Were these funds approved?

January 5, 2001

(this story appeared a year ago but I have not read anything more. Does

anyone know what happened?)

White House earmarks $27 million to develop tests for toxic exposure

By KAREN GULLO

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The White House wants to spend $27 million to develop blood

tests for measuring toxic substances in humans. The money also would be used

to help communities use the tests to investigate unusually high cancer rates

or chemical accidents.

The funds, to be included in President Clinton's 2001 budget, would more

than double what the government spent last year to develop ways of measuring

toxic exposure in humans. Officials say the tests are needed to study the

link between chemicals and disease and to identify regions of the country

where Americans are exposed cancer-causing substances.

If funds are approved by Congress, the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention plan to test thousands of people and make the tests available to

state and local health officials, said Dr. Koplan, CDC director.

''We have currently in a more experimental mode tests for a wide variety of

toxins in the human body,'' said Koplan. ''This will move the capability of

doing these tests out into the community.''

The tests could be used in studies of so-called cancer clusters -- places

where a higher-than-normal numbers of people who live or work in the same

place come down with cancer. The tests could also be used to measure toxic

exposures from chemical spills or accidents.

The CDC's Environmental Health Lab, which develops such tests, has already

conducted studies that link pesticide exposure to breast cancer and PCBs to

non-Hodgkins lymphoma. It also does a national survey that tracks lead

exposure in children.

But the CDC wants to develop tests that can withstand the rigors of field

work so that communities can routinely monitor people for exposure to over

100 potentially toxic substances and, in the case of chemical accidents,

quickly determine whether people were exposed to dangerous poisons.

Right now there are few tests for measuring a wide variety of toxic

chemicals in humans.

''The lab is developing ways to look for dozens or hundreds of chemicals in

just a teaspoon of blood,'' said Dr. , director of the CDC's

center for environmental health. ''The CDC wants to take them from the

research lab to the country health officer who is dealing with a cancer

cluster or a toxic spill.''

Recommended Posts