NIH Radio
NIEHS Website Assesses Environmental Impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
Brief Description:
A new website with a Global Information System is intended to provide valuable information for assessing environmental hazards caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Created by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the website provides the most up-to-date data to public health and safety workers on the contaminants in flood waters, infrastructure and industry maps, as well as demographic information for local populations.
Transcript:
Schmalfeldt:A new website with a Global Information System is intended to provide valuable information for assessing environmental hazards caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Created by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the website provides the most up-to-date data to public health and safety workers on the contaminants in flood waters, infrastructure and industry maps, as well as demographic information for local populations. Dr. William Suk (Sook) is the director of the NIEHS Superfund Basic Research Program. He talked about what else can be found on the website.
Suk: There's information on the site that focuses on what we are doing as an institute and as an agency, and as a part of NIH with regards to cleanup and emergency response activities, what we are doing with regards to environmental resources for folks who are emergency medical responders. And this is a variety of information — everything from World Health Organization guidelines for environmental health in disasters to different kinds of pollutants and basic safety information for the general public. So it spans quite a bit. We've also, at this institute, assisted the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in the development of a series of field public health teams to provide assistance with relief and recovery along the Gulf Coast. So these are things that NIEHS has done. You can find a lot of this information on the website, and it is searchable.
Schmalfeldt:For more information, visit www.niehs.nih.gov, and click the banner regarding NIEHS response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. From the National Institutes of Health, I'm Bill Schmalfeldt in Bethesda, Maryland.
About This Audio Report
Date: 9/29/2005
Reporter: Bill Schmalfeldt
Sound Bite: Dr. William Suk
Topic: Environment
Institute(s): NIEHS
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