Title: EPA Priorities to Include Aging Population
Author:
Section/SPIG: Aging & Public Health
Issue Date:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated a comprehensive research program designed to better understand the link between the environment and the health of older people. The EPA has had an office focusing on children for a number of years. This is their first coordinated focus on the older population. See <www.epa.gov/aging/>.
The initiative debuted in December 2002 when the EPA co-hosted a National Academy of Sciences workshop on the "Differential Susceptibility of Older Persons to Environmental Hazards." The workshop was also cosponsored by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the Archstone Foundation.
The EPA then held a series of “public listening” sessions around the country to solicit public input into their research and regulatory agenda. The APHA Gerontological Health Section was represented at the sessions in Los Angeles and Baltimore. We emphasized the importance of environmental concerns for the older population that may be more susceptible to environmental degradation because of other existing conditions. We noted that while asthma is usually considered a children’s problem, it and other respiratory conditions are also important conditions affecting the elderly. We raised injury as an environmental issue. And finally, we noted that incontinence supplies used by the elderly have an impact on the solid waste stream.
The public comment period extends to September 30, 2003. To submit written comments, please send them by mail to: EPA’s Aging Initiative, Mail Code 1107A, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Room 2512 Ariel Rios North, Washington, DC 20460, or (2) Fax comments to: National Agenda for the Environment and the Aging (202) 564–2733, or (3) E-mail comments to: <aging.info@epa.gov>. The Federal Register notice soliciting comments is at <http://www.epa.gov/aging/pdfs/frdoc03?12618.pdf>.