Excerpt

There is a growing awareness of significant environmental health issues, both domestically and worldwide. Scientists and policy makers are grappling with complex issues such as climate change, sustainability, and obesity—a diverse set of challenges that continue to have health impacts. Meeting these challenges requires dialogue from a number of stakeholders. The problems did not come from one activity, and the solutions are not going to come from one source (e.g., government or academia). Government alone clearly does not have the financial and other resources to solve all the health-related problems. Further gains in environmental health are going to be met through collaborations and partnerships. This does not mean that each stakeholder group needs to play a role in every problem, but we need to move forward collectively. This has been more apparent as disasters such as the tsunami in Indonesia, hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast, and SARS. There is a need for stakeholders to bring their expertise to the table.

In this workshop, the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine discussed the role of industry in environmental health. The workshop looked at programs that work in concert with governmental regulations and tried to focus on how these programs can improve environmental health. One point that was made a number of times during the workshop is that we are going to need these programs at the global level. They are needed because of the complexity of the societal problems; and in order to begin to address these issues, we are going to need input from all stakeholders.

Contents

• The National Academies
• Roundtable on Environmental Health Science, Research, and Medicine
• Reviewers
• Preface
• Summary
  • WHAT ARE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS?
  • USING ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
  • GLOBAL IMPLICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS
  • INDUSTRY’S CONTRIBUTION TO IMPROVING THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY’S HEALTH
  • CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
• Introduction
  • CHARGE TO SPEAKERS AND PARTICIPANTS
  • FIVE WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
• 1. Tools for Monitoring Environmental Health
  • ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
  • ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN PRACTICE
  • THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: FINDINGS FROM THE LITERATURE
• 2. Moving Beyond Compliance: Can Industry Get Ahead of the Curve?
  • USING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
  • THE IMPLICATION OF TECHNOLOGY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
  • CRADLE TO GRAVE: UPSTREAM SOURCES
  • EMBRACING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: GREEN CHEMISTRY
  • ANALYZING RISK PRIOR TO PRODUCTION
  • VOLUNTARY PROGRAMS: CHALLENGES AND NEEDS
• 3. Global Implication of Environmental Standards
  • BALANCING RISK ASSESSMENT WITH THE REALITIES OF UNCERTAINTY
  • GLOBAL CORPORATE POLICIES ON HEALTH, SAFETY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
  • THE REACH INITIATIVE
  • WORKING WITH REACH: PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS
  • THE CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT: TIERED APPROACH TOWARD REGULATION
  • U.S. APPROACH TO REGULATION: THE TOXIC SUBSTANCE CONTROL ACT AND PUBLIC HEALTH
  • INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON REGULATORY ISSUES: STRATEGIC APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT
• 4. Improving Community Health Globally
  • EXXONMOBIL: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERFORMANCE DRIVEN BY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
  • HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT IN PRACTICE: BUILDING OF EXXONMOBIL’S CHAD-CAMEROON PROJECT
  • PUBLIC HEALTH LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE EXXONMOBIL CHAD-CAMEROON PIPELINE PROJECT
  • STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
• 5. Corporate Social Responsibility
  • SUSTAINABILITY AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
  • CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE CONTEXT OF REGULATION
  • CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: ROLES OF GOVERNMENT, THE PRIVATE SECTOR, AND CIVIL SOCIETY
• 6. Panel Discussion
  • HOW DOES ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LINK WITH CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY?
  • WHAT IS CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY?
  • ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
  • CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITIES
• References
• Appendixes
  • Appendix A Workshop Agenda
  • Appendix B Speakers and Panelists
  • Appendix C Workshop Participants

Rapporteurs: Myron Harrison and Christine Coussens

This summary is based on the proceedings of a workshop that was sponsored by the Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine. It is prepared in the form of a workshop summary by and in the names of the editors, with the assistance of staff and consultants, as an individually authored document.

Support for this project was provided by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health (Contract N01-OD-4-2193, TO#43); National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Contract No. 200-2000-00629, TO#7); National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Contract 0000166930); National Health and Environment Effects Research Laboratory and National Center for Environmental Research, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Contract 282-99-0045, TO#5); American Chemistry Council (unnumbered grant); ExxonMobil Corporation (unnumbered grant); and Institute for Public Health and Water Research (unnumbered grant).

The views presented in this book are those of the individual presenters and are not necessarily those of the funding agencies or the Institute of Medicine.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.