The Alliance for Healthy Homes, a national nonprofit organization
dedicated to protecting children and families from housing-based environmental
health hazards, has appointed Robert Zdenek as its new Executive Director. Zdenek
will join the Alliance this month.
Zdenek brings to the Alliance a wealth of experience in
housing and nonprofit management at both the community and national level. He
served as President of the National Congress for Community Economic Development
(NCCED) for thirteen years and then served in leadership positions at the United
Way at both the local and national level. Most recently, Zdenek has run his
own consulting firm focused on asset building strategies, organizational change,
and community economic development initiatives for government agencies, community
development corporations, and nonprofit organizations.
“We are delighted to welcome Bob Zdenek to the Alliance,”
comments Bailus Walker, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “His outstanding
credentials and track record of accomplishment are ideal for generating attention
and action to protect children from lead and other hazards in their homes.”
Zdenek succeeds Don Ryan, who founded the Alliance in 1990
as the Alliance To End Childhood Lead Poisoning. In 2001, Ryan led the Alliance
to expand its work on lead poisoning prevention to encompass other housing-related
health hazards. Zdenek is poised to capitalize on the Alliance’s considerable
past successes in childhood lead poisoning prevention and other important indoor
environmental health issues by solidifying political, financial, and public
support for healthy homes.
“I am honored and excited to join the Alliance for
Healthy Homes and to build upon the strong foundation that the dedicated staff
and board have created,” notes Zdenek. “The Alliance makes connections
across sectors, among communities leaders across the country, and between communities
and national policy, and I relish the opportunity to make further progress on
its critical mission of protecting children and improving housing conditions
for low-income families. In the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina national
tragedy, the work of the Alliance and our community partners is even more critical
to ensure that all families and children live in housing that is environmentally
safe.”
Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita Put Healthy Homes Issues on the Front Burner
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Gulf Coast
residents and the nation are struggling to assess the scope of damage and begin
to plan for recovery. In the process, the large-scale water and wind damage
to homes and other buildings has brought new attention to healthy homes issues,
creating challenges and opportunities at individual, institutional, and policy
levels.
As has been widely broadcast, people returning to their
homes in areas affected by Katrina and Rita are finding significant environmental
health risks, both indoors and outdoors. Flooding is causing significant mold
growth in homes and buildings throughout the region. Homeowners in Louisiana
and Mississippi have reported the need to remove all the sheetrock, carpeting,
and woodwork in their homes because mold has taken a very quick hold. Mold growth
throughout the Gulf Coast has been accelerated by warm temperatures and high
humidity, and exacerbated by power outages that prevent ventilation, air conditioning,
and dehumidifying systems from working.
Other indoor environmental threats include fire and electrical
hazards; serious structural damage that may result in human injury; asbestos
releases from building materials; high carbon monoxide levels from damaged combustion
appliances and improper, unvented indoor use of makeshift cooking devices or
generators; and environmental contamination by toxic chemicals, biological waste,
and bacteria. No systematic assessment of the condition of the housing stock
has yet been done in any community, despite plans underway for residents to
repopulate some areas soon.
Several public interest organizations are concerned that
EPA did not test enough areas of New Orleans and nearby communities for contamination,
and therefore, the full extent of the risk from toxic chemicals to homeowners
and apartment dwellers is not known.
Recovery costs may also impact funding for healthy homes
and other related domestic programs as costs continue to climb. Experts estimate
that long-term rebuilding and recovery efforts will cost more than $200 billion.
Because of large tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, Congress may cut important
programs, such as housing and environmental health, in order to help fund hurricane
recovery efforts.
Despite housing-related health hazards and escalating costs,
there are a few housing-related bright spots from the recovery efforts. The
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued a comprehensive
question-and-answer sheet on assisting public housing and federally assisted
housing residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina, and the Senate voted in September
to provide 350,000 families with emergency housing vouchers, valued at $600
a month for six months.
Moreover, the challenges of addressing the health implications
of the hurricanes’ large-scale impact on the housing stock in New Orleans
and other communities in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas may create
greater awareness about healthy housing and prompt government agencies and other
large institutions to consider policies regarding affordability, sustainability,
and healthfulness for both existing and replacement housing.
Child
Health Advocates Say EPA’s Proposed Pesticide Testing Rule Leaves Gaps
in Protection for Women and Children
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially
released its proposed “Protection for Human Test Subjects” rule
regarding pesticide testing on September 12. The Agency claims that the rule
“will establish stringent enforceable ethical safeguards governing the
conduct of third-party intentional dosing human studies intended for submission
to EPA...” The proposed rule comes in part as a response to public outcry
over a study cancelled earlier this year that would have compensated low-income
parents to continue exposing their children to household pesticides. The rule
also purports to meet new requirements passed by Congress this summer limiting
EPA’s ability to conduct research or use third party studies that intentionally
dose pregnant women, infants, fetuses, and children with pesticides.
According to EPA, the proposed rule completely protects
pregnant women, fetuses, infants, and children from being used as test subjects
in intentional dosing studies. However, several public interest groups and legislators
claim that the text of proposed rule provides several loopholes that will allow
the pesticide industry to continue using these vulnerable groups in such dangerous
studies. They say the rule provides exceptions to protection of pregnant women,
fetuses, infants, and children from intentional dosing studies “when such
research is deemed scientifically sound and crucial to the protection of public
health.” The groups also state that third party pesticide research on
children conducted in other countries that does not meet U.S. or international
ethical standards can be used “in appropriate circumstances.” Lawmakers
familiar with the legislative language passed by Congress also say these exceptions
violate federal law. EPA’s Director of Office of Pesticide Programs, Jim
Jones, disputes these claims, saying that the Agency’s initial assertion
that the rules ban vulnerable groups from intentional dosing studies is accurate.
The proposed rule does contain what all agree are positive
measures. Key among them is the creation of a Human Studies Review Board whose
members would be non-EPA staff with expertise in the field of human subject
research who meet ethics requirements to serve on federal review boards. The
proposed rule charges the board to review and comment on the scientific and
ethical aspects of research proposals and reports of completed intentional dosing
research with human subjects. One identified drawback to this largely positive
provision of the rule is that it does not provide explicit safeguards against
the Board becoming unbalanced by members who have past or present ties to the
pesticide industry.
The proposed rule is available for public review and comment
until December 12. To view a summary and overview of the proposed rule, visit
www.epa.gov/oppfead1/guidance/human-test.htm.
To view the full text of the official proposed rule and to submit public comments,
see www.regulations.gov.
Select “ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY” in the Agency drop-down
menu, insert “human test subjects” in the Keyword box, and click
the “Go” button on the right. This should return one result with
Docket ID OPP-2003-0132; FRL-7728-2.
Federal
Advisory Panel Urges More Protection for Children in Research
A federal advisory panel convened by the National Research
Council and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies issued a report
in September that calls for more protection of children in studies of housing-related
health hazards. The report was prompted by a review of a Baltimore study of
lead paint hazard control methods in low-income households. A lawsuit filed
by two families that participated in the study alleged that the researchers
failed to disclose dangerous lead dust levels to them.
The report makes several recommendations, which include
urging all federal agencies to adopt regulations giving greater protection to
children in research; requiring ethics panels and researchers to ensure that
parents truly understand the scope and possible consequences of their children’s
participation in studies; including community representatives in designing research
projects; and designing studies that have actual benefits for the children involved.
While many praised the report, some observers said it didn’t
go far enough. Citizens for Responsible Care and Research said the report should
have called on Congress to pass a law that would establish uniform standards
for all research involving humans and that would provide training for researchers
planning to work with children.
EPA
Enforces Pre-Renovation Disclosure Rule for First Time
For the first time ever, the EPA cited a housing contractor
for violating the federal “pre-renovation rule” that requires housing
contractors renovating residential housing built before 1978 to provide information
to the property owners and residents about potential lead-based paint hazards.
The company, Virginia-based Millennium Quests, Inc., did
not provide a homeowner with required information about lead-based paint hazards
before renovating their home in 2003. One of the homeowner’s children
was found to have an elevated blood lead level following the renovation, and
the local health department found lead dust and lead-based paint chips throughout
the family’s home. The health department ordered the company to clean
up the lead hazards, but the company failed to comply with the order in a timely
manner. This, in turn, forced the family to hire another contractor to perform
the cleanup, at a cost of over $34,000. The family was eventually forced to
sell the home.
EPA’s complaint proposes a penalty of $27,500 for
failing to disclose potential lead hazards. The State of Virginia has already
fined the company $8,000 and has revoked the company’s Class A Virginia
Contractor License, and the local health department fined the company $1,500.
The family affected also won a $1.3 million judgment against the company, which
has now filed for bankruptcy.
National
Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week Planned for Oct. 23-29
A pending U.S. Senate resolution sponsored by Sen. Jack
Reed (D-RI) will designate October 23-29, 2005, as National Childhood Lead Poisoning
Prevention Week. This will be the seventh consecutive year that the Senate has
designated the last full week in October for this observance. During this week,
state and local governments, policymakers, lead poisoning prevention advocates,
and others can help highlight successes in lead poisoning prevention, call attention
to challenges that still remain, and advance primary prevention. Examples of
past National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week events from across the country,
as well as sample outreach and education materials, can be found on the Alliance’s
website at www.afhh.org/res/res_by_topic_lead_outreach_education.htm.
Federal
Judge in St. Louis Orders Faster Review of Ambient Air Standard for Lead
In September, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Webber
in St. Louis ordered the EPA to accelerate the pace at which it is reviewing
the ambient air standard for lead. Federal law requires that the airborne lead
standard be reviewed every five years, in part to keep pace with changes in
knowledge of how very small amounts of lead can negatively impact human health.
The last review of the lead standard occurred in 1978.
In December 2004, EPA stated that it would quickly issue
a plan for updating the lead standard, but proposed to wait until 2009 to complete
the update. Community-based organizations and private citizens impacted by the
Doe Run lead smelter located in Herculaneum, MO, filed suit, asking the court
to order the review’s completion by 2007.
After hearing the lawsuit, Webber criticized EPA for dragging
its feet on the lead standard review. He ordered the Agency to complete a first
draft of an assessment that reviews studies related to airborne lead pollution
by December 1, and he gave the Agency until November 1, 2007, to present the
staff’s recommendations on whether to revise the standard. Under Webber’s
order, EPA has until September 1, 2008 to issue a public notice of any updates
to the lead standard.
Pennsylvania
Utility Law Could Create Healthy Homes Crisis
A Pennsylvania utility law passed in 2004 could make it
easier for utility companies to shut off oil and natural gas to homeowners who
can’t afford to pay their bills. With heating costs expected to rise to
record levels this winter, experts in the state estimate that 100,000 households
in Pennsylvania are likely to lack utility service come November 1.
The law allows cold-weather utility shutoffs without the
approval of the state Public Utility Commission, including shutoffs to low-income
households. Though 66,000 households were without heating utilities in Pennsylvania
on November 1, 2004, by mid-December of that year, the number fell to 14,000.
This year, because the law makes it more difficult for some customers to get
service restored once they begin paying off their bills, a similar drop in the
number of unheated households may not be a reasonable expectation.
The utility law could spark a healthy homes crisis in the
state if energy assistance is not provided to low-income households. When heating
oil or natural gas is cut off, many households use dangerous methods in an attempt
to heat their homes, including unvented wood stoves, regular stoves, and space
heaters. Some of these devices can cause significant increases in carbon monoxide
concentration, which can cause dizziness, headaches, nausea, coma, and death,
while others can dramatically increase the risk of fire. Unheated homes can
also exacerbate asthma symptoms, and residents can die from hypothermia if indoor
temperatures fall low enough.
San Francisco
Audits City Agency Efforts to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning
In September, the San Francisco Department of Public Health
issued an audit and report to the Board of Supervisors on city agencies’
implementation of childhood lead poisoning ordinances. The report included progress
reports on several agencies, as well as recommendations for further improvements.
The report highlighted a number of agencies that are excelling
in their childhood lead poisoning prevention efforts, including the Mayor’s
Office of Housing’s Lead Hazard Prevention Program; the Department of
Building Inspection’s Lead Prevention Program that enforces the city’s
lead-safe work practices requirements; the Recreation and Parks Department,
and the Department of Public Health’s Childhood Lead Prevention Program.
Areas where improvement is needed include the city School
District’s Child Development Program, whose facilities expose 1,400 low-income
children to lead dust; and doctors in the city’s public health programs
who fail to screen many eligible children for lead levels in blood.
Neil Gendel, Director of the Healthy Children Organization
Project, said, “Every agency serving children and their families and impacting
the condition of housing and public facilities is responsible for helping the
city have healthy, lead-safe children. We need healthy, environmentally safe
housing and public facilities to support lower-income families and help them
succeed in San Francisco’s economic environment.”
University
Report Links Environmental and Occupational Exposures to Cancers
The University of Massachusetts Lowell in late September
released a report that links dozens of environmental and occupational exposures
to nearly 30 types of cancer.
The new study by the University’s Lowell Center for Sustainable Production
reviewed scientific evidence documenting associations between environmental
and occupational exposures and certain cancers in the United States, marking
the first time this body of material has been summarized in one, accessible
document.
“Environmental and Occupational Causes of Cancer: A Review of Recent Scientific
Evidence” shows that many cancer cases and deaths are caused or contributed
to by involuntary exposures. These include breast cancer from endocrine disruptors
in some plastics components, lung cancer from residential exposure to radon,
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from solvent and herbicides (which can be tracked
indoors from the lawn and garden and become embedded in house dust), and childhood
leukemia from pesticides.
“The sum of the evidence makes an airtight case for reconsideration of
chemicals policies in the U.S.,” said Dr. Richard W. Clapp, lead epidemiologist
for the report.
The report directly contradicts an oft-cited, 25-year-old analysis by Sir Richard
Doll and Richard Peto that attributes only two to four percent of cancers to
involuntary environmental and occupational exposures. “Our review makes
it clear that new knowledge about multiple causes of cancer, including involuntary
exposures, early-life exposures, synergistic effects, and genetic factors, renders
making such estimates not just pointless, but counterproductive,” Clapp
said.
Research
Shows Environmental Tobacco Smoke Harms Fetuses as Much as Active Smoking
Research published in BMC Pediatrics in June shows that
environmental tobacco smoke, or secondhand smoke, can harm fetuses as much as
if an expectant mother was smoking cigarettes herself.
While it is common knowledge among doctors that environmental
tobacco smoke can increase the risk of miscarriage, premature birth, low birth
weight, and sudden infant death syndrome, the recent research conducted at the
University of Pittsburgh demonstrated that like active smoking, environmental
tobacco smoke can damage a fetus’ DNA. These genetic mutations are tied
to cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.
HUD
Announces FY 2005 Lead and Healthy Homes Grant Awards
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s
Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control (OHHLHC) announced in late September
that it awarded $139 million in funds for local projects to control lead hazards
and advance healthy homes practices in locations throughout
the country. OHHLHC chose not to award the full $167 million available to them
for FY 2005, and of the 62 projects awarded funds, four will be carried out
by nonprofit organizations.
The funds awarded fall under seven categories: Lead
Hazard Control Grants, Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration Grants, Lead Outreach
Grants, Lead Technical Studies Grants, Operation LEAP, Healthy Homes Demonstration
Grants, and Healthy Homes Technical Studies Grants. Full funding and FY 2005
grantee project information is located at www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr05-129.cfm.
EPA
Seeking Comments on Proposed Pesticide Review Program
To ensure that pesticide registrations continue to meet
current health and safety standards, EPA is seeking public comment on a proposed
approach to review each existing pesticide registration every 15 years. This
new registration review program, mandated by the Food Quality Protection Act,
will begin in 2006 to ensure that "older" pesticides will still meet
the statutory standard of no unreasonable adverse effects.
Under the proposed process, the agency would assess any
changes that have occurred since the agency's last registration decision on
the pesticide. EPA would determine the significance of such changes and whether
additional restrictions are needed to ensure that the pesticide meets current
requirements under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
Registration review will replace the reregistration and
tolerance reassessment programs that are nearing completion. As in those programs,
the registration review process would allow for substantial public participation,
but unlike those "one-time reassessment" programs, registration review
will reoccur for each pesticide every 15 years.
NIEHS Proposes
Privatizing Environmental Health Perspectives
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
(NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), proposed in late September
to privatize publication of its leading journal Environmental Health Perspectives
(EHP). NIEHS currently provides EHP free of charge through its open access website,
located at http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/.
Citing budgetary constraints, Dr. David Schwartz, the new
director of NIEHS, is proposing to end NIEHS sponsorship of EHP, if the journal
can be published by a private, for-profit publisher. Advocates are concerned
about privatizing publication of EHP, as the journal may lose its free, open
access status, dealing a blow to smaller nonprofit and community-based organizations
that regularly use EHP articles in their work. Also, those who work in the environmental
health field say having EHP housed at NIH is extremely important for the growing
field of environmental health science. EHP currently ranks third among 132 environmental
sciences journals and fifth among 90 public, environmental, and occupational
health journals.
OSHA
Extends Comment Period for Revised Lead in Construction Standard
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
is extending until Nov. 7, 2005, the comment period for proposed changes to
its lead in construction standard that requires testing for lead exposures,
provisions to protect workers from exposure where lead is present, and medical
monitoring of exposed workers.
The construction industry employs millions of workers in
jobs where lead exposures are most likely to occur, like paint removal, building
and bridge renovation, plumbing, smelting, battery manufacturing, auto repair,
and water system repair and replacement. Exposure to lead can cause serious
damage to the body's blood-forming, nervous, urinary, and reproductive systems,
and cause high blood pressure and peripheral artery disease. Lead can also be
brought home on clothes and work shoes, where it can contaminate household dust
and be ingested by children. OSHA's lead in construction standard establishes
procedures for minimizing the level of exposure to lead for all workers covered.
Comments should be addressed to Docket Office, Docket No.
H023, Technical Data Center, Room N-2625, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210. Comments can be submitted online at www.regulations.gov
or http://ecomments.osha.gov,
or faxed to 202-693-1648. All comments and submissions will posted on OSHA's
Web site.
EPA Considers Changes
in Lead Lab Accreditation Rules
EPA convened a discussion in mid-August for reactions to
its plan for regulating field analytic technologies used to test for lead, such
as XRF machines, under the National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program (NLLAP)
Laboratory Quality System Requirements (LQSR).
In subsequent comments, the Alliance generally supported
EPA’s proposal to provide oversight for field technologies. However, the
Alliance cautioned EPA not to dilute certification requirements and oversight
for stationary laboratories while imposing new requirements on field analytic
technologies. Instead, the Alliance urged EPA to maintain existing, effective
requirements for stationary labs while establishing protocols, criteria, and
minimum performance standards that are specific to field methodologies such
as portable analytic systems and expand NLLAP to accredit or certify entities
and persons using these methodologies independent of the program for stationary
labs.
Position
Announcement—Project Coordinator at the National Center for Healthy Housing
The National Center for Healthy Housing in Columbia, Maryland
has an immediate job opening for a project coordinator.
This position is responsible for coordinating research
and training projects. Responsibilities also include assisting in the preparation
of written materials for a variety of audiences, carrying out fund development
activities, and working on special projects. This is a full time, regular position
with benefits, based out of the National Center for Healthy Housing's office
in Columbia, Maryland. Some travel required. The full position announcement
is available at www.centerforhealthyhousing.org/html/project_coordinator.html.
To learn more about the National Center for Healthy Housing, visit www.centerforhealthyhousing.org.
Funding Opportunities
LEAP (Leadership and Enhanced Assistance Program,
and not the same as HUD’s Operation LEAP grant program) is a two-year
organization development program of the Environmental Support Center (ESC) that
provides assistance to grassroots environmental groups to build their organizational
capacity through training, support, and funding. Goals of the program are to
help groups establish and meet capacity-building targets, learn from each other,
and build understanding among peer groups. ESC is currently accepting applications
for small grants of up to $10,000 to engage in these activities. To be eligible,
groups should be local, state, or regional nonprofit organizations working on
environmental issues; be environmental justice organizations, environmental
activist organizations, or networks and coalitions of environmental justice
and/or activist groups. Eligible organizations must also have 501(c)(3) status
and have an annual budget between $50,000 and $500,000. For more information
about LEAP and how to apply for a grant, visit www.envsc.org.
Upcoming Conferences
The Environmental Health and Child Development Conference
will be held in Ann Arbor, MI, November 3, at the University of Michigan—Ann
Arbor (Rackham Graduate School). The conference will focus on preventing toxic
threats to child neurological development in Michigan. Special emphasis will
be placed on heavy metals and their effects and persistent organic compounds
such as pesticides. It is co-sponsored by the American Association of Mental
Retardation, Michigan Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics, Ecology Center
of Ann Arbor, Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, Michigan
State Medical Society, and the Center for Children's Health and Environment.
For more information, contact Lauren Zajac, MPH, at the Ecology Center of Ann
Arbor, lauren@ecocenter.org.
Indianapolis will host the Indiana Lead-Safe and Healthy
Homes Conference, November 8 and 9. The conference will cover topics including
lead poisoning prevention, lead-safe work practices, indoor air quality, asthma,
mold, and a look at leadership and advocacy for healthy homes in Indiana. For
more information, visit www.ikecoalition.org
or contact Janet McCabe at mccabe@ikecoalition.org
or 317-902-3610.
Two regional conferences will bring together professionals
engaged in health, housing, community development, awareness, and advocacy to
explore ways to prevent incidents of lead poisoning and eliminate indoor environmental
hazards. The Western Regional Conference on Eliminating Childhood Lead Poisoning
and Combating Indoor Environmental Hazards will be held November 17 and 18 in
San Diego. The Midwest Regional Conference on Eliminating Childhood Lead Poisoning
and Combating Indoor Environmental Hazards will be held December 7 and 8 in
St. Louis. For more information on both of these conferences, visit www.leadmoldconferences.com.
CONFERENCE LOCATION AND DATE CHANGE: The
American Public Health Association’s National Conference has been relocated
from New Orleans to Philadelphia and will run December 10-14. The changes were
necessary in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. For more information about
the location and date changes, see www.apha.org.
The Ohio Department of Health is sponsoring their
13th Ohio Lead Poisoning Prevention Conference June 20-22, 2006, in Columbus.
The featured speakers and exhibitors will be from local, state, and national
levels. The conference goal is to educate healthcare and environmental professionals,
parents, and community leaders about the current medical, environmental, and
programmatic issues of childhood lead poisoning prevention in Ohio. Continuing
education units may be offered for nurses, sanitarians, and social workers.
For more information, E-mail bcfhs@odh.ohio.gov
or call Barbara Kochli Nixon at 937-285-6261.
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