INSIDE

CROETweb.com....................1

CROET ScientistWorking WithNorthwest Tribes.................3

CROET Student InternEarns Science Award.........4

Noise in the Workplace......5

Outreach............................8

NEWSLETTER

enter for

esearch on

ccupational and

nvironmental

oxicology

CROET

Vol. 13, No. 1, 2005

Big changes are happening at CROETweb.com,CROET’s occupational safety and health (andtoxicology) web resource directory. In the last issueof this newsletter, we announced the arrival of DanOlson, CROET’s new Webmaster, and DedeMontgomery, CROET’s new Occupational Safetyand Health Specialist. Dede and Dan have beenworking together to increase the utility ofCROETweb.com as a technical resource not only forthe general public, but also for the working healthand safety professional. We hope thatCROETweb.com will become the most useful andhighest-quality single resource for up-to-dateoccupational safety and health information by linkingto diverse, credible and accurate resources relevantto the broad needs of workers and practitionerswithin Oregon. And although Dan and Dede havebeen here only a few months, CROETweb.com hasalready undergone significant changes, including:

• Daily updating• Several new information topics• A directory of “significant new links we

recommend”• Improved “new content” markers• Spanish language content

Many of the fundamental changes toCROETweb.com have been occurring behind-the-scenes. With Dede’s expertise and connections in

CROETweb.com:

Achieving a Higher Level of

Usability for Professionals and

the General Publicc

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the occupational safety and health and industrialhygiene world, she is actively soliciting feedback fromother experts in the field who not only useCROETweb.com, but whoalso have good ideasabout the types of newinformation that willimprove its usefulness as areliable and current webresource. These expertsare best able to criticallyreview the informationcontent and suggestchanges that ultimatelyimprove the usefulness ofCROETweb.com for healthand safety professionalsand the general public,thereby benefitingeveryone.

With a moreaggressive approach tokeeping the informationcurrent, and with dailyupdating, CROETweb.comis now a continuously evolving resource foroccupational safety and health information. To keepfrequent users current with this evolution,CROETweb.com nowincorporates identifiers thatmark links to newinformation with the date,in red, when the link wasadded. These identifiersautomatically disappearafter 3 months. Anotherway for visitors to staycurrent is by visiting the“SIGNIFICANT NEW

LINKS WE RECOMMEND”page, which can beaccessed in the left columnof the CROETweb.comhomepage. This pageprovides links to resourcesthat have recentlyappeared on the web, andthat we feel are noteworthyenough to warrant visitors’attention.

In response to recommendations fromvarious people via email, phone, conference and

exhibits, Dede has introduced several newinformation topics to the CROETweb homepage.These new topics include: “Education”, “Hazardous

Waste Operations” and“Waste Treatment &Management”, which havebeen added to theOccupations and Industriessection; “Indoor Air Quality”,“Nanotechnology” and“Personal ProtectiveEquipment”, now includedas topics within theWorkplace Safety Issuesheading; and “Health andSafety Programs”, whichcan be found under theAdditional Resourcesheading. The latter topic isloaded with “hands-on”information about written H& S programs, audits,evaluations andinspections, accidentinvestigations, training

programs, safety committees, workplace monitoring,and safety culture research. And of course, Oregon-specific information, when available, is also included

within all topics.Dede and Dan are

also in the process ofreorganizing and addingnew information toCROETweb.com’s existingtopics. They havecompleted thereorganization of ourAgriculture, Construction,Corrections, Manufacturing,Metal Industry (formerlyElectroplating), and WoodProducts links. A goodexample of the changesbeing introduced can befound within theConstruction page, whichhas been reorganized toinclude 13 subtopics. Thisreorganization allows auser to more easily find

specific topics within Construction and supports asignificant expansion of the material covered. For

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Recent feedback about

CROETweb.com from Occupational

Safety and Health Professionals:

“Thanks for the info. I just found some great info on theglass artist industry for a site visit I am going to makein the coming weeks.”

“Wow, this is a great resource for construction safetyand health. I was able to find the big constructionhazards that kill workers like trenching and fallprotection. I was able to find electrical issues underthe other safety hazards. I was able to find the heavyequipment under road building. I liked the Spanishlink. It is all very easy to maneuver around in. Nicejob!”

“It is really awesome! Easy to navigate and find keyconstruction information.”

“Nice website! Good informative yet brief abstractsattached to links to the appropriate external websites.Easy to access and find my way.”

CROET Scientist

Working with Northwest Tribes

to Address Fish Contamination

Issues

In 2000, the US Environmental Protection Agencyconducted a survey of chemical contaminants in fishtaken from the Columbia River Basin (CRB). Ninety-two chemicals were found, the most frequently mea-sured being heavy metals, DDT, chlordane, PCBs,dioxins and furans. These chemicals, which arepresent at varying concentrations in a variety of fishspecies, are thought to pose only a small hazard tomost people, because fish make up only a smallportion of the average diet, about six pounds per year.However, Native American people who live in theNorthwest eat large amounts of fish, between 50 and300 pounds a year. Based on this information, theEPA conducted a risk analysis and estimated that thelifetime cancer risk among the most traditional of tribalmembers may be as high as 1-in-one-thousand orgreater. This is much higher than what the US govern-ment typically regulates for other hazards, usually atthe 1-in-one-million or 1-in-100,000 level. Thus, thereis real concern that tribal populations are at increasedrisk for not only cancer, but other diseases as well,including damage to liver, kidney, immune and ner-vous systems.

To address this concern, CROET’s Dr. William Lam-bert and research associates, Brenda Hoppe, MS,Louise Kling, MS and Michael LaFlamme, PhD areimplementing a risk communication program thathelps tribal people make informed decisions on whatcan be done to minimize health risks from consumingCRB fish. Their program follows community-basedparticipatory research principles and communitymembers play a direct role in the design and conductof research as partners. Community members aregetting the word out about the research and promot-ing the use of the research findings. These actions willstrengthen existing community capacities to makedecisions on policies to reduce unnecessary exposureto toxins. Dr. Lambert’s group is working with theYakama Nation Fisheries Program and the YakamaNation Indian Health Center (Indian Health Service).This project is funded by a grant from the NationalInstitute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Overall, the major objectives of this program are toinform and educate the Yakama Nation and other

example, subtopics now include information on fallprotection, trenching and excavation, and noise inconstruction among other key topics. On theAgriculture page, a new subtopic, Landscaping, hasbeen added. These many subtle changes being madeto CROETweb.com’s key topics pages are adding upto create a much more useable and comprehensiveoccupational safety and health information resource.

One final example of the many positive changesbeing made to CROETweb.com involves its Spanishlanguage content pages; the format is becomingsimilar in appearance to the general format. It ishoped that someday the Spanish languageinformation content will closely match that of thegeneral English language pages. When that daycomes, CROETweb.com could then exist as twoidentical websites, but in two different languages.

Please visit (or better yet, bookmark)CROETweb.com soon and see how we are improvingyour access to accurate and timely safety and healthinformation on the web. And if you have an idea abouthow CROETweb.com can better serve your needs,we would like to hear from you. All suggestions areencouraged.

Northwest tribes about health risks related to thecontamination of subsistence fish, to foster problemsolving in the tribal community, and to promote cultur-ally appropriate protective actions to reduce expo-sure. But developing an appropriate and feasiblyimplemented message may not be easy to accom-plish. As a primary source of food for thousands ofyears, salmon and other fish species continue to bethe foundation of nutritional health for Northwesttribes. Salmon are the cornerstone of spiritual andcultural identity, and for many are a livelihood andmajor source of income. So it would be neither practi-cal nor appropriate to suggest that the tribes reducetheir use of a resource upon which the people’s livesand culture so profoundly depend. And, because thebeneficial aspects of a diet rich in fish are well estab-lished, alternative foods actually present their ownlong-term health risks.

Thus, the major challenge facing Dr. Lambert’s groupis to balance the apparent contradiction betweenencouraging fish as healthful nutrition versus theavoidance of toxins, all while giving precedence to thecultural and spiritual role of fish in the lives of North-west tribal members. To this end, the Lambert groupis developing educational materials that promote theutilization of “safe species”, meaning those fish (suchas salmon) that are known to have the least amountof contamination, and to encourage the use of saferbut culturally appropriate methods of food preparationthat avoid the use of especially contaminated parts orthat allow fat soluble contaminants to drip off andaway from edible portions. These educational materi-als plus training are being made available tohealthcare providers and educators who can counselpatients that have concerns about the safety of eatingfish. Healthcare providers are being encouraged totarget their message to the elderly, women of child-bearing age, and those who are pregnant orbreastfeeding, since these represent populations whoare potentially the most vulnerable. Dr. Lambert’sgroup is also encouraging tribal healthcare providersto promote cancer screening for all their patients anddevelopmental screening for children so that anypotential problems can be caught and addressedearly on.

While these personal measures will provide healthbenefits, Dr. Lambert recognizes that the ultimate goalof all concerned is to clean up the Columbia Riversystem in order to protect the health of the fish, andthereby the health of all people who eat those fish.

Much of the contamination comes from “legacy pollut-ants”, such as DDT, PCBs and heavy metals, whichare no longer being discharged to the river system,but take decades to break down and disperse. Andsince dams have limited the natural cleansing processthat occurs as seasonal high flows wash sedimentsout to sea, the tribes recognize the importance ofpreventing new sources of contamination from enter-ing the system. Dr. Lambert is hopeful that by provid-ing useful and accurate information to the tribes, theycan be most effective in advocating for cleaningcontaminated sites, such as those in the PortlandHarbor, and for preserving an important cultural andnutritional resource for generations to come.

Oregon Episcopal School junior Allison Rhines earneda second place award in the category of Medicine andHealth at the Intel International Science andEngineering Fair, held May 8-14 in Phoenix, Arizona.Her project, titled “An Analysis of Brain TissueSections for Proteins Targeted by the GenotoxicantMethylazoxymethanol (MAM)”, studied themechanisms and toxic effects that DNA-damagingchemicals exert on the function and survival ofneurons in the brain. Allison demonstrated thatabnormal accumulations of certain proteins in thebrain correlates with DNA damage caused by MAM.The significance of this research is that MAMneurotoxicity could be used as a model for other typesof neuro-degenerative disease as well as theneurological damage seen in normal aging.

Allison conducted her research after school and onweekends under the supervision of CROET’s Dr. GlenKisby. Dr. Kisby has mentored several high schoolstudent interns and science fair awardees. For heraward, Allison received a full tuition scholarship toDrexel University, a $1500 monetary prize, and bestof all, a minor extra-solar planet that will be named inher honor. Of the experience, Allison says “I havealways been interested in biology, especiallyneuroscience, but this experience has introduced meto a plethora of new possibilities. I plan to work in Dr.Kisby’s lab over the summer as well as next schoolyear and will compete in the Siemens-WestinghouseTalent Search as well as the Science Talent Search

(STS) in the fall”.

CROET Student Intern Earns 2nd

Place Award at 2005 Intel Interna-

tional Science and Engineering Fair

4

5

Excessive noise is one of the most common healthhazards encountered in the workplace, affecting anestimated thirty million workers in the United States.Hazardous noise can cause hearing loss, create physicaland psychological stress, reduce productivity, interferewith communication, and contribute to accidents andinjuries by making it difficult to hear warning signals.

Although noise-induced hearing loss is one ofthe most common occupational illnesses, it is oftenignored because it usually develops subtly over a longperiod of time, there are no visible effects, and, exceptin very rare cases, there is no pain involved. Whatdoes occur is a progressive loss of communication,socialization, and responsiveness to the environment.In its early stages it affects our ability to understand ordiscriminate speech, because detection of higherfrequencies is lost first. As hearing loss progresses tothe lower frequencies, it begins to affect ones ability tohear sounds in general.

The adverse effects of noise can be simplifiedinto three general categories: Primary Effects, whichinclude temporary or permanent changes in thethreshold level at which sound is first detected,acoustic trauma, and tinnitus (ringing in the ears);Secondary Effects on Communication andPerformance, which may include personal isolation,annoyance, difficulty concentrating, absenteeism, andaccidents; and Other Effects, which may includestress, muscle tension, ulcers, increased bloodpressure, and hypertension.

Sound intensity is measured in units ofdecibels (dB), which describes the strength, or‘pressure’, of the vibrations of sound. And, although avariety of devices have been developed to measuresound pressure, the first warnings that the noise levelmay be hazardous can actually be our own subjectiveresponses: When noise levels are above 80 decibels(dB), people have to speak very loudly; between 85and 90 dB, people have to shout; and when noiselevels are greater than 95 dB, people have to moveclose together to hear each other at all. If you haveringing in your ears or difficulty hearing normal soundsfor several hours after you leave work, then the soundlevel is definitely excessive. Your hearing can bedamaged if you are continually exposed to noisegreater than 85 decibels over an 8-hour period, andexposure to 110-decibel noise can damage hearingafter just 15 minutes! A general rule of thumb is that

if you need to shout to be heard, the sound level is ina range that can damage hearing

The following are examples of soundintensities generated by various devices: 90 dB isabout the loudness of a large truck from 5 yardsaway; motorcycles, snowmobiles, and similar enginesrange around 85 to 90 dB; 100 dB is typical of somerock concerts; jackhammers produce a soundpressure of 120 dB from 3 feet away; and 130 dB isproduced by a jet engine from 100 feet away. Not onlycan hearing be threatened by loud noises, high-frequency ultrasonic devices, which produce soundsinaudible to the human ear, can also damage hearing.The upper frequency of sound heard by the humanear is approximately 15-20 kilohertz (kHz – one kHzequals one-thousand vibrations per second). Most ofthe audible noise associated with ultrasonic sources,such as ultrasonic welders or ultrasonic cleaners,consists of sub-harmonics of the machine’s majorultrasonic frequencies. For example, many ultrasonicwelders have a fundamental operating frequency of20 kHz, a sound that is at the upper frequency ofaudibility to the human ear. However, a good deal ofnoise may be present at 10 kHz, the first sub-harmonic frequency of the 20 kHz operatingfrequency, and is therefore potentially injurious tomost persons.

The Federal Occupational Safety and HealthAdministration (OSHA) and Oregon OSHA haveestablished regulations governing workplace noiseand require employers to determine if workers arebeing exposed to excessive noise levels. If excessive,employers must then implement feasible engineeringor administrative controls to eliminate or reduce thehazardous levels of noise. And where controls are notsufficient, employers must implement an effectivehearing conservation program.

Noise monitoring usually begins with a walk-around survey, using a sound-level meter, to screenfor noise exposures and to determine if additionalmonitoring is necessary. When screening for noiseexposures, sound level meter measurements andestimates of the duration of exposure are sufficient todetermine if a potential problem exists. These spotreadings can be used to determine the need for amore complete evaluation. OSHA recommends thefollowing general approach:

The Hazards of Noise in the Workplace

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1. Tour the facility and develop a detailedunderstanding of facility operations and potentialnoise sources. Take the tour with someone whois familiar with plant operations. Speak withknowledgeable personnel about operations andmaintenance requirements. Make notes on adiagram of the floor plan if possible. Look forindications that noise may be a problem.

2. Use a sound level meter to take spot readings ofoperations that are in question. It may be usefulto mark the sound levels on a diagram of thefloor plan. Make notes regarding whatequipment is on or off.

3. Estimate noise exposures by identifying workersand their locations and estimate the length oftime they spend in different areas or how longthey operate particular equipment or tools.

If the results of the walk-around survey indicate thattime-weighted average (TWA – this is the averageexposure calculated for an 8-hour work shift)exposures of 80 dBA or more might be occurring, thenadditional noise monitoring should be performed. Thisadditional monitoring can be accomplished with theuse of dosimeters, which measure the accumulatednoise exposure for one worker over a specific timeperiod, such as the 8-hour workday.TWA exposures ator above the action level of 85 dBA require employersto institute a continuing, effective hearingconservation program. This is referred to as the actionlevel. Hearing conservation programs include training,personal exposure monitoring of affected employees,implementing engineering controls, audiometrictesting, hearing protectors and recordkeeping. TWAexposures exceeding the PEL of 90 dB require thatfeasible engineering or administrative noise reductioncontrols be implemented. Other groups such as theNational Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH) and the American Conference ofGovernmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)recommend adhering to an 8 hour TWA of 85 dB.

An effective hearing conservation program canprevent hearing loss, improve employee morale and ageneral feeling of well-being, increase quality ofproduction, and reduce the incidence of stress-relateddisease. Unfortunately, some places of employmenthave not successfully implemented effective hearingconservation programs, and employees areexperiencing occupational noise-induced hearing loss(NIHL). This hearing loss not only affects theworker on the job, but also can substantiallyadversely affect the worker for the remainder of his

or her life, not to mention increase financial costs tothe employer. Advocates of hearing loss preventionremind us that engineering controls to reduce noise inthe workplace when it is feasible are stronglypreferred to simply requiring hearing protection forworkers.

What’s on the horizon for noise and hearingprotection? Researchers are investigatingconnections with diet, antioxidants and nutrition aspotential sources of protection against adverse effectsof noise. They are also learning about how hair cellsregenerate and the potential reversibility of hearingloss. Sadly, we are finding a rise in hearing loss inchildren, teenagers and young workers entering thework arena due to exposure to loud noise sources,such as music and “walkmen”. Ultimately, success inpreventing NIHL will require increased education forpeople of all ages, source control and effectivehearing conservation programs.

Additional Resources:

QUIET! Oregon OSHA’s Concise Guide to HearingProtection (PDF)http://www.cbs.state.or.us/external/osha/pdf/pubs/3349.pdf

Noise and Hearing Conservation eToolhttp://www.osha.gov/dts/osta/otm/noise/index.html

OSHA Safety & Health Topics: Noise and HearingConservationhttp://www.osha.gov/SLTC/noisehearingconservation/index.html

CROET WEB: Topic: Noise and Hearing Loss Preventionhttp://www.croetweb.com/links.cfm?topicID=27

• More than 30 million Americans are exposed tohazardous sound levels on a regular basis, andan estimated 10 million already have hearingloss from noise (http://www.nidcd.nih.gov).

• The results of a 1996 Canadian study suggestthat prolonged use of Walkmans causes adeterioration in hearing sensitivity.

• 5.2 million 6-19 year olds have hearing lossdirectly related to noise exposure.

• Over the last 10 years, the percentage of 2ndgraders with hearing loss has increased 2.8times; hearing loss in 8th graders has increasedover 4 times.

CROET, the Center for Research onOccupational and Environmental Toxicology atOregon Health & Science University, conductsresearch, provides consultations and offersinformation on hazardous chemicals and theirhealth effects. CROET’s 100+ scientists andresearch staff explore a range of questionsrelating to health and the prevention of injuryand disease in the workforce of Oregon andbeyond. CROET’s Toxicology Information Centeris open to the public and is staffed to answerOregonians’ questions about hazardoussubstances in the workplace and elsewhere.CROET’s Web site also provides answers toquestions about industries found in Oregonthrough links on a series of pages devoted toindustry-specific topics.

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Directors and Scientists

DIRECTOR AND SENIOR SCIENTIST

Peter S. Spencer, PhD, FRCPath

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND SENIOR SCIENTIST

W. Kent Anger, PhD

ASSISTANT DIRECTORS

Gregory Higgins, PhD Janice Stewart, BS

FACULTY

Charles Allen, PhD W. Kent Anger, PhD Gary Banker, PhD Bruce Gold, PhD Anne Greenlee, PhD Glen Kisby, PhD Dennis Koop, PhD Doris Kretzschmar, PhD William Lambert, PhD Pamela Lein, PhD R. Stephen Lloyd, PhD Amanda McCullough, PhD Ryan Olson, PhD Bruce Patton, PhD D. Gary Rischitelli, MD, JD, MPH, FACOEM Show-Ling Shyng, PhD Peter S. Spencer, PhD, FRCPath Philippe Thuillier, PhD Mitchell Turker, PhD

INVESTIGATORS

Gregory Higgins, PhD Robert Irwin, MD, MPH Stefanie Kaech Petrie, PhD Irina Minko, PhD Mohammad Sabri, PhD Daniel D. Tshala-Katumbay, M.D., PhD

SCIENTIFIC STAFF

Ludovic Alvado, PhDDaniel Austin, MSFrederick Berman, DVM, PhDThomas Brudnicki, MSBendert deGraaf, MSKaren Fujimoto, BSTerry Hammond, MPHSeyed Hashemi, MA, MSBrenda Hoppe, MSRobert Kayton, PhDSiHyun Kim, PhDLouise Kling, MSOlena Kolotushkina, PhDMichael LaFlamme, PhDMike Lasarev, MSXiaorong (Jerry) Li, PhDMichelle Massoth, MAMykhaylo Moldavan, PhDDede Montgomery, MS, CIHValerie Palmer, BSDiane Rohlman, PhDJoan Rothlein, PhDBernard Sampo, PhDKatia Carmine-Simmen, PhDLiisa Tremere, PhDVladimir Vartanian, PhDFeifei Yan, PhDDongRen Yang, PhDXiaolin Yu, MS

How to Contact UsMAIL ADDRESS

CROET Oregon Health & Science University 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, L606 Portland, OR 97239-3098

Web site

http://www.ohsu.edu/croet/

TELEPHONE

Main CROET number (503) 494-4273 Facsimile (503) 494-4278 Toxicology Information Center (800) 457-8627

E-MAIL Toxicology Information Center croettic@ohsu.edu

You may share your comments regardingthis publication by calling (503) 494-2514,by e-mailing us at brownjo@ohsu.edu or byfaxing us at (503) 494-4278

Oregon Health & Science University

CROET, the Center for Research on

Occupational and Environmental Toxicology

3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd., L606

Portland, OR 97239-3098

CROET will provide exhibits at the following conferences.

Central Oregon Occupational Safety & Health Conference

Eagle Crest Resort - Redmond, OregonSeptember 13-16, 2005

Southern Oregon Occupational Safety & Health Conference

Smullin Center - Medford, OregonOctober 19-21, 2005

Western Pulp & Paper Workers Safety & Health Conference

Red Lion Hotel on the River - Portland, OregonNovember 29 - December 2, 2005

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