Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #118745

Peter Orris, MD, MPH, Division of Occupational Medicine, Cook County Hospital, 1900 W. Polk, Rm. 500, Chicago, IL 60612, 312-864-5520, porris@uic.edu

The focus of this presentation is to document the story regarding joint policy resolution 9304, “Recognizing and Addressing the Environmental and Occupational Health Problems Posed by Chlorinated Organic Chemical. This resolution underwent careful and detailed negotiation between the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and Environment Sections. The Chemical Manufacturers Association sent representatives to the OHS Section to monitor and influence the discussion outcomes. Careful negotiations with Environment Section members concerned about water purification brought assurances that use of chlorine for such purposes would be supported. Finally, concerns for the loss of jobs by workers in the chlorine manufacturing facilities were raised by representatives of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union, and supported by the OHS section.

Days of dialogue resulted in agreement that satisfied concerns from both sections. At the policy review board hearings, a concern that fights over workers' security issues would derail important environmental health measures led to the omission of the stronger workers' protection measures from the final resolution language. All that remained was a non-specific sentence, “Supports legislation that will assist workers who are displaced by resulting technological changes in the chlorine industry.”

This session will review this event as a way to develop a set of criteria that are needed for stronger public health policies that address overlapping occupational and environmental health concerns.

Learning Objectives: