Health Risks

Now that the weather is nice, a number of completely predictable things are about to happen. Anybody lucky enough to own a convertible will put the top down, splash on the sunscreen and drive around, just for fun. Anybody lucky enough to own a swimming pool will be hanging around it at every possible opportunity. And people lucky enough to have a boat and a place to sail it will be out on the water feeling the wind in their hair and the salt spray in their face. So what about the rest of us?

The greatest environmental health risks in Pennsylvania and its neighboring states are indoor air pollution, radon and pesticide residues on food, according to a study released yesterday by the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Philadelphia office. The risk study estimated that these three forms of pollution accounted for as many as 4,700 additional cases of cancer a year in the region comprising Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia. "These are problems that we didn't even realize existed five or six years ago," said Jeffrey Burke, the EPA official who oversaw the study.

Faced with increases in drug abuse and a variety of diseases in the city, about 25 health agencies and hospitals yesterday offered free blood testing, condoms and brochures at a West Philadelphia health fair. The health fair, which drew scores of area residents, was the second sponsored by the West Philadelphia Community Center and the Pennsylvania Perinatal Association. The organization Blacks Educating Blacks about Sexual Health Issues (BEBASHI) provided free multicolored condoms as part of its program to stop the spread of AIDS.

Authorities call them "body-cavity drug couriers. " They pack heroin into condoms, toss the condoms in soup, and devour the mess until their stomachs are full. Sometimes the condoms burst in their stomachs and they die. It's a hard way to make a living. A federal grand jury in Philadelphia yesterday returned indictments against three such alleged couriers. The evidence seems compelling and nauseating. One defendant, Charles Chima, a Nigerian national, arrived at Philadelphia International Airport on Nov. 20 aboard a flight from Frankfurt, Germany.

Maryann Callahan of Gloucester City has known about the asbestos buried around her house in the city's Gloucester Heights section since August. What she still doesn't know is how much asbestos is buried there and what health risks that asbestos poses to her and her family. And waiting for those answers, Callahan said last week, has started to take its toll. "I've lived in this house for 17 years and I suppose I've lived with this problem, though I didn't know it, the whole time," said Callahan, who is also on the Gloucester City Council.

In his acceptance speech last week at the Democratic National Convention, Al Gore promised to double federal funding for biomedical research. But the most intractable health problems of today will be solved not just by looking through microscopes but by recognizing how intimately our biological health is linked to our attitudes, emotions, thoughts, behaviors, social relations and economic status. The science is clear: The human genome composes only the introduction to the book of health; the rest of the story is how we are raised, what we eat, what we breathe, where we live, what kind of work we do, what our income is and whether we exercise.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will pay to connect residents of the Rahway section in East Norriton to the public water system. The hookup is required by state and federal agencies to circumvent tainted wells believed to pose health risks, officials said at a public meeting Wednesday night. Hookup construction for the 50 households dependent on well water will likely begin this summer, said EPA on-scene manager Myles Bartos. Although experts haven't determined how much the project will cost, funding will come from the federal government's Superfund.

Burlington County will get a rigorous physical exam beginning in the next few months. Officials say it's about time, because little to no information exists on health issues specific to the county. That should change with a two-year project that combines the efforts of the Burlington County Health Department and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is based in Atlanta. Under a national program, the CDC will send Plyshette Bethea, a disease-prevention intern, to work with the health department to gather information on health risks and concerns from each municipality.

The Inquirer (Editorial, Dec. 27) refuses to see the very real problems with a trash-to-steam plant. The Inquirer states: "But the money this city is losing - and will continue to lose - and the health risks it will face if it continues to dawdle, are staggering in comparison. " The facts do not justify the statement. The city is losing money, but that has little to do with a trash-to-steam plant. We are paying large amounts for tipping fees at landfills. When we have to get rid of the ash from a trash- to-steam plant, the lesser amount of ash actually may cost more money to dump.

McDonald's customers who bought Shrek -themed glasses at the restaurant chain can return them starting Wednesday for $3 a glass, the company said. McDonald's announced the recall Friday of 12 million souvenir glasses because the glasses were decorated with materials that contain cadmium, a heavy metal that poses health risks. McDonald's said that the Consumer Product Safety Commission says "the glassware is not toxic" and that the recall is being conducted "out of an abundance of caution.

By Helen Ouyang At age 33, I outlived my father this year. He died when he was only 32. I was 3 years old and my brother was 5. My father was diagnosed with liver cancer on Halloween. On Thanksgiving Day, my mother was a widow. He first complained of fatigue in September of that year. Then he noticed his urine was the color of tea. At first, no doctor at our local hospital in New Jersey could pinpoint the diagnosis. But as soon as my grandmother heard his symptoms, she knew he had liver cancer - she had already lost another son to the same disease.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Wednesday released detailed plans for its comprehensive radiation study of oil and gas development and said it intends to begin sampling this month. The agency plans to analyze radioactivity levels of flowback waters, treatment solids, drill cuttings, and drilling equipment, along with the transportation, storage and disposal of drilling wastes. DEP says current data do not indicate any health risks, but activists have raised concerns about naturally occuring radioactivity in materials extracted from the mile-deep wells.

When Annmarie Cantrell, a chef and wellness educator, gives cooking demonstrations, she always talks about the importance of fresh, unprocessed food and her concerns about genetically engineered ingredients. She and her husband, Sam, no longer plant corn on their Maysie's Farm in Chester County, in part because she worries their organically grown crop will be contaminated by windblown pollen from nearby farms that grow genetically engineered corn. She and other members of a fledgling local group, GMO Free PA, are fully behind legislation that would require labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms that are sold in Pennsylvania.

Adapted from a recent online discussion. Question: I want to try for another baby; my husband doesn't. We have two beautiful children and a happy family, but I always wanted more. We started later than planned, and we're both late 30s, so he's concerned about health risks (mostly for the would-be child), being that much older when the child graduates high school, etc., and to a lesser extent, the additional stress, strain on finances, etc. If I really, really pushed, I know he'd give in - he has said as much - and I know that's not right.

FOR CENTURIES, African-Americans have valiantly fought against every vicious and brutal inhumanity known to mankind - chattel slavery, rape, lynching - as well as pernicious, everyday racism in the forms of segregation, and discrimination in employment, housing and education. While it is true that significant achievements have been made, including the election of an African-American president, those achievements are not reflected in the current state of African-American health. Virtually every health expert and institution - including the Centers for Disease Control and the federal Office of Minority Health - says that African-Americans are dying at a disproportionate and alarmingly higher rate than other demographic groups from every major disease.

1 OBESITY Carrying extra pounds is a risk factor for nearly every preventable disease. No, it's not about being skinny - and it's not about being obese. It's about being at an optimal, healthy weight for your height. Forget the BMI and just look at yourself in a full-length mirror naked. 2 PHYSICAL INACTIVITY Don't worry about running a marathon. Just commit to walking every day for a minimum of 30 minutes and doing a few calisthenics in your bedroom. It doesn't have to be complicated.

LAST WEEK, City Council dealt with zoning issues and discussed looming school closures, but on Thursday the legislative body takes on a new controversial issue: tanning beds. The indoor-tanning industry has come under fire recently after the American Suntanning Association tried to dispute that tanning raises the risk of skin cancer. To make indoor tanning aficionados aware of the risks, Councilman Bill Greenlee will introduce a bill that would require a minor to be accompanied by an adult when tanning at a salon.

A 3-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man from South Jersey became ill recently from drinking raw milk from a Pennsylvania farm. New Jersey health officials are warning residents about the risks of drinking unpasteurized milk in wake of the illnesses. The state Department of Health and Senior Services says the two became sick after consuming the milk from Family Cow Dairy in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The department does not specify when the two became sick. Currently 78 people from several states have fallen ill with Campylobacteriosis, a gastrointestinal illness, from the consumption of raw milk contaminated with bacteria traced to the farm.

LONDON - Abortion does not increase a woman's chance of developing mental-health problems, according to a British health agency's review of dozens of studies worldwide over 20 years. Among women with unwanted pregnancies, those who had abortions were no more likely to suffer from problems including anxiety or depression than women who gave birth, the analysis by the United Kingdom's National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health found. The research offers "reassuring news" that abortion does not cause mental-health problems, but raises a warning that officials must address the problem of unwanted pregnancy, said Tim Kendall, the center's director.

FUKUSHIMA, Japan - Workers battling the crisis at Japan's stricken nuclear plant suffer from insomnia, show signs of dehydration and high blood pressure, and are at risk of developing depression or heart trouble, a doctor who met with them said Wednesday. The crews have been fighting to get the radiation-spewing Fukushima Dai-ichi plant under control since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled it. "The conditions at the plant remain harsh," epidemiologist Takeshi Tanigawa said.