Registration

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005 in the central Gulf Coast region of the United States, near New Orleans.  The impacted region stretch from Alabama to Mississippi and encompassed approximately 90,000 square miles.  As one of the largest natural disasters that the United States has experienced, the environmental health response is creating a number of challenges for local, state, and Federal governments; academia; community groups, and industry.

Due to the complex environment and the expansiveness of the region affected, many of the environmental challenges are still being assessed.  The flood alone caused extensive water damage and mold to the buildings.  However, there are secondary contamination due to the flood water mixing with residential trash, industrial waste, and chemicals. This workshop, one in a series of workshops sponsored by the Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine, will focus on the environmental exposures in the region and the subsequent effects on human health.  Speakers and participants will discuss the extent of the environmental exposures and what additional information will be necessary as the recovery process continues.  It is clear from preliminary information and the assessment of previous disasters of this magnitude that a coordinated environmental health effort is necessary.  In this workshop, the discussions will focus on issues surrounding rapid assessment and identification of environmentally-related diseases, impact of exposures on vulnerable populations, social and ethical issues, community involvement, and research tools that need to be developed for the monitoring effort.

The workshop will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building/ International Trade Center 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC  20004
This event is free and open to the public. The agenda of the workshop will be posted later.