Science Corner

ATSDR

Great Lakes Human Health Effects Research Program

November 1994

Legislative Mandate

In 1990, Congress amended the Great Lakes Critical Programs Act, also known as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The amendment mandated that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in consultation with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the Great Lakes states, submit to Congress by September 30, 1994, a research report assessing the harmful human health effects of water pollutants in the Great Lakes basin. In support of this directive, Congress authorized funds not to exceed $3 million to carry out research to support this report for each of the fiscal years 1992, 1993, and 1994. ATSDR received $2 million for fiscal year 1992 and $3 million for each of the fiscal years 1993 and 1994 to support human health effects studies in the Great Lakes basin. This research program concludes in September 1995. Final results and conclusions will be available after that date.

ATSDR Mission

ATSDR's mission is to prevent exposure and adverse human health effects and diminished quality of life associated with exposure to hazardous substances from waste sites, unplanned releases, and other sources of pollution present in the environment. The activities described in this report support this mission and are consistent with achieving the health promotion and disease prevention objectives of Healthy People 2000, a national strategy put forth by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to significantly improve the health of the nation over the next decade (DHHS 1991).

Objectives of Research Program

The ATSDR research program is designed to investigate and characterize the association between the consumption of contaminated Great Lakes fish and short- and long-term harmful health effects. The six objectives of the research program are to (1) build upon and extend the results from past and ongoing research; (2) develop information databases and research methodology or both that will provide long-term benefits to human health effects research efforts in the Great Lakes basin; (3) provide direction for future health effects research; (4) provide health information to state and local health officials, the concerned public, and their medical health care professionals; (5) in concert with state and local health officials, increase public awareness regarding the potential health implications of toxic pollution in the Great Lakes basin; and (6) coordinate as necessary with relevant Public Health Service (PHS) research programs and activities, including those of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Indian Health Service (IHS), as well as EPA, and state and local health departments, to ameliorate adverse public health impacts of persistent toxic substances in the Great Lakes basin.

Research Strategy

Toward this end, ATSDR has developed a Great Lakes Health Effects Research Strategy. The goals of this strategy is to identify human populations residing in the Great Lakes basin that may be at greater risk of exposure to chemical contaminants present in one or more of the Great Lakes, and to help prevent any adverse health effects. This strategy is built upon the five traditional elements of disease prevention: identification, evaluation, control, dissemination, and infrastructure. This strategy has been endorsed by the Council of Great Lakes Research Managers and has been adopted by the International Joint Commission as a framework for the study of human health and other ecosystem effects in the Great Lakes basin.

Research Grants Funded

For fiscal year 1992, ATSDR funded nine research grants to study the potential adverse human health effects of consuming contaminated Great Lakes fish. These studies include eight epidemiologic investigations in presumed susceptible populations, that is, Native Americans, sport anglers, the urban poor, pregnant women, fetuses and nursing infants of mothers who consume contaminated Great Lakes fish, infants and children, and the elderly. The ninth study focuses on developing more sensitive methods to detect persistent Great Lakes contaminants, suh as polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, alkylated lead, mirex, and methylmercury, in human biologic tissues and fluids. The 10 grants funded by ATSDR for fiscal year 1993 include the nine continuation awards funded in 1992 and one new award that established an interlaboratory-based, quality assurance/quality control program for the ATSDR research program.

The impact of this research program will be felt most directly by the communities within the Great Lakes basin. Collectively, these 10 research projects will (1) build upon and extend six existing human health studies in the Great Lakes basin that include high- risk populations; (2) establish two new subpopulations that include African-American women and men and women of reproductive age (between 18 and 34); (3) improve analytical methodology for detecting low levels of Great Lakes contaminants in human biologic tissues and fluids and in environmental media; (4) characterize exposure to all 11 critical Great Lakes contaminants identified by the International Joint Commission, as well as other pollutants; (5) determine profiles and levels (body burden) of Great Lakes contaminants in high-risk populations; (6) identify sensitive human health end points from exposure to Great Lakes pollutants, i.e., behavioral, developmental, reproductive, neurologic, endocrinologic, and immunologic effects; (7) investigate paternal and maternal exposure to Great Lakes pollutants and assess the potential for resulting health effects in their children (transgenerational effects); (8) increase collaboration, cooperation, and communication between the researchers in the Great Lakes basin; and (9) provide public health information to the study populations, health care providers, and state and local health departments concerning human health effects that may result from exposure to Great Lakes pollutants by fish consumption.

Additionally, the research conducted by this program will help delineate the relationships among contaminant levels in the environment, exposure pathways, tissue levels, and potential human health effects; allow for evaluation and interpretation of data across all human health studies to facilitate a basin-wide analysis of the pollution problem in the Great Lakes; and provide a "model" for other ecosystem-level studies intended to determine human health impacts of hazardous waste.

Further Information

A brochure developed by ATSDR on the ATSDR Great Lakes Human Health Effects Research Program provides insight into ATSDR's early and continuing efforts to assess the adverse effects of water pollutants in the Great Lakes system on the health of people in the Great Lakes states.

To obtain a copy of the brochure please contact:

Dr. Heraline E. Hicks,
Senior Environmental Health Scientist,
Great Lakes Program Manager,
Division of Toxicology,
ATSDR,
Atlanta, GA 30333

Phone:  (404) 639-6300
FAX: (404) 639-6315
E-Mail: heh2@cdc.gov

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