Center attacks core issues in the land of apples.

Center Attacks Core Issues in the Land of Apples Seattle, Washington, is an area perhaps best known for high-tech names like Microsoft, Immunex, and Amazon.com. However, much of Washington is rural. The state is a leading producer of tree fruit, berry, and flower crops, which require extensive hand labor—picking and prun-ing—for cultivation and harvest. To meet this demand, Washington's population of seasonal and full-time farmworkers now numbers about 90,000, according to a report titled Agricultural Work Force in Washington State 1999, published in June 2000 by Washington State Employment Security. Many of these workers and their families are regularly exposed to pesticides, as well as to wood smoke, because wood-stoves are a common source of heat in the rural areas where they live. Researchers at the University of Washington Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health (CEEH), located in Seattle, study susceptibility to pesticides, particulate matter in wood smoke, and a wide range of other toxicants from methyl-mercury to solvents to aflatoxins. The CEEH, one of 21 enviromental health sciences centers funded by the NIEHS, focuses primarily on the interactions among genetics , the environment, and human health. " The development of complex diseases such as many cancers and some chronic degener-ative neurological diseases may never be explained by genetics or environmental exposures alone, " says CEEH director David L. Eaton, a toxicology professor in the Department of Environmental Health and associate dean for research at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine. " CEEH researchers are taking a multidisciplinary approach to study the biochemical and molecular mechanisms that influence individual responses to environmental risk and exposures. " Approximately 50 CEEH investigators work in many disciplines, including medical genetics, epidemiology, toxicology, and pharmaceutical sciences. They are organized into five research cores focused on human systems. The Biotrans-formation Core studies the metabolism of drugs and nondrug chemicals, and the Carcinogenesis Core studies interactions between environmental exposures and genetic traits affecting cancer. The Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology Core studies the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of reproductive and developmental toxicity, including birth defects, and the Neurotoxicology Core studies mechanisms of neurotoxic damage, including potential environmental factors that may influence the development of chronic neurologic diseases such as Parkinson and Alzheimer diseases. Finally, the Cardiorespiratory Susceptibility Core studies cardiac and respiratory function and disease, including asthma and sensitivity to air pollution. The research cores are supported by five facility cores. The Molecular Biomarker Laboratory …