[aging, envt, health] March 2008 U.S. EPA Aging Initiative List Serve
Health Canada Holds Workshop on Older Adults and Environmental Health Health Canada organized its first workshop on Older Adults’ Health and the Environment in Ottawa on February 5-6, 2008 to improve its understanding of the nature and extent of the relationship between the environment and the health of older adults as distinct from other populations. This workshop brought together professionals from various disciplines, including gerontologists, geriatricians, environmental health specialists from academic institutions, health professional associations, aboriginal organizations, non-governmental organizations and federal and provincial governments, to identify key areas of importance and ways to move forward, both individually or collectively, towards protecting the health of older adults from environmental risks. The U.S. EPA Aging Initiative presented at this workshop. Health Canada is currently preparing a workshop summary report. For more information on Health Canada see http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/contaminants/vulnerable/index_e.html
US EPA Releases the Physiological Parameters Database for Older Adults Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic models have increasingly been employed in chemical health risk assessments carried out by the EPA, and it is anticipated that their use will continue to increase. Physiological parameter values (e.g. alveolar ventilation, blood flow to specific organs and tissues, organ and tissue volumes, glomerular filtration rate) are critical components of these models; unfortunately, such data is scattered among various sources in the scientific literature. Older adults represent a population with greater susceptibility to health effects stemming from environmental exposures, and therefore merit particular attention in analyses used in conducting risk assessments. The database available for download on this web page contains physiological parameters values for healthy older human adults (age 60 and older), as well as data for some individuals with adverse health conditions. The information contained in this database was collected through extensive search and review of published scientific literature. http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=188288
