Environmental Disasters and Community

  • Sampling of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in air and  water in the Gulf of Mexico related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

  • Passive Sampling Devices Enables Training Opportunities and Characterization of Bioavailable Pesticides Mixtures in Agricultural Systems along the Niger and Senegal Rivers of Africa

  • Only days after Harvey, OSU SRP researchers partnered with Texas A&M, UTHealth School of Public Health, and Baylor College of Medicine. The goal of the partnership is to place personal samplers on individuals living in and near hurricane-damaged areas. The passive sampling wristband is the perfect tool.  It doesn’t need batteries or the internet. Additionally, the wristband can detect over 1,500 different chemicals.

  • Between 1980 and today, the number of geriatric cats (10+ years) diagnosed with feline hyperthyroidism has risen from 1 in 300 to 1 in 10. There is some evidence that exposure to flame retardants may contribute to the development of feline hyperthyroidism. Beginning summer 2017, FSES partnered with the OSU Veterinary School, Columbia University, and the Animal Endocrine Clinic to compare levels of flame retardants found in homes of hyperthyroid and non-hyperthyroid cats.

  • In recent years a high prevalence of neonatal foals born with neurological deficits (altered mentation and dysphagia) was observed at a horse farm located in Pennsylvania (PA).  The farm proprietor also owned another  farm in New York (NY) where mares and foals did not exhibit any unusual health outcomes. Both farms used identical animal husbandry practices and shared feed sources.  Over the last 5 years the frequency of dysphagia in foals at the PA facility has increased from 25 to 92%.  To evaluate potential farm-specific chemical impacts, passive sampling devices (PSDs) were deployed on brood mares at both farms continually over a two-year period. PSDs were also deployed in the ambient air and in well water at each farm. Collaborators from the Cornell Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Science also took biological samples from mares and foals (urine and blood) when appropriate.

Human Exposures

  • Continuing Questions of Health Effects, Under Recognized Sources, Analytical Method

  • The incorporation of synthetic materials and plastics in addition to traditional building materials means that firefighters responding to a structure fire may be exposed to a broad spectrum of potentially harmful chemicals including formaldehyde, benzene, benzyl chloride and a number of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) some of which have well-established negative health impacts. The incidence of a variety of cancers in firefighters are several times higher than in the general populace, indicating that occupational exposures as part of fire-fighting and suppression activities may have harmful side-effects. Particulate infiltration studies have shown that even in full turn-out gear firefighters are exposed at regions of clothing interface, particularly the jaw-line and neck, the hands and the groin.

Other Projects