M10 PM Chemical Hazard Identification, Classification and Communication
Monday, 14 November 2005: 1:50 PM - 5:30 PM in 341-342

(RAB-1117-833076) The Canary Database: Animals as Sentinels of Human Environmental Health Hazards.

Rabinowitz, P¹, Dein, J², Gordon, Z^{1, 3}, Odofin, L¹, Wilcox, M¹, Chudnov, D¹, ¹ Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA² USGS National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, WI, USA³ Rippowam Animal Hospital, Stamford, CT, USA

ABSTRACT- Wildlife and domestic animals may manifest signs of disease related to hazardous environmental exposures before it is noticed in human populations due to comparatively greater exposure and susceptibility. The concept of a "canary in a coal" mine suggests that animals may be useful "sentinels" for environmental exposures to toxic hazards. Canaries were used up until the 1970s by miners in England due to their increased susceptibility to mine gases. Another example of animals serving as sentinels includes "dancing cats" in Minamata, Japan presaging the outbreak of methyl mercury poisoning in humans. The scientific "observational" literature on sentinel events in animal populations could therefore potentially add to the traditional use of human epidemiological and animal experimental data for human risk assessment and hazard identification. At the same time, there is a lack of evidence-based protocols for the incorporation of animal sentinel data into public health decision-making. There are also major gaps in current knowledge regarding the human health relevance of animal sentinel events. For example, do limb abnormalities in amphibian populations have any direct implications for human health? And do reports of "endocrine disruption" in wildlife actually indicate the presence of an environmental toxic risk to humans? We report on a National Library of Medicine-funded project to create a web-accessible database of studies of animals as sentinels of human environmental health hazards, both toxic and infectious (canarydatabase.org). Examples from the database will be presented, including an evidence-based review of animals as sentinels of endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Key words: Animal sentinels, Environmental Health, Evidence-based Medicine, Endocrine Disruption