NCEH in Partnership with Kansas
The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) is part of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NCEH’s work
focuses on three program areas: identifying environmental hazards,
measuring exposure to environmental chemicals, and preventing
health effects that result from environmental hazards. NCEH has
approximately 450 employees and a budget for 2004 of approximately
$189 million; its mission is to promote health and quality of life
by preventing or controlling diseases and deaths that result from
interactions between people and their environment.
NCEH and partners in Kansas collaborate on a variety of
environmental health projects throughout the state. In fiscal
years 2000–2004, NCEH awarded more than $2.6 million in
direct funds and services to Kansas for various projects. These
projects include activities related to investigating an outbreak
of itchy rashes, expanding chemical laboratory capacity, and
preventing childhood lead poisoning. In addition, Kansas benefits
from national-level prevention and response activities conducted
by NCEH or NCEH-funded partners.
Identifying Environmental Hazards
NCEH identifies, investigates, and tracks environmental hazards
and their effects on people’s health. Following is an example of
such activities that NCEH conducted or supported in Kansas.
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Investigation of a Large Outbreak
of Pruritic (Itchy) Rashes—In August 2004, the Kansas
Department of Health and Environment received reports of
more than 300 people in southeast Kansas seeking medical
care for pruritic rashes. At the department’s request, NCEH
helped investigate the cause of the rashes. Data collection,
which included active clinical case finding and a community
survey, is complete and the data are being analyzed.
Measuring
Exposure to Environmental Chemicals
NCEH measures environmental chemicals in people to determine how
to protect people and improve their health. Following are examples
of such activities that NCEH conducted or supported in Kansas.
Funding
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Antiterrorism Funding to Increase
State Chemical Laboratory Capacity—In fiscal year 2004, CDC
provided more than $605,000 to Kansas to help expand
chemical laboratory capacity to prepare for and respond to
chemical-terrorism incidents and other chemical emergencies.
This expansion will allow full participation of
chemical-terrorism response laboratories in the Laboratory
Response Network.
Studies
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Effect of Environmental Exposures
on Fertility-related Outcomes in People—NCEH is partnering
with the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at the Kansas
University School of Medicine-Wichita (KUSM-W) to correlate
exposure to environmental chemicals with fertility health
outcomes for men and women. KUSM-W will interview men and women
attending an in-vitro fertilization clinic to determine their
levels of environmental and occupational chemical exposures.
Study participants will donate samples of blood, semen, ovarian
fluid, and extra-abdominal fat. The NCEH laboratory will analyze
the specimens for levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers,
polychlorinated biphenyls, and persistent pesticides. The study
is pending institutional review board approval.
Services
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Helping State Public Health
Laboratories Respond to Chemical Terrorism—NCEH is working
with the public health laboratory in Kansas to prepare
state laboratory scientists to measure chemical-terrorism agents
or their metabolites in people’s blood or urine. NCEH is
transferring analytic methods for measuring chemical-terrorism
agents (including cyanide-based compounds and other chemicals)
to Kansas. In addition, NCEH instituted a proficiency-testing
program to measure the comparability of the state’s analytic
results with results from the NCEH laboratory.
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Newborn Screening Quality
Assurance Program―NCEH provides proficiency-testing services
and dried-blood-spot, quality-control materials to monitor and
help assure the quality of screening program operations for
newborns in Kansas. The importance of accurate screening
tests for genetic metabolic diseases cannot be overestimated.
Testing of blood spots collected from newborns is mandated by
law in almost every state to promote early intervention that can
prevent mental retardation, severe illness, and premature death.
Preventing
Health Effects That Result from Environmental Hazards
NCEH promotes safe environmental public health practices to
minimize exposure to environmental hazards and prevent adverse
health effects. Following is an example of such activities that
NCEH conducted or supported in Kansas.
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Childhood Lead Poisoning
Prevention Program—The Kansas Childhood Lead Poisoning
Prevention Program (KS CLPPP) has received NCEH funding
since 2000. In 2001, the program screened 10,706 children for
lead poisoning; 320 children under 6 years of age had elevated
blood lead levels.
KS CLPPP is using NCEH funds to develop and implement a
childhood lead poisoning elimination plan, a targeted screening
plan, and a targeted case management plan. KS CLPPP also is
using NCEH funds to maintain and enhance its statewide
surveillance system, to increase primary prevention activities
and strategic partnerships, and to develop protective policy.
Resources
NCEH develops materials that public
health professionals, medical-care providers, emergency
responders, decision makers, and the public can use to identify
and track environmental hazards that threaten human health and to
prevent or mitigate exposure to those hazards. NCEH’s resources
cover a range of environmental public health issues. These issues
include air pollution and respiratory health (e.g., asthma, carbon
monoxide poisoning, and mold exposures), biomonitoring to
determine whether selected chemicals in the environment get into
people and to what degree, childhood lead poisoning, emergency
preparedness for and response to chemicals and radiation,
environmental health services, environmental public health
tracking, international emergency and refugee health, laboratory
sciences as applied to environmental health, radiation studies,
safe disposal of chemical weapons, specific health studies, vessel
sanitation, and veterans’ health.
For more information about NCEH programs, activities, and
publications as well as other resources, contact the NCEH Health
Line toll-free at 1-888-232-6789, e-mail
NCEHinfo@cdc.gov, or visit
the NCEH Web site at
www.cdc.gov/nceh.
December 2004
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