HUD Inspector
General Confirms Breakdown in Lead Safety and Healthy Homes Grants Process
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s
(HUD) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued an interim audit report on
May 16 detailing serious failures by the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard
Control (OHHLHC) in its FY 2004 grant administration process. The OIG issued
the report before completing its full audit because it found significant conditions
that warrant immediate management attention.
In the report, the OIG found that OHHLHC inappropriately
awarded its FY04 grants. While the OIG’s full audit continues to delve
more deeply into the problems, the OIG recommends that the Department “take
immediate action to ensure the FY 2005 grant award process is completed according
to the notice of funding availability requirements and HUD’s established
grant processing procedures.”
As part of its preliminary audit, the OIG reviewed seven
of the more than 200 grant applications received in the FY04 cycle. It found
errors in the award process for all seven, including errors that caused four
applicants either to receive an award they were not entitled to or to lose an
award they should have received. Specifically, two ineligible applicants received
grant awards totaling $5 million, one applicant was awarded $957,900 for a grant
that was not properly supported, and one applicant was denied a grant of $365,736
that it should have received.
The OIG said that in large part, these problems occurred
because HUD and OHHLHC established a deadline of September 30, 2004, to process
and award the grants without having an effective process in place to do so.
The OIG report states, “To meet this deadline, the Office of Healthy Homes
and its contractor did not always follow established procedures in evaluating
and scoring the grant applications. Specifically, the Office of Healthy Homes
(1) did not ensure all of the contractor’s staff was properly trained,
(2) did not maintain a proper log to track when applications were received,
(3) did not ensure the contractor performed appropriate initial reviews and
evaluation of the grant applications, (4) did not perform adequate quality assurance
reviews of the contractor’s work, and (5) negotiated contracts after the
grants were executed.”
The OIG reports that the contractor “admitted up-front
that they had a limited capacity to carry out the required activities”—and
that only 18 of the 30 contract reviewers received training.
The OIG’s interim report confirms concerns raised
last year by the Alliance for Healthy Homes, other organizations, and some Senators
and Representatives about systemic flaws in the 2004 award process. (See www.afhh.org/aa/aa_policy_federal_agencies_request_for_IG_Invest.pdf
for the Alliance’s October 2004 complaint and request for an OIG investigation.)
The full text of the OIG interim report can be found at www.hud.gov/oig/ig530002.pdf.
On May 26, the Washington Post reported the attempted firings
of two OHHLHC staff in apparent retaliation for their complaints about the contractor
mentioned in the interim report. Former Acting Director of OHHLHC Joseph Smith
served termination notices on Peter Ashley and Zuleika Morales before Smith
was transferred to another office within HUD. On May 27, new Acting Director
Michael Hill rescinded both termination notices.
Don Ryan Bids
Farewell, Alliance Launches National Search for New Executive Director
Don Ryan, who helped found the Alliance for Healthy Homes
(formerly the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning) 15 years ago and who
has been its Executive Director ever since, stepped down at the end of May.
Eileen Quinn, formerly the Alliance’s Deputy Director, is now Interim
Director as the organization seeks a new permanent Executive Director over the
coming months. See the Executive Director Position
Announcement near the end of this issue for more details.
Don not only “invented” the Alliance (with
a few like-minded pioneers), he also guided the organization through several
important transformations. Beginning as a primarily inside-the-Beltway organization
working on federal policy, Don and the Alliance helped craft Title X, the 1992
federal lead poisoning prevention law, and played a dominant role in shaping
the various federal regulations and policies that flowed from this landmark
law. This legislation was the engine driving the shift to primary prevention
that has occurred in the past decade.
During the late-1990s, as the key lead poisoning policy
battles shifted to the state and local level, the Alliance worked to build strong
relationships with local advocates, health departments, and housing agencies.
In particular, Alliance staff made it a priority to work more effectively with
community-based partners.
Along the way, the Alliance helped “invent”
many other things we take for granted today: Lead-Safe Work Practices; the Lead
Sampling Technician discipline, “clean” EPA standards that allow
any individual with proper training to identify a lead hazard, the HUD Healthy
Homes grants program, and “results-oriented enforcement” of the
federal lead disclosure law. The Alliance helped protect HUD’s lead-safe
housing rule from challenge, win significant increases in federal funding for
lead safety and healthy homes, and accelerate the global phase-out of leaded
gasoline. Working closely with local leaders and other Alliance staff, Don championed
community-based leveraging strategies, including the Community Environmental
Health Resource Center (CEHRC), which developed a new generation of easy-to-use
tools to empower community members to document lead and other health hazards
in housing as a tool for organizing and advocacy. This past year, under Don’s
leadership, the Alliance highlighted the breakdown in HUD’s grants review
process and the need for stronger national leadership.
During the past 3 years, Don helped guide another significant,
two-dimensional transformation of the Alliance: broadening of our mission beyond
lead poisoning prevention to addressing broader health issues related to substandard
and low-income housing, and a still greater emphasis on providing practical
tools and support for community-based advocates across the country.
The Alliance salutes Don’s vision, leadership, and
creativity—and just as importantly, his passion, optimism, and persistence.
He leaves the Alliance as a strong organization with a proven track record of
accomplishment—and full of ideas about how to continue steady progress
to protect all children from lead and other health hazards in their homes. The
Alliance wishes Don the best in his future endeavors.
U.S. Supreme
Court Says Pesticide Makers Can be Sued for Damaging Property and Endangering
Consumers
On April 27, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark 7-2
decision allowing consumers to sue manufacturers for property damage and other
harms caused by the use of pesticides. Though the case in question, Bates v.
Dow AgroSciences LLC, involved Texas peanut farmers whose crops were destroyed
when they used Dow’s Strongarm herbicide, the Court’s opinion leaves
the door open for a variety of citizen suits against pesticide makers for a
number of harms, including poisonings and illnesses stemming from the application
of pesticides in the home.
Dow and the Bush Administration argued that the Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) shields pesticide companies
from lawsuits. They based this conclusion on their claim that the law preempts
any state action against the companies, including state-based court decisions
and jury verdicts. The majority of the Court disagreed, saying that FIFRA only
preempts state actions that would be significantly different from regulations
and restrictions imposed by the federal government through the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).
The Court admonished Dow and the Bush Administration, saying,
“Dow and the United States exaggerate the disruptive effects of using
[state-based] common-law suits to enforce the prohibition against misbranding.
FIFRA has prohibited inaccurate representations and inadequate warnings since
its enactment in 1947…. We have been pointed to no evidence that…tort
suits led to a ‘crazy-quilt’ of FIFRA standards or otherwise created
any real hardship for manufacturers or for EPA.”
Justice John Paul Stevens authored the Court’s majority
opinion and was joined by Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony
Kennedy, Sandra Day O’Connor, David Souter, and Chief Justice William
Rehnquist. Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia filed a dissent in part.
The Court’s decision is available at www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/04slipopinion.html.
Scroll down and click on the “Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC” link
in the table.
Though not stated in its text, the Court’s opinion
reinforces the fact that a pesticide’s registration with EPA does not
imply that the pesticide is safe or is intended for use in all situations. To
avoid harm, homeowners, property managers, and tenants should use integrated
pest management (IPM), a strategy that uses a variety of physical and lower-toxicity
tools to eradicate and prevent pest infestations and eliminates the use of highly
toxic pesticides. To learn more about IPM, visit www.afhh.org/dah/dah_pesticides.htm.
Thirty-Nine
Senators Ask Appropriations Subcommittee to Increase Healthy Homes and Lead
Hazard Control Funding
Thirty-nine U.S. Senators sent a letter in late April to
the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation,
Treasury, the Judiciary, and HUD urging a $21 million funding increase for HUD’s
Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control (OHHLHC) over FY 2005 levels.
The Senators, 33 Democrats, five Republicans, and one independent,
asked for $185 million for lead hazard control and healthy homes in FY 2006.
The appropriation would provide $95 million in lead hazard control grants, $50
million to continue the High Lead Area Removal Initiative that targets cities
with the worst lead hazards, $20 million for healthy homes grants, $10 million
for Operation LEAP, and $10 million for lead-related technical assistance. The
Senators stressed the vital need for this appropriation, saying that the funds
would help cities and states “achieve the national goal of ending childhood
lead poisoning by 2010 and reducing the root causes of diseases like childhood
asthma, the leading cause of elementary school absences.” The Senators
urged the Subcommittee to reject the drastic $48 million cut to OHHLHC proposed
in President Bush’s FY06 Budget.
The Senators who joined the letter represent 27 of the
50 states and hail from every region of the country. To see the text of the
sign-on letter and a list of all the signatories, see www.afhh.org/res/res_pubs/Senate_Sign-on_letter_FY06.pdf.
House
Passes FY 2006 EPA Budget
The U.S. House of Representatives on May 19 passed the
FY 2006 Interior and Environment appropriations bill, which includes funding
for EPA. The bill increases EPA’s environmental programs and management
budget by more than $94 million over FY05, while the science and technology
portion of the budget would grow by $21.3 million in FY06 under the House plan.
Individual line items for EPA’s asthma research, lead poisoning prevention,
and radon programs were not included in the bill language. The bill passed by
a vote of 329-89. For the full text of the bill, see http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app06.html
and scroll down to “Interior and Environment (House).”
House
Approves Ban on Studying Pesticides on Humans
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on May 19 to ban
EPA from conducting human studies of pesticides and to forbid the agency from
using data from human studies conducted by private or university researchers.
The ban marks a stark rebuke to the Bush Administration, which overturned a
Clinton-era prohibition of testing pesticides on humans.
The ban was offered as an amendment to the House’s
FY 2006 Interior and Environment appropriations bill. Reps. Hilda Solis (D-CA)
and Tim Bishop (D-NY) sponsored the amendment in response to the controversy
surrounding EPA’s proposed CHEERS study that would have given each of
60 families $970, a camcorder, and children’s clothes for participating
in research where the families, already using pesticides, would continue to
expose their children to the chemicals. EPA was to analyze the effects of such
exposures but cancelled the study due to the intense public outcry against it.
Rep. Solis said she was expecting a fight over the ban,
but the House passed it on a voice vote after a coalition of environmental and
religious groups opposed human studies of pesticides on ethical grounds. Solis
remarked, “The public is on our side…. It doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to figure out morally this is not the right thing to do.”
While some researchers cautioned that forbidding data from
all human studies would hamper the Agency’s ability to understand whether
certain pesticides really do pose human health risks, environmentalists and
others pointed out that many of these studies are conducted by the chemical
industry in an attempt to weaken public health protections.
Urban
Institute Publishes Paper on Distressed Public Housing
In response to growing criticism of HUD’s HOPE IV
public housing revitalization program and the Bush Administration’s proposal
to eliminate it, the Urban Institute in April published “Distressed Public
Housing—What It Costs to Do Nothing.”
According to the report, HOPE IV has been a success in
communities where it has been used. Under the program, more than 63,000 distressed
public housing units, which contained health hazards such as deteriorated lead-based
paint, excessive moisture, mold, cockroaches, and rodents, have been demolished,
and 20,000 additional units are scheduled for redevelopment.
Despite such success, the Urban Institute has identified
between 47,000 and 82,000 severely distressed public housing units that still
remain and could be addressed by HOPE IV and other programs. While the paper
acknowledges that properly remediating the remaining distressed units will be
costly, it also makes clear that the price of doing nothing is much higher.
Severely distressed public housing causes of a variety
of problems for residents of both the housing units themselves and the surrounding
community. Such housing harbors a variety of health hazards that pose great
risks to children and adults alike. Distressed housing also leads to urban blight,
discouraging both public and private investment and leading to a greater concentration
of poverty and crime. These homes also cost more for public housing agencies
to operate and maintain, posing an enormous financial burden to already-shortchanged
programs.
To address these and other problems, the Urban Institute
recommends rigorous cost-benefit studies to most effectively direct future HOPE
IV and other program investments in public housing and to understand how to
make those investments work for residents and their communities. The full paper
is available at www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411159_Costs_of_Inaction.pdf.
U.S. Attorney,
HUD, EPA Announce First Wisconsin Lead Disclosure Settlement
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Steven
Biskupic, along with HUD and EPA, announced a settlement in May against a Milwaukee
landlord who failed to warn his tenants of lead hazards in the properties he
owns. The properties are known to have poisoned 12 children.
The settlement is the result of the first joint lead hazard
disclosure enforcement effort in Wisconsin, which Biskupic says, “…works
towards better protecting children from the hazards of lead-based paint and
the long-lasting ramifications on children who are poisoned.”
Property owner Will J. Sherard and his property management
company currently own and operate 65 rental property units in Milwaukee. Prior
to the settlement, the City of Milwaukee issued Sherard several lead hazard
cleanup orders, all of which he ignored. The City was forced to carry out the
work itself and billed Sherard nearly $50,000 to offset its costs. Sherard has
yet to repay the City for its services.
As a result of the settlement against him, Sherard is required
to test for lead-based paint hazards in all of his rental units, replace all
windows in each unit within two years, and completely eliminate all lead hazards
in the apartments within four years, prioritizing those units housing young
children. Sherard will also pay a $15,000 civil penalty to the federal government.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett praised the settlement, saying,
“The City of Milwaukee has strong lead enforcement tools, but this decree
will serve as one more tool available to deal with the worst property owners
in Milwaukee. This is a great example of five government agencies working together
for the common goal of making housing in our community lead-safe.”
Pennsylvania
Landlord Sentenced for Falsifying Disclosure Forms
A federal District Court in Pennsylvania has sentenced
landlord Paul H. Bowman to a year of probation and three months of home confinement
in response to Bowman forging signatures on lead hazard disclosure forms. Bowman
pleaded guilty to the charges in December 2004.
According to his plea, Bowman falsified dates and signatures
of tenants on the disclosure forms that he used for properties in York, Pennsylvania.
Bowman’s actions were brought to light when a tenant complained that he
had not been notified of lead hazards in his apartment, and an investigator
uncovered several instances where other tenants had never seen the disclosure
forms and denied signing them, even though Bowman claimed to have their signatures
on file.
Marilou Yingling of York’s health bureau, which led
the disclosure investigation, expressed her disgust with the case. “It
[lead] is the number one environmental substance impact on our children. You
don’t poison your kids.”
Indiana Attorney
General Strengthens Enforcement of Lead Safety
In April, Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter stepped
in to improve lead hazard enforcement in the state. For years, local health
departments in Indiana have struggled to force landlords to take corrective
action when lead hazards are identified in their rental properties, and in 2004,
one county had to resort to the extreme measure of deeming a house uninhabitable
after the property poisoned three children.
To help guard against similar consequences in the future,
Carter has asked local health departments to refer lead hazard enforcement cases
to his office if 1) a risk assessment indicates lead hazards are present; 2)
a child aged six or under lives in the housing unit or was poisoned in the past;
3) the health department issued the property owner a written request to correct
the lead hazards present; 4) the property owner ignored the request; and 5)
the health department is willing to cede enforcement authority to Carter’s
office.
DC
Water Treatment Strategies Begin to Show Positive Results
For the first time in four years, lead levels in Washington,
DC, drinking water have fallen below federal action limits. The DC Water and
Sewage Authority (WASA) was cautiously optimistic about the progress but asked
customers to continue flushing water from pipes and using water filters until
the results of a second round of tests are known.
The water authority indicated that 90 percent of the homes
tested fell below EPA’s action limit of 15 parts per billion (ppb) of
lead in drinking water. In 2004, tests in the first six months of the year averaged
63 ppb, with 59 ppb the average during the second half of the year. WASA and
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers credited the addition of orthophosphate, which
began in August 2004, with the decrease in lead levels. The chemical forms a
protective coating inside pipes that can help prevent lead from entering the
water supply.
As a result of triggering EPA’s lead action level
for several years, WASA was required to replace seven percent of its lead service
lines each year until lead levels fell under 15 ppb. WASA has since decided
to replace all lead service lines on public property by 2010, which will cost
$300 million. WASA will not replace lead service lines located on private property,
but it has urged homeowners and rental property owners to do so. The water authority
has established a grant and low-cost loan program to assist low-income homeowners
who wish to replace lead service lines on their properties, but few homeowners
are replacing these service lines.
Though deteriorated lead-based paint is the primary source
of exposure to the toxic chemical, drinking water may be a substantial source
of lead in some areas of the country where lead service lines are still in use.
For more information about lead in drinking water, see www.epa.gov/safewater/lead/index.html.
Journal
Article Illustrates Value of Targeting Lead Poisoning Prevention to High-Risk
Housing
In a February 2005 journal article, the CDC, in collaboration
with the Jefferson County, KY, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch, evaluated
the effectiveness of targeting lead poisoning prevention efforts to children
living in high-risk housing. The agencies’ study defined high-risk housing
as having been built before 1950. Their study found that blood lead testing
in high-risk housing increased nearly ten percent between 1996 and 2000 when
targeting was used, and concluded that applying scientific knowledge to prevention
practices can effectively increase lead screening rates, increase the availability
of lead-safe housing, and empower communities to protect their children from
lead hazards. The article was published in the International Journal of Hygiene
and Environmental Health and can be found online at www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B7GVY-4FJV22M-3-2&_cdi=20443&_user=10&_orig=browse&_coverDate=04%2F08%2F2005&_sk=997919998&view=c&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkWA&md5=fdb6126ec9c96a976cbb4baf16f83016&ie=/sdarticle.pdf.
EPA Finds
Asthma Triggers Not Adequately Managed
In May, EPA reported in the first national awareness survey
of asthma triggers that fewer than 30 percent of asthmatic Americans take steps
to reduce exposure to asthma triggers. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke,
cockroaches, dust mites, mold, pesticides, and ozone can set off asthma attacks
in both children and adults, and many of these triggers are tied to the condition
of housing throughout the country.
To raise awareness of asthma and its triggers, EPA has
partnered with the Ad Council to produce a series of public service announcements
for use on television and radio, in newspapers, and on billboards. For more
information on the education campaign, see www.noattacks.org.
While EPA’s focus on raising awareness among parents
and homeowners is important, so too is the responsibility of landlords to reduce
levels of asthma triggers in their rental properties. By fixing water leaks,
engaging in mold abatement, reducing or eliminating carpeting, using integrated
pest management, and professionally cleaning all units at tenant turnover, rental
property owners can positively impact the lives of many asthmatic Americans.
For more information about how rental property owners can make their properties
healthy homes for asthmatics and all residents, see www.afhh.org/dah/dah_main.htm.
CDC Publishes
Report on Using GIS to Advance Lead Poisoning Prevention
In December 2004, CDC issued a guidance report for state
and local childhood lead poisoning prevention programs on using geographic information
systems (GIS) to advance prevention efforts.
The guidance was prepared to help epidemiologists quickly
learn how to use GIS technology to assess and direct childhood lead poisoning
elimination efforts. GIS technology is a powerful tool that can be used to effectively
target preventative interventions. The addresses of old housing units can be
geographically located to identify areas where children at risk for lead poisoning
may live, and interventions can be directed to those areas and specific properties
to address potential lead hazards.
The guidance focuses on mapping applications, though GIS
can also be used for statistical modeling to predict risk for lead exposure.
GIS tools can also help combine various data sources to develop and improve
prevention efforts.
Improving
Kids’ Environment Publishes Second Report on Retail Stores’ Lead
Paint and Pesticide Advice
Improving Kids’ Environment (IKE), an Indianapolis-based
environmental health organization, published its second report in two years
in late May, documenting advice received from retail stores on lead paint repair
and pesticide use. Compared to 2004, the report documented improvements in advice
in both subject areas for stores surveyed one year ago. Retail chains newly
included in this year’s report, however, demonstrated a dangerous lack
of good advice on lead-based paint and pesticides.
To gather the information included in “Your Kid’s
Health: Can You Trust the Advice from Retail Stores Selling Paint and Pesticides?”
IKE’s investigator visited 85 Indianapolis-area retail stores, 75 of which
sold paint and 60 of which sold pesticides for home use. Posing as a customer,
the investigator asked for help in killing cockroaches and fixing flaking, brittle
paint on a door of her child’s bedroom in a home built in 1929. Stores
visited included Home Depot, Lowes, Ace Hardware, Sherwin-Williams (paint only),
Sears, Wal-Mart, and Target (pesticides only).
Among the best performers in this year’s report was
Home Depot, improving both its paint repair and pesticide application advice.
Wal-Mart, Target, and Sears had consistently low scores in both areas, with
Sears providing notably dangerous advice on lead-based paint and scoring a zero
on safe pesticide advice.
For the full text on the report
and to see how community-based organizations, local and state health departments,
and state environmental agencies can replicate IKE’s store survey and
report, visit www.ikecoalition.org/Stores/2005_Survey.htm.
Alliance for
Healthy Homes Position Announcement—Executive Director
The Alliance for Healthy Homes (AFHH) is seeking an Executive
Director to provide experienced leadership, vision, and management skills to
build on its track record of work on preventing housing-based health hazards.
Successful candidates will have the following competencies
and attributes, among others:
A passion for and proven effectiveness in policy advocacy
at the national and/or local level and as an executive or senior manager of
a mission-driven organization
Experience in staff hiring, development, management
and retention
A track record in fundraising from public and private
sources
Ability to work successfully with diverse allies, constituents,
and audiences
An understanding and appreciation of the value of community-based
organizations
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
A collegial and flexible management style
Experience preferred in one or more of these areas:
low-income housing issues
tenants rights
community organizing
nvironmental health
public interest housing law
environmental justice
Salary will be negotiated based on experience and qualifications.
Application Process:
To apply, e-mail resume, cover letter, and salary requirements to afhh@transitionguides.com
(attach files in Microsoft Word or PDF format).
AFHH is governed by a 20-person Board of Directors comprised
of community leaders, experts, practitioners, and advocates. The 2005 annual
budget is $1.5 million drawn from contracts and grants from federal agencies
and foundations. AFHH employs a DC-based staff of 12. A full position profile
is available at www.transitionguides.com/futeds/afhh.htm.
AFHH values diversity in its staff and encourages applications
from persons of color. AFHH is an equal opportunity employer.
CEHRC Broadens
Access to its Training Resources
The Community Environmental Health Resource Center (CEHRC),
a program of the Alliance for Healthy Homes, is pleased to make available access
to its training for organizations and agencies that want to carry out low-cost
home hazard assessments. CEHRC can provide this training at cost to entities
seeking to train groups of 10 to 25 hazard investigators.
CEHRC recently decided to broaden access to its training
beyond CEHRC’s subgrantee community in order to expand the movement to
identify health hazards across the US. Knowing how to document and characterize
health hazards in the area’s housing stock could be a vital part of local
lead poisoning prevention or healthy homes work. For all the details about the
training options, the costs to provide the training, and how to schedule training
sessions, see www.cehrc.org/tools/training/index.cfm.
Funding Opportunities
FINAL REMINDER: The HUD FY2005
SuperNOFA applications for the Department’s Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control
and Healthy Homes grants programs are due between June 7 and June 15, 2005.
See www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/fundsavail.cfm
for more details. NOTE: The May 18, 2005 Federal Register
contained corrections regarding requirements for funding applications under
the FY2005 HUD SuperNOFA, including all of the lead and healthy homes grant
categories. These corrections are available online at www.fsspartnerships.org/includes/05%20NOFA%20Correction.pdf.
EPA is accepting proposals for applications that address
the requirements of the Clean Air Act, Section 103 (b)(3), for in-home asthma
education projects to ensure direct education of children, their parents, and/or
primary caregivers, and other people with asthma, about environmental triggers
in their homes. Projects must be completed within EPA Region 3, which includes
Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West
Virginia. An estimated $50,000 will be made available for projects that have
an award ceiling of $12,500. Applications are due June 13. For more information,
see www.epa.gov/reg3artd/asthma/r3inhomeasthmarfa.pdf.
Upcoming Conferences
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the
CDC will sponsor a cartography and GIS Guest Lecture, “Housing and Urban
Development Activities: A Public Health Perspective,” on June 28 at 2
p.m. in Room 1407 at NCHS in Hyattsville, Maryland. This presentation will discuss
an array of issues and activities at HUD that intersect with public health concerns
and housing-related health disparities. The primary purpose of the lecture will
be to present a recent project to build a research database with information
about colonias along the U.S.-Mexico border. The term colonia is often used
to designate a community located near the U.S.-Mexico border that lacks adequate
infrastructure and is characterized by substandard housing and high rates of
poverty. Colonias are non-standard geographies that do not generally align with
census tracts or statistics and are often represented and defined differently
across programs and agencies. For more information about the workshop, contact
NCHS at 301-458-4000.
EPA’s annual Community Involvement Conference and
Training will be held July 12-15 in Buffalo, New York. The theme of this year’s
conference is “Building Bridges Through Strong Partnerships.” This
conference is designed for EPA and its federal, state, local, and tribal partners
who plan and implement EPA’s community involvement, partnership, outreach
and education programs. For information, visit www.epancic.org/2005/overview.cfm.
The Conference on Children’s Health and the Environment
will be held in Baltimore on October 1. The conference is sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic
Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, the Maryland Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene, and EPA Region 3. It will cover emerging issues
in children’s environmental health, asthma, mold issues, outcomes of environmental
exposures, and risk communication strategies. Periodically check www.gwu.edu/~macche/events.html
for more details, or contact Aurora Amoah at 202-994-1166, toll-free at 1-866-622-2431,
or E-mail at eohaoa@gwumc.edu.
The Environmental Health and Child Development Conference
will be held in Ann Arbor, MI, November 3 at the University of Michigan—Ann
Arbor (Rackham Graduate School). The conference will focus on preventing toxic
threats to child neurological development in Michigan. Special emphasis will
be placed on heavy metals and their effects and persistent organic compounds
such as pesticides. It is co-sponsored by the American Association of Mental
Retardation, Michigan Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics, Ecology Center
of Ann Arbor, Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, Michigan
State Medical Society, and the Center for Children's Health and Environment.
For more information, contact Lauren Zajac, MPH, at the Ecology Center of Ann
Arbor, lauren@ecocenter.org.
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