PROBLEM: Federal and state agencies must be able to inform the public of environmental health risks in an accurate and timely manner. The ability of federal and state officials to do this rests largely on the adequacy of the data available to study and test suspected links between the physical environment and health.
GAO REQUEST: Representative Nancy Pelosi was joined by Representatives Conyers, Eshoo, Mink, Norton, Slaughter, Velazquez, Waters, and Waxman in requesting that the General Accounting Office (GAO) review federal and state efforts to collect and use the human exposure data needed to link chemicals in the environment with adverse health effects, particularly for identifying potentially at-risk populations.
Specifically GAO was asked:
GOAL: Improving and broadening the usefulness of federal environmental health data systems, with an emphasis on assessing which populations or subpopulations may be disproportionately exposed to toxic chemicals in the environment.
BACKGROUND: In the past, the extent of human exposure to environmental toxics has been extrapolated from data on the concentration of harmful chemicals in soil, water, air, and food. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent each year on these efforts, however, public health experts have stated that for some chemicals and purposes, it is more useful to determine human exposure to toxics by measuring the actual levels of chemicals found in human tissues. This process, referred to as "biomonitoring," can reduce the uncertainties that are associated with estimating human exposure based on external measurements.
By gathering such data from a representative sample of the national population, we improve the information needed to identify whether environmental hazards exist, monitor changes in human exposure over time, and determine which groups within our population are being disproportionately impacted by environmental pollutants.
FINDINGS: Federal efforts to collect human exposure data are limited. The technology necessary for measuring human exposure to chemicals is improving, however, limited resources and other barriers place constraints on the number of chemicals that EPA and HHS are able to measure. Of the over 1400 toxic chemicals that GAO reviewed only 6 percent are currently being measured in HHS and EPA’s surveys conducted to measure and monitor human exposures to chemicals. For example, these efforts include only 7 percent of the chemicals that are known to be or thought to be cancer causing.
The state officials that were surveyed by GAO confirmed the value of human exposure data to determine the health risks faced by their citizens. Almost two-thirds of officials reported that current capacity allowed them to collect or use human exposure data in fewer than half of the cases where they thought it was important to do so.
The GAO identified three main barriers that limit the ability of federal and state agencies to make further progress.
Ability to collect human exposure data – The lack of federal and state laboratory capacity to conduct needed measurements is a significant constraint. Even when capacity is not a limiting factor, assessment of human exposure to harmful chemicals is limited because no method has been developed for assessing exposure levels in human tissues for many of the 1400 chemicals that have been identified as posing a threat to human health.
Lack of information to help set test results in context – Public health officials said they need more information on typical exposures in the general population, so that they can compare this information with levels at specific sites or with specific populations in their states. In addition, more research is needed to relate exposure levels to health effects for the chemicals of concern in their states.
Coordinated, long-term planning among federal agencies has been lacking – Agency commitments to human exposure measurement and monitoring have been sporadic. Without sufficient planning and coordinating it is difficult to ensure adequate linkages between collection efforts and agency goals, eliminate unnecessary duplication, better utilize the expertise of involved agencies, set research priorities, ensure adequate laboratory capacity, and consider states’ needs for information.
RECOMMENDATION: HHS and EPA should develop a coordinated federal strategy for the short and long-term monitoring and reporting of human exposures to potentially toxic chemicals. This strategy should:
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