Toxins

As concern about Pfiesteria's effects on human health has escalated, a race has developed between two rival teams of scientists studying these guerrilla microbes and struggling to extract their exotic poisons.The short-term winner will be the first team to publish a description of one of Pfiesteria's toxins in a scientific journal."These toxins are at the basis of all therapy, all tests, of all preventive measures," says Dr. Daniel G. Baden, a toxicologist with the University of Miami, who leads one of the teams.

Patricia Kowalczyk had been suffering with neck and shoulder pain for years when her doctor offered her a shot of Botox. The 60-year-old wasn't interested in smoothing her frown lines. But Johns Hopkins' Dr. Paul Christo wasn't offering the popular cosmetic procedure most often associated with the botulinum toxin that paralyzes nerves and muscles. He wanted to give her one small, carefully aimed dose to knock out the ache that made daily activity a chore. "Most of the public doesn't realize Botox is used for medical purposes," said Christo, an assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine in Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's division of pain medicine.

An advisory panel yesterday endorsed limited testing of pesticides and pollutants on volunteers - but said the Environmental Protection Agency should accept such studies only when they meet strict scientific and ethical guidelines. The recommendations of the National Academies' panel of scientists, ethicists and public policy experts drew immediate criticism. Some said anything less than a ban of such tests would open the door to the abuse of research volunteers and weaken public health protections.

In the cheery kitchen of her Windsor Hills home, Jennifer Douglass is playing mixologist and creating a special beverage. Organic lemons? Check. Maple syrup? Check. Cayenne pepper? Got that, too. If these ingredients, to be blended with spring or purified water, sound an awful lot like the recipe for a special lemonade, they are - well, sort of. Douglass is making a drink known as the Master Cleanse, often nicknamed the Lemonade Diet. The potion is among a string of so-called "detox" diets or "cleanses" that are sweeping the country, causing Internet buzz and yielding testimonials from everyday folks to celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.

Some think it's cigarettes, others random fate. But when Benjamin Williams tries to explain the rash of cancer in his tiny Marriottsville community, he looks no farther than the nearby Alpha Ridge Landfill and its stew of toxins.Since 1980, when the landfill opened, 10 of his neighbors have battled cancer -- and seven have died -- in a stretch of Old Frederick Road where only about 70 residents live just a thousand yards downwind from the huge landfill.No one disputes that the western Howard County landfill, which will stop accepting most trash this month, is leaking carcinogens.

FREDERICK -- State environmental officials have pledged to conduct a thorough investigation of potential pollution problems at Fort Detrick after discovering toxic chemicals in the well water of nearby homes.This would be the first comprehensive investigation of the matter although the Army and the state have had repeated warnings over the last 15 years that the soil and ground water around the 1,200-acre post could be contaminated by hazardous wastes.But the Army dismissed or simply missed the warning signs, and the state likewise failed to take action until recently, when unsafe levels of trichloroethylene were detected in three wells and a spring near the fort.

PHILADELPHIA - Clean-water advocates have ranked the Delaware River as the waterway receiving one of the largest amounts of toxic chemical discharges in the nation."

In the cheery kitchen of her Windsor Hills home, Jennifer Douglass is playing mixologist and creating a special beverage. Organic lemons? Check. Maple syrup? Check. Cayenne pepper? Got that, too. If these ingredients, to be blended with spring or purified water, sound an awful lot like the recipe for a special lemonade, they are - well, sort of. Douglass is making a drink known as the Master Cleanse, often nicknamed the Lemonade Diet. The potion is among a string of so-called "detox" diets or "cleanses" that are sweeping the country, causing Internet buzz and yielding testimonials from everyday folks to celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Parris N. Glendening urged Congress yesterday to come to the aid of people whose livelihoods have been hurt by outbreaks of a toxic microorganism in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.Declaring that "the battle against Pfiesteria is bigger than any one state," the governor also told a House subcommittee the federal government should expand its role.Glendening called on Washington to take the lead in financing basic research on Pfiesteria piscicida and on how to control the nutrient pollution that is widely believed to contribute to its toxic outbreaks.

LITTLE GASPARILLA ISLAND, Fla. -- All Susan Leydon has to do is stick her head outside and take a deep breath of sea air, and she can tell whether her 10-year-old son is about to get sick. If she coughs or feels a tickle in the back of her throat, she lays down the law: No playing on the beach. No, not even in the yard. Come back inside. Now. The Leydons thought they found paradise a decade ago when they moved from Massachusetts to this narrow barrier island, reachable only by boat, with gentle surf and balmy air that feels like velvet on the skin.

Federal researchers said yesterday they have identified the toxin released by Pfiesteria, the microscopic marine organism blamed for mass fish killings and human health problems in the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere in the late 1990s. Peter Moeller, a chemist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, studied the marine organism over the past seven years and said he has concluded that heavy metals - mainly a copper sulfur complex - cause Pfiesteria to release a toxin that stuns fish and destroys skin, leaving bloody lesions and causing death.

Pointing to a study showing an elevated risk of pollution-related cancer in Maryland, a group of health and environmental advocates said yesterday that they would push for legislation next year requiring Maryland to join 11 other states that require new vehicles to be equipped with technology designed to reduce airborne emissions. The bill, which will be sponsored by Del. Elizabeth Bobo, a Howard County Democrat, would bring Maryland in line with standards originally adopted in California for limiting releases of three known or suspected cancer-causing chemicals.

SPROUT: AN ORGANIC SALON 925 W. 36th St., Hampden 410-235-2269 Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Tuesday-Friday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday Stylist Rachael Epstein knew her hair salon would end up being her second home, so she chose a place she would like to live: Hampden. "It is a real community," she said. "I can ride my bike to work and there is a coffee shop and a good place to get soup, and people here support the merchants. And I wanted to be with artists, and there are a lot in this community."

Confused about fish? Just eat it, the government says - unless you're a child, you're pregnant or you're a nursing mother. And even then, you can eat most of it. That's the advice from two scientific teams that released reports yesterday designed to help consumers balance the health benefits of fish against the risks from trace amounts of mercury, PCBs, dioxin and other toxins. The reports say that seafood is not only safe but highly recommended, with a few caveats for youngsters and women of child-bearing age. The Institute of Medicine, a national panel of distinguished physicians and researchers that advises the country on health matters, produced the report in an effort to clear the air after years of studies suggesting that some seafood is not safe.

LITTLE GASPARILLA ISLAND, Fla. -- All Susan Leydon has to do is stick her head outside and take a deep breath of sea air, and she can tell whether her 10-year-old son is about to get sick. If she coughs or feels a tickle in the back of her throat, she lays down the law: No playing on the beach. No, not even in the yard. Come back inside. Now. The Leydons thought they found paradise a decade ago when they moved from Massachusetts to this narrow barrier island, reachable only by boat, with gentle surf and balmy air that feels like velvet on the skin.

ST. LOUIS -- The search for cancer cures can at times produce some curious treatments, but the latest study just might stun you. Neurosurgeons at St. Louis University are among the doctors injecting radioactive scorpion toxin directly into the brains of patients with a deadly brain cancer. "It's not like people said, `Scorpion venom - this must be a good way to treat cancer,'" said Dr. Alison M. O'Neill, vice president for medical affairs for TransMolecular Inc. The company, based in Cambridge, Mass.

It was a dreaded ritual for generations of children: a dose of cod-liver oil, an amber and vile-tasting cure meant to ward off everything from bone disease to ear infections. Now, after decades of being relegated to Grandma's medicine cabinet, fish oil is back in vogue. Fueled by health-conscious consumers looking for a quick boost of omega-3 fatty acids, U.S. fish oil supplement sales have almost tripled since 1997 to more than $131 million. They're among the fastest growing supplements in the country, according to Nutrition Business Journal, a research and marketing company.

Scientists studying the health effects of the microbe suspected of killing fish in East Coast waterways say that a clear picture is emerging about the threat to humans."

Two Aberdeen Proving Ground laboratory workers were sent to a Bel Air hospital yesterday after showing signs of possible exposure to nerve agent, the third incident involving the same tenant at the Harford County military base in the past two months. The incident occurred at 10:50 a.m. at the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center, a 1.5 million-square-foot research and engineering laboratory for chemical and biological defense. A worker noticed that another's eyes had become dilated, a symptom associated with possible exposure to nerve agent.

ISSUE: After a study last year by Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health uncovered 17 cancer cases among Anne Arundel County firefighters who trained in the 1970s, local officials have petitioned for a national study of cancer among firefighters. Last week, prodded by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said it would fund a training program to analyze the cancer risk to firefighters exposed to toxins. County officials hope this could be a precursor to the more expansive study.