Monday Workshops
October 26, 2009: 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
B 1: Innovations in Laboratory Screening and Risk Assessment Methods
Participants in this session will learn about findings, challenges, and improvements in the areas of laboratory methods, screening approaches, and risk assessment. The first presentation will focus on changes in standards used for allergen testing and how the lack of uniform protocols and procedures have created serious challenges in the ability to compare data sets generated by different labs. Second, participants will hear the results of a USGS conducted study on hexavalent chromium in quartz air filters at an ore processing site. Attendees then will learn about a new, “greener” solid phase extraction used for determining human exposure to tobacco products by measuring cotinine levels. Next session attendees will hear a description of a new intelligent testing strategy that would advance the efficiency of screening and characterizing the endocrine?disrupting potential of manufactured chemicals by improving upon the US EPA’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program which is costly and often non-specific. The final presentation will address the interaction of psychological stress and toxic exposure, especially as it relates to the new EPA process of cumulative risk assessment.
Jeffrey Brown: Application of an intelligent testing strategy to the US EPA Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program
Gary Dewalt: ELISA Analysis of Aeroallergens in Surface Dust – Issues Affecting Comparability of Results between
Lindsay Pack: Developing Greener Technology for Cotinine Biomonitoring Programs
Pamela Tucker: Shifted health effects in animals exposed to psychological stress and toxicants
Ruth Wolf: Determination of Cr(VI) in Air Monitoring Filters by HPLC-ICP-MS After Ultrasonic Extraction
B 2: Water Medley: Environmental Health Issues
Water and water service systems are important issues in environmental public health. New and emerging threats call for improved communication and data systems that must be continually improved to provide safe water. This session will cover a variety of environmental health issues related to water including new biological testing methods, communication of water safety issues, water service delivery, and the importance of understanding environmental health data needs related to water.
Rachel Goldberger: Using the Social Ecological Model to Influence Water and Sanitation Behaviors
Diane Miskowski: Bacteroides - A Better Indicator to Determine Fecal Contamination
Adam Reichardt: Fixing the Leaks: Developing a protocol to enhance the practice of issuing drinking water advisories
William Sonntag: Empowering Environmental Public Health Collaboration with the Exchange Network
B 3: Environmental Public Health Tracking: Understanding and Overcoming Challenges
CDC is working with national and state partners to build the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. This network will build a database of standardized data to provide scientific information on environmental exposures, adverse health conditions, and health outcomes. Participants in this session with learn about the CDC tracking network and hear how Massachusetts implemented a tracking program, how data in that state may be used for planning and for testing hypotheses, and what challenges lie ahead as the state works toward an integrated tracking system. This session will also discuss issues and strategies for integrating information on drinking water into tracking efforts; for example, the National Drinking Water Content Work Group’s efforts to identify priority environmental health contaminants and surveillance indicators as well as efforts by EPA and USGS. Additionally, California’s tracking projected will be highlighted and the discussion of it will include strategies for integrating drinking water information into state tracking systems. Participants also will hear about the work being done to include data from states not currently funded by the tracking program.
Kristen Malecki: Drinking water quality surveillance in the U.S. Lessons learned from national CDC workgroup.
Ambarish Vaidyanathan: Domestic well water quality data and reports for the Tracking Network: - USGS and CDC Collaboration
Craig Wolff: Collecting Geography for Drinking Water Quality Tracking
B 4: The Matrix: Using a Systems Approach to Understanding Food and Waterborne Illness Outbreaks
To improve the impact and effectiveness of food and water disease surveillance systems there is a need to identify both the contributing factors leading to risk factors and/or illness and the root causes (environmental antecedents) causing the risk factors. Participants in this session will hear from public health workers in Maryland who assessed the state’s local food protection infrastructure and will learn about the need for robust local capacity for a strong, effective food protection system. Participants will hear three presentations about EHS-Net, a collaborative forum of environmental health specialists whose mission is to improve environmental health using a systems approach and the IDE model. EHS?Net works in collaboration with FoodNet, OutbreakNet and PulseNet to better understand the system in which food and waterborne illnesses happen. EHS?Net is a surveillance network collecting data from environmental assessments during food and waterborne illness outbreaks to identify and recognize the environmental antecedents and contributing factors for the specific outbreak. These data help public health practitioners and programs better respond to, mitigate, or prevent food and waterborne disease outbreaks.
Mansoor Baloch: Spatio-Temporal Dimensions of Environmental Assessments in Illness Outbreaks associated with Leafy Greens
Kristin Delea: The Role of Environmental Assessments in Understanding Systems in which Food and Waterborne Illness
Patricia Saul: Policies and Perceptions on Leafy Greens-Handling Practices in Restaurants
Joanna Zablotsky: Environmental Public Health and Food Protection Infrastructure and Capacity: A Maryland Case Study
Max Zarate-Bermudez: Wastewater Management: Systematic Approaches in Addressing Environmental Public Health Issues
B 5: After the Dust Settles: Results from the World Trade Center Health Registry
The September 11th, 2001 World Trade Center (WTC) collapse exposed hundreds of thousands of people to potential injury resulting from evacuation from high rise buildings, falling debris, the dust/debris cloud, and prolonged exposure to the site. As part of the response to this calamity, the World Trade Center Health Registry was established to describe the health status of people injured during the collapse, and to identify psychosocial factors related to impairment. This session will include the results of four separate studies. These include assessments of the current health status of people injured, risk factors for new asthma diagnoses among those exposed to the collapse, the use of personal protective equipment and respiratory outcomes, and long-term psychosocial impact to WTC first responders.
Vinicius Antao: Personal Protective Equipment Use and Respiratory Outcomes among 9/11 Rescue & Recovery Workers
Robert Brackbill: Gender Differences in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among Police Officers Who Responded to the 2001
Robert Brackbill: Diagnosed Asthma among Persons Exposed to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
Robert Brackbill: Current Health Status of Persons Injured in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
B 6: Data to Practice: Using Surveillance Data on Toxic Substances Incidents for Targeted Interventions
The Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) system was designed by ATSDR in 1990 to reduce morbidity and mortality resulting from hazardous substance events faced by first responders, employees, and the general public. The HSEES system collects and analyzes information about acute releases of hazardous substances and threatened releases resulting in a public health action. Selected state health departments currently provide information to the system through cooperative agreements with ATSDR. The studies in this session demonstrate how surveillance data from the HSEES system can be used to understand the factors contributing to injury and death in hazardous substance events and to prevent adverse health outcomes from occurring. Case studies presented will describe ways surveillance data have been employed to address pesticide and agricultural chemical releases, carbon monoxide releases, methamphetamine-related events, and firefighter injuries in New York.
Natalia Melnikova: The Results of State and Federal Efforts to Control Illicit Methamphetamine Production and Use.
Maureen Orr: Surveillance of Carbon Monoxide Releases Using Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance
Barbara Goun: Presenting New Jersey Private Well Water Data to the Public
Perri Ruckart: Pesticide releases and associated public health consequences in selected states
Wanda Welles: Using HSEES Data to Reduce Firefighter Injuries in New York State
B 7: Observations from Space
Health providers and researchers need environmental data to study and understand the geographic, environmental, and meteorological differences in disease and disease-causing pathogens. The presenters in this session will discuss useful satellite technologies and strategies to evaluate the spatial distribution of particle sulfate concentrations, explore the link between hypertension and living environments, and showcase the results of both research and practice using remote sensing that has been applied to public health and the environment. The session also will discuss how data on pollen releases from a number of sources are being integrated. This effort can potentially inform real-time decision making for issuing asthma/allergy alerts in several states.
William Crosson: Using satellite data to evaluate linkages between land cover/land use and hypertension
Sue Estes: An overview of NASA public health projects using remote sensingm
Yang Liu: Estimating Particle Sulfate Concentrations Using MISR Retrieved Aerosol Properties
B 8: Breaking it Down: Public Health Issues at Construction and Demolition Debris Landfills
Construction and demolition debris (C&D) landfills accept uncontaminated materials from construction, remodeling, repair, and demolition of structures, utilities, and roads. Daily cover, air emissions controls, and liner system requirements at C&D landfills vary by state. Without a nationwide authority or approach, managing C&D landfills often entails collaboration among a range of local, state, and federal authorities. While they have historically been viewed as a lower public health priority than hazardous waste or municipal solid waste landfills, C&D landfills do release a variety of potentially harmful substances through both air emissions (e.g. hydrogen sulfide) and landfill leachate. Knowledge of the health impacts of hydrogen sulfide and other C&D landfill emissions and exposures is emerging. This session draws from perspectives of EPA Region 5 initiatives at C&D landfills in the Midwest, experiences at C&D landfills in Florida, and the efforts of a multi-agency workgroup formed by ATSDR to address public health issues at C&D landfills.
Michelle Colledge: Overview of Public Health Issues Related to Construction and Demolition Debris Landfills
Carolyn Kolb: Living with a Landfill
Paul Ruesch: Leveraging Resources to Address Problem C&D Sites
Timothy Townsend: Environmental Impacts of C&D Landfills: Florida's Experience
Lynn Wilder: ATSDR Initiative: Construction and Demolition Debris Landfills
B 9: What We Breathe: Recent Developments in Outdoor Air Quality
Air toxics—hazardous outdoor air pollutants—are chemicals known or suspected to cause cancer other serious health effects. Exposure to urban air toxics may also contribute to the rising burden of pediatric asthma. This session will focus on outdoor air quality and will describe the efforts of a partnership among the University of New Mexico, University of Arizona, and the New Mexico Department of Health to improve dust and ozone forecast models for the southwestern United States, and the findings of an ecologic study examining the relationship between urban air toxics and emergency department visits in Dearborn, Michigan. Participants will also hear about public health approaches to outdoor wood boilers, including lessons learned from Wisconsin. Information also will be presented on current data related to distributions of air toxics in rural, suburban, and urban settings.
Chandra Bales: New Mexico Tracking and NASA Air Quality Data for User Communities
Kory Groetsch: Case Study of Outdoor Wood Boiler Impacts in a Residential Development
Robert Thiboldeaux: Addressing OWB Emissions in Wisconsin using Local Government Controls
Robert Wahl: Impact of Exposure to Urban Air Toxics on Asthma for the Pediatric Medicaid Population in Dearborn, MI
John Wilhelmi:Air Toxics: Are Concentrations in My Community “High” or “Low
B 10: Impact of Climate Change on Chronic, Infectious, and Respiratory Disease
Improved understanding of climate change’s health effects is necessary to develop adaptive capacity across all levels of environmental and public health. To meet this need, this session will include a review of the scientific evidence on climate change and health, including health effects of climate change mitigation strategies. The presentations will also highlight the impact of climate change on infectious diseases along the U.S.-Mexico border and on air pollution-related mortality in New York City. Additionally, the synergies of climate change mitigation and chronic disease prevention will be explored, highlighting opportunities to reap co-benefits across many domains of public health.
Mary Hayden: Climate Change and Infectious Diseases: Dengue in the US/Mexico Border Region
Kim Knowlton: Air pollution-vulnerable communities and climate change
Abiodun Oluyomi: Teasing out the Facts on the Potential Health Impacts of Climate Variability and Change
Jill Stein: Climate Crisis and Chronic Disease: Common Causes, Common Solutions
B 11: Case studies in Healthy Community Design: Brownfield Redevelopment and Transit Improvement
Healthy community design is an integral part of the environmental public health agenda in the 21st century. Inherent in designing healthy communities are the challenges presented by historical land use and community design failures: currently, the EPA estimates that there are more than 450,000 Brownfield sites in the United States. In response, this session will include presentations on tools for health monitoring at Brownfield sites. Additionally, presenters will identify the characteristics of successful redevelopment projects which have been recognized in case studies drawn from Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. While confronting our environmental legacy presents many formidable health challenges, many of our natural resources present possible environmental health solutions.
John Antaramian: The Brass Site Kenosha, Wisconsin: Careful Planning to Revitalize a Former Waste Site and Surrounding Area
Tina Forrester: Saipan UXO Brownfields Health Monitoring Project
James Kelly: Public Health and Redevelopment - A Natural Fit!
Domenica McClintock: East Cleveland Health and Development Initiative
Matt Robbins: The EPA focus on Public Health and Brownfield
B 12: Can Smoke-Free Laws Reduce Heart Attacks? Implications of the Emerging Science
Secondhand smoke exposure—even low-dose exposure—produces substantial and rapid adverse effects on the functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems that increases the risk for a cardiac event. One of the Healthy People 2010 objectives calls for the enactment of smoke-free laws in all 50 states and DC. But how do these laws impact community health? Participants in this session will explore this question, examine the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of smoke-free laws, and learn about the conclusions of an Institute of Medicine report on this subject. In addition, using the experiences in New York and Pueblo, Colorado, as examples, this session will provide a measure of the impact of comprehensive smoking bans on health care costs and hospital admission rates for acute myocardial infarction.
Steven Babb: an smoke-free laws reduce heart attacks? Conclusions of a recent Institute of Medicine report
Harlan Juster: Declines in AMI admissions in New York state following implementation of a comprehensive statewide smoke-free law
Christine Nevin Woods: "Reduced hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction following implementation of a municipal smoke-free law in Pueblo, Colorado
Michael Tynan: State smoke-free laws: Evidence of effectiveness and status
B 13: Bringing Health Home: Making the Transition to a Healthy Homes Program
Developing and implementing an effective Healthy Homes program requires a transition from hazard-specific housing-related prevention programs—with clearly defined hazards and health impacts—to a comprehensive program with far broader priorities and solutions. This transition requires new approaches, practices, and partnerships. This session will explore distinct and innovative approaches to address this challenge and will feature presentations that highlight the collaborative nature of a Healthy Homes approach, best practices related to the process of transitioning to a Healthy Homes model, and effective strategies for reaching comprehensive home environmental risk reduction. The Baltimore City Health Department and the Rhode Island Department of Health will present lessons learned during their transitions.
Sherry Dixon: Injury Prevention Plus Asthma Trigger Remediation Reduces Hazards and Improves Safety and Health Out
Steve Fischbach: Building Effective Partnerships to Promote Healthy Housin
Elisabeth Maring: A Qualitative Study of the Baltimore City Transition from Lead Poisoning Prevention to Healthy Homes
Madeleine Shea: Changing Home Environmental Health Behaviors - The Power of Home Based Interventions
B 14: New Frontiers in Biomonitoring: Environmental Chemicals and Nutritional Indicators
Biomonitoring, the direct measurement of people’s exposure to toxic substances by studying human specimens, has been used to advance public health in a variety of ways. This session will describe CDC’s National Biomonitoring Program, new techniques in elemental analysis, and some of the recent progress that has been made in applying biomonitoring data to address public health questions. Presenters also will share lessons learned from developing the National Report on Biochemical Indicators of Diet and Nutrition and the National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals. In addition, one presentation will highlight how biomonitoring data gathered as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was used to evaluate iodine sufficiency in the U.S.
Kathleen Caldwell: Iodine Status of the U.S. Population, NHANES 2005-2006
John Osterloh: CDC's National Biomonitoring Program
Christine Pfeiffer: National Report on Biochemical Indicators of Diet and Nutrition in the U.S. Population 1999-2002
Carl Verdon: Emerging Techniques in Inorganic Measurements
B 15: Chemical Policy for the 21st Century: Green Chemistry and REACH
Chemicals are produced in massive quantities in the United States and can come into contact with humans through air, water, food, and waste. Growing concern regarding the health effects of exposure to such environmental chemicals has bolstered efforts to regulate chemicals in ways that are safe and healthy for all people. This session will highlight international and state policy approaches to develop an interstate information clearinghouse for chemicals, identify and prioritize chemicals of concern, and regulate chemicals in consumer products. Discussions will include the criteria for prioritizing chemicals with the unique exposure pathway of children in mind. In addition, the Green Chemistry Initiative in California and the EU’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) program will be presented as models for the revamping of U.S. federal policies on chemical management.
Doug Farquhar/a>: State Environmental Public Health Policy
Scott Hendrick: Understanding Emerging State Chemical Policies and Green Chemistry Initiatives
Melanie Marty: Children’s Health Issues and Chemicals Policy Reform
Megan Schwarzman: Protecting Ecosystems and People through Chemicals Policy: Lessons from the EU
Michael Wilson: California’s Green Chemistry Initiative: Toward a Comprehensive Public Health Model of Chemicals Policy
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