March 25, 2011

TUBERCULOSIS

ATS Convenes World TB Day Briefing

The ATS, along with Global Health Council and other partners, convened a briefing entitled Overcoming Obstacles to Achieve Results: Tuberculosis in the 21st Century for Senate congressional staff in honor of World TB Day this week, .  The panel of speakers featured ATS member Payam Nahid, M.D, Joel Spicer, with the Stop TB Partnership, Christy Hanson, Ph.D., Director of the Infectious Diseases Division at the U.S. Agency for International Development and international photojournalist David Rochkind. Jon Sawyer, with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, moderated the panel.

Mr. Spicer provided a global overview of TB incidence, including data from the WHO's new report on multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB and progress towards meeting the Global Plan to Stop TB goals. Dr. Nahid, Attending Physician in the Tuberculosis Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital and an investigator with the CDC's TB Clinical Trials Consortium, gave overviews of the burden of TB in the U.S., the treatment regimen and high costs associated with multi-drug resistant MDR--TB treatment, and action needed to eliminate TB in the U.S. and around the world. Dr. Hanson described the contributions that USAID's TB program is making in global TB control in countries such as Indonesia and South Africa.

David Rochkind who has designed a web-based educational program on TB, called epidemictb, presented moving photographs of patients and families affected by TB in Moldova, South Africa and India. The ATS and its partners will be sponsoring another briefing on TB for House staff on March 29.

CLEAN AIR

ATS Urges Supreme Court to Hear Clean Air Case

The ATS filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of North Carolina v. Tennessee Valley Authority.  In this case, the state of North Carolina is using state common law to force coal-fired power plants in Tennessee and Alabama operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority to install pollution control equipment to reduce downwind air pollution and its impact on North Carolina residents.

Lower courts ruled in favor of North Carolina, but the 4th federal district court of appeals overturned the lower court ruling.  The 4th District Court ruling contradicts earlier federal district court precedent where individuals successfully used state common law statutes to force industry to reduce pollution.

The ATS amicus brief provides a summary of the key scientific literature that documents the known health effects of exposure to air pollution.  The ATS brief makes clear that the health effects of air pollution are significant and include increased hospitalizations and emergency room visits, lost school days and days of restricted activities, and premature death.  These effects are not trivial and North Carolina has a compelling interest in using state common law to protect the health of its citizens.

The Supreme Court is expected to announce early this summer whether it will hear North Carolina v. Tennessee Valley Authority case.

CLINICAL PRACTICE

AMA Report Calculated Physicians As Economic Engines

This week, the American Medical Association released a report on the economic impact of office-based physicians in the U.S. economy.  The report estimates that office-based physicians generated $1.4 trillion in economic activity in 2009 and supported 4 million jobs in the U.S. 

On average, each office-based physician supported 6.2 jobs -- including their own- and generated $1.3 million in wages.

Somewhat surprisingly, the report, which was commissioned by the AMA and conducted by the Lewin Group, noted that office-based physicians collectively generated more economic activity than hospitals, home health, nursing and legal professions.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Over 100 Groups Join Friends of NIOSH Coalition Support Letter

This week, the Friends of NIOSH coalition sent a letter signed by over 100 industry, academic, labor and workplace safety organizations in support of the National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health program at CDC.  The  letter was drafted in response to President Obama's FY12 budget proposal to sharply cut NIOSH spending, including eliminating the Education and Research Centers program and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery program.

The American Thoracic Society is one of the lead organizations in the Friends of NIOSH Coalition and supports NIOSH as an important source of support for environmental and occupational research, education and training.