HR1067 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1067 LRB095 20308 MJR 47395 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declined to release a report about health problems near contaminated sites around the Great Lakes; and

WHEREAS, The group that commissioned the report, the International Joint Commission, has called for its release, as have 2 congressional committees and individuals associated with the authorship and review of the report; and

WHEREAS, The report's author, Christopher De Rosa, was demoted from his position as the director of the division of toxicology and environmental medicine at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after raising health questions in the study; and

WHEREAS, The report was drafted over several years and points out severe health issues within a few miles of 25 known areas of concern around the lakes; and

WHEREAS, Of the 108 hazardous waste sites in those areas, 71 had a potential human health impact, according to a draft of the report made available by the Center for Public Integrity; and

WHEREAS, The report calls for further investifation of adverse health effects in the areas with the most overlap between health hazards, health problems, and at-risk populations, including reproductive-age women, the elderly, and children younger than 6 years old; and

WHEREAS, The study, entitled "Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern" began in 2001 and was completed in July 2007 after several rounds of scientific peer review; and

WHEREAS, Senior scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blocked the report's publication while they review it because of questions concerning the underlying data raised a few weeks before its intended release to the public; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to release its report about health problems near contaminated sites around the Great Lakes to the public; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the congressional delegation from Illinois and Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.