by Alex Brooks
Elizabeth Lewis-Michl, the Director of the Division of Environmental Health Assessment at the NYS Department of Health, came to this month’s Hoosick Town Board meeting to discuss a possible major new health study focusing on the health impact of PFOA and PFAS chemicals which may use Hoosick Falls as one of the areas of study. She said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has put out a grant announcement for a nationwide study which will make up to $32 million available nationally to fund a five year study period. She estimated that nationally the study will include health information from about 6,000 adults and 2,000 children. She said the broad outline of the plan for the study has already been written at the federal level, and the CDC is now looking for local partners to help carry it out.
Lewis-Michi said the NYS Health Department will be partnering with the SUNY Albany School of Public Health to propose a project in New York State focusing on Newburgh and Hoosick Falls. This study would recruit about 500 adults and 250 kids from Hoosick Falls (and Petersburgh) to participate, and from Newburgh about 1000 adults and 500 kids. She said the grant could fund a project for one state at anywhere from $500K to $3 million. The grant application is due by the end of May, and the DOH would know by October whether its proposal is funded or not.
She said if the project is funded, it would be a five year project. The first year would be taken up with planning, then recruitment would take up part of the next year, then data gathering and data analysis would take up the rest of the time. She said it would be an in-depth study, and participants would be asked to respond to a detailed questionnaire, as well as various medical testing, and there would be some reimbursement for the time and trouble involved in participation.
She said she hoped that study will continue at the end of the five year period with some kind of continuing research program, but that remains to be seen. In any case this initiative from the CDC presents an opportunity to greatly advance our knowledge of the health effects of PFOA/PFAS exposure.