| IN THIS ISSUE:
In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention asked the National Academy of Sciences’
Institute of Medicine to review the scientific literature
regarding the relationship between moisture and mold in the
indoor environment and adverse health effects. On May 25,
the Institute issued its long-awaited final report, Damp Indoor
Spaces and Health. The report presents a number of significant
conclusions about the health impacts of moisture in homes
and other buildings and makes key recommendations on how to
minimize those impacts.
The report included findings that dampness
and moisture in homes and other buildings is a public health
problem; that the most effective way to combat mold and other
moisture-related problems is to reduce or eliminate dampness
in buildings; that there is a significant association between
damp indoor spaces and asthma attacks; and that exposure to
toxic irritants produced by mold in damp buildings is associated
with respiratory problems. The report noted that few studies
have examined effects of multiple mold toxin and chemical
exposures and whether those combined exposures may impact
health. The report also notes the fact that the term “toxic
mold” is a misnomer: mold by itself is not toxic. However,
several species of mold that grow in damp indoor spaces can
produce toxic substances that are associated with adverse
health effects.
Recommended measures include maintaining
buildings to avoid excessive dampness; conducting more research
and demonstration projects to evaluate the effectiveness of
building design, construction methods, and building operation
and maintenance on reducing or eliminating moisture problems;
maintaining and increasing public financial support for such
research and demonstration projects; and developing best practices
guidelines for the construction, renovation, and maintenance
of buildings and HVAC systems to reduce moisture problems.
The authors also stressed the need to enforce existing rules
on excessive moisture and indoor mold growth and to modify
regulations, building codes, and contracts to promote dry,
healthy homes and buildings.
Currently, HUD’s Healthy Homes
Initiative grants are the only dedicated source of funds for
the type of research and demonstration projects recommended
in the report. The Alliance and a broad coalition of national,
state, and local organizations are calling on Congress to
double funding for healthy homes grants from $10 million to
$20 million in FY 2005. The National Institutes of Health
and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
should also significantly increase investments in asthma prevention
by expanding research into how moisture and mold indoors impact
the disease’s development and the severity of asthma
attacks. For more information on the campaign to increase
healthy homes funding, see www.afhh.org/aa/aa_hh_policy_federal_funding_hhi_campaign.htm.
For a copy of the full report, visit
the National Academies Press website, at www.nap.edu/books/0309091934/html/.
On May 14, HUD released its SuperNOFA
that announces funding availability for a several competitive
grant programs, including those within the Office of Healthy
Homes and Lead Hazard Control (OHHLHC). These include Lead
Hazard Control Grants, Healthy Homes grants, Operation LEAP,
and more. The deadline for applications under the SuperNOFA
is July 13, 2004. For more details, please visit the OHHLHC
SuperNOFA website at www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/nofa04/grplead.cfm.
San Francisco took a major step to protect
children and adults from lead poisoning in late May when the
Board of Supervisors approved legislation requiring lead-safe
work practices (LSWP) inside pre-1979 buildings occupied by
renters and child care facilities. The mayor is expected to
sign the ordinance soon.
Neil Gendel, Director of the Healthy
Children Organizing Project, stated, “This legislation
is an expansion of a city ordinance enacted in 1997 prohibiting
unsafe work practices when disturbing paint on the exteriors
of all pre-1979 constructed buildings.”
The City’s Lead Hazard Reduction
Citizens Advisory Committee, created by the Board of Supervisors
in 1992, recommended the proposed legislation. The Committee’s
members include representatives of property owners, tenants,
contractors, unions, children’s health advocates, appropriate
city agencies, and others.
For more details on the ordinance and
for more information about San Francisco’s Lead Hazard
Reduction Citizens Advisory Committee, contact Neil Gendel
at 415-777-9648 or neil.gendel@consumer-action.org.
The Washington Water and Sewer Authority
(WASA) is studying two issues related to high lead levels
that have been found in the water at many residences throughout
the District since 2002. Chloramine, the chemical treatment
used in DC to control bacteria levels in drinking water, is
suspected to leach lead from old service pipes. In an experiment,
the Army Corps of Engineers switched to chlorine treatments
from early April through early May, and lead levels in the
District’s drinking water fell significantly. The Army
Corps also began adding phosphoric acid to the drinking water
supply on June 1 to further reduce lead leaching. The compound
has been shown to reduce lead levels in drinking water elsewhere
throughout in country.
WASA warns that the periodic switch to
chlorine may not be the silver bullet in solving the lead
contamination problem that has been the source of controversy
since January, and says that more research is needed to determine
the effects of a periodic infusion of chlorine into the District’s
drinking water supply. WASA points out that chlorine treatment
can also create byproducts that are linked to cancer in humans.
WASA is also studying the impact of the
110,000 water meters recently installed at homes throughout
the District. The meters, considered “lead free”
under federal standards, actually contain components with
between five and seven percent lead. WASA says it needs to
study the overall impact on the water system and indicates
that lead leaching from old lead service lines likely poses
a much greater problem. Some city leaders and environmental
organizations are calling on WASA to conduct a water meter
replacement immediately, using “enviro brass”
meters that are 99.75 percent lead-free. The cost of replacements
would likely reach tens of millions of dollars.
The U.S. House of Representatives is
poised to debate and vote on important budget process changes
in June. The changes that have been proposed would shrink
almost all domestic programs, including those that impact
health, the environment, and child welfare.
While there are three bills that could
usher in these budget process changes, only one, HR 3973,
is likely to make it to the House Floor. Budget Committee
Chair Jim Nussle and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay have
promised to bring the bill to a vote. HR 3973 would reduce
spending on discretionary domestic programs by at least $113
billion over the next ten years. If amended to include more
drastic cuts from two other budget process bills, HR 3973
could also cut up to $400 billion more from Medicaid over
the same ten-year period.
It is unlikely that the Senate will take
up any companion bill to HR 3973 by the end of this legislative
session. However, House passage is seen as an important first
step in an overall effort by some in Congress and the executive
branch to radically shrink the size of the federal government
and cut or eliminate spending for a variety of programs that
positively impact children’s health and communities
across the nation. More information on these important budget
process proposals can be found at www.cbpp.org/5-17-04bud.htm.
According to press reports in late May,
HUD has accumulated addresses of 16,000 dwellings across the
U.S. that pose lead hazards. A videotape of a departmental
briefing released to the media by a union representing HUD
employees suggested that HUD may be withholding the addresses
because of concern that the list may include federally assisted
units.
The Department says that it is not concealing
information regarding lead hazards from the public. Instead,
it claims that these properties, which were apparently identified
by health department screening programs, are part of an ongoing
enforcement investigation and cannot be released to the public
at present. The original press report is available at www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=022C6945-B084-4525-ABFC-8E42949EF5D8.
A report released by the Environmental
Working Group concludes that 13,229 Ohio children who suffer
from lead poisoning go unidentified and untested every year
in the state, a full 70 percent of the estimated 19,000 children
who have elevated blood lead levels (EBLs) in Ohio.
“Lead Astray” showed that
while a lack of testing for lead is a major problem in Ohio’s
urban areas, rural counties also fail to test more than 30
percent of their children for lead poisoning. This finding
is significant, as rural areas contain many older homes where
lead-based paint and lead dust are likely to be found. Fifty-eight
of 88 Ohio counties failed to test 90 percent or more of children
who may have EBLs.
Overall, only one in seven children statewide
is tested for lead exposure, according to the report, despite
the fact that six Ohio HMOs are prepaid for Medicaid screening
of nearly half of the state’s children who are suspected
to have EBLs. To view the full report, please visit the Lead
Astray website at www.ewg.org/reports/ohiolead/.
A researcher from the University of Alabama—Birmingham
who conducted important work on healthy homes died in May
in a tragic accident. Professor H. Kenneth Dillon was struck
and killed by a bus while crossing a street in Atlanta. He
was attending a conference at the time.
Professor Dillon had been with UAB’s
School of Public Health since 1985. He taught environmental
chemistry, air sampling, and other courses. He also worked
with the “Healthy Homes” program, which trained
Birmingham residents to monitor local homes for health hazards,
including asthma triggers, mold, and deteriorated lead-based
paint. Lynn Battle, Director of the Citizens' Lead Education
Poisoning Prevention Project in Birmingham, said that Professor
Dillon made a tremendous contribution to healthy homes research
and implementation in the greater Birmingham area, improving
living conditions for many children. He will be greatly missed.
After four years of dedicated service
as Executive Director of the Children’s Environmental
Health Network (CEHN), Rabbi Daniel Swartz will leave as of
June 4 in order to pursue other avenues of child advocacy.
His notable contributions include groundbreaking reports charting
federal performance on children’s environmental health,
successful advocacy for the renewal of funding for the national
children’s environmental health research centers, and
collaborative efforts with diverse faith, environmental justice,
and health organizations. CEHN’s Assistant Director,
Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, has agreed to serve as Interim Executive
Director. She has also been promoted to the position of Chief
Operating Officer.
CEHN is opening a search for a new Executive
Director, and the organization will release a job description
in June. For more information about the position, please contact
Lynn Goldman, Chair of the CEHN Board of Directors, at lrgoldman@mindspring.com.
More information on CEHN, its mission, and its accomplishments
can be found at www.cehn.org.
The Environmental Law Institute, with
support from the U.S. EPA, has developed a database of state
indoor air quality (IAQ) laws. Included in the database are
a wide variety of state policies addressing indoor air quality
generally, as well as laws that address specific topics such
as mold or radon.
ELI has compiled all of the state laws
in this database into a chart, which is available at www.eli.org/research/iaqdatabases2004.
On the website, you can also view smaller charts that contain
laws from the database addressing three specific types of
IAQ policies: radon, IAQ in schools, and mold.
The Regional Asthma Management and Prevention
Initiative (RAMP) and Urban Habitat are co-sponsoring the
Housing, Asthma, and Health Workshop in Oakland, California
on June 10. The workshop will cover such topics as the connection
between environmental justice, housing, asthma, and health;
building strategic alliances; and developing holistic policy
approaches to housing, health, and asthma. RSVP by Monday,
June 7. More information is available from Valerie Fuller
at Valerie@rampasthma.org
or 510-622-4445.
The Lead and Healthy Homes Grantees Conference
will be held in Orlando from June 20-23. The conference will
bring together grantees from HUD, EPA, CDC, as well as staff
from community-based organizations. A variety of issues will
be highlighted, including the latest in training, agency collaboration,
research, regulatory measures, interventions, and enforcement
related to lead and healthy homes. Contact mcady@ggadv.com
to see if spaces are available for late registration. Information
on the conference schedule is available at http://orlandomeetinginfo.com/hud/31055552.pdf.
The Alliance will be holding a healthy homes brainstorming
side session at the conference on Tuesday, June 22. The session
is tentatively scheduled to run from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and will
briefly summarize the Healthy Homes funding campaign, invite
comments on a draft national policy agenda, and report on
prospects for federal legislation. The Alliance also wants
to provide an opportunity for state and local health department
staff and community-based partners to exchange views about
needs and opportunities related to healthy homes. More details
about the session will be available at the conference.
The Annual Indoor Environmental Health
and Technologies Conference will occur in Orlando from June
23-25. The conference will include a variety of programs on
children’s health, mold assessment and remediation,
healthy homes, lead hazard control, and health education and
outreach. Information can be obtained at www.leadmoldconferences.com/04pdfs/2004IEHTnationalconf.pdf
or by calling 1-800-590-6522.
A national meeting on mold-related health
effects will take place in Washington, DC on June 28-29. The
meeting, sponsored in part by the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, will bring together experts in clinical science,
worker protection and education, and basic research to further
efforts to prevent, diagnose, and treat conditions related
to exposure to indoor mold. For more information, contact
Connie Mackay at 703-556-9222.
The Center for Science in the Public
Interest is holding its second annual conference in Washington,
DC on July 12. The conference will address corporate and political
influences on science, scientists, and public policy on health
and the environment. Topics will include the politicization
of science, the corruption of evidence-based medicine, the
suppression of government research for political purposes,
and the OMB peer review proposal. Registration information
is available at www.cspinet.org/integrity/conflictedscience_conf.html,
by writing IntegrityInScience@cspinet.org,
or by calling The Event Professionals at 301-577-6940.
The Conference on Children's Health
and the Environment will be held in Washington, DC on Sept.
11. The conference will provide information on topics including
asthma, indoor air quality, lead, mercury, and mold. For more
details, contact Nonye Harvey by phone at 202-994-1166 or
1-866-622-2431, or by E-mail at eohceu@gwumc.edu.
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