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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (33 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
Postprints from the CTCRE (2006)

In the United States, companies that use their own funds to test consumer products on their employees are subject to few regulations. Using previously undisclosed tobacco industry documents, we reviewed the history of that industry’s efforts to create internal guidelines on the conditions to be met before employee taste testers could evaluate cigarettes made from tobacco treated with experimental pesticides. This history highlights two potential ethical issues raised by unregulated industrial research: conflict of interest and lack of informed consent. To ensure compliance with accepted ethical standards, an independent federal office should be established to oversee industrial research involving humans exposed to experimental or increased quantities of ingested, inhaled, or absorbed chemical agents.

    Cover page: The Ethics of Industry Experimentation Using Employees: The Case of Taste-Testing Pesticide-Treated Tobacco
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    Postprints from the CTCRE (2005)

    Tobacco is a heavily pesticide-dependent crop. Because pesticides involve human safety and health issues, they are regulated nationally and internationally; however, little is known about how tobacco companies respond to regulatory pressures regarding pesticides. This study analyzes internal tobacco industry documents to describe industry activities aimed at influencing pesticide regulations. We use a case study approach based on examination of approximately 2,000 internal company documents and 3,885 pages of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. The cases involve methoprene, the ethylene bisdithiocarbamates, and phosphine. We show how the tobacco industry successfully altered the outcome in two cases by hiring ex-agency scientists to write reports favorable to industry positions regarding pesticide regulations for national (Environmental Protection Agency) and international (World Health Organization) regulatory bodies. We also show how the industry worked to forestall tobacco pesticide regulation by attempting to self-regulate in Europe, and how Philip Morris encouraged a pesticide manufacturer to apply for higher tolerance levels in Malaysia and Europe while keeping tobacco industry interest a secret from government regulators. This study suggests that the tobacco industry is capable of exerting considerable influence over the pesticide regulatory process and that increased scrutiny of this process and protection of the public interest in pesticide regulation may be warranted.

      Cover page: The Tobacco Industry and Pesticide Regulations: Case Studies from Tobacco Industry Archives
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2019)
      In 2008, California enacted laws to restructure chemical policy and promote green chemistry. Ten years after the passage of California’s green chemistry laws, we assessed their performance through structured interviews with a sample of experts from government, academia, business, and the nonprofit sector. We combined the interviews with a scoping literature review to propose a new ten-point framework for evaluating the effectiveness of a chemical regulatory policy, and we assessed the performance of the California law against this framework. The California program performed well on transparency of the regulatory process; protecting vulnerable populations; placing the primary burden on the manufacturer; breadth of regulatory authority; and advancing the public right-to-know. Areas of weakness include unclear authority to require data on chemical use in products; an inefficient pace of implementation; and limited incentives for innovation. Promoting safer chemicals in products will require additional incentives to protect public health and the environment.
        Cover page: The California Safer Consumer Products Program: Evaluating a Novel Chemical Policy Strategy
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2002)
        Several components of air pollution have been linked to asthma. In addition to the well-studied critera air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and ozone, diesel exhaust and diesel exhaust particles (DEPs) also appear to play a role in respiratory and allergic diseases. Diesel exhaust is composed of vapors, gases, and fine particles emitted by diesel-fueled compression-ignition engines. DEPs can act as nonspecific airway irritants at relatively high levels. At lower levels, DEPs promote release of specific cytokines, chemokines, immunoglobulins, and oxidants in the upper and lower airway. Release of these mediators of the allergic and inflammatory response initiates a cascade that can culminate in airway inflammation, mucus secretion, serum leakage into the airways, and bronchial smooth muscle contraction. DEPs also may promote expression of the T(subscript)H(/subscript)2 immunologic response phenotype that has been associated with asthma and allergic disease. DEPs appear to have greater immunologic effects in the presence of environmental allergens than they do alone. This immunologic evidence may help explain the epidemiologic studies indicating that children living along major trucking thoroughfares are at increased risk for asthmatic and allergic symptoms and are more likely to have objective evidence of respiratory dysfunction.
          Cover page: Diesel exhaust and asthma: hypotheses and molecular mechanisms of action.
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2022)
          The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored how underlying disparities in environmental and health conditions exacerbate vulnerability during public health emergencies in low-income and communities of color. Neglected epidemics-high rates of pollution, chronic disease, and racial and socioeconomic health disparities-have continued amid persistent systemic racism and declining investment in public health. Recognized too late due to shortcomings in public health data tracking, COVID-19 has surged through vulnerable communities. Improved public health tracking is critical for informing the country's recovery from COVID-19, and it can be leveraged to measure and reduce health disparities and strengthen community resilience to respond more effectively to the next public health crisis. We emphasize how public health tracking agencies can engage communities in data collection and reporting; we also discuss the complementary role that communities can take to mobilize data to change policies and institutions, strengthening resilience through increased information and capacity driven by community priorities. Success requires the continuous collection of timely data at a community scale, and public health agencies partnering with communities to use the information in decision making and evaluation to ensure progress over time. We highlight community-engaged data collection and reporting-community air monitoring in Imperial County, CA-as an example of working with communities to improve public health data collection and reporting, increase community dialogue and engagement in governmental decision making, and inform public health tracking to reduce health disparities and strengthen community resilience.
          • 1 supplemental PDF
          Cover page: Tracking Environmental and Health Disparities to Strengthen Resilience Before the Next Crisis
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2019)
            Cover page: Bending the Curve and Closing the Gap: Climate Justice and Public Health
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2024)
            This JAMA Insights explores the adverse effects of wildfires on human health and health care systems and offers suggestions on how clinicians can help mitigate the health threats posed by wildfires.
              Cover page: Wildfires and Human Health
              • Book
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2000)
                Cover page: Pesticides and Human Health A Resource for Health Care Professionals
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2022)
                After the devastating wildfire that destroyed most of the town of Paradise, California in 2018, volatile organic compounds were found in water distribution pipes. Approximately 11 months after the fire, we collected tap water samples from 136 homes that were still standing and tested for over 100 chemicals. Each participant received a customized report showing the laboratory findings from their sample. Our goal was to communicate individual water results and chemical information rapidly in a way that was understandable, scientifically accurate, and useful to participants. On the basis of this process, we developed a framework to illustrate considerations and priorities that draw from best practices of previous environmental results return research and crisis communication, while also addressing challenges specific to the disaster context. We also conducted a follow-up survey on participants' perceptions of the results return process. In general, participants found the results return communications to be understandable, and they felt less worried about their drinking water quality after receiving the information. Over one-third of the participants reported taking some kind of action around their water usage habits after receiving their results. Communication with participants is a critical element of environmental disaster research, and it is important to have a strategy to communicate results that achieves the goals of timeliness, clarity, and scientific accuracy, ultimately empowering people toward actions that can reduce exposure.
                  Cover page: Returning Individual Tap Water Testing Results to Research Study Participants after a Wildfire Disaster
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2016)
                  Many communities are located near multiple sources of pollution, including current and former industrial sites, major roadways, and agricultural operations. Populations in such locations are predominantly low-income, with a large percentage of minorities and non-English speakers. These communities face challenges that can affect the health of their residents, including limited access to health care, a shortage of grocery stores, poor housing quality, and a lack of parks and open spaces. Environmental exposures may interact with social stressors, thereby worsening health outcomes. Age, genetic characteristics, and preexisting health conditions increase the risk of adverse health effects from exposure to pollutants. There are existing approaches for characterizing cumulative exposures, cumulative risks, and cumulative health impacts. Although such approaches have merit, they also have significant constraints. New developments in exposure monitoring, mapping, toxicology, and epidemiology, especially when informed by community participation, have the potential to advance the science on cumulative impacts and to improve decision making.
                    Cover page: Cumulative Environmental Impacts: Science and Policy to Protect Communities
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