Download Below are the Abstracts from students who completed outstanding

Below are the Abstracts from students who completed outstanding research projects at
the five schools of public heatlh inspection in Canada. They were recipients of the Len
Hiebert-Environmental Health Review Award for 2010 from the Environmental Health
Foundation of Canada.
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Esther Tong
British Columbia Institute of Technology
“Will going “green” make you green? Is consumer health at risk due to reusable
shopping bags?”
A recent study suggests the usage of reusable shopping bags (RSBs) may have the
potential to pose a public health risk. Since RSBs are used to handle food they can be
considered food contact surfaces and should be sanitized to maintain the safety of the
food, especially ready-to-eat (RTE) items. An electronic survey containing questions
about RSB use was distributed. The survey was created using Google Docs. Data
collected was analyzed using the chi-square test to determine if there were any
significant differences in the practices of groups according to gender, education level
and those in the field of environmental health versus the general public. It was
determined that there were associations between gender and 1) the use of RSBs and 2)
cleaning of RSBs. No association was found between the remaining groups and
research questions. Seventy-three percent of respondents reported using RSBs and
49% did not clean them. The conclusion of this study was that the behaviour of
consumers regarding RSBs must be improved. Health authorities and public health
inspectors could play an active role in education efforts once internal policies and
recommendations are established.
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Brittainy Paige
Cape Breton University
“Isolation of bacteria found in ground turkey: The search for Salmonella
The purpose of this experiment was to explore methods of isolating Salmonella from
food. Ground turkey was the food source since 1/3 of North American poultry is
contaminated with Salmonella. The steps necessary to isolate bacteria from a food
sample and how to identify if it is indeed Salmonella or some other bacteria are outlined.
Salmonella was not isolated from the turkey sample but Enterobacter cloacae and
Proteus mirabilis were. Although these are not bacteria commonly associated with food
borne disease they do possess the ability to cause illness.
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Kelli Sparks Concordia University
“Environmental Fate and Characteristics of Heptachlor and Heptachlor Epoxide”
Heptachlor is a broad-spectrum insecticide used to treat crop and soil insects as well as
termites and ants. Many countries banned heptachlor in the late 1970s to early 1980s
due to environmental stability, persistence and toxicity. Heptachlor is considered a
persistent organic pollutant and is quickly converted to heptachlor epoxide, a metabolite
that is more toxic and persistent than heptachlor, in the environment by biological
sources. Both chemicals are relatively insoluble in water, but have high affinities for soil,
lipid tissues and readily partition to the atmosphere. To determine the fate of heptachlor
and heptachlor epoxide in a Northern environment where heptachlor was never applied,
a level I fugacity model was used. Both heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide are
subjected to long-range atmospheric transport and deposition, which can carry these
chemicals to Northern latitudes such as Utikuma Lake, the study site. Using appropriate
environmental and chemical parameters it was found that both heptachlor and
heptachlor epoxide partition strongly into soil and sediments. However, significant
concentrations of both chemicals were found in fish, air and water due to the large
emission mass used. Heptachlor epoxide is an issue for environments due to its
persistence, stability and lipophilic nature. As such, the equilibrium at Utikuma Lake is
expected to shift more chemical into the fish from soil and vegetation sources. Ingestion
of fish is the most likely way humans would be exposed to heptachlor or heptachlor
epoxide from Utikuma Lake. However, exposure could occur through dermal absorption
from soil or inhalation of air and aerosols. Outside of the study area, humans are most
likely exposed to heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide through inhalation of volatilized
chemical or ingestion of contaminated food. There is little data on the effects of
heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide on humans, but effects of mammals are vast and
range from excitability with acute exposure to tumour production in chronic exposure.
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Shelby Wells
First Nations University
“Environmental risk factors associated with West Nile virus disease in Saskatchewan”
West Nile virus (WNv) is a mosquito-transmitted disease that was first isolated in the
West Nile district of Uganda in 1937. The first reports of WNv activity in Canada
appeared in 2001 and since then WNv has become established in Canada, infecting
more than 4,500 people and killing 28 as of 2009. With no vaccine or specific
treatments available for treating WNv, it is important to be able to identify the
contributing factors to WNv incidence so that precautionary measures may be put in
place. Although approximately 80% of those who become infected with WNv are
asymptomatic, infections can result in serious adverse health conditions. The Ministry of
Health, Saskatchewan (MOH) has monitored WNv activity in humans, wild birds and
mosquitoes since 2001. Since 2003, the MOH has conducted mosquito trapping,
identification, and virus isolation at various locations, focusing on southern
Saskatchewan from June through August. Mosquitoes are identified according to
species and processed for WNv infection. Each mosquito pool is identified as positive or
negative for WNv using virus isolation. A retrospective descriptive analysis was
conducted to determine the location of mosquito traps at the time of virus circulation,
rates of positive mosquito pools, the number of reported WNv cases and to collect
information regarding selected environmental variables such as temperatures and
rainfall. The goal was to identify possible high-risk factors for WNv cases.
Environmental data was compared to abundance data for Culex tarsalis mosquitoes
collected from mosquito traps in the various eco-regions of Saskatchewan.
Temperature, accumulated degree-days and WNv positive mosquitoes were
investigated. Analysis was done for clustering of locations of traps with WNv positive
Culex tarsalis and human cases. We found an association between human infection risk
and both accumulated degree-days and average temperature. There is some
correlation between the percent of positive mosquito pools and the number of human
cases. Warmer weather, particularly night-time temperatures had the most significant
affect on mosquito emergence and developmental rates as well as human outdoor
activity. Despite the widespread occurrence of WNv infection in humans in certain
years, the relative predictive value of the different types of environmental indicators
remains unclear. However, the importance of climate factors is in agreement with a
growing number of reports suggesting that real-time climate data can be useful in WNV
risk prediction.
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Cameron Coulby
Ryerson University
Failure to properly maintain a vaccine “cold chain” from manufacture to administration
can cause loss of vaccine potency (which can reduce herd and individual immunity) and
contribute to vaccine wastage (a waste of taxpayer dollars). Many studies, including
those conducted in the 1990s in Ontario, have demonstrated that physicians’ offices can
be a significant source of breaks in the cold chain. However, no new information has
been collected on the utilization of recently published information, from the Public
Health Agency of Canada or otherwise. The purpose of this study was to determine
whether or not randomly selected physicians’ offices in Toronto were properly storing
and handling vaccines in their possession in order to prevent breaks at this step in the
cold chain. This project utilized a self-administered questionnaire instrument distributed
via mail to assess knowledge and practice. The standard to which the offices were
compared was that set out by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the data was
analyzed for mean knowledge and practice and compared to older studies from the
province to demonstrate differences and similarities, as well as areas where the cold
chain could be improved in physicians’ offices. While knowledge and practice showed
significant improvement from previous studies, most offices still indicated using
domestic frost-free or bar-style refrigerators for storage, contrary to modern guidelines.
This project also reinforces the role of the health department and the Public Health
Agency of Canada as leaders in cold chain protocol as indicated by physicians.
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Photo 1. Shelby Wells(r) receiving the Len-Hiebert-EHR Award from Carmen Buschow, Acting Program
Coordinator, ENHS Program, First Nations University.
Photo 2. Cameron Colby receiving the Len-Hiebert EHR Award from Professor Marilyn Lee, School of
Occupational and Public Health, Ryerson University.