Plots in urban community gardens are commonly divided by either chromated copper arsenate pressure treated lumber or creosote railroad ties, containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These plot dividers leach contaminants into the surrounding soil. Dr. Wendy Heiger-Bernays of the Research Translation Core has proposed a low-cost intervention after conducting the first study ever to examine the migration of PAHs and arsenic from timbers into garden soil. Importantly, the intervention mitigates the problem without discouraging or interrupting gardening.

A new publication in the International Journal of Soil, Sediment and Water describes the assessments that informed the development of the intervention, as well as the effects of the intervention. In urban community gardens in three Boston neighborhoods, investigators determined how far the contaminants migrate from the timbers and in what concentrations they occur throughout the plots. The investigators also analyzed the levels of contaminants in samples of municipal compost and found that compost that did not include street sweepings contained very low concentrations of PAHs, phthalates, arsenic, lead, and other metals.

The investigators recommend removing the creosote-containing timbers and exchanging them with alternatives such as cinder blocks. The soil 8’’ below and up to 18" immediately adjacent to the dividers should be replaced with new soil and previously tested, non-contaminated municipal compost. The clean compost provides a source of microorganisms that assist in the breakdown of the PAHs and dilutes any remaining PAHs. Concentrations of most PAHs detected were reduced below regulatory levels as a result of the intervention.

On January 21, the Environmental Health Nursing Education Collaborative, jointly organized by the Boston University Superfund Research Program and the Harvard NIEHS Center for Environmental Health, presented a two-hour seminar on endocrine disrupting chemicals to more than thirty attendees. The audience, including many nurses, nursing faculty members, and nursing students, gained an improved understanding of endocrine disruption by environmental toxicants from Dr. Russ Hauser, MD, ScD, MPH, of Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Wendy Heiger-Bernays, PhD, of Boston University School of Public Health and the BU SRP Research Translation Core, and Rebecca Williams, BSN, RN, MPH, of Bunker Hill Community College. Attendees were advised of steps that nurses can take to reduce exposure to endocrine disrupting toxicants by their patients and themselves.

Presentations and resources from the seminar are available at www.ehnursing.org.

The maps of Massachusetts 21E sites on the BU SRP website have been updated. Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 21E, the state Superfund law, created the Waste Site Cleanup Program. Contaminated properties regulated under this law are commonly called “21E sites.” 21E sites are classified into tiers based on a variety of factors. These include the site's complexity, the type of contamination present, and the potential for human or environmental exposure to the contamination. Tier 1 sites require direct Department of Environmental Protection oversight during site investigation, remediation, and post-remediation monitoring.

The maps are based on data available on the website of the Massachusetts Office of Geographic and Environmental Information. In recent months, over 300 new 21E sites have been added and over 700 21E sites have been removed from the data set.

Jessica Nelson, a doctoral candidate in the BU SPH Environmental Health Department, and Madeleine Scammell, PI of the Community Outreach and Research Translation Cores, presented at a workshop focusing on translating data from emerging technologies to better inform public health decision making. The workshop, Connecting Innovations in Biological Exposure and Risk Sciences: Better Information for Better Decisions, was convened in Charleston, SC on June 16 and 17. Sponsored by the International Council of Chemical Associations, workshop participants from industry, academia and government assessed the growing gap between advancements in new technologies to measure the effects of chemicals on cells, tissues and organisms and the scientific community’s capacity to translate the data from these new technologies into information that is effective and useful for risk-based decision making.

Nelson and Scammell presented on the Boston Consensus Conference on Biomonitoring, organized by the BU School of Public Health in 2006 with funding from NIEHS. The Danish-style conference brought together leading experts in biomonitoring and a 15-member lay panel representing a cross-section of Boston area residents. The lay panel produced a consensus statement expressing the panel’s ethical concerns and policy recommendations regarding human biomonitoring. Nelson and Scammell showed a video made about the consensus conference, then highlighted the recommendations of the lay panel and emphasized the essential nature of community involvement in public health policy making.