American Public Health Association Annual Meeting

[Guest guest]

http://ens-news.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-09-09.html

WORKSHOP HIGHLIGHTS ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS TO HUMAN HEALTH

BOSTON, Massachusetts, November 9, 2000 (ENS) - The U.S. Geological Survey

(USGS) will host an exhibitor workshop on environmental threats to human

health at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting on Sunday.

The workshop will also describe how health organizations and the USGS can

form effective partnerships for public health protection. Signs of

environmental threats to human health are everywhere, USGS experts say. West

Nile Virus spreads among birds, mosquitoes and people. Cancer and

reproductive failure are linked to arsenic, pesticides and other chemicals

are found in water. Most states have fish consumption advisories because of

toxic mercury in sport fish. Arsenic is released from burning coal, and dust

blown from Africa to North America and the Caribbean harbors harmful

chemicals and microbes.

Recent partnerships between the USGS and the National Cancer Institute, the

National Institute for Environmental Health Science, the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, and other public health organizations have helped to

provide a better understanding of the nature of environmental health

threats. At the USGS, the nation's largest water, earth and biological

science and civilian mapping agency, that understanding is enhanced through

systematic monitoring and data collection, sophisticated geographic

analysis, and basic research. For more information about the American Public

Health Association Annual Meeting, which will be held at the Hynes Center in

Boston, visit http://www.apha.org/meetings/