BILL REQ. #:  S-3626.3 

Read first time 01/13/2006.   Referred to Committee on Water, Energy & Environment.

     AN ACT Relating to biomonitoring; adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW; creating a new section; making an appropriation; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature finds that:
     (a) About seven out of every ten deaths in the United States are attributable to chronic diseases. About one hundred twenty-five million people have at least one chronic illness while sixty million suffer from multiple chronic illnesses. About twenty million children in the country have at least one chronic health problem;
     (b) Chronic illnesses impose enormous health care and other costs upon Washington. For example, the estimated total cost of asthma in the state is about four hundred million dollars annually. Special education for the estimated one hundred twenty thousand children in the state's schools with learning disabilities costs about four hundred seventy million dollars each year;
     (c) There are an estimated eighty-five thousand chemicals registered for use today in the United States, with another two thousand added each year. Some toxicological screening data exists for only seven percent of these chemicals. More than ninety percent of these chemicals have never been tested for their effects on human health. Large numbers of these chemicals are found in cosmetics, personal care products, pesticides, food dyes, cleaning products, fuels, and plastics. Because of their ubiquity in modern life, Washington residents are commonly exposed to multiple chemicals every day. Many of these chemicals persist in the environment, and accumulate and remain in body fat, and have been shown to be toxic. Persistent, bioaccumulative, toxics (PBTs) have been targeted by the state of Washington, the federal government, and other nations around the world for actions to reduce the impact of PBTs on human health and the environment;
     (d) Biomonitoring data supports public health by establishing trends in chemical exposures, validating modeling and survey methods, supporting epidemiological studies, identifying affected communities, assisting in emergency health responses to unanticipated emergency exposures, assessing the effectiveness of current regulations, and helping to set priorities for chemical exposure reduction strategies;
     (e) A grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control enabled the Washington department of health, through the assistance of an advisory committee of public health professionals, to develop a biomonitoring plan, completed in 2003, that identifies the high priorities for the chemicals, environmental settings, and populations for monitoring. However, Washington did not receive federal funding for the implementation of this plan and to date no funding has been identified to move forward with any portion of this plan;
     (f) The Washington environmental public health tracking network is working to improve the state of information concerning environmental contaminants, human exposure to hazards, and potentially related health outcomes statewide. The program is developing network infrastructure to integrate environmental and public health information systems, improve the completeness and timeliness of data for monitoring health outcomes attributable to environmental hazards and exposures, and improve access to information in those data systems.
     (2) It is therefore the purpose of this chapter to authorize a biomonitoring program in Washington as an integral part of the environmental public health tracking network, to secure initial funding for implementing the highest priority elements of the program, and to identify a long-term funding source for implementing the balance of the priorities identified in 2003.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Department" means the department of health.
     (2) "Biomonitoring" means the process by which the presence and concentration of toxic chemicals and their metabolites are identified within a biospecimen as a means to assess the chemical body burden.
     (3) "Biospecimen" means a sample taken from a biophysical substance, that is reasonably available within a human body, for use as a medium to measure the presence and concentration of toxic chemicals.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   (1) The department shall conduct biomonitoring as an element of the environmental health tracking program administered by the department. The biomonitoring shall be conducted in collaboration with the department of ecology, local health jurisdictions, and other public health agencies with the objective of assisting public health agencies and policymakers in allocating resources to maximize environmental health improvements.
     (2) The department shall adopt guidelines and model protocols to guide local and state agencies conducting biomonitoring and that are consistent with the requirements and priorities of this chapter. The guidelines and model protocols shall address, without limitation, the following:
     (a) Ensuring confidentiality and informed consent, and communicating findings to participants, communities, and the general public;
     (b) Emphasizing that all aspects of the program are culturally sensitive; and
     (c) When communicating with participants regarding the purposes of biomonitoring and the uses of biomonitoring results and data, providing a clear explanation of the distinction between exposure data and analysis of the health effects that may occur from chemical exposures.
     (3) In selecting biomonitoring measurements, the department shall accord a priority to:
     (a) Measuring the prevalence of elevated levels of toxic substances in a population group;
     (b) Determining levels of exposure in population groups that may be at increased risk of exposure;
     (c) Providing information on levels of human exposure for studies examining the relationship between exposure to a toxic substance and adverse health effects;
     (d) Tracking the trends in levels of exposure of a population group to specific toxic substances; and
     (e) Assessing effectiveness of public health efforts to reduce the exposure of specific populations to toxic substances.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   Sections 1 through 3 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   By September 30, 2006, the department of health, in consultation with the department of ecology and local health jurisdictions, shall provide recommendations to the governor and the appropriate committees of the senate and house of representatives for funding the biomonitoring program. The recommendations shall provide a proposed phase-in of the top ten highest priorities identified by the department of health's 2003 biomonitoring plan, and shall include recommendations for sharing of costs among federal, state, local, and nongovernmental entities. The department of health's implementation recommendations shall include the objective of integrating with and complementing nationwide monitoring programs.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   Sections 2 and 3 of this act take effect July 1, 2007.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   The sum of fifty thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 2007, from the state toxics control account to the department of health for the purposes of this act.