As sent to me from Mary Mulvey Jacobson:
Please read and note highlighted section. Feeling like a
broken record somehow has paid off for so many of us trying
to do something about indoor mold exposure. We were never
wrong for so many years trying to bring this to everyone's
attention.
We have to work together to find a solution and I believe
it is time for our bailout. We can no longer sit back and
allow a lifetime of health problems for children, residents
and employees due to poor indoor air quality........and, in
effect, that's what we are doing.
Mary Mulvey Jacobson
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CDC Launches New Environmental Public Health Tracking
Network
http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/50131512.html
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now offers
an on-line network the public can use to track
environmental exposures and chronic health conditions.
On Tuesday the CDC announced the Environmental Public
Health Tracking Network, a public health surveillance tool
that scientists, health professionals, and members of the
public can use.
"The ability to examine many data sets together for the
first time has already resulted in faster responses to
environmental health issues. We believe the Tracking
Network holds the potential to shed new light on some of
our biggest environmental health questions," said Howard
Frumkin, M.D., M.P.H., DrPh., director, of CDC's National
Center for Environmental Health.
The web-based tool unites vital environmental information
from across the country, including air and water pollutants
and information for some chronic conditions, including
asthma, cancer, childhood lead poisoning and heart disease
into one resource.
While scientists know exposures such as air particle
pollution and lead contribute to illnesses, many
environmental and health connections remain unproven since
detailed health and environmental data existed in separate
silos until now.
"The Tracking Network is the foundation we need to make
better environmental health decisions and help prevent
chronic illnesses, such as asthma, cancer, and heart
disease," said Michael McGeehin, Ph.D., director, Division
of Environmental Hazard and Health Effects of CDC's
National Center for Environmental Health.
CDC funds projects in California, Connecticut, Florida,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and New York City.
To date, their projects have led to 73 public health
actions to control potential illnesses from environmental
exposures. For example, the Utah Department of Health
received a call from a citizen concerned about cases of
cancer in his neighborhood. In the past, a similar call
would have prompted a study that would have taken up to a
year to complete, with most of that time spent waiting for
data. In less than a day, the Utah Tracking Program was
able to let this resident know that the likelihood of
cancer in his area was no greater than in the state as a
whole.
Massachusetts ranks third in the United States for
prevalence of asthma. When Massachusetts Tracking staff
conducted asthma surveillance and indoor quality
assessments in schools, a significant association between
mold/moisture and the prevalence of asthma was found. Based
on tracking data, Massachusetts staff are working with
school officials to correct mold/moisture problems and to
enact policy changes for reducing mold and moisture in
schools.
In March 2009, CDC received additional funding from
Congress to expand environmental public health tracking to
five more locations. Awards will be made and announced
later this summer. Over time, CDC hopes to expand the
Tracking Network across all 50 states, and track additional
environmental hazards and health conditions to build a more
complete picture of environmental public health.
CDC's Tracking Network is the result of collaboration with
17 local and state health departments; federal partners,
including the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, the National Cancer Institute, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological
Survey; and organizations including the American Public
Health Association, Association of State and Territorial
Health Officials, Council of State and Territorial
Epidemiologists, National Association of County and City
Health Officials, National Environmental Health
Association, National Association of Health Data
Organizations and the National Association for Public
Health Statistics and Information Systems.
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