FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27, 2001
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Hope Hall, 202-651-7027
Cindy Price, 202-651-7038
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ANA Hails CDC For Releasing Report On Chemical Exposure
Washington, DC -- The American Nurses Association (ANA) applauds the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for releasing a report of a new research tool that takes a major step toward understanding the role that environmental factors play in contributing to chronic diseases. This CDC report, The National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, provides data on actual levels of chemicals in humans by measuring chemicals directly in blood and urine samples rather than estimating population exposures by measuring air, water or soil samples.
The report presents levels of 27 environmental chemicals measured in the U.S. population and will help gauge who is exposed, trends in exposure over time and whether interventions to reduce exposure are working. Some findings in the report reveal that blood lead levels in children have decreased and there has been a dramatic reduction in exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. The data also will help estimate health risk for fetuses, children and women of childbearing age from potential sources of mercury exposure.
Hospitals are a major source of mercury pollution and the ANA has advocated that steps be taken to reduce the flow of this toxic substance from health care facilities into the environment, where mercury poses a significant public health risk. By phasing out the purchase and use of mercury-containing products and devices, hospitals will eventually decrease the amount of mercury released into the environment.
"ANA applauds the CDC for this important report regarding the exposure of Americans to potentially toxic chemicals," said ANA President Mary Foley, MS, RN. "We are especially concerned about the levels of mercury reported and ANA will continue to work to phase-out the use of mercury products, such as thermometers and blood pressure cuffs. ANA is particularly pleased that the CDC plans to test our most vulnerable citizens, children under six years of age, in the next report."
Through its work with Health Care Without Harm, a coalition of more than 200 organizations working to eliminate toxic products and practices from hospitals, ANA will continue to focus on strategies that will reduce environmental toxins without compromising nurse safety or patient care.
Over the next few years, the CDC plans to expand the report to provide information about 100 chemicals. It also hopes to report exposure levels for more specific population groups such as children and minorities.
For more information about the report, visit the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/nceh/dls/report or call 1-866-670-6052.
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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's nearly 2.7 million Registered Nurses through its 54 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
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