The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #72211

Martha E Harnly, MPH, California Dept Health Services, Environmental Health Investigations Branch, 1515 Clay, Suite 1700, Oakland, CA 94612, 510-622-4484, mharnly@dhs.ca.gov and Rick Kreutzer, MD, Environmental Health Investigations Branch, California Department of Health Services, 1515 Clay Street, Suite 1700, Oakland, CA 94612.

A group of over 100 countries, including the U.S., have negotiated a treaty to ban and/or severely restrict the release of twelve persistent organic pollutants, including dioxins. For dioxins, the goal of the treaty is “their continuing minimization and, where feasible, ultimate elimination.” Risk reduction efforts undertaken at the national, state, and local levels will be presented. They include primary prevention or source reduction efforts--e.g., the American Public Health Association resolution calling for the phase out of PVC materials--as well as secondary prevention or exposure reduction efforts--e.g., fish advisories. State and local health officials may choose to support or implement these efforts. Efforts to reduce risks and exposures may be evaluated by source, environmental and biological monitoring. Notably,in mussels from the San Francisco Bay, a four to seven-fold decline in the dioxin-like PCBs has been observed in the last 15 years. Such monitoring may be critical to understanding whether risk reduction efforts are effective.

Learning Objectives:

After this presentation, the participant will be able to:
• identify risk reduction efforts being undertaken at the national, state, and local levels and
• understand the importance of monitoring such efforts.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.