ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9608010061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ANNAPOLIS, MD.
SOURCE: MARY BOYLE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOWARD BRICKMAN is one of many human guinea pigs the Environmental Protection Agency is tracking to determine the range of pollutants people encounter.
If Howard Brickman lights a fire in his fireplace, the Environmental Protection Agency wants to know.
If he eats a lamb chop, the EPA wants to analyze it.
When he washes, the EPA wants to know if he took a bath or a shower.
The 50-year-old financial planner is among about 65 human guinea pigs in Maryland taking part in one of the most intensive monitoring studies ever conducted by the EPA.
By tracking for one year what volunteers like Brickman eat, drink, breathe and touch, scientists hope to determine the range of pollutants to which people are exposed and how those chemicals enter the body.
They hope to determine, for example, if lead comes from food, inhaled particles or direct contact. They want to learn how common exposure to pesticides is.
``A lot of attempts have been made to reduce pollution in the environment, but we don't have good information on what people are exposed to,'' said Jim Quackenboss, an EPA scientist involved in the study.
For Brickman, a soft-spoken professional who works from home, the study has meant a number of lifestyle changes, including wearing a 21/2-pound air monitor and buying two of whatever he eats so the EPA can analyze one.
Volunteers get $100 to $150 for each eight-day cycle they complete and are reimbursed for food costs. Brickman said his decision to join the study when it began last fall had nothing to do with money.
``This is a study that's going to let Americans know how they're exposed to pollutants,'' he said. ``That's important.''
The eight-day cycles are separated by periods of about six weeks, when volunteers are free of the obligation to tell the government in excruciating detail about their day.
But for those eight days, no information about volunteers' food, drink or environment is too trivial to be noted. Technicians visit homes and take blood, urine, hair, skin, carpet and soil samples for analysis. Volunteers keep daily lists of activities, diet and the amount of time spent in traffic and shopping malls.
For four days each cycle, Brickman keeps a cooler in his kitchen for samples of everything he eats and drinks. If he goes out for a burger, he buys one for the cooler. If he goes to a dinner party, he asks for an extra portion.
He has learned it's not always easy to ask a host for the leftovers. ``If it's someone in the family, I don't mind asking,'' Brickman said. ``But there have been one or two times I just didn't feel comfortable, so I didn't do it.''
Brickman makes a point of avoiding expensive meals when he is feeding the cooler. Buying filet mignon for a microscope would be excessive, he said.
For one day each cycle, Brickman must also wear an air monitor strapped across his chest. The device looks like a small black briefcase.
It's a source of amusement for his three young children but can be unsettling for clients. ``I don't want them to think I have some strange disease, so I explain what I'm doing,'' Brickman said.
Also, the loud hum from the device often interferes with conversation and the television. ``The kids don't want me around when I'm wearing it,'' he said.
About 600 people in Arizona, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota are also involved in the $17 million National Human Exposure Assessment Survey, but they merely answer questions about diet, activities and environment and provide blood and urine samples on a one-time basis only.
The Maryland volunteers are being tracked in what Barry Ryan, an Emory University professor leading the study, said is the largest, longest and most detailed undertaking of its kind.
Given the intrusiveness of the project, scientists expected a dropout rate of 50 percent. But only 15 volunteers - less than 20 percent - have left.
Brickman, who was recruited because he fit a statistical profile of a typical suburbanite, was hesitant at first. But with each of the five cycles he has completed, he has become more determined to help the EPA complete the study, he said.
``I'm finding it harder and harder to be conscientious about writing everything down, and this is getting old,'' he said. ``But I've come this far.''
Volunteers will be given a report on the pollutants found in their food, homes, cars and back yards. Brickman said he hopes to use the information to keep his family healthy.
Scientists are required by law to alert volunteers if unhealthy levels of pollutants are discovered. So far, ``we haven't seen anything that would raise any flags for anyone in the area,'' Ryan said.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Howard Brickman of Annapolis, Md., pours an extraby CNBportion of his breakfast into a bag for the EPA to analyze. He does
this for four days of every eight-day study cycle.|