One of the primary goals of SBRP-funded research is to improve public health. Thus, the Program supports a wide range of research to address the broad public health concerns arising from the release of hazardous substances into the environment. The intent is to provide sound science to those making public policy, regulatory, remediation and risk reduction decisions. SBRP-funded research has been successful in this area as studies have improved our understanding and minimizing the health effects associated with exposures to environmental contaminants. For example:
Arsenic Drinking Water Standard: SBRP-funded researchers at several universities played a vital role in the process leading to the revised drinking water standard for arsenic by contributing greatly to our knowledge of the risk and health effects of arsenic in drinking water.
PCBs in the Hudson River: The SBRP funds wide-ranging research into the human and environmental impacts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) contamination. Aspects of these studies provided information that was seminal in the EPA determination of an appropriate remediation strategy to address PCB contamination of the Hudson River.
Removal of Chlorpyrifos and Diazinon from Retail Sales: Research carried out by SBRP investigators at the University of Washington on the importance of genetic variability in the human paraoxonase (PON1) gene in determining sensitivity to specific organophosphate exposures has provided regulators with data that was important in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) negotiating removal of chlorpyrifos and diazinon from retail sales and home use.
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