Environmental Health
Overview
APHL’s Environmental Health Program seeks to expand the role of the laboratory in general environmental health, while improving the use of laboratory information in guarding against environmental threats. The program works to enhance communications between the regulatory and health protection sectors to optimize use of scarce resources in protecting public health from chemical and microbial contaminants in the environment.
APHL Supports Funding for Health Tracking
APHL worked collaboratively with key public health partners including ASTHO and CSTE to write a letter in support of funding levels for the CDC's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program and Environmental Health Laboratory.
Inaugural Issue of Environmental Laboratory eNewsletter
APHL invites you to view its first issue of the Environmental Laboratory eNewsletter. The newsletter will contain APHL, state, local and federal news; state funding opportunities, information on new resources and upcoming events.
Chemical Terrorism Issue Brief
This issue brief presents the results of the third annual Chemical Terrorism Laboratory Preparedness Survey together with background information on chemical terrorism laboratories and their role in the Laboratory Response Network. Data collected from this survey demonstrate that laboratories have made significant progress toward important preparedness goals. However, important gaps persist. Few laboratories are equipped to test for chemical warfare agents, dangerous chemicals such as nerve or choking agents likely to be used in a terrorist attack. Click here to read the brief.
Training Course for Radioanalytical Laboratory Personnel
The U.S. EPA’s Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (ORIA) and Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water’s Water Security Division, in conjunction with APHL, is offering a training course for radioanalytical laboratory personnel. This five-day course will be offered at ORIA’s National Air and Radiation Environmental Laboratory, in Montgomery, Alabama from June 9- 13, 2008.
Laboratory Prompts Public Health InterventionMercury poisoning poses a serious threat to human health. Prolonged, direct exposure can cause damage to the brain, nervous system and kidneys. In New York City, laboratory analysis prompted public health intervention to check one such threat. For the full article, click
here.
Innovative Method Curbs Health HazardScientists at the City of Milwaukee Public Health Laboratories never anticipated that their work would impact the nation when they tested a seasoning salt consumed as a candy in the Hispanic community. For the full article, click
here.
BiomonitoringBiomonitoring is the assessment of human exposure to chemicals present in air, water, soil, dust, food or other environmental media via measurement of the chemicals or chemical metabolites present in human specimens, such as blood or urine. APHL worked closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC)
National Center for Environmental Health's (NCEH's) Division of Laboratory Sciences (DLS) to launch a planning grant program to support biomonitoring capacity building for public health laboratories. Five million dollars in funding was distributed to 25 applicants, several of which represented multi-state consortia. In total, 33 states were funded to participate in planning activities that will significantly improve the capacity of laboratories to analyze the human health impact of environmental chemical exposure. In January 2003, APHL/CDC convened a
50-State Biomonitoring Meeting to report on state and national biomonitoring activities. APHL will continue to coordinate with NCEH to support the further development of these state biomonitoring programs.
For more information and documentation, click here.
Chemical Terrorism
Fifty percent of state laboratory directors rated their lab’s capacity to respond to a chemical terrorism event as “poor” in a recent assessment of public health laboratories by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and RTI International. A survey conducted in the fall and winter of 2002-2003 uncovered serious inadequacies as well as needed improvements in worker safety, facility security and methods for agent analysis of environmental samples.
For the full documentation or more information, click here.
Food SafetyWith the support of CDC’s National Center for Infectious Diseases Food Safety Office, APHL is expanding its role in food safety and foodborne disease through the Food Safety Capacity Assessment Project. In 2002, APHL convened key stakeholders to discuss a recently completed survey of our nation’s public health laboratories. Attendees represented public health and agricultural laboratories, federal agencies and professional organizations. Conference recommendations will be used to suggest federal funding streams to address identified deficiencies.
For more information and documentation, click here.
Newborn Screening and Genetics
As states acquire newly developed technologies for metabolic screening, the association intends to work closely with the CDC Newborn Screening Quality Assurance Program to provide support for newborn screening laboratories. APHL and NCEH are also working together to explore and expand the role of public health laboratories in the area of public health genomics and genetic testing.
For more information and documentation, click here.
Training/FellowshipsThe Environmental Health Traineeship Program and the Environmental Health Laboratory Sciences Fellowship Program are being revitalized through discussions with NCEH. Up to ten trainees will participate in specialized training exercises for two to four weeks at NCEH laboratories in Atlanta and/or at other state public health laboratories. Up to four fellowships will be awarded for bachelor’s, master's, and/or postdoctoral level scientists with an emphasis on environmental health laboratory sciences specific to the needs and requirements of state public health laboratories. To download a copy of the
APHL/CDC Environmental Health Traineeship/ Fellowship application, click here.
Methods and StandardsThe association and its members continue to coordinate the development of laboratory and data reporting standards with the agencies that oversee regulatory aspects of the environmental and food sectors. Look forward to an upcoming report on labortory quality practices.
Comparison of CLIA and NELAPStatistical research developed by Chuck Brokopp.
Links and Resources
The CDC's National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH)
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
TheUS Geological Survey (USGS)
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
The Trust for America's Health
The Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA)
The Association of Food and Drug Officials
National Environmental Health Association (NEHA)
The 20th Annual National Environmental Monitoring Conference (NEMC)
On the Horizon
APHL is committed to building better linkages between the public health laboratory community and the environmental health community. The association also will pursue the long-term goal of building a repository of exposure information that can be used with health outcome data and genetic testing to better understand the impact of environmental chemical exposure on human health. In addition, APHL plans to promote and expand its Environmental Health Traineeship and Fellowship Programs.
For more information, please contact:
240.485.2745