Stichting Laka

Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
Petition ... for scientic health studies at the Idaho National Engineering Lab. (1990)

AuteurC.Broscious, EDI
Datumjuni 1990
Classificatie 3.01.8.40/05 (VS - LOCATIES - NOORD-WEST)
Voorkant

Uit de publicatie:

INTRODUCTION:

The Environmental Defense Institute (EDI) is a non-profit public interest organization 
dedicated to research and public policy on environmental issues. EDI is the sponsor 
and coordinator of a coalition of thirteen organizations called the INEL Research 
Bureau (IRB) which has a collective membership of 1.7 million Americans. The IRB 
coalition has for several years focused on accessing documents through the Freedom 
of Information Act on the operating history of the Idaho National Engineering 
Laboratory (INEL). These INEL documents are used by IRB member organization's 
as part of their on-going analysis of the health and safety impact of INEL operations. 
Nine of the coalition member organizations are Idaho based with constituents who 
are directly impacted by INEL operations.

EDI respectfully petitions the US Public Health Service's Agency for Toxic 
Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to sponsor and coordinate a multi-agency-
tribal-public task force to address the health effects of Department of Energy (DOE) 
facilities at INEL.

This petition requests ATSDR to recognize the immediate need for an independent 
federal agency to take a leadership role in assembling the proposed task force. This 
body could tap the collective expertise of local, state, tribal, and federal agencies 
as well as site workers, scientists, and public representatives necessary to adequately 
evaluate the hazard to public health from INEL operations.

The proposed task force could incorporate ATSDR's INEL health assessment, which 
is currently near completion, and " ... conduct such full scale epidemiological or 
other health studies as may be necessary to determine the health effects on the 
population exposed to hazardous substances from a release or threatened release"
at INEL. (PL 99-499) Section 104 (i) (7) (B).

As the requestor, EDI offers "a statement ... of ... [its] perception of the potential 
health problems associated with the facility or release." (CFR, Vol.52, No.226, 
45019). The forty years of INEL operations have released significant quantities of 
toxic materials to the environment sufficient to warrant further evaluations of 
their impact on effected populations.

Public recognition of DOE's inherent conflicts of interest in monitoring the health 
effects of its own projects is forcing Congress to re-structure its Federal departments 
activities to meet public demands for independent oversight and direct public 
participation in policy making decisions. This is an era of increasing attention to 
radiation exposure standards due to the accumulation of research and site studies 
which are quantifying the health effects of low-level exposure to ionizing radiation.

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