Administration
Proposes Significant Cuts
to Important Domestic Programs in FY06 Budget
On Feb. 7, the Bush Administration submitted its FY 2006
budget request to Congress, complete with cuts to or the elimination of 150
federal programs. The President’s budget proposes a cut of nearly 30%
to HUD’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, from $167 million
to $119 million. The proposed total includes $9 million for Healthy Homes and
$9 million for Operation LEAP but zeros out the $47 million in lead hazard control
grants targeted to cities with the worst lead poisoning problems. The Administration
had targeted the urban lead hazard reduction program for elimination in its
FY05 budget, but Congress restored the program.
The Administration’s decision to virtually freeze
domestic program funding levels (exclusive of homeland security) has forced
reductions in many programs that serve low-income families and distressed communities.
The President has proposed folding the Community Development Block Grant Program
(CDBG) with 17 other programs into what he calls the “Strengthening America’s
Communities Initiative.” The proposed initiative would be administered
by the Department of Commerce and would be funded at $3.7 billion; in FY05,
Congress funded CDBG at $4.7 billion. The Administration has also proposed essentially
eliminating funding for HOPE IV, a program that replaces old, substandard public
housing with new units.
Other agencies’ lead and healthy homes funding pictures
are mixed. EPA’s lead grant program funding is level with the previous
year, but its Lead Risk Reduction Program loses $445,000 in the proposal; EPA’s
environmental justice program is reduced by $1 million from FY05 Congressional
levels, but the agency’s radon program is boosted by $1.3 million. The
CDC budget request for its environmental health programs, which include childhood
lead poisoning prevention and asthma initiatives, remains at FY05 enacted levels.
In another budget-related development, the U.S. House and
Senate both announced in January that they are looking at consolidating the
thirteen existing appropriations subcommittees into ten. The subcommittees that
would be eliminated include the VA-HUD-Independent Agencies Subcommittee. This
would have the effect of scattering important constituencies across the remaining
subcommittees. Senator Kit Bond (R-MO), chair of the Senate VA-HUD Subcommittee,
has already announced his opposition to the reorganization proposal.
EPA Orders
Dow to Stop Marketing Dursban for Residential Uses
In late December 2004, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) ordered Dow Chemical Co. to cease sales and marketing of its controversial
pesticide Dursban for all residential uses, including applications against termites.
Earlier in the month, when some EPA staff hinted that the Agency and the Bush
Administration were considering extending the Dursban phaseout deadline, one
agency official noted that EPA may revisit the Dursban ban later this year.
Dursban is the trade name of a chemical known as chlorpyrifos,
a pesticide widely used indoors prior to 2002 to combat cockroaches, ants, termites,
and other insect pests. An organophosphate, Dursban has been linked to developmental
and neurological damage in young children and animals, and it can also hamper
fetal growth. High-toxicity pesticides like Dursban pose especially high risks
when used indoors, as they can reach high concentrations and do not readily
break down. Pesticide residues can also contaminate furniture, bedding, toys,
and house dust, allowing the chemicals to be easily ingested and inhaled.
Until the ban was fully implemented on December 31, homebuilders
and contractors applied millions of gallons of Dursban to new home construction
in an effort to combat termites. However, recent research has shown that borates
that are applied directly to exposed wood during home construction are a far
healthier alternative that may be more effective than Dursban. Chemicals like
Dursban are applied to the soil before foundations and supporting wood structures
are laid and offer about five years of protection from termites. Borates, on
the other hand, soak directly into the wood and can remain effective for the
life of the structure. Borates are not highly toxic to people or pets, and they
are also effective in combating other structural pests such as carpenter ants,
increasing their cost-effectiveness over Dursban and similar high-toxicity pesticides.
The use of borates and other alternatives to control termites
and other pests are part of an overall pest-fighting strategy known as integrated
pest management (IPM). IPM utilizes a variety of methods to combat pests, such
as installing physical barriers to pest entry, removing sources of food and
water, and using low-volatility, lower-toxicity pesticides.
Maryland
Governor Proposes Legislation Targeting Lead Poisoning
Governor Robert Ehrlich of Maryland proposed legislation
on January 18 that would require earlier action by the state and by landlords
after a child has been lead poisoned. State legislators were cautiously optimistic,
but they said that the effectiveness of the legislation would be determined
by how much money the governor devotes to enforcing the stricter requirements.
Ehrlich’s proposed legislation would lower the blood
lead level threshold at which the state notifies a landlord of the need to address
lead-based paint hazards in a property. This action level would be set at 10
micrograms per deciliter, down from the current level of 15 µg/dL. Landlords
would also be required to offer money for medical treatment and possible relocation
at a blood lead level of 15 µg/dL, a drop from the current standard of
20 µg/dL. The governor’s office estimated that the proposal could
double the number of Maryland children receiving such benefits.
Prevention experts encouraged the governor and the Maryland
legislature to explore primary prevention by testing housing for lead hazards
and controlling lead hazards before children are even exposed to deteriorated
lead-based paint and lead dust. More than 400,000 Maryland housing units were
built before 1950, putting them at high risk of containing lead-based paint.
Advocates suggested that committing significant resources to making this housing
lead-safe would go far in helping the governor reach the national goal of eliminating
childhood lead poisoning by 2010.
Though Governor Ehrlich’s proposal signals a commitment
to combating lead poisoning, his state budget proposes to eliminate $375,000
in lead-based paint enforcement funds for the City of Baltimore while shifting
only $147,000 of that money to the Maryland Department of the Environment for
similar enforcement statewide. Baltimore-area legislators and health officials
decried the move, noting that the city relied on state funds to pursue enforcement
and asserting that $147,000 to combat deteriorated lead-based paint statewide
is sorely inadequate.
A central Harlem asthma education and intervention initiative
has caught the attention of federal officials, earning praise in a Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention report issued on January 14.
The Harlem Children’s Zone Asthma Initiative, which
started in 2002, began with aggressive testing of almost every child in a 60-block
radius, diagnosing over 31 percent of children under the age of 13 with asthma.
Once children with the disease were identified, the initiative kicked into full
gear, combining the use of medications, family education, and multifaceted indoor
environmental interventions to reduce the need for trips to the emergency room
and nearly eliminating the need for overnight asthma-related hospitalizations
in the target area.
The program focuses on personalized medical care that educates
children with asthma, but also reaches beyond the patient to teach their immediate
family, other relatives, and teachers about both the disease and what can be
done to reduce asthma triggers in home and school environments. The initiative
embodies the principle that medication and education alone are not enough, and
that an asthmatic’s environment must also be improved.
To help the children and families enrolled in the program,
the initiative schedules regular home visits from doctors and nurses and also
assigns attorneys to assist people in dealing with housing conditions that contribute
to severe asthma attacks: cockroach and rodent infestations, dust mites, substandard
heating and cooling conditions, and mold and excessive moisture.
The initiative operates out of Harlem Hospital Center,
which hopes to continue the program for at least ten more years. Officials with
the initiative calculate that the program costs around $1,700 per child. However,
the program is cost-effective in the long run because it has been so effective
in keeping asthmatic children out of the hospital, where costs can average more
than $4,500 per night. Asthma in children under the age of 18 costs the United
States $3.2 billion per year and is the leading chronic cause of school absenteeism
in the nation.
On January 13, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona renewed
his office’s warning on radon at the Surgeon General’s Workshop
on Healthy Indoor Environment in Bethesda, Maryland. The Surgeon General’s
warning came in the form of a national health advisory.
The advisory urges all Americans to take the threat of
radon seriously and to take immediate action to prevent this colorless, odorless,
tasteless radioactive gas from entering their homes and building up to dangerous
levels. Radon exposure produces no immediate symptoms, though at levels above
4 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L) of air, the gas can cause lung cancer. The EPA
and the Surgeon General estimate that more than 20,000 Americans die each year
from radon-related lung cancer. Those who smoke in homes with high radon levels
are at an even greater risk of developing and dying from the disease.
While some areas of the country are at greater risk from
high indoor radon levels, the gas can be found in every state in the nation.
All residential owners should have their properties tested for radon regularly.
Simple test kits are available nationwide, and well-established ventilation
techniques that can fix radon problems are generally affordable.
CDC Advisory
Committee Urges a Housing-Based Approach
to Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s
Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention (ACCLPP) published
in Fall 2004 a document recommending a housing-based approach to primary prevention
of childhood lead poisoning. The Advisory Committee believes that implementing
the recommendations included in Preventing Lead Exposure in Young Children:
A Housing-Based Approach to Primary Prevention of Lead Poisoning will accelerate
progress toward achieving the national goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning
by 2010.
As primary prevention efforts by state and local childhood
lead poisoning prevention programs (CLPPPs) increase, the Advisory Committee
highlights eight housing-based elements for a comprehensive primary prevention
program: 1) identify high-risk areas, populations, and activities associated
with housing-based lead exposure; 2) use local data and expertise to expand
resources and motivate action for primary prevention; 3) develop strategies
and ensure services for creating lead-safe housing; 4) develop and codify specifications
for lead-safe housing treatments; 5) strengthen regulatory infrastructure necessary
to create lead-safe housing; 6) engage in collaborative plans and programs with
housing and other appropriate agencies; 7) evaluate and redesign existing CLPPP
elements to achieve primary prevention goals while ensuring adequate secondary
interventions; and 8) evaluate primary prevention progress and identify research
opportunities.
HUD
Study Examines Health and Durability Threats
from Excessive Indoor Moisture
Excessive indoor moisture has been linked to a variety
of health problems, it causes unsightly mold to grow inside homes and apartments,
and it can significantly and negatively impact the durability and structural
integrity of many different kinds of buildings. To examine how excessive moisture
impacts the nation’s housing stock, the Partnership for Advancing Technology
in Housing (PATH) sponsored a study of excessive moisture problems.
PATH, a public-private partnership that includes HUD and
a number of other public and private agencies and organizations, concluded that
experts regard excessive moisture as the single greatest threat to the durability
and performance of the nation’s housing stock as well as causing unhealthy
living conditions. The scope of the study included moisture problems in single-family
homes of all ages, though many findings also apply to multifamily housing.
The study’s report, Building Moisture and Durability:
Past, Present and Future Work, describes three goals that set the framework
for future research into excessive moisture and housing: build improved knowledge
about the nature, extent, and implications of moisture problems; pursue a variety
of methods to prevent and detect excessive moisture before it leads to significant
mold growth and high remediation costs; and take greater advantage of the potential
of moisture modeling tools.
A study published in the January 2005 edition of Environmental
Health Perspectives concludes that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)
can lower student test scores in problem-solving, reading, and math. The study
used the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III),
conducted from 1988 to 1994, to examine links between student performance on
standardized tests and exposure to ETS.
The researchers involved in the study found that children
exposed to the lowest levels of ETS scored seven points higher on average in
reading and math tests than their peers who were exposed to the highest levels
of ETS. The lowest-exposed children also performed better on reasoning tests.
The study concludes that roughly 33 million American children
are at risk for reading problems caused by exposure to ETS, demonstrated by
learning gaps linked to ETS exposure that did not disappear when researchers
eliminated potential confounding factors such as race, parents’ income,
and parents’ education levels.
ETS, or “secondhand smoke,” contains 200 toxic
substances. ETS has already been linked to cancer in nonsmokers, low birth weights,
and fetal development problems. The full text of the study is available at http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2004/7210/7210.pdf.
More information about ETS can be found by visiting www.lungusa.org.
Chronic
Lead Exposure Linked to Mental Decline in Elderly Men
Long-term low-level exposure to lead has been linked to
mental decline and lower scores on a leading test of cognitive abilities in
elderly men, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of
Epidemiology. The researchers noted that the type of mental decline caused by
lead is often a precursor to dementia.
The study was the first longitudinal analysis of the impact
of chronic low-level lead exposure on the cognitive abilities of older men.
Researchers measured the amount of lead in the knee and shin bones of 466 men.
Those with the highest levels of lead in their knee bones earned the lowest
scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a standard test used to
detect early signs of dementia.
Researchers looked at bone lead levels rather than blood
lead levels, as bone lead is a better measure of long-term lead exposure. Even
after taking confounding factors such as age and education into account, the
scientists found that every increase of 20 micrograms of lead per gram of bone
mineral was linked to a quarter-point decrease in MMSE scores.
Many of the toxic effects of lead to both adults and children
have been well-known for decades. Lead damages a child’s developing brain
and can cause learning and behavioral difficulties. In adults, lead can cause
high blood pressure, kidney damage, central nervous system damage, peripheral
artery disease, and has been linked to premature death.
British
Study Highlights Link Between Wheezing and Cleaning Products
The January 2005 edition of the medical journal Thorax
reports on a study conducted by experts at the University of Bristol in Great
Britain that concludes that prenatal exposure to some cleaning products in the
home is associated with chronic wheezing in young children. Chronic wheezing
is one symptom of childhood asthma.
University of Bristol researchers examined the effects
on children of a variety of common household chemicals, including bleach, carpet
cleaners, and paint stripper. They found that the children born into families
that used the most cleaning products were twice as likely to suffer from persistent
wheezing as those born into households that used the least amount of such chemicals.
The experts warned that exposure to household cleaners after birth could also
be a factor in chronic wheezing.
The study was longitudinal and tracked a statistically
significant sample size of children, the first study of links between household
chemicals and wheezing to do so. When other factors, such as parental smoking,
family history of asthma, and excessive moisture, were taken into account, the
link between the cleaners and wheezing remained.
The eleven most common chemicals used by households enrolled
in the study were disinfectants, bleach, carpet cleaners, window cleaners, aerosol
sprays, air fresheners of all types, paint stripper, turpentine, dry cleaning
fluid, paint or varnish, and pesticides.
Dr. Matt Hallsworth of Asthma UK noted that evidence is
mounting that environmental exposures in the womb may influence the development
of asthma in young children and said that the Bristol study shows that researchers,
doctors, policy makers, and the public should seriously consider indoor air
quality and how it may impact children’s respiratory health.
Rural
Minority Communities Hit Hard by Substandard Housing
Housing conditions for rural minorities are often worse
than for any other population in the United States, and rural minorities are
more likely than others to live in substandard and cost-burdened housing. These
are some of the conclusions reached by Race, Place and Housing: Housing Conditions
in Rural Minority Counties, a report issued in December 2004 by the Housing
Assistance Council.
Rural minority counties are defined as those rural counties
with a specific racial or ethnic minority population of one-third or more in
1980, 1990, and 2000. There are 304 such counties in the U.S. These counties
tend to be less densely populated and more isolated than other counties, and
their residents experience poverty at a higher rate than other rural residents,
with close to 25 percent defined as “poor.” Housing values in these
counties are low, though many families living are still cost-burdened. The housing
conditions in these counties are also more likely to be defined as “substandard,”
exposing residents to health hazards such as deteriorated lead-based paint,
excessive moisture, and pest infestations.
The report stresses that increased resources and capacity
are needed to address the poor housing conditions that plague such counties
and that more research is needed to more fully assess the needs and possible
future outlooks for these communities. The publication also urges states and
counties to continue efforts to address housing and community development needs
in these communities while taking cultural, economic, and historical realities
into account. The full text of the report is available online at www.ruralhome.org/pubs/RacePlaceandHousing/index.htm.
HUD Seeks New
Director of Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) announced in early January that it is seeking to hire a new Director of
its Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control (OHHLHC). HUD officially
opened the application to “all qualified persons,” rather than restricting
eligibility to only current HUD or federal employees. The Director of OHHLHC
is responsible for providing vision and leadership on lead safety and healthy
homes issues, overseeing several grant programs, and enforcing federal policies
and regulations, including lead hazard disclosure and HUD’s lead-safe
housing rule. The deadline to apply for the position is February 28. To view
the job vacancy listing, see www.afhh.org/res/Alliance%20Alert_files/OHHLHC_Director_Position_Vacancy.pdf.
Funding Opportunities
The National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences (NIEHS) and its parent agency, the National Institutes of Health, are
calling for proposals for Community-Based Participatory Research Grants. These
projects should further the goal of reducing the burden of environmentally associated
diseases and health conditions by 1) providing the scientific basis for understanding
the impact of the environment on human health; 2) translating this information
into prevention and intervention strategies; 3) evaluating the efficacy of prevention
and intervention strategies; and 4) communicating the results to the public
and improving public health. All projects must be conducted in communities and
must allow community members, affected persons, and other key stakeholders the
opportunity to be full participants in each phase of the project, including
grant proposal development. FY 2005 grant proposals are due May 17, 2005. More
details are available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-05-026.html#PartI.
Upcoming Conferences
The Indoor Environmental Health & Technologies Conference
and the Lead and Healthy Homes Grantees Conference will be held as a joint conference
in New Orleans, April 4-7, 2005. The conference will examine new findings in
the environmental health field; the need to close the gap between research findings
and formulating public policies; available resources on children’s health
and the environment; collaboration between public agencies and community groups;
primary prevention strategies in housing, schools,
and daycare facilities; low-cost lead hazard control methods; funding opportunities
apart from federal grants; updates on state and federal legislative efforts
that can impact the future of lead hazard control and healthy homes programs;
and more. For more information, visit www.leadmoldconferences.com
or call the conference hotline at 1-800-590-6522.
The Center for Civic Partnerships
will host the Healthy Cities and Smart Growth: Planning for Healthier Communities
conference on April 21 and 22 in Berkeley, CA. The conference will explore themes
such as the built environment and health, community growth and change, community
livability and social equity, and resource development. For more information,
see www.civicpartnerships.org/default.asp?id=315
or call 916-646-8680.
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