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American Public Health Association
133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition
December 10-14, 2005
Philadelphia, PA
 APHA 2005
 
Session: From a Level Playing Field to a Healthy One: Environmental and Health Protection in the Context of North American Free Trade – Challenges and Opportunities
3364.1: Monday, December 12, 2005: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM
Oral
From a Level Playing Field to a Healthy One: Environmental and Health Protection in the Context of North American Free Trade – Challenges and Opportunities
In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement among Canada, Mexico and the United States was ratified by all three countries. In response to concerns about potential environmental impacts the NAFTA agreement included an 'environmental side agreement" called the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, which established the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. In terms of environmental health, the CEC has had a particular focus on sound management of chemicals given that chemicals are in commerce and can have serious health impacts across borders. This effort has generated trilateral cooperation on the elimination and/or reduction of risks from persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on the North American continent. The CEC has also fostered cooperation on pollutant release and transfer reporting and for the past decade has published an annual report on pollutant releases and transfers from major industry sectors in North America. The CEC also has facilitated trilateral programs on the environmental health of children across North America. This session presents these efforts and the role of environmental health in consideration of trade.
Learning Objectives: 1. Learn about the potential environmental health issues associated with the NAFTA and other trade agreements and institutional arrangements such as the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) for addressing these issues. 2. Understand the challenges of managing chemicals in North America (chemicals in commerce, movement of POPs, monitoring) and trilateral approaches that are being taken. 3. Learn about indicators of children's health and the environment in North America that are under development. 4. Understand the role and purpose of pollutant release and transfer registries, the North American registry and how it can be applied to tracking children's health issues.
Moderator(s):Nsedu Witherspoon, MPH
4:30 PMHealth of children in North America
Nsedu Witherspoon, MPH
4:35 PMRole of the CEC and the pollutants and health program; Past accomplishments and future directions  [ Recorded presentation ]
Keith Chanon
4:50 PMIndustry engagement in assessing and addressing children's environmental health challenges in North America  [ Recorded presentation ]
Daniel Goldstein
5:00 PMIndicators of children’s health and the environment in North America: Report of a work in progress  [ Recorded presentation ]
Erica Phipps, Bruce Dudley
5:10 PMPollutants and CEH in North America: Report of a work in progress  [ Recorded presentation ]
Lynn Goldman, Ellen Wells, Samar Khoury, Ruth Quinn
5:30 PMSound management of chemicals program under the trinational North American agreement on environmental cooperation  [ Recorded presentation ]
Luke Trip
5:40 PMMaternal blood contaminant monitoring of persistent organic pollutants and metals in North America
Mauricio Hernandez, MD, ScD
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.
Organized by:Environment

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA