RESUMEN
In March 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collaborated with government and nongovernmental organizations to host a groundbreaking symposium, "Strengthening Environmental Justice Research and Decision Making: A Symposium on the Science of Disproportionate Environmental Health Impacts." The symposium provided a forum for discourse on the state of scientific knowledge about factors identified by EPA that may contribute to higher burdens of environmental exposure or risk in racial/ethnic minorities and low-income populations. Also featured were discussions on how environmental justice considerations may be integrated into EPA's analytical and decision-making frameworks and on research needs for advancing the integration of environmental justice into environmental policymaking. We summarize key discussions and conclusions from the symposium and briefly introduce the articles in this issue.
Asunto(s)
Exposición a Riesgos Ambientales/legislación & jurisprudencia , Formulación de Políticas , Justicia Social/legislación & jurisprudencia , United States Environmental Protection Agency/legislación & jurisprudencia , Humanos , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
Numerous studies have demonstrated that housing interventions such as addressing structural deficiencies or lack of safety devices improve health. These successes, coupled with reports by health care and housing professionals of other health and safety issues in homes that they were unable to address, have renewed interest in promoting health by addressing unhealthy housing conditions--but with a holistic approach. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and US Environmental Protection Agency fund programs to improve indoor air and drinking water quality and prevent childhood lead poisoning. All of these programs offer valuable lessons for designing more integrated programs. The federal agencies and their grantees have demonstrated that interagency collaboration is essential for successful outcomes. However, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Centers for Disease Control recognize that no individual agency has all of the necessary resources or expertise to formulate national programs and policies and implement a national healthy homes agenda. Thus, they have come together with the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Energy, the US Department of Agriculture, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the Office of the Surgeon General to form an interagency working group to ensure that vigorous, healthy homes policies are implemented at federal, national, and community levels.
Asunto(s)
Gobierno Federal , Agencias Gubernamentales , Vivienda/normas , Conducta Cooperativa , Financiación Gubernamental , Agencias Gubernamentales/organización & administración , Humanos , Administración de la Seguridad , Estados UnidosAsunto(s)
Protección a la Infancia , Exposición a Riesgos Ambientales/prevención & control , Intoxicación por Plomo/prevención & control , Contaminantes del Suelo/envenenamiento , Biodegradación Ambiental , Disponibilidad Biológica , Calcio de la Dieta , Niño , Preescolar , Humanos , Lactante , Recién Nacido , Medición de Riesgo , Población UrbanaRESUMEN
The EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) identifies and prioritizes future research areas through a Waste Research Coordination Team. The team works together to plan the ORD Superfund research program, and it has members from each of the ORD laboratories as well as representatives from the Superfund office. Superfund scientists have identified several research topics in applied research areas to improve risk assessment methods and reduce uncertainty in site-specific risk assessments. Research areas include: dermal exposure models and toxicity values, improved methods for exposure factors, pharmaco-kinetic dose-response models, bioavailability and statistical methods. This paper presents ORD future research plans in response to these identified research areas.