Synergist - April 2011

“We are dismayed that the very rationale for termination of the AgFF program is based on a reading of our findings that ignores the many positive accomplishments of the program that we amply described,” the letter states.

The NAS Committee was asked to rate the AgFF sector’s relevance and impact using a 5-point scale. The Committee gave the sector a score of 4 for relevance,

indicating that the research it produces is
in a “high-priority” subject area and “ade-
quately connected to improvements in
workplace protection.” For impact, the
Committee assigned a score of 3, indicat-
ing that the sector’s activities “are likely
to produce improvements in worker
health and safety.”
William A. Groves, an associate profes-
sor of industrial health and safety at Penn

State University who served on the NAS Committee and signed the letter to Senator Harkin, expressed frustration with the administration’s use of the NAS report. “You get the sense that this person or persons writing the [CDC document] may not necessarily understand exactly what NIOSH was established to do and the importance of their role” in occupational research.

“There’s also the issue that this [NAS report] was three years ago and doesn’t necessarily reflect anything that NIOSH may have done in reaction to our recommendations,” Groves said. “They may have been fixing these things.”

NIH Commences Oil Spill Health Study A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study launched in February will examine the possible health complications associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. According to a Feb. 28 press release, the Gulf Long-term Follow-up Study (GuLF STUDY), conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), will monitor oil spill cleanup workers and volunteers for 10 years as part of a comprehensive federal response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Targeting the 100,000 individuals who took the cleanup worker safety training or were involved in cleanup efforts in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, GuLF STUDY intends to enroll 55,000 workers and volunteers in the study. “We are enrolling workers and volunteers because they were closest to the disaster and had the highest potential for being exposed to oil and dispersants,” said Dale Sandler, PhD, chief of the Epidemiology Branch at NIEHS and principal investigator of the GuLF STUDY.