Title: UPDATES
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Section/SPIG: Environment
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• Olden To Step Down As Director of NIEHS and The National Toxicology Program - Will Continue His NIEHS Research
Kenneth Olden, PhD, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which is an Institute of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Toxicology Program, today announced his intention to step down from both posts. He said he will remain in the positions until a replacement can be found.
Dr. Olden said, "I want to spend more time with my family and again become more directly involved in directing my research program," which he has continued while also directing the agencies. "Twelve years is enough as NIEHS/NTP director - the longest I have stayed in any position. That I have remained this long as director is the best indication of how much I have enjoyed the scientific and public health challenges of leading these great institutions."
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said, "Dr. Olden has been the kind of federal scientific leader we are proud to have in this department. He is known for his vision and his outreach and communication efforts. He has been an articulate and compelling spokesperson on the need for better scientific information for making important public policy decisions."
National Institutes of Health Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D., said, "Ken's commitment to the advancement of science has been a model to us all at the NIH. He has helped young, minority scientists and called attention to the excessive health burdens borne by the poor. Under his leadership, the Institute's research portfolio has broadened from primarily basic biology into such human studies as the 50,000-woman the Sister Study - the largest study of its type seeking to find both environmental and genetic clues to breast cancer. He has also promoted the use of genetic tools to determine our varying susceptibility to environmental hazards."
Born in poverty in the eastern Tennessee farming community of Parrottsville, Dr. Olden rose to conduct frequently cited cancer-related studies and to become, in 1991, the first African American named to head an institute of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Olden recalls, as a child, hearing his grandmother, who was born in slavery, relate vivid accounts of those days. He said that this heritage fueled his efforts on behalf of community-based research on health disparities and environmental justice.
At NIEHS/NTP, he proved to be an innovative scientific manager. He conducted Town Meetings around the country to help inform his decisions regarding NIEHS' future research activities. He promoted the use of new genetic tools to determine how the environment helps or harms human health. He developed the NIEHS journal Environmental Health Perspectives as a monthly publication along with a new quarterly Environmental Health Perspectives-Toxicogenomics section. What he has called his mantra - the observation that human diseases are generally the product of a triangle of environment, genetics and age - has become widely accepted.
At the National Toxicology Program, the first federal chemical screening using genetically modified rodents has begun - a process Dr. Olden has supported because he believes it will provide more safety with fewer animals and at less cost. The changes, he hopes, will also help bring needed products, such as new prescription drugs, to market quicker.
The NTP serves the federal regulatory health agencies with its findings and the publication of the federal Report on Carcinogens, on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services. Under Dr. Olden, NTP's Report on Carcinogens has declared the safety of saccharin and announced the carcinogenicity of dioxin, of second-hand smoke and sun lamps and of a number of industrial compounds.
Olden earned a B.S. at Knoxville College, an M.S. from the University of Michigan and, in 1970, a doctorate in biology from Temple University in Philadelphia. He did much of the research for that doctorate at the University of Rochester, where he was presented a second doctorate - the honorary degree of Doctor of Sciences - this past May 18.
A cell biologist and biochemist, Olden was active in research into the properties of cell surface molecules and their roles in human cancer at Harvard University and the National Cancer Institute. In 1985, he became director of the Howard University Cancer Center and professor and chairman of the Howard Department of Oncology. While serving there he was appointed to NIEHS.
His honors include appointment by President George H. W. Bush to membership on the National Cancer Advisory Board, membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences; the Calver Award from the American Public Health Association; the HHS Secretary's Distinguished Service Award; the President's Meritorious and Distinguished Executive Awards, and the American College of Toxicology's First Distinguished Service Award.
Dr. Olden and his wife, Sandra L. White, Ph.D., and daughter Heather live in Durham, N.C. He also has three grown children.
--Reprinted with permission from NIEHS
• NACCHO – APA Partnership Aided by CDC
Karen Roof and Valerie Rogers, NACCHO
Chris Kochtitzky, CDC
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the American Planning Association (APA) have joined together to bridge the health gap in land use planning and community design. Compelling research shows public health issues such as obesity, respiratory illnesses and mental health among others can be directly related to land use and community design. As such, NACCHO and APA are collaborating to further facilitate sharing/learning among planners and local public health officials about these connections. With support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NACCHO and APA will bring together planners and local public health officials to begin to address the interconnections in a variety of forums. NACCHO and APA are developing educational materials and will hold a series of joint conference presentations, and a national symposium with the aim of building the capacity of both disciplines to identify ways local public health officials can work with planners and other stakeholders to encourage more health conscious community design and smart growth. To learn more about the relationship between public health and land use planning visit NACCHO's website, <www.naccho.org> and <www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces>.
• Primary Health Care Leaders Chart Action Plan for Improving Environmental Education & Training
More than 100 leaders in medicine, nursing, and environmental health have set a course for action to achieve a national, interdisciplinary vision for environmental health outreach to health care providers, as part of The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation’s (NEETF) 10-year National Strategies for Health Care Providers: Pesticides Initiative.
Meeting at the Initiative’s National Forum June 10-11, 2003 in Washington, DC, participants identified strategies and specific action items to expand the emerging nationwide network of health care providers committed to incorporating environmental health into primary care education and practice.
“We are excited by the partnership among a diverse group of stakeholders, who are now even more committed to preparing health care providers to protect Americans from the health effects of pesticides—in agricultural, urban and suburban settings,” said Leyla Erk McCurdy, NEETF’s Senior Director, Health & Environment Programs. “Through the National Forum, we also have identified dynamic opportunities for building on the Pesticides Initiative to expand efforts to integrate broader environmental health issues into health care provider education and practice.”
Participants identified a range of strategies for integrating environmental health into primary health care provider education and practice, as well as opportunities for expanding existing provider resources on the topic. In particular, commitments were obtained from several individuals to seek national professional associations’ endorsements of the Initiative’s companion documents National Pesticide Competency Guidelines for Medical & Nursing Education and National Pesticide Practice Skills Guidelines for Medical & Nursing Practice The Guidelines were published earlier this month. Additional action items included pursuing consumer-based promotion of environmental health/pesticides messaging in tandem with primary health care provider continuing education; initiating discussion and coverage of the issue with leading physician and nursing societies; and creating educational opportunities through credentialing bodies and professional societies who influence providers’ continuing education. A conference report is scheduled to be available in fall 2003.
The National Strategies for Health Care Providers: Pesticides Initiative is a partnership of NEETF and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Labor and a wide range of other stakeholders. The National Forum was co-sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, Association of Academic Health Centers, Migrant Clinicians Network and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. National Forum Supporting Organizations included the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges.
During the past decade, health professional groups, academic institutions, and government and community organizations have called for improved health care provider training in environmental health. A number of related reports were published in the 1990s. For example, the Institute of Medicine published its recommendations that environmental health issues be integrated into the various stages of training and clinical practice for health care providers. The American Medical Association provided backing by adopting a resolution urging Congress, government agencies, and private organizations to support improved strategies for assessing and preventing pesticide risks. These strategies include systems for reporting pesticide usage and illness, as well as educational programs about pesticide risks and benefits. In addition, the National Strategies for Health Care Professionals: Pesticides Initiative has called for all primary health care providers to acquire basic knowledge of the health effects of pesticides and the treatments and preventive public health strategies to address them. The goal is to improve the way primary health care providers assess and respond to potential pesticide exposure cases seen in their daily practice.
Practitioners must be prepared to respond to exposures from a range of sources—everything from household and lawn care products to agricultural chemicals. Primary health care providers must be prepared to take an environmental history and be prepared to: “problem solve” with patients who may have been exposed to pesticides; readily diagnose if appropriate; provide timely treatment for pesticide-related health conditions; provide prevention education; and consult with local authorities, where appropriate.
For more information, visit <www.neetf.org/health/index.shtm> or contact: The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation, National Strategies for Health Care Providers: Pesticides Initiative; 1707 H Street, NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC, 20006-3915; 202-833-2933, x535; <pesticides@neetf.org>.
--Reprinted with permission from NEETF
• County of Santa Clara Selected 2003 Crumbine Award Winner
A jury of leading environmental health officials and public health sanitarians selected the County of Santa Clara’s (CA) Department of Environmental Health, to receive the 2003 Samuel J. Crumbine Consumer Protection Award for Excellence in Food Protection. The Crumbine Award is usually awarded annually for excellence in commercial food education & inspection. The Crumbine Award remains one of the most prestigious recognitions that a public health agency can receive. Agencies honored with the Crumbine serve as models for other public health and safety programs across the nation.
• The APHA Network on Globalization and Health Report, Fall 2003
Ellen R. Shaffer, PhD MPH
How does the global economy affect health status and disparities in health status, public health systems and policy, access to coverage within private and public health care systems, occupational health and safety, injury control, environmental health, and access to pharmaceuticals and to safe water and social and economic equality? What do international trade agreements have to do with public health?
Members of the APHA Network on Globalization and Public Health will address these and other issues during the APHA annual meeting in November 2003. A Town Hall meeting on November 16 from 2 to 4 p.m. in San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center will offer brief presentations, and a chance to network with some local and national research and advocacy groups based in the Bay Area. The meeting will include observers from the upcoming September meeting of the international World Trade Organization ministerial in Cancun, Mexico, and members of international Public Health Associations. Join the planning with an email to Ellen Shaffer, <ershaffer@cpath.org>. (Please see final schedule for exact room location.)
This year’s Annual APHA Meeting takes place just before the international gathering of trade ministers in Miami planning the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). FTAA would extend NAFTA to the entire western hemisphere (except Cuba). The Network will help sponsor a press conference and other FTAA-related events.
APHA has been actively involved in support of its 2001 resolution, which opposes including health care, water, and other vital human services in international trade agreements. Along with the Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health (CPATH) and the American Nurses Association, APHA alerted members of Congress in July that smaller scale nation-to-nation trade agreements were setting dangerous precedents for international agreements such as FTAA. The letter, which was circulated to the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Sherrod Brown, explained that U.S. agreements with Singapore and Chile will:
Impede access to life-saving medicines, contradicting Congress’ earlier support for policies that would modify the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). They will: allow patents to be extended beyond the 20-year term required by TRIPS; require a 5-year waiting period before governments can provide generic producers access to the test data produced by pharmaceutical companies, delaying affordable access to medicines; and restrict how governments provide marketing approval and sanitary permits for medicines. Pharmaceutical companies could block production of generic medicines.
Ease the terms of trade on tobacco products, reducing tobacco tariffs for Singapore to zero. While public health protections have reduced tobacco use in the United States, this provision will make it easier to dump tobacco products in Singapore.
Open the door to further privatization and deregulation of vital human services including standards for health care professionals, and provision of health care and water, sectors better addressed through open international collaboration rather than through commercial trade negotiations. While some services and some professions are exempted from coverage by some trade rules, these exemptions are too narrow to assure full protection. The United States has no exemptions for water and sanitation, leaving the country open to challenges from foreign private corporations and their subsidiaries.
Grant foreign private investors greater rights than U.S. investors. Under NAFTA, similar provisions have led to lawsuits by private companies that overturned important health and environmental protections. Again, this contradicts the negotiating objectives of the Trade Act of 2002.
Other social and public services are poorly defined, leaving trade tribunals rather than elected officials and regulators to decide whether basic public health protections are barriers to trade. Covered services include income security or insurance, social security or insurance, social welfare, public education, health, and childcare. Trade panels are not required to have any expertise in health care or public health.
The letter urges Congress to advocate for trade agreements that exclude vital human services such as health care and water, that improve access to life-saving medications, and that do not threaten efforts to reduce exposure to dangerous substances. Further, it encourages support for enforceable commitments to advancing population health, and to achieving universal access to health care and to safe, affordable water in the United States and internationally. The U.S.-Singapore and U.S.- \Chile Free Trade Agreements do not meet these objectives, and therefore should not serve as models for other trade agreements, including the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) or the Central America Free Trade Area of the Americas (CAFTA).
The CPATH website <www.cpath.org> provides additional background information on economic globalization and health. APHA groups involved with the Network include: Medical Care Section, Mental Health Section, Environmental Health Section, International Health Section, Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section, Occupational Health and Safety Section, Peace Caucus, Socialist Caucus, Spirit of 1848, DisAbility Forum, Hawaii’s Public Health Association, and the Public Health Association of New York City.