As posted on the Occ-Med Chatboard.
Sharon
"With current technologies and health/environmental data
systems we should be able to produce a
surveillance system that accurately assesses ongoing human
health effects of environmental exposures."
"Shortly before its release this past year, new leadership
at ATSDR conducted an additional review specifically
concerned that the public might draw erroneous conclusions
about the relationships between some of the health data and
the continuing environmental pollution. This led to a
report recently released as the 2008 draft that has removed
substantial portions of the health data."
Dear Friends:
Please share this email with anyone or groups interested in
the
environmental health situation of communities in the Great
Lakes area.
I am travelling and my list above is woefully inadequate.
As you may recall in 2001 the International Joint
Commission
requested a report from the US Agency for Toxic Substance
and Disease
Registry (ATSDR) that assessed the remediation efforts and
continuing
pollution challenges in the IJC Areas of Concern on the US
side of
the Great Lakes. It specifically asked for a correlation
between the
existing health and environmental data collected by local,
state, and
federal governments in these areas. After several years
the Agency
produced a report that presented these data in statistical
and GIS
modes which were easily understandable to the general
public. The
report identified those areas that progress had been made
and those
still needing work.
Due to the nature of the data no cause and effect
relationships could
be established between the environmental and health
statistics. The
report emphasized that its use was purely for the purposes
of
stimulating more specific and accurate research and
highlighting the
lack of accurate cause and effect data.
The report then underwent several years of internal and
external
review that sharpened its presentation. Shortly before its
release
this past year, new leadership at ATSDR conducted an
additional
review specifically concerned that the public might draw
erroneous
conclusions about the relationships between some of the
health data
and the continuing environmental pollution. This led to a
report
recently released as the 2008 draft that has removed
substantial
portions of the health data.
Fortunately the Agency has posted on its web site both the
2007 draft
containing all the data and the rewritten 2008 draft
without some of
these data. The web site is
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/grtlakes/. Both drafts may be
downloaded by
clicking on 2007 or 2008 on the left side of the page. I
urge all
interested individuals and groups to utilize both reports
to
understand the situation in their area. These reports
will, I hope,
raise questions as to the possible causative relationships
between
current environmental exposures and disease. These
questions deserve
to be answered but the expense of accurate research will
only be
borne by government if communities demand attention to this
research agenda.
Finally, I want to emphasize the recommendation of both
drafts that
the current collection of environmental health data in the
US is
inadequate and must be improved. With current technologies
and
health/environmental data systems we should be able to
produce a
surveillance system that accurately assesses ongoing human
health
effects of environmental exposures.
All the best,
Peter Orris, MD, MPH
Professor and Chief of Service
Occupational and Environmental Medicine (MC684)
University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center
Great Lakes Centers For Environmental and Occupational
Health and Safety
835 S. Wolcott Street
Chicago, IL 60612
Office: 312-996-5804
Direct: 312-413-0105
Fx 312-413-8485
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