We conducted a case-control study in an industrial city in Taiwan to determine whether parents of newly diagnosed patients who were younger than 30 years old with leukemia or brain tumors or the patients themselves were more likely to have been employed in certain occupations or industries. Job histories were collected for parents (and for subjects if they worked) on 103 newly diagnosed cases of leukemia, 74 newly diagnosed cases of brain tumors, and 417 controls matched for age and sex. All jobs since the age of 16 that the subjects held for more than 6 months, a total of approximately 4,000 jobs, were coded for occupation and industry according the standard four-digit system used in Taiwan. Matched-pair analyses were performed comparing cases and controls among all jobs held by subjects and both parents using four-digit occupation and industry codes. Separate analyses also were performed for parental jobs held during the preconception, perinatal, and postnatal periods. Odds ratios (ORs) were adjusted for subject smoking, parental smoking, and exposure to medical radiation. Certain industry and occupation four-digit codes were significantly associated with increased odds ratios of childhood tumors. Including work during any or all periods, leukemias were more common in children of fathers who had worked (1) as wood treaters (adjusted OR 16.03, 95% confidence interval CI = 1.77-145.5), and (2) as building finishers and related trades workers (adjusted OR 4.08, 95% CI = 1.12-14.8), whereas brain tumors were more common in children of mothers who had worked (1) in electronic parts and components manufacturing (adjusted OR 13.78, 95% CI = 1.47-129.0) and 2) as textile and garment workers (adjusted OR 7.25, 95% CI = 1.42-37.0), as well as in subjects who had worked with certain electronic parts and components (adjusted OR 28.67, 95% CI = 2.88-285.6). Leukemias were more common in children of fathers who had worked in the preconception period (1) as wood treaters (adjusted OR 12.17, 95% CI = 1.36-109.2), (2) as building finishers and related trades workers (adjusted OR 4.08, 95% CI = 1.12-14.8), (3) as electronic equipment assemblers (adjusted OR 4.56, 95% CI = I 1.05-19.9), and (4) as certain other assemblers (adjusted OR 10.24, 95% CI = 1.02-102.6). In addition, leukemias were more common in children of fathers who had worked in the perinatal period (1) as wood treaters (adjusted OR 13.08, 95% CI = 1.36-125.5) and (2) as building finishers and related trades workers (adjusted OR 4.51, 95% CI = 1.04-19.6). Brain tumors were more common in children of mothers who had worked in the preconception period (1) in electronic parts and components manufacturing (adjusted OR 11.81, 95% CI = 1.20-116.3), and (2) as textile and garment workers (adjusted OR 7.25, 95% CI = 1.18-31.0).

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BackgroundIn the past 25 years, China has experienced remarkable economic growth and rapid agricultural-to-industrial and rural-to-urban transitions. As a consequence, China now faces many daunting environmental challenges that are significantly affecting human health and quality of life, including indoor and outdoor air pollution, water pollution, deforestation, loss of agricultural land, and sustainability. Chinese government leaders have recently emphasized the need for better environmental protection practices along with interventions involving strong public participation.ObjectivesCommunity-based participatory research (CBPR) is a collaborative approach to research that involves community members, organizational representatives, and researchers as equal participants in all phases of the research process. Over the past 15 years, CBPR has gained recognition and acceptance and is now valued as a means to effect change and provide scientific knowledge relevant to human health and the environment. In this article we highlight the success of CBPR in the United States and suggest that it could be a useful model for addressing environmental health problems in the People’s Republic of China.DiscussionCBPR can reduce the tension between science and society by promoting genuine communication, by enabling scientists and administrators to listen and respond to the public, by allowing communities to help shape the research agenda, and by increasing accountability of researchers and governments to the public.ConclusionsCBPR can potentially help improve environmental health in China, but it is likely to take a different form than it has in the West because the government will be leading the way.

This article briefly reviews environmental history in the "Sister Cities" of Wuhan, China and Pittsburgh, USA. Specifically, it analyzes key changes in air, water, land, and sustainability in each of the two cities in terms of both "driving forces" and of the actions of key stakeholders (policymakers, educators, industry/business, nongovernmental organizations [NGOs], and the public). It concludes by discussing prospects for synergies between the two cities in continuing to improve environmental health, and the implications of these ideas for other cities in both the "developing" and the "developed" world.