Paul J. Lioy

Paul J. Lioy is an American working in the field of Environmental Health and specializing in Exposure Science. He is one of the world’s leading experts in personal exposure to toxins.

His work has been recognized by the International Society of Exposure Analysis (now International Society of Exposure Science) (Lifetime Achievement Award) and the Air and Waste Management Association (Lifetime Achievement Award) for his research and application to environmental policy. Since 2002 he has been one of Information Sciences Institute’s Most Highly Cited Scientists in the Category of Environment and Ecology, and is one of the founders of the International Society of Exposure (Analysis) Science (1989).

His Books include DUST: The inside Story of its Role in the September 11th Aftermath (forward By Gov. Tom Kean), and Toxic Air Pollution, with Joan Daisey. He has Published 250 scientific papers in the areas of air pollution, airborne and deposited particles, Homeland Security, Exposure Science, and Hazardous Wastes.

He is currently Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and Deputy Director of Government Relations and Director of Exposure Science, at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute of Rutgers University and UMDNJ in Piscataway, NJ.

Contents

Biography

Exposure science

Lioy’s reputation had evolved primarily based upon his role is developing scientific principles and refining the approaches that define the field of exposure science. This discipline is associated with the field of environmental health sciences, which include epidemiology and risk assessment, and prevention. In a 1990 article published in Environmental Science and Technology[1] he was the first to properly locate exposure science as the bridge between traditional environmental sciences and the understanding of human health outcomes. This source to effects schematic has been expanded upon by many over the course of the past 25 years. Based upon these initial ideas, his colleague, Panos G. Georgopoulos, developed a multifaceted source to dose modeling system called MENTOR.[2] Building upon the work of occupational hygiene and the more recent work of Wayne Ott,[3] Lioy has clearly shown that the most important aspect of total human exposure is whether or not an individual comes into contact with a toxin, and this is discussed in a 2010 review article on exposure science.[4] Thus, prevention is a key component of the field. In recent years he has been re-analyzing the work of the Father of Occupational Medicine, Bernardino Ramazzini who actually provided the initial reasons for examining contact with an agent to define ways to control occupational illness. This historical analysis can be used to improve the way exposure science evolves in the future.[5] Lioy is also a Fellow of the Collegium Ramazzini.

Lioy has been a central figure in understanding exposure to the air pollutant tropospheric ozone, chloroform exposures from shower water, hexavalent chromium wastes, and most recently, the exposures derived from the dust and smoke released in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.[6] He is also a major figure in defining some of the basic data requirements for examining human exposures within the National Children's Study.[7] He was a Co-Principal Investigator within the portion of the National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS) conducted in five mid-western states, led by Edo Pellizzari of Research Triangle Institute.[8] In addition, from 1987 to 1991 he was the Chairman of the First National Research Council (NRC) Committee that directly addressed human exposure issues and published Human Exposure to Air Pollutants: Advances and Opportunities,” also called “White Book.[9]” Currently he is Vice Chair of a new NRC committee on Exposure Science. He was also vice chair of the WTC Technical Panel that was formed to address the issues of clean up in the WTC Aftermath.

Selected issue-specific research

Ozone

During the early 1980s Lioy recognized that the public health metric for defining exposure of the general population to troposphere ozone (smog) was incorrect and that the one hour standard for peak ozone levels should be replaced by an eight hour standard. Independently, Peter Rombout, RIVM, Netherlands, discovered the same issue. In 1986, they collaborated and published an article on the need for an eight hour ozone standard.[10] Lioy's group also conducted research on the relationship between ozone exposure and visits to emergency rooms during the summertime. In 2002, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published an eight-hour NAAQS ozone standard based upon the scientific exposure–response evidence from multiple laboratories that exposures to asthmatics and others to eight hours of ozone above 0.80 ppm.[11] More recently, this standard for protection of public health was tightened to 0.75 ppm but remained as an 8 hour contact with the air pollutant.[12] Further consideration for tightening the standard is being proposed by the US EPA in 2010.

Semivolatile chemical exposures in the home

The work of Dr. Lioy’s laboratory in the 1990s became increasingly focused on dust in the home as a potential metric of exposure to metals and organic compounds. Included was the concurrent scientific issue of the semi-volatility of the materials associated with dust particles. This led to studies that demonstrated that semi-volatile pesticides should not just be considered just residues after application, but as toxin that can be spread throughout the home based process of evaporation and absorption and adsorption. This process was described in an article Published in 1998, and focused on the accumulation of pesticides in children’s toys,[13] and ways to protect toys were summarized in popular magazines and web sites. The work was used in revisions the EPA standards for use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos indoors. The complex issues of dust and semi-volatile toxins in homes were published in 2002 and 2006 review articles.[14][15]

Chromium wastes

During the late 1980s the state of NJ discovered that wastes from the refining and production of the chrome plated products had been used as apparent Clean fill in various residential settings, and was also had contaminated a number other industrial locations. Dr. Lioy conducted a comprehensive study of chromium wastes in Jersey City, including residential exposures and the bioavailability and size distribution if the wastes.[16][17] The work found that similar to current lead problems, the chromium exposures indoors were highly related to the levels found in house dust and not ambient air. In addition the use of dust laden corium as a marker of exposure was extremely valuable in conclusively defining that the removal of the wastes in the residential neighborhoods brought the levels of chromium down to background.[18] The efforts are continuing but now using analytical methods perfected at EOHSI to measure he levels of the hexavalent chromium (carcinogenic form) in the areas around remaining industrial sites, that have not received final remediation.

WTC dust

In the wake of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC), one major environmental and occupational health related issue that became important during the aftermath was the size range and composition of the DUST and smoke that was released during the first hours to days post collapse of the twin towers, and subsequently the dust that had deposited indoors and required cleanup. In collaboration with multiple laboratories, Dr. Lioy examined the composition and size distribution of the WTC dust in detail for inorganic, organic and ionic species. The results were published in a 2002 article titled Characterization of the dust/smoke aerosol that settled east of the WTC in lower Manhattan after the collapse of the WTC September 11, 2001,[19] and have been used to understand the cause of the WTC cough and other health outcomes.[20] In other work that Lioy and colleagues published through 2009, they described the time line of exposure to the local population and workers from the moments after the collapse through December 2001, and pointed out the many lessons that can be learned from the WTC in order to effectively respond to other disasters.[21][22] During the aftermath Lioy was interviewed many times by the Media on WTC Dust related issues from October 2001 through 2011 (See, e.g. Decade 9/11 and Please Explain: Dust - interviews with Leonard Lopate on National Public Radio; Terror in the Dust - a documentary with Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN; and The Memo Blog: Exploring 9/11 - The World Before and After - Exploring Health Effects of WTC Dust). The work of Lioy and his colleagues is mentioned in a book by Anthony Depalma entitled City of Dust: Illness, Arrogance, and 9/11.[23] Lioy recently published a book on the WTC dust and his experiences entitled Dust: the Inside Story of its Role in the September 11th Aftermath.[24] In 2009 he received a Ellen Hardin Walworth National Patriotism Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution for his work on the World Trade Center aftermath. Now, ten years after the disaster, the media continue to ask the question "What was in the World Trade Center Plume?"

See also Exposure issues in responders to disasters-offering some ideas and lessons learned from the response to the World Trade Center 911 tragedy.

Education

Lioy graduated from Passaic High School in 1965, and Montclair State College (today University), NJ in 1969. (Magnum Cum Laude) He received a Masters Degree from Auburn University, AL, in Physics, 1971, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1975.

Professional career

University appointments

Major administrative responsibilities

Other professional positions

Adjunct positions

Awards and recognition

Advisory committee and boards

Major committee assignments - international, national, and regional

Books

References

  1. ^ Lioy PJ. 1990. The analysis of total human exposure for exposure assessment: a multi-discipline science for examining human contact with contaminants. Environmental Science and Technology 24:938-945.
  2. ^ Georgopoulos PG, Lioy PJ. 2006. From a theoretical framework of human exposure and dose assessment to computational system implementation: the Modeling ENvironment for TOtal Risk Studies (MENTOR). Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health B 9(6):457-483
  3. ^ Ott WR. 1995. Human exposure assessment: the birth of a new science. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 5:449-472.
  4. ^ Lioy PJ. 2010 - In Press. Exposure Science: A View of the Past and Major Milestones for the Future. Environmental Health Perspectives.
  5. ^ Lioy PJ. 2007. Bernardino Ramazzini: thoughts on his Treatise and linking exposure science and environmental/occupational medicine for prevention or intervention within environmental health. European Journal of Oncology 12:69-73.
  6. ^ Lioy PJ, Pellizzari E, Prezant D. 2006. The World Trade Center Aftermath and Its Effects on Health: Understanding and Learning Through Human-Exposure Science. Environmental Science & Technology 40(22):6876-6885.
  7. ^ Lioy PJ, Isukapalli S, Trasande L, Thorpe L, Dellarco M, Weisel C, et al. 2009. Using national and local extant data to characterize environmental exposures in the National Children's Study (NCS): Queens County, New York. Environmental Health Perspectives 117(10):1494-1504.
  8. ^ Pellizzari E, Lioy PJ, Quackenboss J, Whitmore R, Clayton A, Freeman N, et al. 1995. The design and implementation of phase I national human exposure assessment study in EPA Region V. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 5:327-358.
  9. ^ NRC. 1991. Human exposure assessment for airborne pollutants: advances and opportunities. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
  10. ^ Rombout P, Lioy PJ, Goldstein BD. 1986. Rationale for an eight hour ozone standard. Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association 36(8):913-916.
  11. ^ Federal Register, 68 FR 32802, June 3, 2003
  12. ^ Federal Register, 73 FR 16436, March 27, 2008
  13. ^ Gurunathan S, Robson M, Freeman N, Buckley B, Roy A, Meyer R, et al. 1998. Accumulation of chlorpyrifos on residential surfaces and toys accessible to children. Environmental Health Perspectives 106(1):9-16.
  14. ^ Lioy PJ, Freeman NC, Millette JR. 2002. Dust: a metric for use in residential and building exposure assessment and source characterization. Environ Health Perspect 110(10):969-983.
  15. ^ 15. Lioy PJ. 2006. Employing dynamical and chemical processes for contaminant mixtures outdoors to the indoor environment: the implications for total human exposure analysis and prevention. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology 16(3):207-224.
  16. ^ Lioy PJ, Freeman NCG, Wainman T, Stern AH, Boesch R, Howell T, et al. 1992. Microenvironmental analysis of residential exposure to chromium-laden wastes in and around New-Jersey homes. Risk Analysis 12(2):287-299.
  17. ^ Kitsa V, Lioy PJ, Chow JC, Watson JG, Shupack S, Howell T, et al. 1992. Particle-Size Distribution of Chromium: Total and Hexavalent Chromium in Inspirable, Thoracic, and Respirable Soil Particles from Contaminated Sites in New Jersey. Aerosol Science and Technology 17(3):213-229.
  18. ^ Freeman NC, Lioy PJ, Stern AH. 2000. Reduction in residential chromium following site remediation. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association 50(6):948-953.
  19. ^ Lioy PJ, Weisel CP, Millette JR, Eisenreich S, Vallero D, Offenberg J, et al. 2002. Characterization of the dust/smoke aerosol that settled east of the WTC in lower Manhattan after the collapse of the WTC 11 September 2001. Environmental Health Perspectives 110(7):703-714.
  20. ^ Prezant DJ, Weiden M, Banauch GI, McGuinness G, Rom WN, Aldrich TK, et al. 2002. Cough and bronchial responsiveness in firefighters at the WTC site. New England Journal of Medicine 347(11):806-815.
  21. ^ Lioy PJ, Georgopoulos P. 2006. The anatomy of the exposures that occurred around the World Trade Center site: 9/11 and beyond. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1076:54-79.
  22. ^ Lioy PJ, Pellizzari E, Prezant D. 2006. The World Trade Center Aftermath and Its Effects on Health: Understanding and Learning Through Human-Exposure Science. Environmental Science & Technology 40(22):6876-6885.
  23. ^ DePalma A. (2010). City of Dust: Illness, Arrogance, and 9/11. Upper Saddle River, NJ, FT Press
  24. ^ Lioy, P.J. 2010. Dust: The Inside Story of its Role in the September 11th Aftermath: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

External links