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Assemblyman Koon’s Environmental Health Tracking Legislation passes the Assembly |
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 (June 4, 2009) Assemblyman David Koon just moments ago, on the floor of the Assembly, finished successfully debating his legislation that calls for the creation of an environmental health tracking system (A.5343-A). This bill calls for the evaluation of a variety of chronic diseases and their correlation to environmental exposure. It passed unanousmly with a 123 to 0 vote.
“I’m excited by the passage of this important legislation. This bill will allow medical professionals and public health officials to focus on the responsible, cost-effective strategy of disease prevention by honing in on the link between environmental exposure and many chronic diseases, including cancer,” Koon said.
Recent reports from the Pew Environmental Health Commission at the
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health state that chronic diseases are
responsible for seven out of every 10 deaths in our country each year,
with economic costs totaling $325 billion annually.
Taking this into consideration, along with the fact that many chronic
diseases, including cancer, birth defects and asthma have been linked
to environmental exposure, is what prompted Assemblyman Koon to
introduce this legislation. This new bill will create a working group
within the Department of Health in consultation with the Department of
Environmental Conservation, Department of Labor, and the State
University of New York School of Public Health to determine the best
approach in developing this tracking method. Once this system is in
place, it will allow the state to employ more cost effective prevention
measures by monitoring and tracking chronic diseases.
“As it stands right now, the state lacks the tools and therefore the
knowledge to assess these potentially harmful connections,” Koon said.
“This legislation takes tremendous strides by collecting comprehensive
data so that we can determine the most effective strategies to prevent
these chronic diseases that plague so many New Yorkers.”
Assemblyman Koon continues to advocate for legislative measures that
promote chronic disease prevention. The legislation passed today is
the second bill in three years that the Assemblyman has passed relating
to the exposure of environmental toxins. In 2007, a bill prohibiting
the distribution and sale of jewelry containing lead, in an effort to
reduce the hazards of lead exposure (A.8077), passed both houses of the
Legislature. Though this bill was never signed into law, the Consumer
Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 was passed at the federal
level. This act classified any children’s product containing more than
specified amounts of lead as a banned hazardous substance.
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