Girl finds cancer-causing particles

[GlennACarlson@aol.com]

Girl finds cancer-causing particles
  Monday, May 1, 2000 

  By Associated Press 

  Claire Nelson was in the seventh grade when the thought
  occurred to her: Can cancer-causing particles seep into food
  covered with household plastic wrap while it is being
  microwaved? 

  "I thought it would be easy to test," said Nelson, 18, a
  freshman at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. 

  Motivated by her discovery that no one had done extensive
  research on plastic wraps before, Nelson decided to study the
  effects of radiation on carcinogens. Roughly six years later,
  she is receiving international accolades and meeting some of
  the most influential people in the scientific field. 

  Nelson had read that one of several suspected carcinogens -
  di(ethylhexyl)adepate, or DEHA — is in many plastic wraps,
  and that the Food and Drug Administration had never tested
  whether the carcinogen migrated into food being microwaved.
  That's when she got her idea. 

  She microwaved plastic wrap in virgin olive oil, hoping to find
  that the carcinogens seeped into the oil. She found that, and
  more. 

  "I tested four different kinds of plastic wraps and I found not just
  the carcinogens but also xenoestrogen was migrating, and that
  causes low sperm count in men and breast cancer in women,"
  Nelson said. 

  Getting to that point took discipline and determination. 

  At age 12, Nelson didn't have the resources to undertake her
  research, and so set it aside. 

  "I had the idea, but I didn't start to work on the project until the
  10th grade," when the promise of an automatic A in a science
  class revived it, she said. 

  "My teacher said if we made regionals in the science fair that
  we would get 10 bonus points. So I asked what we get if we
  make states, and she said 30 points. Then I asked what we
  get if we make internationals, and she said an automatic A,"
  Nelson said. 

  Without the equipment or facilities to get the job done, she
  started making phone calls. Many calls later, she got help from
  Jon Wilkes, a scientist at the National Center for Toxicological
  Research in Jefferson, southeast of Little Rock. 

  "Sometimes students who work with us come to us and ask for
  help with science projects. In her case it was different," Wilkes
  said. "She had already done a fair amount of research and
  she had already concluded that nobody had ever studied
  plastic wraps." 

  Nelson, by then a junior at Hall High School, at first had her
  mother drive her 25 miles every couple of days from the
  family's home in Little Rock to Jefferson. A year later, with her
  family moved to Mississippi and she living in an apartment in
  Little Rock, Nelson was making the trip by herself and
  balancing time between debate team competition and
  cheerleading. 

  Wilkes said it isn't rare for non-scientists to come up with an
  idea like Nelson's, but it is rare for them to actually pursue a
  way to test their theories. Wilkes and the toxicological
  research center, an arm of the FDA, let her run her
  experiments using government equipment. 

  "Sometimes she would be asleep standing up," Wilkes said.
  "But she'd be there working — if there was no debate or
  basketball game to cheer at." 

  Her research concluded, Nelson got her A. 

  "The first year I had specific evidence but not numbers. The
  second year I got the numbers," said Nelson, whose family
  continues to live in Southaven, Miss., outside Memphis, Tenn. 

  Her analysis found that DEHA was migrating into the oil at
  between 200 parts and 500 parts per million. The FDA
  standard is 0.05 parts per billion. Nelson couldn't find any
  regulations concerning xenoestrogen, making it difficult to
  know how much is too much. 

  Her findings won her the American Chemical Society's top
  science prize for students while she was a junior. Last year,
  she was the salutatorian at Hall and placed fourth in the
  International Science and Engineering Fair in Fort Worth,
  Texas. 

  Recognition for her research continues as Nelson completes
  her freshman year at tiny Hendrix College in Conway. Her
  findings were published as a one-paragraph summary in
  several science journals, and submitted to others. Nelson also
  appeared in an advertisement in the March edition of Discover
  magazine, touting the international science fair. 

  "I went to Washington recently for the largest science
  conference in the world and I got to meet Nobel Prize winners
  from all over the world," she said. 

  Still, Nelson isn't sure whether she wants to pursue a career in
  science. 

  "I'm undeclared right now," she said of choosing a major. "I
  think I might want to get into broadcast journalism." 

  In the meantime, she has lined up a summer job at America
  Online in New York, using an age-old connection to get her
  foot in the door. 

  "My boyfriend's uncle got me the job," she said. 

==========
Glenn A. Carlson, P.E.
glennacarlson@aol.com
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