Bill Text: NY S00187 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Amended


Bill Title: Provides for the development of an environmental health tracking system within the department of health with cooperation from the departments of environmental conservation and labor; provides that the purpose is to gather various environmental data to correlate with disease data; requires the cooperation of the state university of New York schools of public health at Albany and Buffalo.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-04-29 - PRINT NUMBER 187A [S00187 Detail]

Download: New_York-2015-S00187-Amended.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         187--A
                               2015-2016 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 7, 2015
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by Sens. SQUADRON, AVELLA -- read twice and ordered printed,
          and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health --  recom-
          mitted  to  the  Committee on Health in accordance with Senate Rule 6,
          sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill  amended,  ordered  reprinted  as
          amended and recommitted to said committee
        AN  ACT  to  amend the public health law, the environmental conservation
          law, the labor law and the education law, in relation to creating  the
          environmental health tracking system
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1.  The public health law is amended by adding a  new  section
     2  804 to read as follows:
     3    § 804. Environmental health tracking system.  1. The legislature finds
     4  and declares all of the following:
     5    a.    There currently exist several health and environmental databases
     6  maintained by the state. However, there is  little  or  no  coordination
     7  between  the  use and analysis of these data as they pertain to environ-
     8  mental health issues, or accessibility of this information by interested
     9  parties and researchers.  In its fight against chronic diseases, includ-
    10  ing birth defects, that are related to the environment, the  state  must
    11  give  communities and public health professionals solid, reliable infor-
    12  mation, which is the  most  basic  tool  with  which  to  undertake  the
    13  prevention of these diseases.
    14    b.  Analysis  of  available  data  used  to  track and monitor chronic
    15  diseases is critical to all of the following:
    16    (1) knowing where and how to put in place the most  effective  strate-
    17  gies to prevent diseases;
    18    (2)  assessing the contribution of diseases to disabilities and prema-
    19  ture mortality;
    20    (3) measuring the effectiveness of prevention strategies; and
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01233-02-6

        S. 187--A                           2
     1    (4) generating hypotheses that may lead to  new  scientific  knowledge
     2  about the causes of, and most effective ways to fight, chronic diseases.
     3    c.  State  government agencies, universities and their consultants are
     4  the appropriate and necessary institutions to examine  whether  or  not,
     5  and,  if  so,  the  extent  to which, past environmental exposures might
     6  increase the risk of chronic diseases, including, but  not  limited  to,
     7  birth  defects,  diabetes,  heart disease, thyroid disease, reproductive
     8  disorders, cancer, asthma and other respiratory conditions,  Parkinson's
     9  disease,  Alzheimer's  disease,  and  other  neurologically degenerative
    10  diseases.
    11    d. The initial investment to establish the environmental health track-
    12  ing system, including an analysis infrastructure to  develop  preventive
    13  strategies,  would  constitute  a  small fraction of the annual costs of
    14  controlling chronic diseases in the state.
    15    e. It is the intent of the legislature in creating  the  environmental
    16  health tracking system to form a public-private partnership to create an
    17  environmental health and tracking system to do all of the following:
    18    (1)  provide a continually updated database, with linkages to biomoni-
    19  toring information, information about exposures to  other  environmental
    20  agents,  disease  type  data  and  other data collected pursuant to this
    21  section, as well as linkages  to  databases  of  the  U.S.  centers  for
    22  disease  control  including  those  in  its natural environmental public
    23  health tracking program and in its behavioral risk factors database,  in
    24  order  to  assess  the  potential  impact  of environmental contaminants
    25  (defined as physical, chemical or biological agents) on the  human  body
    26  and to evaluate such in relation to established disease risk factors;
    27    (2)  on  an  ongoing  basis,  track  and evaluate a variety of chronic
    28  diseases in relation to environmental exposures, including state,  local
    29  and international data on actual incidences of chronic disease;
    30    (3) make such data available to the public in an accessible and useful
    31  format; and
    32    (4)  ultimately  provide such data to the relevant board, division, or
    33  office within the department, the department of environmental  conserva-
    34  tion,  the department of labor, the workers' compensation board, and the
    35  state university of New York schools of  public  health  at  Albany  and
    36  Buffalo for the development of appropriate preventive strategies.
    37    2.  a.  The environmental health tracking system is hereby established
    38  in the department. The purpose of such system shall be to monitor  envi-
    39  ronmental  exposures  and  chronic  diseases affecting New Yorkers.  The
    40  state university of New York schools of  public  health  at  Albany  and
    41  Buffalo  are  directed  to cooperate with the department in establishing
    42  the environmental health tracking system.
    43    b. The objectives of the environmental health tracking system  are  as
    44  follows:
    45    (1) to track and evaluate a variety of chronic diseases in relation to
    46  environmental exposures;
    47    (2)  to  allow  both  government  and  university investigators, their
    48  consultants and public health officials to assess the impact of environ-
    49  mental contaminants on the human body; and
    50    (3) to provide information to the department and to the department  of
    51  environmental conservation for the development of appropriate preventive
    52  strategies.
    53    c. To examine the relationships between chronic diseases and the envi-
    54  ronment,  using,  to  the  maximum  extent possible, existing health and
    55  environmental data, the commissioner, based upon the recommendations  of
    56  the working group required pursuant to this section, shall:

        S. 187--A                           3
     1    (1)  on  an ongoing basis, survey a cross section of the overall popu-
     2  lation in the state, including, to the extent possible, regional data to
     3  assess geographic variation, including  chronically  ill  patients,  and
     4  their environmental exposures;
     5    (2) on a continuing and periodic basis, conduct science based biomoni-
     6  toring,  using  CDC validated, analytical protocols and CDC's guidelines
     7  and practices for ethical treatment of and communications of information
     8  to participants in biomonitoring programs, for a cross  section  of  the
     9  population,  including,  to the extent possible, regional data to assess
    10  geographic variation; and
    11    (3) on an ongoing basis, link data created by such surveys and biomon-
    12  itoring activities to other health and environmental databases, such  as
    13  birth  certificates,  neonatal  blood  tests, records of hospital admis-
    14  sions, records of emergency room visits and mortality data.
    15    3. On or before September first, two thousand sixteen, the department,
    16  in consultation with the department of environmental  conservation,  the
    17  department  of  labor,  and  the state university of New York schools of
    18  public health at Albany and Buffalo, shall create  a  working  group  of
    19  technical  experts  in public health, epidemiology, biostatistics, envi-
    20  ronmental medicine, risk analysis,  exposure  assessment,  developmental
    21  biology,  laboratory  sciences,  bioethics,  and  toxicology,  including
    22  experts who have knowledge of the sensitivity and exposure of  children,
    23  women of child-bearing age, seniors and disparately affected populations
    24  to environmental hazards, to do all the following:
    25    a.  develop  possible  approaches  to  implementing  the environmental
    26  health tracking system, including an estimated cost and potential  fund-
    27  ing alternatives for each approach;
    28    b.  on  or  before September first, two thousand eighteen, prepare and
    29  submit a report to  the  department,  the  department  of  environmental
    30  conservation,  the department of labor, the state university of New York
    31  schools of public health at Albany and Buffalo, the temporary  president
    32  of  the  senate,  the  speaker  of the assembly, the chairpersons of the
    33  senate and assembly environmental conservation  committees,  the  chair-
    34  persons  of  the  senate finance and assembly ways and means committees,
    35  and the chairpersons of the senate and assembly health committees on the
    36  possible approaches to implementing  an  environmental  health  tracking
    37  system for the state; and
    38    c.  determine  the health and environmental criteria needed to examine
    39  the relationship between chronic diseases, including birth defects,  and
    40  the environment.
    41    4.  The  department  and  the  state university of New York schools of
    42  public health at Albany and Buffalo and their consultants  are  directed
    43  to cooperate in creating the working group pursuant to subdivision three
    44  of this section.
    45    5.  On  or before January first, two thousand nineteen, the department
    46  shall adopt and implement the approach recommended by the working  group
    47  that  it  determines most closely meets the findings and requirements of
    48  subdivision one of this  section,  after  opportunity  for  independent,
    49  scientific peer review and public comment.
    50    6.  Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede any confi-
    51  dentiality provisions of any law.
    52    § 2. The environmental conservation law is amended  by  adding  a  new
    53  section 3-0320 to read as follows:
    54  § 3-0320. Environmental health tracking system.
    55    The  department shall cooperate with state agencies, universities, and
    56  their consultants to provide all  information  and  other  relevant  and

        S. 187--A                           4
     1  necessary  expertise  to  meet the requirements of section eight hundred
     2  four of the public health law.
     3    §  3.  The labor law is amended by adding a new section 888 to read as
     4  follows:
     5    § 888. Environmental health tracking system. The board shall cooperate
     6  with state agencies, universities, and their consultants to provide  all
     7  information  and  other  relevant  and  necessary  expertise to meet the
     8  requirements of section eight hundred four of the public health law.
     9    § 4. The education law is amended by adding a  new  section  355-d  to
    10  read as follows:
    11    §  355-d.  State  university  of  New York schools of public health at
    12  Albany and Buffalo and their consultants to participate in the  creation
    13  of  the  environmental  health  tracking system working group. The state
    14  university of New York schools of public health at  Albany  and  Buffalo
    15  and  their consultants shall participate in the creation of the environ-
    16  mental health tracking system working group pursuant  to  section  eight
    17  hundred four of the public health law.
    18    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
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