Oct. 1, 2003
By Internationally Renowned
Neurosurgeon and AQMD Foundation
Los Angeles, Calif. – The Brain Tumor
and Air Pollution Foundation today announced the beginning of a research project
led by an internationally renowned neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
to explore a possible link between brain cancer and air pollution.
The study will be led by
Keith Black, M.D., director of the Cedars-Sinai Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical
Institute and Division of Neurosurgery in Los Angeles. The Brain Tumor
foundation recently awarded $559,250 to the research project, with funding from
the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD).
The Cedars-Sinai
investigation will examine biochemical and pathological changes in brain tissue
of laboratory animals exposed to selected toxic air pollutants. These changes
will be compared to those in human brain tumor tissue to determine whether air
pollution causes changes in tissue associated with the formation of brain
cancer.
Factors that led to the
study include:
- Research documenting that certain toxic air pollutants are known
to cause cancer in humans;
- An American Lung Association study that linked particulate
pollution to lung cancer; and
- At least one investigation that found a dramatic increase of brain
cancer rates in a metropolitan area, with a possible link to air pollution.
At today’s news
conference, Dr. Black described the appearance of an increasing incidence in
brain tumors in children and young people and noted that some estimates suggest
brain cancers and other tumors of children’s nervous systems rose by more than
25 percent between 1973 and 1996.
“Brain cancer is the most
common cause of cancer death in young people,” Black said.
“Among the potentially
toxic products of concern are the ultrafine particles that come from diesel
engines – particles that would likely be plentiful along freeways, in congested
metropolitan areas, and in the immediate vicinity of diesel-burning vehicles,”
Black said.
Ultrafine particles,
including diesel soot and other combustion products, are those less than 0.1
micron in diameter (one micron is one millionth of one meter, or about 1/70th
the diameter of a human hair). Such particles are able to lodge deep in human
lungs and even enter the bloodstream due to their minute size.
“I believe the work we are
initiating today will provide answers to important questions about brain cancer
risk factors facing our children and future generations,” Black concluded.
Los Angeles County
Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, also a member of the AQMD Governing Board as
well as chairman of the Brain Tumor and Air Pollution Foundation, joined Dr.
Black at today’s news conference.
“This study is consistent
with AQMD’s mission because our agency is dedicated to protecting public
health,” Antonovich said.
“The state of California
has established diesel particulate as a toxic and cancer-causing air pollutant.
“Now, we hope to determine
whether brain tumors may be related to air pollution,” Antonovich concluded.
In January, AQMD Governing
Board Chairman William A. Burke proposed the creation of a Brain Tumor and Air
Pollution Foundation. The following month, AQMD’s Board approved the
establishment of the foundation. It has been chartered as a California
non-profit public benefit corporation.
AQMD’s Board committed 10
percent of the agency’s air pollution penalty revenues from fiscal year 2002-03
-- about $722,500 -- to fund the foundation for one year. Of that amount,
$559,250 will underwrite the research project led by Black.
The foundation hopes to
use the remaining funds to support an additional epidemiology study of brain
cancer and air pollution, comparing past trends of both phenomena.
The foundation’s Board of
Directors include Supervisor Antonovich; Orange County Supervisor and AQMD Board
Member James Silva; Hal Bernson, a former AQMD Board Member and former Los
Angeles City Councilmember; and Robert Davidson, president and CEO of Los
Angeles-based Surface Protection Industries.
Black is the leading
expert on the blood-brain barrier and the delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs
directly into tumors, holding patents for his method for selective opening of
abnormal brain tissue capillaries. The blood-brain barrier refers to the
boundary between blood vessels and brain tissue.
AQMD is the air pollution
control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San
Bernardino and Riverside counties.
-#-
|
