New UI center to study effects of exposure to toxican...( CHAMPAIGN Ill. The University of Illi...)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. The University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine is home to a new federally funded center that will study the effects of exposure to toxicants in fish being eaten in large quantities by Laotian and Hmong refugees in Green Bay and Appleton, Wis. Researchers from five institutions will work in the UI-based consortium, which also will develop outreach programs to help the refugees reduce their consumption of the fish contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls and methyl mercury. The FRIENDS Childrens Environmental Health Center at the UI was among four new childrens environmental health research centers announced Oct. 25 in Cincinnati. They were established under a joint program of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency. The centers each will receive about $1 million per year for the next five years.

FRIENDS stands for Fox River Environment and Diet Study. The Fox River cuts through the heart of the city of Green Bay. It is one of the most heavily PCB-contaminated sites in the Great Lakes basin and is the single largest source of PCBs entering Lake Michigan.

This center will build on several already established research collaborations and will be organized around refugees we have been recruiting in this area, said Susan L. Schantz, who will serve as director. A large percentage of these refugee families is at high risk for PCB exposure. While methyl mercury levels are not as high, we want to know if methyl mercury exposure has adverse health ramifications, either separately or in combination with PCBs. PCBs and methyl mercury often occur together in the environment, but there has been little research that addresses the health effects resulting from combined exposure. Members of the refugee groups have been involved in the design of the study and will have continuing roles, said Schantz, a professor of veterinary biosciences and of psychology.

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Contact: Jim Barlow
b-james3@uiuc.edu
217-333-5802
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
26-Oct-2001

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