Add S804, Pub Health L; add S3-0319, En Con L; add S888, Lab L; add S355-d, Ed L
Provides for the development of an environmental health tracking system within the department of health with cooperation from the departments of environmental conservation and labor; provides that the purpose is to gather various environmental data to correlate with disease data; requires the cooperation of the state university of New York school of public health at Albany and Buffalo.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
873--A
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 5, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sen. SQUADRON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, the environmental conservation
law, the labor law and the education law, in relation to creating the
environmental health tracking system
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section
2 804 to read as follows:
3 § 804. Environmental health tracking system. 1. The legislature finds
4 and declares all of the following:
5 a. There currently exist several health and environmental databases
6 maintained by the state. However, there is little or no coordination
7 between the use and analysis of these data as they pertain to environ-
8 mental health issues, or accessibility of this information by interested
9 parties and researchers. In its fight against chronic diseases, includ-
10 ing birth defects, that are related to the environment, the state must
11 give communities and public health professionals solid, reliable infor-
12 mation, which is the most basic tool with which to undertake the
13 prevention of these diseases.
14 b. Analysis of available data used to track and monitor chronic
15 diseases is critical to all of the following:
16 (1) knowing where and how to put in place the most effective strate-
17 gies to prevent diseases;
18 (2) assessing the contribution of diseases to disabilities and prema-
19 ture mortality;
20 (3) measuring the effectiveness of prevention strategies; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03119-03-1
S. 873--A 2
1 (4) generating hypotheses that may lead to new scientific knowledge
2 about the causes of, and most effective ways to fight, chronic diseases.
3 c. State government agencies, universities and their consultants are
4 the appropriate and necessary institutions to examine whether or not,
5 and, if so, the extent to which, past environmental exposures might
6 increase the risk of chronic diseases, including, but not limited to,
7 birth defects, diabetes, heart disease, thyroid disease, reproductive
8 disorders, cancer, asthma and other respiratory conditions, Parkinson's
9 disease, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurologically degenerative
10 diseases.
11 d. The initial investment to establish the environmental health track-
12 ing system, including an analysis infrastructure to develop preventive
13 strategies, would constitute a small fraction of the annual costs of
14 controlling chronic diseases in the state.
15 e. It is the intent of the legislature in creating the environmental
16 health tracking system to form a public-private partnership to create an
17 environmental health and tracking system to do all of the following:
18 (1) provide a continually updated database, with linkages to biomoni-
19 toring information, information about exposures to other environmental
20 agents, disease type data and other data collected pursuant to this
21 section, as well as linkages to databases of the U.S. centers for
22 disease control including those in its natural environmental public
23 health tracking program and in its behavioral risk factors database, in
24 order to assess the potential impact of environmental contaminants
25 (defined as physical, chemical or biological agents) on the human body
26 and to evaluate such in relation to established disease risk factors;
27 (2) on an ongoing basis, track and evaluate a variety of chronic
28 diseases in relation to environmental exposures, including state, local
29 and international data on actual incidences of chronic disease;
30 (3) make such data available to the public in an accessible and useful
31 format; and
32 (4) ultimately provide such data to the relevant board, division, or
33 office within the department, the department of environmental conserva-
34 tion, the department of labor, the workers' compensation board, and the
35 state university of New York schools of public health at Albany and
36 Buffalo for the development of appropriate preventive strategies.
37 2. a. The environmental health tracking system is hereby established
38 in the department. The purpose of such system shall be to monitor envi-
39 ronmental exposures and chronic diseases affecting New Yorkers. The
40 state university of New York schools of public health at Albany and
41 Buffalo are directed to cooperate with the department in establishing
42 the environmental health tracking system.
43 b. The objectives of the environmental health tracking system are as
44 follows:
45 (1) to track and evaluate a variety of chronic diseases in relation to
46 environmental exposures;
47 (2) to allow both government and university investigators, their
48 consultants and public health officials to assess the impact of environ-
49 mental contaminants on the human body; and
50 (3) to provide information to the department and to the department of
51 environmental conservation for the development of appropriate preventive
52 strategies.
53 c. To examine the relationships between chronic diseases and the envi-
54 ronment, using, to the maximum extent possible, existing health and
55 environmental data, the commissioner, based upon the recommendations of
56 the working group required pursuant to this section, shall:
S. 873--A 3
1 (1) on an ongoing basis, survey a cross section of the overall popu-
2 lation in the state, including, to the extent possible, regional data to
3 assess geographic variation, including chronically ill patients, and
4 their environmental exposures;
5 (2) on a continuing and periodic basis, conduct science based biomoni-
6 toring, using CDC validated, analytical protocols and CDC's guidelines
7 and practices for ethical treatment of and communications of information
8 to participants in biomonitoring programs, for a cross section of the
9 population, including, to the extent possible, regional data to assess
10 geographic variation; and
11 (3) on an ongoing basis, link data created by such surveys and biomon-
12 itoring activities to other health and environmental databases, such as
13 birth certificates, neonatal blood tests, records of hospital admis-
14 sions, records of emergency room visits and mortality data.
15 3. On or before September first, two thousand eleven, the department,
16 in consultation with the department of environmental conservation, the
17 department of labor, and the state university of New York schools of
18 public health at Albany and Buffalo, shall create a working group of
19 technical experts in public health, epidemiology, biostatistics, envi-
20 ronmental medicine, risk analysis, exposure assessment, developmental
21 biology, laboratory sciences, bioethics, and toxicology, including
22 experts who have knowledge of the sensitivity and exposure of children,
23 women of child-bearing age, seniors and disparately affected populations
24 to environmental hazards, to do all the following:
25 a. develop possible approaches to implementing the environmental
26 health tracking system, including an estimated cost and potential fund-
27 ing alternatives for each approach;
28 b. on or before September first, two thousand thirteen, prepare and
29 submit a report to the department, the department of environmental
30 conservation, the department of labor, the state university of New York
31 schools of public health at Albany and Buffalo, the temporary president
32 of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chairpersons of the
33 senate and assembly environmental conservation committees, the chair-
34 persons of the senate finance and assembly ways and means committees,
35 and the chairpersons of the senate and assembly health committees on the
36 possible approaches to implementing an environmental health tracking
37 system for the state; and
38 c. determine the health and environmental criteria needed to examine
39 the relationship between chronic diseases, including birth defects, and
40 the environment.
41 4. The department and the state university of New York schools of
42 public health at Albany and Buffalo and their consultants are directed
43 to cooperate in creating the working group pursuant to subdivision three
44 of this section.
45 5. On or before January first, two thousand fourteen, the department
46 shall adopt and implement the approach recommended by the working group
47 that it determines most closely meets the findings and requirements of
48 subdivision one of this section, after opportunity for independent,
49 scientific peer review and public comment.
50 6. Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede any confi-
51 dentiality provisions of any law.
52 § 2. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new
53 section 3-0319 to read as follows:
54 § 3-0319. Environmental health tracking system.
55 The department shall cooperate with state agencies, universities, and
56 their consultants to provide all information and other relevant and
S. 873--A 4
1 necessary expertise to meet the requirements of section eight hundred
2 four of the public health law.
3 § 3. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 888 to read as
4 follows:
5 § 888. Environmental health tracking system. The board shall cooperate
6 with state agencies, universities, and their consultants to provide all
7 information and other relevant and necessary expertise to meet the
8 requirements of section eight hundred four of the public health law.
9 § 4. The education law is amended by adding a new section 355-d to
10 read as follows:
11 § 355-d. State university of New York schools of public health at
12 Albany and Buffalo and their consultants to participate in the creation
13 of the environmental health tracking system working group. The state
14 university of New York schools of public health at Albany and Buffalo
15 and their consultants shall participate in the creation of the environ-
16 mental health tracking system working group pursuant to section eight
17 hundred four of the public health law.
18 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
