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Grantee Research Project Results

Research Centers
UC Berkeley School of Public Health: CHAMACOS Office, Berkeley, CA

University of California - Berkeley

The research activities of this Children’s Center are based in the Salinas Valley, California, an agricultural region southeast of San Francisco known as “the nation’s salad bowl,” where fruits and vegetables such as lettuce, artichokes and broccoli are grown. More than 500,000 pounds of organophosphate (OP) pesticides are used each year on agricultural fields in this region. People working in and living near the fields are exposed to the pesticides, fungicides and other chemicals used to grow these crops, with negative health consequences, with particular concern for children exposed in the womb and in the first years of life. The area is home to an estimated 38,000 farm workers. The Center’s work focuses on learning about and preventing environmental exposures to the children of low-income families, many of whom are farm workers and immigrants from Mexico. The largest project of this Center is the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS, which means young children in Mexican Spanish). The goal of this ongoing study is to assess the health effects of environmental exposures to children living in an agricultural community. Researchers at this Center are studying the health effects of exposure to pesticides such as DDT and DDE, manganese (a key component of widely used fungicides), flame retardants (at high levels in these children due to the strict flammability standards in California and are often present in furniture and house dust), and physical and social factors like housing quality and neighborhood conditions. The mothers of the initial study population children were enrolled during pregnancy in 2000-01 and over 300 of these children are still participating and are entering adolescence. The Center is enrolling 300 new 9-year-old participants to examine the relationship of environmental exposures to onset of puberty and to brain and nervous system development.

Center Publications:

Views: All publications Selected publication types Journal articles Publications submitted after final report

View Projects in Tabular Format

Main Center Abstract and Reports:

A Western Center for Estuarine Indicators Research which will Develop Indicators of Wetlands Ecosystem Health
Western Region Hazardous Substance Research Center for Developing In-Situ Processes for VOC Remediation in Groundwater and Soil
Western Region Hazardous Substance Research Center
Centers of Excellence in Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research
Inner City Toxicants and Neurodevelopmental Impairment
The Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment (CAMRA)
Center for Integrating Statistical and Environmental Science
Inner City Toxicants, Child Growth and Development
Center for Children's Environmental Health Research
The Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT)
Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment (CIRCLE)
Center for Children’s Environmental Health and DiseasePreventionResearch (P01) (joint EPA and NIEHS) - CHAMACOS
Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers: Formative Centers
Berkeley/Stanford Children’s Environmental Health Center
Water Environment and Reuse Foundation (WE&RF)'s National Center for Resource Recovery and Nutrient Management
UC Berkeley/Stanford Children's Environmental Health Center
The UCSF Pregnancy Exposures to Environmental Chemicals (PEEC) Children's Center
Children's Environmental Health & Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth
SEARCH: Solutions to Energy, AiR, Climate, and Health
Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment

Center Research Projects:

R834513C001 - CHAMACOS Cohort Project: Pesticides and PBDE on Neurobehavior and Puberty

R834513C002 - Project B: Exposure Project: Mn, DDT/E and PBDE Exposure to Farmworker Children

R834513C003 - Epigenetics Project

R834513C004 - Community Outreach and Translation Core

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The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

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Last updated April 28, 2023