Document npkBNvEKnGp7bMZ039adanOe2

Environmental Health Letter, October 1, 1975 3 In suburban Charleston. Their report said that the Baltimore finding "gives rise to considerable cause for con cern since DMN is known to be a highly potent carcinogen." EPA issued a report last year saying that "as a family of carcinogens, nitrosamincs have no equals." And the Food and Drug Administration called nitrosamincs "one of the most formidable and versatile groups of carcinogens yet discovered and their role as environmental hazards in the etiology of human cancer has caused growing apprehension among experts." Nitrosamincs have been found for some time in waterways, principally from runoff of fertilizers, and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of methemoglobinemia in pregnancy. We will devote more space in our next issue to the important meeting, which was jointly sponsored by the World Health Organization, EPA and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. EPA DECLINES TO RECONDISER CE PERMIT ON PCD DISCHARGES PENDING HEARING: EPA has temporarily declined HEW's request to reconsider General Electric Co.'s water pollution permit because of discharges of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River from its plant. Such a reconsideration was urged by Dr. Theodore Cooper, Assistant Secretary of HEW for Health, in a letter to LPA Administrator Russell Train (ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LETTER. Sept. 1). In reply, Dr. Andrew W. Brcidcbuch, Acting Assistant Administrator of EPA for Water, said that it shares with HEW the concern for health effects but wanted to defer action pending the scheduled Oct. 6 hearing on Hudson River discharges, under auspices of the New York State Department of Conservation arid Environ ment. It seemed evident that EPA hopes New York State will take the suggested action. HEWS DR. COOPER 01'TERS NEW SUPPORT AT NYU ENVIRONMENTAL LAD DEDICATION: A new research lab wing of the Anthony J. Lanza Research Laboratories of the New York University's Institute of Environmental Medicine. Sterling Forest, was dedicated Sept. 22, with Dr. Theodore Cooper, Assistant Secretary for Health at HEW, pledging new support for environmental health within tne context or preventive medicine. Dr. Norton Nelson is Director of the Institute. The new wing, built at a cost of S3 million, will more than double the present research space at the Insti tute. The Federal Government provided a grant of S1.9 million and the remaining SI. I million was donated by corporations, foundations and individuals in matching grants. The new wing will house more than 60 labs allocated to organic chemistry, virology and tissue culture, cytogenetics, biochemistry, histology, organic chemistry and carcinogenesis, experimental medicine, bio chemical toxicology, experimental pathology, veterinary toxicology, aerosol technology, immunology, bio mathematics, biostatistics and epidemiology. It will permit (he Institute to implement an expanded program placing emphasis on the problems of cancer prevention. This will entail a major expansion of staff and a resultant increase in student enrollment. . In his dedication address, Dr. Cooper reaffirmed HEW's support for expanded environmental health programs he proposed at the recent Airlie, Va. conference on occupational and environmental health. "Environmental medicine surely is one of the wetlsprings of the health sciences." he said. "Ami I am confident that it will, in the years to come, have an increasingly larger and beneficial impact on the health and well being of the entire human population." Note: Another important and influential spokesman for preventive medicine has recently emerged, lie is Rep. James Hastings (R-N.Y.), ranking minority member of the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee and of its subcommittee on health and the environment. Hastings has been taking the lead in calling for a national conference on development of a national health policy, emphasizing prevention, in open acknowledgement that many of the programs to improve the health care delivery systems-which his com mittee has helped enact-have not resulted in significant gains in the health status of the people. He is spear heading a series of regional meetings in preparation for a national meeting next spring, says the Washington newsletter, Medicine ami Health. ETA URGES LIMITS ON SULFATES ON BASIS OF HEALTH HAZARD: HONS 031704 Increases in sulfur emissions from power plants and other stationary sources should be limited as a