Research Project 6

AESOP Study: Airborne Exposure to Semi-volatile Organic Pollutants

In Project 6 we will assess exposures to atmospheric PCBs among an urban cohort of children and their mothers in a heavily contaminated area where dredging and filling of PCB-laden sediments will occur during the study period. Exposures will be assessed through repeated air sampling over four years inside and outside of homes of subjects and at local schools and also through annual blood collection and assay for PCB congener profiles. These exposures will be compared to a rural site with the goal of characterizing atmospheric PCB exposures in high and low exposure residential cohorts. The urban site (East Chicago, IN) has a legacy of PCB contamination from intense past industrial activity whereas the rural site (Columbus Junction, IA) is without local sources of PCBs.

The objectives of the AESOP study are to:

1) Assess exposures to airborne PCBs in adolescent children and their mothers
2) Determine the role of urban environment and legacy pollution on exposure
3) This study is not designed to assess health outcomes

The Specific Aims are to:

1) Establish an urban residential cohort in East Chicago.
2) Establish a rural residential cohort in Columbus Junction.
3) Measure emissions and exposures of atmospheric PCBs at homes and schools over 4 years in the urban and rural cohorts.
4) Gather demographic, residential, occupational, activity and dietary information from subjects by questionnaire.
5) Analyze data from these residential cohorts and develop an exposure model for the atmospheric PCB congeners.

The Indiana Harbor and Canal Dredging Project will place 4.5 million cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment into a confined disposal facility (CDF) located within 1/2 km of the middle and high school in East Chicago. Thus, we will perform air and blood monitoring of nearby residents before and during dredging and CDF filling and characterize determinants of exposure. Four primary hypotheses will be tested:

H1: Residents of urban East Chicago have significantly higher exposures to atmospheric PCBs than people living in rural Iowa.
H2: Residents of urban East Chicago have significantly higher blood levels of atmospheric PCB congeners than people living in rural Iowa.
H3: In the urban East Chicago cohort and also the rural Iowa cohort, the body burden of the atmospheric PCB congeners of adolescent subjects are significantly correlated with those of their mothers.
H4: Residents of East Chicago will experience significantly increased exposures to atmospheric PCBs and increased blood PCB concentrations associated temporally with with berming of the confined disposal facility (CDF), the dredging of Indiana Harbor and placement of sediments in the CDF.

AESOP Progress as of July, 2006:

1) Hired Study Coordinator – Keri Mercer
2) East Chicago site visit and meeting with Community Advisory Board - July 13-14
3) IRB submission in development
4) Questionnaires being finalized
5) Monitors are in process of being built

Future plans:
Visit Columbus Junction
Hire Community Health Nurses
Prepare Spanish translations of study documents
Submit IRB
Recruit participants

East Chicago Schools Websites:

http://www.ecps.org/
http://www.ecps.org/schools/secondary/ws/index.htm
http://www.ecps.org/schools/secondary/central/index.htm
http://www.eastchicago.com
http://www.columbus.k12.ia.us/Home/index.html

Project Leader: Peter S. Thorne, PhD
Dr. Thorne is a professor of toxicology in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Iowa with a secondary appointment in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He will serve as a principal investigator for this study. He will have overall responsibility for the project and will serve as the primary contact with other Project and Core Leaders in the isbrp. Dr. Thorne will supervise all field and laboratory staff in Iowa and East Chicago. He has worked successfully with the community advisory boards and schools in Columbus Junction and East Chicago, and will oversee the enrollment of the cohorts for the project. Dr. Thorne will work with Michael Jones and co-investigators on data analysis and the drafting of presentations, progress reports and publications.

Co-Project Leader: Keri C. Hornbuckle, PhD
Dr. Hornbuckle, professor of environmental engineering at the University of Iowa, will provide advice on fabrication and deployment of the passive monitors and high volume samplers, and she will provide guidance in the analysis of PCB congener-specific data. Her experience in measuring and modeling PCBs in urban and rural settings will be drawn upon in the interpretation of exposure data.

Co-Project Leader: Michael P. Jones, PhD
Dr. Jones, professor in the Department of Biostatistics, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Statistics,will participate in discussions regarding study design, cohort recruitment, and data management. He will provide major input on all data analysis and will develop the multiple linear regression models and multilevel analysis for Specific Aims 6 and 7.

Co-Project Leader: Victoria W. Persky, MD
Dr. Perskyis a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the University of Illinois at
Chicago, School of Public Health. She has an extensive record of accomplishment in community-based intervention research. Among these accomplishments is her work on the Chicago Community Asthma Prevention Program which began nine years ago on the west side of Chicago. Dr. Persky's other area of interest is in the health effects of PCB exposure. She was PI of a series of studies examining the effects of occupational exposures at a capacitor manufacturing plant (Mallin et al. JOEM June 2004) and is working with Henry Anderson on a series of EPA-funded studies examining the hormonal effects of PCB exposure in Great Lakes fish eaters (Persky et al. EHP December 2001).