Animals as Sentinels of Environmental Health Hazards (1991) / Chapter Skim
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8. Conclusions and Recommendations
8. Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 131-136
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From page 131... ...
The committee noted that many current animal-monitoring systems could, with relatively minor modifications, be made suitable for use during the process of risk assessment of many environmental contaminants. These would complement traditional rodent models by aclding species diversity and a method to evaluate natural and often complex exposures.
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From page 132... ...
· Animals often develop environmentally induced pathologic conditions more rapidly than humans, because they have shorter lifespans; that results in decreased latency periods for disease development or increased susceptibility to toxic chemicals. Keeping in mind those characteristics and potential advantages of animals as sentinels of environmental health hazards, the committee offers the following recommendations for the use of animals sentinels in risk assessment: Animal diseases that can serve as sentinel events to identify environmental health' hazards for humans or to indicate insults to an ecosyste~n should be legally reportable to appropriate state or federal health agencies.
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From page 133... ...
For example, acute lead poisoning in a pet dog alerts us to the risk of chronic lead poisoning of children in the same household; and the occurrence of mesothelioma in a pet dog suggests the presence in the home of dangerous concentrations of asbestos years before adverse health effects might be elected to be seen in the pet's owners. Such sentinel events can be useful, if programs are established to collect data on specified environmentally caused diseases, the information is disseminated promptly to health agencies, and a followup mechanism is established to investigate each occurrence.
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From page 134... ...
For example, the Market Cattle Identification program provides the framework suitable for a national cattle contaminants monitoring program. In an era of diminishing financial resources, reigonal or national coordination of existing programs could result In a large increase In information about environmental contamination with a minimal increase In monetary commitment.
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From page 135... ...
The importance of exposure and disease data for human health risk assessment of environmental hazards, as well as for evaluating animal health itself, dictates that uniformity of data bases be given a high priority. The storage of large amounts of animal data in a logically retrievable form that retains the geographic integrity of information is a central aspect of GIS technology.
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From page 136... ...
The expertise necessary to develop scientifically useful animal-disease data bases, to coordinate existing data resources, and to use the resulting information to identify environmental hazards has been a limiting factor in risk assessment. Schools of public health traditionally have provided trading in epidemiology, but their emphasis has been on human health and disease.
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