Alabama's
Hazardous Calhoun County Draws Attention of Pediatric, Public Health
Specialists from Emory University
Children at-risk
in Alabama's Calhoun County are being targeted for an early detection/early
intervention program that is being developed by the Southeast Pediatric
Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) at Emory University. The
program will address the impact of the environment on the health and
development of children in an area known for its widespread hazardous
exposures.
Emory pediatric specialists
plan to track the children from birth through their school years. They
hope to identify those who demonstrate problems and then connect them
with the appropriate therapeutic and educational services to assure
that the children overcome adversity and develop to their full potential,
says Leslie Rubin, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, Emory University
School of Medicine.
The team of Emory physicians
working with the PEHSU capped off a year of meetings and planning sessions
with a working conference in December. The meeting assembled Anniston
stakeholders and officials, including Mayor Chip Howell, to introduce
the proposal as a community initiative. The Emory team will meet again
with Mayor Howell on January 16 and with the Anniston community in late
January to continue discussing plans for the design and funding of the
project.
"This program will present
an unparalleled opportunity for research on the health effects of environmental
exposures," says Howard Frumkin, M.D., Dr.P.H., associate professor
and chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
in Emory's Rollins School of Public Health. For more than a year, the
Emory PEHSU faculty have studied the complexities of a number of hazardous
exposures in and around Anniston, Alabama. Residents were exposed to
PCBs and mercury from a former Monsanto plant that manufactured PCBs
for nearly 50 years until 1972. They were also exposed to lead from
a large metalworking industry. To cap it off, they recently learned
that chemical weapons stored at the Anniston Army Depot will soon be
incinerated on site.
"Some of the children are
at risk for developmental and learning disabilities, attention-deficit
disorder, behavioral problems and school failures," Dr. Rubin explains.
"This program will intervene to make them successful adults and contributing
members of society."
A report released in September
2001 by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
(ATSDR) warned of the need for increased education and screenings for
preventing lead exposure. Results from a lead screening report by the
ATSDR showed that 25 percent of children in Calhoun County showed blood
levels that indicated evidence of ongoing lead exposure.
This project, funded by the
Environmental Protection Agency and ATSDR demonstrates how Emory plays
an active and constructive role in improving the health and well being
of communities at the same time as demonstrating the methodology as
a model for other communities.
The Southeast Pediatric Environmental
Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) at Emory University serves the southeastern
states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, the Carolinas, Tennessee,
and Kentucky. It is one of 10 PEHSUs in the United States.
It is a joint project of
the Rollins School of Public Health and the Emory University School
of Medicine. Their mission is to improve the health of children in the
southeast region with respect to environmental exposures and to inform
families, communities, and health care providers in the southeast region
about environmental hazards, their effects, and practical ways to protect
children's health.
The core physicians in the
Southeast PEHSU include specialists in occupational and environmental
medicine, developmental pediatrics, pediatric pulmonary disease, and
medical toxicology.
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