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Environmental Health Indicators: Bridging the Chasm of Public Health and the Environment. Workshop Summary

Released:
October 29, 2004
Type:
Workshop Summary
Topic(s):
Environmental Health
Activity:
Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine
Board(s):
Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice

Note: Workshop Summaries contain the opinion of the presenters, but do NOT reflect the conclusions of the IOM. Learn more about the differences between Workshop Summaries and Consensus Reports.

There have been a number of calls for a national environmental health monitoring system that would expand current human exposure monitoring and health surveillance efforts complemented by the development and validation of a variety of potential indicators for environmental health status. Some members of Congress have begun work on legislation to appropriate funds needed to provide for such a system, while Federal agencies have begun discussions of implementation and development of indicators.

Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine convened a workshop on Environmental Health Indicators: Bridging the Chasm of Public Health and the Environment as an opportunity to discuss current efforts by industry, private, global, and U.S. federal and state governments. 

The goal of the workshop was to look into monitoring systems of other nations; to consider the need for a national environmental health monitoring system; to foster a dialogue on the steps for establishing a nationwide monitoring system; and to explore how a national system will fit into current exposure and disease monitoring programs.  This report provides a summary of the workshop discussions.


Other Reports by this Activity

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    Released: July 16, 2009
  • Environmental Health Sciences Decision Making: Risk Management, Evidence, and Ethics. Workshop Summary Eighty-two thousand chemicals—both natural and man-made—are used today. Some of these chemicals do not produce notable adverse health outcomes, but others can be toxic and harmful to anyone exposed. Currently, we know very little about basic properties of the majority of these chemicals and even less about the human health impact of these exposures. On January 15, 2008, the workshop Environmental Health Sciences Decision Making: Risk Management, Evidence, and Ethics addressed emerging issues in risk management, weight of evidence, and ethics that influence environmental health decision making.
    Released: January 8, 2009
  • Environmental Public Health Impacts of Disasters: Hurricane Katrina. Workshop Summary The workshop provided an opportunity to explore some of the most pressing research and preparedness needs related to the health risks of Hurricane Katrina and also a chance to discuss the larger issues for scientific collaboration during a disaster of this magnitude.
    Released: June 25, 2007

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