health SS Best Abstract Award –Pre-or Post-Doctoral Student

Award Description

1. The abstract must be published in conjunction with research presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting. 2. Current Pre- or Post-Doctoral students in attendance at the 2006 Annual Meeting are eligible to compete for Student Awards. 3. The subject matter must be materially related to occupational and/or environmental public health or an associated discipline. 4. The nomination must come from a member of SOT. Submission requirements include a

submission by January 15, 2006 of an extended abstract no longer than 1 page and a letter of support from the advisor outlining the student's role in the research. Platform or poster presentations are eligible. Winner Receives: Plaque and a $500 cash award. Contact: zenick.hal@epa.gov  

Deadline January 15, 2006 

Group SOT 

Award Title Occupational and Public Health SS Best Manuscript Award –Pre- or Postdoctoral Student

Award Description

1. The paper must be published in a peer reviewed journal during the preceding calendar year. 2. The principal author must be a doctoral or post-doctoral student affiliated with a recognized university or research institute during the period of time that the work was being conducted. 3. The subject matter must be materially related to occupational health and/or environmental public health or an associated discipline. 4. The nomination must come from a member of SOT. 5. Submission deadline is January 15. Winner Receives: Plaque and a $500 cash award. Contact: zenick.hal@epa.gov  

Deadline January 15, 2006 

THINKING AHEAD – 2007 SOT MEETING

It is not too soon to be thinking of ideas for symposia and workshop topics for the 2007 SOT Meeting. Proposals will be due to SOT soon after the San Diego meeting. We need your ideas. Please send a short summary of your proposals to Patricia Weideman (patricia.weideman@spcorp.com) by February 1.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE MORE INVOLVED IN OPHSS?

If you are interested in getting involved or serving as an officer for your specialty section, please volunteer by contacting Heather Burleigh-Flayer (burleighflayer@ppg.com)

CURRENT OFFICERS:

President: Heather Burleigh-FlayerVice President: Harold ZenickVice President-Elect: Patricia WeidemanSecretary: Martha MooreTreasurer: Martha MooreCouncilors: Arnold Schecter

Bryan HardinPast-President David Morgott

MEET THE NEW OFFICERS FOR 2005

Vice-President ElectPatricia Weideman, Ph.D.

Patricia Weideman is currently the Director of Global Occupational and Environmental Toxicology at Schering-Plough Corporation. As part of Schering-Plough Global Safety & Environmental Affairs, she oversees Schering-Plough’s global programs for science-based chemical hazard and risk assessments and communications, including the global Material Safety Data Sheet program, and the occupational toxicology-testing programs for active ingredients and process intermediates used in the company’s research and manufacture of human pharmaceuticals, consumer health care products and animal health products. A primary focus of these efforts includes the development of internal occupational exposure limits for active pharmaceutical ingredients. In addition, she and her team have responsibility for the environmental toxicology-testing program that supports the Company’s drug registration efforts in the US, Europe, and Canada, as well as providing toxicological expertise for Pharmaceutical in the Environment issues. Patricia is also responsible for the corporate program for the notification of chemicals in all global jurisdictions in which Schering-Plough or its representatives conduct research and manufacturing. She received her Ph. D. in Environmental Health Sciences from New York University and her B. S. in Environmental Toxicology and Industrial Hygiene from Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY. She has held positions in occupational toxicology at Merck & Co., Inc. and DuPont Pharmaceuticals prior to joining Schering-Plough; she has been a registered professional nurse for more than 25 years. Patricia is an active member of the Society of Toxicology, the Mid-Atlantic Chapter Society of Toxicology, and the ad hoc Occupational Toxicology Roundtable.

CouncilorArnold Schecter

Currently professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the Univ. of Texas School of Public Health, Dallas Regional Campus, Dallas, Texas. Education: U of Chicago college, Howard Medical School, Columbia U School of Public Health. Postdoc at Harvard Medical School Current work: Dioxins, exposure assessment, in Vietnam, USA, elsewhere, since 1984. New interest: Brominated flame retardants, especially PBDEs. Recent publications on dioxins in Vietnamese blood from Agent Orange exposure and PBDE levels in US nursing mothers' milk, in US blood, US market basket PBDE survey, levels in archived blood from the past compared to present (temporal changes).

Edited “Dioxins and Health, 2nd Ed 2003, Arnold Schecter and Thomas Gasiewicz, John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, NJ”.

 Previous employers: Harvard Medical School, US Army Medical Corps, State Univ. of NY (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center, New Jersey Medical School, Upstate Medical School in Binghamton, NY, NIEHS/NIH.

Student Representative & Webmaster

Jianyong Wang, M.S., M.D.

Jianyong (Wang) Wang was selected to act as OPHSS’s representative to SOT’s Student Advisory Committee (SAC). He has also volunteered to serve as our Webmaster. Wang is a Ph.D. candidate in the Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas. He is conducting his dissertation research at the National Center for Toxicological Research in Jefferson, Arkansas. Prior to coming to the United States he was a Study Director in the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products in Beijing, China. He was responsible for designing and conducting studies to evaluate the general toxicity of pharmaceutical product and for coordinating with pharmaceutical companies in the review of their regulatory submissions. Wang received his M.S. in Pharmacology and M.D. from the China Medical University. He spent a year as a resident doctor at the Chinese Medical University Hospital. Wang is a member of the Environmental Mutagen Society and the Society of Toxicology. He is a member of the Carcinogenesis , Regulatory and Safety Evaluation and the Occupational and Public Health Specialty Sections of SOT.

STUDENT MENTORING PROGRAM

The Mid-Atlantic Society of Toxicology (MASOT) has implemented a student-mentoring program to assist graduate student members of the regional chapter in the development of their knowledge of various career opportunities that are available to them after completion of their graduate studies. Dr. Tony Schatz, an Occupational Toxicologist in Schering-Plough Corporation’s Global Safety and Environmental Affairs organization and a member of OPHSS, has coordinated two mentoring events as part of his role on the chapter’s program committee. One event was a student luncheon at one of the semi-annual chapter meetings. The topic of the luncheon was “Industrial Toxicology”. Tony shared with the students background on and the opportunities in a relatively niche field of toxicology. Most recently, Tony coordinated a field trip at the Schering-Plough facilities in Kenilworth, NJ for 12 student members from NYU and Rutgers. The students met with toxicologists in the areas of drug safety and occupational and environmental toxicology. They also toured one of the manufacturing facilities at the Kenilworth location. The tour provided the students with some background in seeing the outcome of the hard work and many years that it takes to get a drug successfully into the marketplace. The students have communicated their appreciation for this program, and MASOT will continue to support the program as part of their student outreach efforts.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Katrina

Katrina affected the U Texas School of Public Health in Houston and Dallas in a number of ways: Tulane SPH dean, some faculty and some students are now at the Houston campus for the duration. Some faculty in Houston and Dallas were involved in medical or other humanitarian relief activities for refugees.

REFLECTIONS FROM LCDR TRACIE VERKLER—PHS OFFICER DEPLOYED FOR KATRINA/RITA EMERGENCY RELIEF

Lieutenant Commander Tracie Verkler, a microbiologist at NCTR, normally conducts research using genotypic selection to detect rare mutations involved in the development of tumors. However, as an officer in the public health service, she was called to serve as an emergency worker to help individuals evacuated as a result of Katrina/Rita. Her experiences as an emergency relief worker are captured below. Her contributions demonstrate the key roles that research scientists can play both in the laboratory and on the ground in the world outside the laboratory.

I was one of 120 United States Public Health Service (USPHS) officers deployed as a member of the Hurricane Rita Medical Team. We staffed the Special Needs Medical Shelter inside Texas A&M’s Large Animal Hospital. We cared for and treated over 200 Hurricane Rita evacuees from nursing homes and shelters in South Texas. Many of the PHS officers were performing essential care for non ambulatory patients, while others were providing for critical care needs. After the storm the patients left. We tore down the hospital which involved cleaning and packing all of the equipment used.

Our next mission during our 2 week deployment was establishing a Federal Medical Shelter in a vacant VA Hospital in Marlin, Texas. Here we set up a 168 bed hospital in less than 12 hours. Patients/residents sent to this new shelter were evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The needs of this shelter were different than before due to the patient population. Many of these shelter residents were families displaced by one of the hurricanes which required more social services, such as counseling and benefits. Our mission ended as responsibility for this shelter shifted to Veterans Affairs.

We were thanked endlessly by many of the shelter patients/residents for all of that we did. I am proud of what we accomplished on our deployment: set up 2 hospitals and tore down 1 hospital in less than a week. I am also thankful for the opportunity to have worked with these outstanding professionals in the United States Public Health Service.

PHS Team Marlin

MEETINGS OF INTEREST

Dioxin 2005 met in Toronto in September 2005: As dioxin levels decrease in the environment, brominated flame retardants as well as PFOS and PFOA are increasing in interest. A special issue of Chemosphere will include some of the papers presented during the 2005 meeting. Dioxin 2006, will be held in Oslo, Norway. Future meetings will be in China, Japan and Texas.

The Society for Risk Analysis will meet December 4-7, 2005. The theme of the meeting is "The 25th Anniversary of SRA: Past, Present, and Future of Risk Analysis." It will be held at the Wyndham Palace in Orlando, Florida. Additional information about the meeting can be found at WWW.SRA.org.

The 28th International Congress on Occupational Health (www.icoh2006.it/) will be held in Milan, Italy on June 11-16, 2006.

The 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research will be held in Washington, D.C., April 1-5, 2006

NEW NEWS

Please send any information that you would like to see included in the next newsletter to Martha Moore at MMMoore@nctr.fda.gov. The newsletter will be published again early in 2006

OPHSS Website

Jianyong Wang has volunteered to serve as our new Webmaster. Please visit the newly designed website and please send comments and suggestions to Wang at either jwang@nctr.fda.gov or wangjianyong@uams.edu .

BYLAWS

The bylaws were updated to reflect the merger of the old Occupational Health and Epidemiology Specialty Sections. The bylaws were approved by the membership and SOT Council and can be found on the Specialty Section website.