July 27, 2004

Carolina in the News

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:

National Coverage

Study Shows Air From 9/11 Didn't Inflate Cancer Risk
The New York Times
After the World Trade Center collapsed, air samples collected nearby showed that levels of some cancer-causing chemicals had soared but had fallen so quickly that the pollution spike was unlikely to increase cancer risks in nearby communities, researchers reported yesterday....At least for these hydrocarbons, the duration of potential exposure was so short, compared with a typical lifetime, that "cancers from these chemicals is not something to worry about," said Dr. Stephen M. Rappaport, an author of the study and professor of environmental health at the University of North Carolina.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jul04/rappo072604.html
Note: Dr. Rappaport was interviewed by WNPR (New York) last night.

WTC dust is cleared of one danger
USA Today
The average New Yorker faces little risk of cancer from a class of carcinogens found in the dust and smoke kicked up by the collapsed World Trade Center, according to a study published online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences....Researchers from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the Environmental Protection Agency measured cancer-causing chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, in four places around lower Manhattan.

Study looks at 9/11 dust
National Associated Press
Some hazardous chemicals released into the air after the collapse of the World Trade Center do not appear to be much of a cancer risk to New York residents, a North Carolina study shows.....A team led by Stephen M. Rappaport of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill studied 243 samples collected near ground zero, analyzing the amounts of nine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs, chemicals which are known to cause cancer.

Cancer risk small but real
Newsday (New York)
A type of carcinogen carried in the dust that enveloped lower Manhattan after the World Trade Center catastrophe posed a very small cancer risk for most residents of the area, according to a new study....Scientists from the University of North Carolina and the Environmental Protection Agency measured levels of carcinogens called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, in the air near Ground Zero between Sept. 23, 2001, and March 27, 2002.

STDs Rising or falling among young people?
U.S. News & World Report
Chlamydia and gonorrhea are not diseases you want to tangle with. Infections with either may make HIV easier to catch and transmit, and both can cause infertility and chronic pelvic pain in women. But both are easily treated with antibiotics. Researchers at the University of North Carolina and the University of Washington looked at prevalence of the diseases among young adults.

Studies find Vitamin D deficiency may be more widespread
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trina Patton of Duluth had the scare of her life when her then-infant daughter, Jade, began to have a seizure...."We were puzzled," said Dr. H. Neil Kirkman, professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Regional Coverage

Stone delights children in squirrel tale's debut
The Philadelphia Tribune
As a dozen day-camp children wriggled and squirmed for listening position, noted journalist and professor Chuck Stone sat crossed-legged on the floor and shared with them the story of the day he saw a black squirrel in the park....Currently, Stone is the Walter Spearman professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

State & Local Coverage

UNC helps soldiers' families
News 14 (Time Warner, Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill will help families of soldiers deployed overseas....The Defense Department's budget bill includes more than $1 million for the "National Demonstration Program for Citizen-Soldier Support".

Signs of the times (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
Maybe Frank Porter Graham is spinning in his Chapel Hill Cemetery grave today over prospects that UNC Chapel Hill may allow corporate advertising at basketball and football games....We're sorry to see this day arrive in Chapel Hill, even if it long ago arrived in most other college towns. But it's better than taking money out of the classroom or away from academic research, or asking taxpayers to go deep for the Tar Heels.

N.C. Researchers Unveil Two New Hog Waste Alternatives
N.C. Associated Press
Two new technologies for disposing of waste on North Carolina's 2,400 hog farms that were unveiled Monday would cost more than disposal methods now used, said a professor in charge of the research project....North Carolina State University, Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Research Triangle Institute are researching the waste disposal methods.

Towns object to growth restraint
The Charlotte Observer
Union County commissioners, facing soaring budgets and strained services, are now looking at new ways to slow down the state's fastest-growing county....Richard Ducker, an associate professor of public law and government at UNC Chapel Hill, said if a developer sued, the ordinance would be difficult to defend unless all the towns supported it.

Water monitoring at risk
The News & Observer
The only continuous monitoring program designed to measure the health of the Pamlico Sound is running out of money....The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources established the program in partnership with the UNC-CH institute and Duke University, using a $400,000 grant from the Hurricane Floyd Relief Fund.

Produced by News Services, Carolina in the News is an e-mail sampling of current news media coverage about Carolina people and programs, as well as issues and trends that affect the university. Stories usually will be online and available free for a limited time - often one to two weeks. Expiration dates before stories move to archives vary by media outlet. Some outlets require free user registration or a subscription.

Carolina in the News is also posted daily to the News Services Web page, http://www.unc.edu/newsserv/clipsindex.htm.

Please share any questions, comments or suggestions at news@unc.edu.