SOCAAR is pleased to announce the first seminar in our 2013-2014 seminar series.
Lead Toxicity: The Long Tail of Health Impacts (and On‐going Research Opportunities!) From an
Historical Environmental Air Pollutant
Howard Hu, MD MPH ScD
Dean & Professor
Dalla Lana Faculty of Public Health
University of Toronto
Dr. Hu will briefly review the current state of knowledge on the latent, on-going impact on risk of
chronic disease (cardiovascular disease; cognitive declines; Parkinson’s Disease; cataracts; etc.) and
child development (physical growth; cognition; behavior) from early-life and cumulative exposure to
lead, for which the greatest source of exposure to the general population has been inhalation of air
contaminated by the combustion of leaded gasoline (1930’s-1991 in North America). A life-course
approach will be taken, with examples drawn from the speaker’s work on the Normative Aging Study
(NAS) and the Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) study. Related
topics will also be discussed, such as interactions between lead exposure and other air pollutants,
potential genetic susceptibility factors, and nutrients; and mechanistic considerations, including
recent insights on the role of epigenetics. Current investigations and examples of opportunities for
new research will also be discussed.
October 9, 2013, 3 - 4 pm
Wallberg Building, 200 College Street, Room 215
The seminar will be recorded and posted on the SOCAAR website: www.socaar.utoronto.ca .
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