High Home
Heating Costs Could Endanger Low-Income Americans
Doctors are warning that this winter’s projected
home heating costs—an average of $1,078 for families who use natural gas
heat—could endanger the lives of millions of low-income families across
America. The American College of Emergency Physicians said in November that
when home heating costs rise to unaffordable levels, families take steps to
attempt to stay warm more cheaply, such as sealing off windows with plastic,
running space heaters, and using ovens and stoves in an attempt to heat their
homes. These alternative attempts to keep homes warm can create fire hazards
and cause dramatic increases in carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations indoors,
leading to headaches, fatigue, disorientation, coma, and in many cases, death.
Throughout Fall 2005, despite the leadership of Senators
Jack Reed (D-RI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and the Northeast-Midwest Coalition,
Congress repeatedly failed to approve supplemental increases to the Low-Income
Home Energy Assistance Program, commonly known as LIHEAP. Congress’ inaction
could keep many low-income families from receiving heating assistance, which
in turn could cause those families to attempt to keep warm in unsafe and unhealthy
ways, increasing the risk of sickness and death from CO poisoning.
When faced with high home heating bills, low and even middle-income
families can also be forced to choose between heat and other essentials, including
food, proper clothing, prescription medications, and critical medical care.
Insufficient heat can also exacerbate asthma, lead to water condensation problems,
and can in extreme cases cause hypothermia, especially in senior citizens.
To guard against the dangers of carbon monoxide, property
owners should install carbon monoxide detectors on every floor of the home,
and landlords should install detectors in every unit in each building they own.
All heating appliances fueled with natural gas, heating oil, propane, and wood
should be properly maintained and kept in good repair, and all appliances not
fueled by electricity, including stoves and ovens, should be vented to the outside.
Utilities can also help by working out payment plans for low-income families
or forgiving heating bills for low-income households altogether, and hardware
stores can assist by donating carbon monoxide detectors.
Alliance-Sponsored
Panel Explores Health and Housing After Hurricanes
On December 5, a panel of health and housing experts sponsored
by the Alliance presented their thoughts and perspectives on issues related
to health and housing after hurricanes. Specifically, panelists from Louisiana
ACORN, ACORN Housing, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the Local Initiatives
Support Corporation (LISC), and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition
(NCRC) highlighted ongoing and still-needed efforts to address damage to housing
and threats to public health posed by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.
Through much of the discussion, the panelists highlighted
New Orleans as an example of important efforts by the nonprofit community and
the continued failure of the federal government to marshal an adequate response
to the disaster. Roughly 75 percent of New Orleans’ population has yet
to return home, more than three months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita overwhelmed
its levee system and caused massive flooding in much of the city. The small
population that has returned to the city are able to make many decisions about
rebuilding and rehabilitation, while low-income families and communities of
color are left out of the decision making process. According to the panelists,
property owners are not giving sufficient attention to recovery of rental housing
lost to the hurricanes, but instead contemplating unaffordable condominiums
and other projects, an approach that threatens to permanently shut out a large
portion of New Orleans’ residents.
Sheila Crowley, President of the National Low Income Housing
Coalition, stressed the importance of the continued lack of coherent federal
response to the disaster. She stated that the assistance people are receiving
from the federal government depends on where people have relocated, and finding
these people has become a difficult task because the federal government has
not used any sort of centralized data collection to ensure that everyone is
receiving assistance to which they are entitled. She also noted that Congress
is essentially ignoring the need to re-house the displaced population of New
Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas in safe, healthy, affordable communities.
Crowley said that the outcome of this overall lack of action will likely be
a new wave of homelessness on a scale not seen in the United States since the
1980s.
The panel discussed work that is being done by the nonprofit
sector. ACORN and its partners are gearing up to perform cleaning and rehabilitation
on 1,000 homes in New Orleans by March 2006. ACORN anticipates the cost of this
work to be $1,500 to $2,500 per home, and expects to demonstrate that, except
in the most devastated areas of the city, residents can return and bring their
homes into livable condition at a relatively low cost.
LISC is also active on the ground in New Orleans and elsewhere
in the Gulf. The group is looking to work with local partners to establish a
viable vacant properties redevelopment program that will be fair and equitable
and that will address the needs for new affordable housing in the city. LISC
has also brought in a group of experts who worked on response to Hurricane Andrew
in southern Florida in the early 1990s to help with assessment and planning
throughout the Gulf Region. LISC has also pledged to focus its work in areas
outside of New Orleans, including Alabama, Mississippi, and East Texas.
National
Radon Summit Explores Strategies to Address Deadly Gas
On December 2, the Alliance co-sponsored a national leadership
summit on radon in housing, in conjunction with the American Lung Association,
the Children’s Environmental Health Network, and the National Safety Council.
Attendees included representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), state and local government, radon measurement and mitigation professionals,
and public interest organizations. The conference aimed to reinvigorate awareness
and advocacy work around radon resting and mitigation in U.S. housing.
Dr. William Field from the University of Iowa’s School
of Public Health gave an overview on the state of the science, noting that radon
is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers, and accounts for 21,000
deaths a year. The latest research studies from Europe and the US continue to
confirm the direct connection between residential exposure to radon and lung
cancer. EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, Bill Wehrum,
expressed his agency’s commitment to reinvigorating its efforts to protect
human health by reducing radon risks.
Summit attendees identified key elements of a national
strategy to generate attention and action to reduce radon hazards in US homes,
including rental and multifamily homes. They agreed to work together to fully
develop and implement the strategy. The group decided to first address these
near-term priorities: meeting with EPA to elevate the issue within the agency,
working to integrate radon safety into green building standards, and pushing
HUD to meet its legal obligations to prevent radon exposure in federally assisted
housing.
At the beginning of this year, the Surgeon General issued
a second health advisory on radon, urging everyone to “test your home
for radon every two years, and retest any time you move, make structural changes
to your home, or occupy a previously unused level of a house. If you have a
radon level of 4 pCi/L or more, take steps to remedy the problem as soon as
possible.” In June of this year, EPA announced a new strategy to prevent
cancer deaths from radon.
Experts
Advise IPM to Combat Post-Katrina Fly Infestation
Insect control experts are advising residents of New Orleans
to use a variety of integrated pest management (IPM) techniques to combat an
invasion of small flying insects that have infested homes throughout the city
in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The insects, which look like a cross between a fruit fly
and a gnat, are known as the phorid fly. They are attracted to places with a
high level of moisture and an abundance of decaying organic materials. This
habitat was created on a large scale throughout New Orleans as homes were swamped
and food spoiled due to a lack of electricity following the storm. The insects
have entered homes through openings caused by the hurricane, through broken
windows, and through empty p-traps in sink and shower drains. The p-traps normally
hold a small amount of water to block sewer gases and insects from entering
homes, but this water has likely evaporated as drains went unused for months.
Non-toxic sticky traps that attract the flies using pheromones
are a good option to control insects that are already swarming the home. To
keep future flies from invading, residents have been advised to run their water
to refill p-traps in drains, to remove all items that cannot be dried, to eliminate
all sources of rotting organic waste both in and around the home, and to repair
any holes, cracks, torn screens, and broken windows.
Pesticide sprays are not recommended to combat phorid flies.
Sprays will simply disperse the flies, which will return once the pesticide
has dissipated. Spraying pesticides in the home can also exacerbate asthma,
cause eye and throat irritation, and contaminate a variety of surfaces.
Congress
Passes FY06 Budgets for Lead Paint, Healthy Homes, and Weatherization Programs
In November, Congress passed appropriations bills containing
the FY 2006 budgets for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
and energy efficiency programs operated by the Department of Energy.
The bill funding HUD cuts appropriations to the Office
of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control by $15 million dollars from FY05 levels,
to $152 million. Of those funds, $76.9 million are designated for lead hazard
control grants, $9.5 million for healthy homes grants, $8.8 million for Operation
LEAP, $8.8 million for technical assistance, and $48 million for lead hazard
control demonstration grants in cities with the most pressing lead hazard problems.
Reportedly, HUD will include some $22 million in ungranted funds from its 2005
grant cycle, including $4 million for Operation LEAP, in its 2006 lead hazard
control and healthy homes grant pool.
The Energy and Water Development appropriations bill provides
$240 million to the Weatherization Assistance Program, an increase of $12 million
over last year. Though this program focuses on increasing energy efficiency
in homes, weatherization work can incorporate lead-safe work practices, window
replacement, and other measures that can make homes healthier.
Bipartisan
Group of Senators Introduces Lead Hazard Control Tax Incentive Bill
Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Mike DeWine (R-OH),
Barack Obama (D-IL) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) introduced legislation on November
18 that provides a federal income tax credit for safely removing lead-based
paint hazards from homes and rental units. The bipartisan bill, the Home Lead
Safety Tax Credit Act of 2005 (S 2053), would provide a significant financial
incentive for property owners to ensure that homes are free of lead hazards
that can harm children.
This bill would provide a tax credit for 50 percent of
the lead hazard control costs paid by the taxpayer, up to a maximum of $3,000
for lead abatement and $1,000 for interim control measures, which could include
window replacement, safe repainting, and specialized renovation work practices
to reduce lead hazards. All work must be performed using lead-safe work practices.
To be eligible for the tax credit, housing units must have
been built before 1960, house a child under six or a woman of childbearing age,
and shelter residents who each have an income of less than 185 percent of the
poverty line.
To read the full text of the Home Lead Safety Tax Credit
Act, see http://thomas.loc.gov.
Under “Search Bill Text” near the top of the page, type in “S
2053”, select the “Bill Number” option immediately
below the search box, and click on the “SEARCH” button.
EPA
Promises Remodeling and Renovation Rule by End of Year
In a letter sent November 7, the EPA promised Senator Barack
Obama (D-IL) that the agency would complete by December 30 its draft rule to
protect people from lead-based paint exposures during remodeling and renovation.
The letter was in response to Obama’s earlier pledge to block all EPA
nominees until he received a firm commitment from the agency on a timetable
for the rule.
Under federal law, EPA was charged
with completing a remodeling and renovation rule by 1996. In March of this year,
over 130 organizations and individuals called on EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson
to cancel a voluntary remodeling and renovation program, which was very small
and had no funding (see www.afhh.org/aa/aa_alert_LSWP_sign_on_EPA.htm
for details). The advocates asked Johnson and EPA to return to formal rulemaking
to produce an enforceable rule as required by law. In May, EPA cancelled the
voluntary program and pledged to produce a draft rule. Its November letter to
Obama was EPA’s first solid commitment to a timeline.
North
Carolina County Mandates Universal Childhood Blood Lead Screening
In late November, Guilford County in North Carolina mandated
universal childhood blood lead screening. The Guilford County Board of Health
passed a local regulation for universal blood lead testing for all children
at least once, and ideally twice, at one and two years of age. Guilford County
includes the city of Greensboro.
The Board also voted to lower the blood lead level of concern
in Guilford County to 8µg/dL and to require the health department to conduct
hazard investigations and property owners to remediate lead hazards if a child’s
blood tests at 10µg/dL or more.
For more information, contact Alyson Best at the Guilford
County Department of Public Health, at abest@co.guilford.nc.us.
Cockroach
Allergen Common in U.S. Households
The presence of cockroach allergen is common in households
throughout the United States, with 13 percent of homes harboring some level
of cockroach allergen, according a study published by Environmental Health
Perspectives Online in November. The researchers who conducted the study
also found that ten percent of homes contained enough cockroach allergen to
pose problems to asthmatics, and that higher levels of cockroach allergen were
found in high-rise apartments, urban settings, homes built before 1940, and
households will incomes under $20,000 per year.
To combat the presence of cockroaches and their resultant
health problems, communities, property owners, and residents must work together
to provide sanitary, high-quality affordable housing that is kept in good repair.
Communities should provide incentives for property owners to use integrated
pest management techniques to prevent cockroaches from invading homes, and to
combat infestations that already exist. Sealing holes, cracks, and other openings
can keep cockroaches outside, and eliminating sources of food and water will
make homes unattractive to the insects. Lower-toxicity baits, traps, and boric
acid can also be used against cockroaches already present. Insecticide sprays,
bug bombs, and similar methods should never be used on cockroaches, as they
leave dangerous residues that can harm children and their families, and they
are ineffective because they simply scatter the roaches, which return as soon
as the pesticide dissipates.
New Research
Indicates that Lead May Harm the Immune System
Although lead is a well-known human health hazard, researchers
at the University of Rochester Medical Center have discovered a new aspect of
how it may work in mice to harm the function of T-cells, which regulate the
body’s immune response to bacteria and viruses. The researchers’
study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was published in the September
1 edition of the journal Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology.
“Our research shows there may be additional long-term
health threats,” said Professor Michael McCabe, Jr. “Lead appears
to disrupt the immune system’s checks and balances, which must be in place
if we are to successfully fight off pathogens. Our continuing research is aimed
at discovering how lead upsets the balance of cells charged with protecting
us.”
Graduate student David G. Farrer, of the Department of
Environment Medicine, established that T-cell function was targeted by lead.
Farrer also has shown that another crucial immune system cell—myeloid
suppressors cells, which control runaway immune responses—may also be
disrupted by lead exposure in mice.
The next step is to understand how this applies to humans.
Already, scientists know that lead is toxic to the nervous system and certain
regions of the brain. This latest research underscores the burden lead may pose
to many organ systems, McCabe said.
New
Asthma Trigger Management Education Guidelines for Doctors and Nurses
The National Environmental Education and Training Foundation
issued guidelines, “Environmental Management of Pediatric Asthma: Guidelines
for Health Care Providers,” on November 3 that will assist doctors and
nurses in providing environmental management of asthma to their patients.
The guidelines are designed to help pediatric doctors and
nurses advise families about possible environmental interventions to help reduce
or eliminate asthma triggers for children. The role of environmental triggers
of asthma is well recognized and has been included in the NIH, National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute, National Asthma Education and Prevention Program
Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma. Research, including the
Inner-City Asthma Study, has shown that moderate-cost environmental interventions
do decrease asthma triggers and result in reduced symptoms and fewer asthma
attacks.
Despite the success of environmental management of asthma,
pediatric medical and nursing education currently lacks the environmental health
content necessary to prepare pediatric health care professionals to prevent,
recognize, and manage diseases like asthma that are related to environmental
exposures. The guidelines seek to fill that vacuum.
The guidelines have been endorsed by the American Academy
of Pediatrics, the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, the
Association of Academic Health Centers, and more than a dozen other organizations.
The full text of the guidelines is available at www.neetf.org/Health/asthma.htm.
Prevention Institute
Releases THRIVE Toolkit to Address Health Disparities
The Prevention Institute released a report in Fall 2004
announcing the availability of an updated version of a toolkit it produced earlier
to address health disparities throughout the United States. The toolkit, known
as THRIVE (Toolkit for Health and Resilience in Vulnerable Environments), seeks
to help communities improve health outcomes and reduce disparities experienced
by racial and ethnic minorities. It provides a framework for community members,
coalitions, public health practitioners, and local policy makers to identify
factors associated with poor health outcomes, such as substandard housing conditions,
and to take action to remedy the disparities.
EPA
Launches Children’s Environmental Health Database
In early November, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) launched a searchable database, called TEACH (Toxicity and Exposure Assessment
for Children’s Health), with over 1,400 references to chemicals that have
the potential to affect children’s environmental health. The database
is designed to improve the information base related to children’s environmental
health risks “by providing a listing and summary of scientific literature
applicable to children’s health risks due to chemical exposure.”
TEACH features a list of 16 different chemicals,
including arsenic, vinyl chloride, and several pesticides. The database is available
at www.epa.gov/teach/index.html.
Upcoming Conferences
The Ohio Department of Health is sponsoring its 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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