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Biomedical subjects

Henry Falk

Publications and source records attributed to Henry Falk.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Mold prevention strategies and possible health effects in the aftermath of hurricanes and major floods.

Extensive water damage after major hurricanes and floods increases the likelihood of mold contamination in buildings. This report provides information on how to limit exposure to mold and how to identify and prevent mold-related health effects. Where uncertainties in scientific knowledge exist, practical applications designed to be protective of a person's health are presented. Evidence is included about assessing exposure, clean-up and prevention, personal protective equipment, health effects, and public health strategies and recommendations. The recommendations assume that, in the aftermath of major hurricanes or floods, buildings wet for <48 hours will generally support visible and extensive mold growth and should be remediated, and excessive exposure to mold-contaminated materials can cause adverse health effects in susceptible persons regardless of the type of mold or the extent of contamination. For the majority of persons, undisturbed mold is not a substantial health hazard. Mold is a greater hazard for persons with conditions such as impaired host defenses or mold allergies. To prevent exposure that could result in adverse health effects from disturbed mold, persons should 1) avoid areas where mold contamination is obvious; 2) use environmental controls; 3) use personal protective equipment; and 4) keep hands, skin, and clothing clean and free from mold-contaminated dust. Clinical evaluation of suspected mold-related illness should follow conventional clinical guidelines. In addition, in the aftermath of extensive flooding, health-care providers should be watchful for unusual mold-related diseases. The development of a public health surveillance strategy among persons repopulating areas after extensive flooding is recommended to assess potential health effects and the effectiveness of prevention efforts. Such a surveillance program will help CDC and state and local public health officials refine the guidelines for exposure avoidance, personal protection, and clean-up and assist health departments to identify unrecognized hazards.

Disasters↗
PubMed2006

Health effects of hazardous waste.

Since 1995, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has evaluated environmental contaminants and human health risks at nearly 3000 sites. Hazardous substances at these sites include newly emerging problems as well as historically identified threats. ATSDR classifies sites according to the degree of hazard they represent to the public. Less than 1% of the sites investigated are considered urgent public health hazards where chemical or physical hazards are at levels that could cause an immediate threat to life or health. Approximately 20% of sites have a potential for long-term human exposures above acceptable risk levels. At almost 40% of sites, hazardous substances do not represent a public health hazard. Completed exposure pathways for contaminants in air, water, and soil have been reported at approximately 30% of evaluated sites. The most common contaminants of concern at these sites include heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and polychlorinated biphenyls. This article reviews ATSDR's ongoing work by examining the historic hazard of lead, the contemporary hazard of asbestos, and the emerging issue of perchlorate contamination.

Asbestos↗
PubMed2005

Perspectives on the use of scientific knowledge for public health practice.

Achieving the goal of increasing quality and years of healthy life is fundamentally based on success in the practice of public health. As our life style changes with time and as public health issues become more global, the practice of public health is enhanced to meet new challenges. In addition to addressing infectious diseases, environmental concerns are gaining attention. New challenges require the modification of the methods of investigations, use of new technologies and application of real-time management of public health emergencies. In many situations, collaborations at the local, regional, national and global levels are needed. This manuscript provides a summary of the approaches to address certain crucial environmental health concerns towards the goal of increasing quality and years of healthy life.

Disaster Planning↗
PubMed2004

Environmental pediatrics and its impact on government health policy.

Recent public recognition that children are different from adults in their exposures and susceptibilities to environmental contaminants has its roots in work that began >46 years ago, when the American Academy of Pediatrics (APA) established a standing committee to focus on children's radiation exposures. We summarize the history of that important committee, now the AAP Committee on Environmental Health, including its statements and the 1999 publication of the AAP Handbook of Pediatric Environmental Health, and describe the recent emergence of federal and state legislative and executive actions to evaluate explicitly environmental health risks to children. As a result in large part of these efforts, numerous knowledge gaps about children's health and the environment are currently being addressed. Government efforts began in the 1970s to reduce childhood lead poisoning and to monitor birth defects and cancer. In the 1990s, federal efforts accelerated with the Food Quality Protection Act, an executive order on children's environmental health, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry/Environmental Protection Agency Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/Environmental Protection Agency Centers of Excellence in Research in Children's Environmental Health. In this decade, the Children's Environmental Health Act authorized the National Children's Study, which has the potential to address a number of critical questions about children's exposure and health. The federal government has expanded efforts in control and prevention of childhood asthma and in tracking of asthma, birth defects, and other diseases that are linked to the environment. Efforts continue on familiar problems such as the eradication of lead poisoning, but new issues, such as prevention of childhood exposure to carcinogens and neurotoxins other than lead, and emerging issues, such as endocrine disruptors and pediatric drug evaluations, are in the forefront. More recently, these issues have been taken up by states and in the international arena.

Congenital Abnormalities↗
PubMed2003

Overview of international environmental health.

Ultimately, the health and quality of life of all human beings depend upon the environment and ecosystems to which we are directly and indirectly connected. The papers in this special edition address a number of the critical environmental health issues on which U.S. government agencies and their collaborating partners are engaged internationally. The agencies are members of the International Environmental Health Subcommittee, chaired by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The activities described span the range from global policy to country-level field activities. While environmental factors related to infectious disease dominate the global burden of environmentally-related disease, acute and chronic exposures to chemicals are increasingly important public health issues at the local, national, and regional levels; arsenic in drinking water is a good example. Intersectoral action involving governments (at all levels), the private sector, and civil society working together in partnership is absolutely critical to sustainably resolving the problems touched on this overview and meeting the environmental health challenges of the twenty-first century.

Cost of Illness↗
PubMed2003

An international perspective on hazardous waste practices.

In developing countries, public health attention is focused on urgent health problems such as infectious diseases, malnutrition, and infant mortality. As a country develops and gains economic resources, more attention is directed to health concerns related to hazardous chemical wastes. Even if a country has little industry of its own that generates hazardous wastes, the importation of hazardous wastes for recycling or disposal can present health hazards. It is difficult to compare the quantities of hazardous wastes produced in different countries because of differences in how hazardous wastes are defined. In most countries, landfilling is the most common means of hazardous waste disposal, although substantial quantities of hazardous wastes are incinerated in some countries. Hazardous wastes that escape into the environment most often impact the public through air and water contamination. An effective strategy for managing hazardous wastes should encourage waste minimization, recycling, and reuse over disposal. Developing countries are especially in need of low-cost technologies for managing hazardous wastes.

Air Pollution↗
PubMed2003

The health impact of environmental pollutants: a special focus on lead exposure in South Africa.

Studies have shown blood lead levels of some children in South Africa at levels of health concern. New studies show even relatively low lead levels to have detrimental effects on cognitive function in young children. Large numbers of South African inner-city and other children have been shown to have unacceptably high blood lead levels. Studies indicate that blood lead levels of children living in South Africa's urban areas are higher than those of children in most developed countries, including Great Britain, Europe, and the United States. Although data and reported studies are very sparse, mean blood lead levels of approximately 15 microg/dl have been reported in children. Elevated blood lead levels were associated with socioeconomic status and housing conditions. Key environmental risk factors for elevated blood levels were contaminated soil and dust in the urban environment, and the still large number of automobiles using leaded gasoline. In view of emerging evidence linking lead at increasingly lower levels to adverse effects in children, the South African government is taking actions to reduce lead exposure among vulnerable groups. Currently, South Africa has no national lead surveillance program. The government, therefore, has developed international and regional partnerships to prevent and address the problem of lead exposure.

Child↗
PubMed2003

Bilateral environmental and occupational health program with India.

In spite of considerable economic progress in recent years, India continues to face challenges dealing with poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, disease and disability. The governments of India and the United States have formed a collaborative effort to address outstanding issues in the fields of environmental and occupational health. The Joint Statement on Indo-U.S. Collaboration in Environmental and Occupational Health, which was approved by the Minister of the Indian Union of Health and Family Welfare and the Secretary of Health and Human Services of the United State in Geneva in May of 2002, formalizes the collaborative relationship and calls for the development of Implementation Guidelines. The Implementation Guidelines establish a Joint Working Group, which is responsible for identifying and implementing the collaborative projects. The collaborating organizations have identified three broad areas for collaboration: emergency preparedness and response; training, education, and technology transfer; and research. Within the three broad areas, the organizations have identified two subject areas for initiation: arsenicosis and asbestosis. Researchers and health officials in both India and the U.S. share interest in both research and interventions efforts in these subject areas. As many as 42 million people in the West Bengal area of India may be exposed to arsenic in drinking water at concentrations of health concern. Similarly, as many as 10 million industrial or mine workers in India may be exposed to asbestos or other dusts at concentrations of health concern. The first Joint Working Group meeting is scheduled for March 2003 in New Delhi and will consider these subject areas in developing collaborative projects. Other tasks being undertaken by the signatory agencies include expanding the relationship to include academic and nongovernmental organizations and obtaining funds for the various projects from governmental and nongovernmental sources.

Arsenic Poisoning↗
PubMed2003

A global approach to childhood lead poisoning prevention.

Childhood lead poisoning is an important, preventable environmental disease affecting millions of children around the world. The effects of lead are well known and range from delayed and adversely affected neurodevelopment to severe health outcomes including seizures, coma, and death. This article reviews the childhood effects of lead poisoning, the approach being taken to the problem in the United States, and the obstacles faced by developing nations in dealing with lead exposure. The United States has attacked the childhood lead poisoning problem by attempting to eliminate sources of exposure, including gasoline, solder in water pipes and cans, and industrial emissions. These actions have resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of children with elevated blood lead levels in the United States over the last two decades. However, many developing countries are just beginning to address the problem. Successful efforts will need to incorporate epidemiologic methods, source identification, enforced regulations, and a long-term government commitment to eliminating lead as a threat to the next generation of children.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed2003

International environmental health for the pediatrician: case study of lead poisoning.

Childhood lead poisoning is a preventable illness. In the past 3 decades, removal of key lead sources and prevention of exposure in the United States have led to dramatic decreases in population blood lead concentrations and also in instances of severe lead poisoning requiring treatment. From an international perspective, childhood lead poisoning seems to be of greatest concern in developing countries. The phasing out of lead from gasoline is a critical first step in decreasing worldwide blood lead concentrations. However, many focal sources that can cause lead poisoning remain, such as lead from flour mills, lead-glazed ceramics, mining and smelting, and battery repair and recycling. A large and diverse country, such as India, may have many sources of lead. The challenge will be for developing countries to implement effective national and regional efforts to address their specific sources of lead.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Future directions of environmental public health research: ATSDR's 2002-2010 agenda for six priority focus areas.

Additional research on human exposures to hazardous substances in community settings and resultant adverse health effects is needed to fill an extensive number of information gaps. For example, information is needed to answer specific public health questions about the toxic effects of specific chemicals, who has been exposed, what the health risks might be, and what interventions are effective. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is the principal federal agency responsible for addressing issues of public health concerning the human health risks associated with hazardous waste sites and unplanned releases of hazardous substances into the environment. Research is a critical component in how effectively the agency can identify persons exposed, determine health risks, and intervene to reduce exposures and adverse health outcomes. ATSDR has recently developed an agenda for public health environmental research for 2002-2010, divided into the following six research focus areas: exposure assessment; chemical mixtures; susceptible populations; community and tribal involvement; evaluation and surveillance of health effects; and health promotion and intervention. This article discusses the agenda's development, the research issues within each of the six focus areas, and preliminary implementation plans.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed2002

Superfund research program--accomplishments and future opportunities.

This special issue of the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health provides extensive background on the Superfund programs, findings of specific research studies and future directions. Three federal agencies are leading the effort in this program. They are the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. As a result of their collaboration, a comprehensive program has been developed that ranges from basic to applied research with the aim of improving public health services and protection. This paper highlights the research within areas of toxicological investigation, exposure assessment, risk evaluation and engaging communities. Each of the agencies has developed strategies and initiatives to enhance the effectiveness of the Superfund research program. The continuation of research will contribute significantly towards achieving the Healthy People 2010 goals that have been set for the United States.

Community-Institutional Relations↗
PubMed2002

Addressing community concerns about asthma and air toxics.

People with asthma who live near or downwind from a source of toxic emissions commonly express concerns about the possible impact of hazardous air pollution on their health, especially when these emissions are visible or odorous. Citizens frequently turn to their local and state health departments for answers, but health departments face many challenges in addressing these concerns. These challenges include a lack of asthma statistics at the local level, limited exposure information, and a paucity of scientific knowledge about the contributions of hazardous air pollutants to asthma induction or exacerbation. Health agencies are creatively developing methods to address these challenges while working toward improving asthma surveillance data at the state and local levels. Recent community health investigations suggest that hazardous air pollutants that are occupational asthmagens or associated with odors may deserve more attention. In seeking to address community concerns about hazardous air pollution and asthma, community health investigations may also help to fill gaps in our scientific knowledge and identify areas for further research or environmental intervention. The solutions to community problems associated with environmental contamination and asthma, however, require sustained, coordinated efforts by public and private groups and citizens. Public health agencies can make a unique contribution to this effort, but additional resources and support will be required to develop information systems and epidemiologic capacity at the state and local levels.

Air Pollutants↗