Pesticides

Pesticides

• STAR Grants Research on Children's Health
  Over the past few years, much attention has been given to the potential adverse health effects from children's exposure to toxic chemicals in their environments. There has also been a growing interest in the increased incidence of asthma in children, with many believing there is a link to environmental exposures. For these reasons, ORD's National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) is funding research on children's health issues which deal with asthma, lead exposure, and indoor air quality.
• STAR Grants Research on Ecological Assessment and Indicators
  Ecological indicators are markers of overall ecosystem integrity and sustainability. Research to develop indicators, or suites of indicators, is essential for assessing ecosystem health. Ecological indicators are any expression of the environment that quantitatively estimates the condition of the ecological resource, the magnitude of the stress, the exposure of the biological components to stress, or the amount of change in the condition.
• STAR Grants Research on Pesticide Removal and Agricultural Impact
  The effects of pesticides and agricultural practices on water quality have been a concern for many years. Beginning in the early 1990s, widespread environmental and public-health concerns resulted in a Federal water-quality initiative to work with farmers to protect the Nation's surface water and ground water from nutrient and pesticide contamination.
• STAR Grants Research on Remediation
  Basic and applied remediation research is conducted in both EPA Laboratories and Centers. In addition, through the National Center for Environmental Research (NCER), EPA competitively funds extramural research in environmental remediation. The purpose of this research is to protect human health and the environment; to prevent exposure of potential human and ecological receptors to hazardous or deleterious substances that have been released to soil, sediment, surface water, or groundwater.
• STAR Grants Research on Sediments
  EPA estimates that about 10 percent of the sediment underlying U.S. surface waters is sufficiently contaminated with toxic pollutants to pose risks to fish and fish consumers. In addition, many dredging operations involve contaminated sediments that create difficult remediation problems.
• STAR Grants Research on Pesticide Bio- and Phytoremediation
  Microorganisms and plants have the potential to remediate a variety of contaminants. Recently, scientists have investigated the possibility of exploiting this potential to clean up pesticide-contaminated soil and water. Bioremediation of pesticides is particularly challenging since these compounds can be highly toxic. It is generally agreed that a better understanding of biological mechanisms is needed to effectively apply bioremediation for environmental cleanup of pesticide waste.
• STAR Grants Research on Pesticides and Human Health
  Exposure to environmental pollutants, including pesticides, has the potential to adversely effect human health. In addition, children may be more vulnerable than adults to the effects of environmental contaminants. NCER and its partners are working to improve the data on human and childhood exposure and susceptibilities to pesticide residues.