Toxic Trailers-Toxic Lethargy: How the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Has Failed to Protect the Public Health

摘要

Created in 1980 by Congress, the Ageny for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As part of its mandate to protect the public from harmful environmental chemicals the agency performs 'public health assessments of waste sites, health consulations concerning specific hazardous substances, health surveillance and registries, response to emergency releases of hazardous substances, applied research in support of public health assessments, information development and dissemination, and education and training concerning hazardous substances.' The mission of ATSDR, 'is to serve the public by using the best science, taking responsive public health actions, and providing trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and disease related to toxic substances.' Unfortunately, the agency failed to meet any of those objectives when it produced a 'health consultation' on formaldehyde levels in travel trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in February 2007. In almost every respect ATSDR failed to fulfill its mission to protect the public from exposure to formaldehyde at levels known to cause negative health effects.