کتاب Environmental Epidemiology, Public Health and Hazardous Wastes

In response to a request from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology in the Commission on Life Sciences of the National Research Council (NRC) convened the Committee on Environmental Epidemiology. The Board charged the Committee to review current knowledge of the human health effects caused by exposure to hazardous-waste sites and to suggest how to improve the scientific bases for evaluating the effects of environmental pollution on public health, including specifically the conduct of health assessments at Superfund sites. This first report of the committee examines and evaluates the published scientific literature on health effects that could be linked with exposure to hazardous-waste disposal sites, and develops recommendations about major data gaps that need to be remedied in order to advance the field. With additional support from the Environmental Protection Agency, a second report of the committee will identify research opportunities and issues in methodology for environmental epidemiology and will select and evaluate a sample of non-peer-reviewed reports on the subject of the epidemiologic study of hazardous-wastes. This literature includes such sources as state health department reports and relevant technical evaluations from judicial decisions that have been subject to extensive review, but are not available in the peer- reviewed

literature. To the extent feasible, the second report also will assess newly available reports from Eastern Europe and Asia that may be relevant. In light of the paucity of information readily available, the Committee struggled with its charge early on. We developed the policy of looking at peer- reviewed, published studies of persons exposed at hazardous-waste sites, and also examining those studies involving environmental exposures similar to those that might be found at such sites. The chapters reflect the consensus of the committee. We are grateful to a number of colleagues who provided drafts and critiques of sections of the report for the Committee, including Drs. Diane Wagener, Director of Environmental Epidemiology at the National Center for Health Statistics; Claire Weinberg, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Peter Infante, Health Standards Division, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; Ken Cantor, Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute; Lynn Goldman, Public Health Administrator, State of California; and Marvin Schneiderman, Senior Scientist, NRC. In preparing this report, we have met with citizen groups, industry representatives and state officials (including the National Governors Association Task Force on Environmental Epidemiology), all of whom provided valuable suggestions. Dr. Barry Johnson, Assistant Administrator for the Agency for Toxic Substances (ATSDR), provided helpful recommendations and guidance at the outset of the study, as did a number of members of that agency. Dr. Dorothy Canter of EPA assisted us in gathering relevant agency information and navigating through the bureaucratic maze.