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Summary and findings of the EPA and CDC symposium on air pollution exposure and health

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 19, pages 19–29 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) co-organized a symposium on “Air Pollution Exposure and Health” at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina on September 19–20, 2006. The symposium brought together health and environmental scientists to discuss the state of the science and the cross-jurisdictional and methodological challenges in conducting air pollution epidemiology, environmental public health tracking and accountability research. The symposium was held over 2 days and consisted of technical presentations and breakout group discussions on each of the three principal themes of this meeting: (1) monitoring and exposure modeling information, (2) health effects data and (3) linkage of air quality and health data for research, tracking and accountability. This paper summarizes the symposium presentations and the conclusions and recommendations developed during the meeting. The accompanying two papers, which appear in this issue of the Journal, provide more in-depth discussion of issues pertinent to obtaining and analyzing air pollution exposure and health information. The symposium succeeded in identifying areas where there are critical gaps of knowledge in existing air pollution exposure and health information and in discovering institutional or programmatic barriers, which impede accessing and linking disparate data sets. Several suggestions and recommendations emerged from this meeting, directed toward (1) improving the utility of air monitoring data for exposure quantification, (2) improving access to and the quality of health data, (3) studying emerging air quality and health issues, (4) exploring improved or novel methods for linking data and (5) developing partnerships, building capacity and facilitating interdisciplinary communication. The meeting was successful in promoting an interdisciplinary dialogue around these issues and in formulating strategies to support these recommended activities. Finally, this symposium subsequently led to strengthening and initiating new partnerships or interactions between the EPA, CDC, States, academia and the research community at large.

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Notes

  1. Accountability is defined as the evaluation of the extent to which air quality regulations improve public health (HEI, 2003).

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Acknowledgements

We thank the symposium Steering Committee members V. Boothe (CDC), G. Foley (EPA), P. Meyer (CDC), L. Reiter (EPA) and L. Neas (EPA) for their valuable assistance with the organization of this meeting. We are also grateful to many presenters and attendees from federal, state and local agencies, academia and private sector organizations for their important contributions during the meeting and the breakout group discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    Halûk Özkaynak

  2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Environmental Research, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Barbara Glenn

  3. Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Judith R Qualters, Heather Strosnider & Michael A Mcgeehin

  4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    Harold Zenick

Authors
  1. Halûk Özkaynak
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  2. Barbara Glenn
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  3. Judith R Qualters
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  4. Heather Strosnider
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  5. Michael A Mcgeehin
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  6. Harold Zenick
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Correspondence to Halûk Özkaynak.

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency through its Office of Research and Development and the United States Centers for Disease Control through its Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects have partially funded and collaborated in the research described here under EPA contract no. EP-C-05-015 to SCG Inc. and under CDC contract no. 200-2004-03409/049-1 to Northrop Grumman to provide the services of Nancy Tosta (Ross Associates). This manuscript has been subjected to both EPA and CDC Agency reviews and approved for publication. The findings and conclusions of this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Özkaynak, H., Glenn, B., Qualters, J. et al. Summary and findings of the EPA and CDC symposium on air pollution exposure and health. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 19, 19–29 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2008.34

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