Commoner Center and NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Noise Study, 2021-2023

The Commoner Center, under the auspices of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is conducting a noise study to assess the effects of Congestion Pricing on noise levels in the Central Business District of lower Manhattan and surrounding areas in the adjacent boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. A total of 30 sampling sites across the three boroughs aim to capture various types of site characteristics including bridge and tunnel entrances, residential areas, as well as designated urban background locations.

The study will involve two sampling phases – a pre-congestion pricing period to assess baseline conditions, and a post-congestion pricing period once the policy is implemented. Each of the sites will be sampled twice each phase, where each sampling session involves collecting continuous data for approximately 7.5 days.

At the conclusion of the study, the data will allow us to assess the effects of congestion pricing on noise, as well as provide information on the spatial distribution and spatial noise profiles of different locations in the city.

• Data visualization example from collected data.

Air Quality Citizen Science Toolkit Report Published

Over the last two years, Drs. Holger Eisl and Ana Ilie expanded their research into methods of community engagement and community based participatory research by developing air quality “citizen-science” toolkits that include how-to guides for accessing available data on emission sources, designing neighborhood air pollution surveys using latest low-cost sensor technologies, and sharing data online. This project report provides valuable information for communities and government institutions and carries the key message that “effective citizen science can be done by all interested individuals without specialized training and experience.”

Worker Health Protection Program Celebrates 20 Years of Screening Former Department of Energy Workers

The Worker Health Protection Program (WHPP) recently held its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. This year's meeting celebrated 20 years of providing free occupational medical screening to former Department of Energy (DOE) workers. Medical screening programs for the Portsmouth, Paducah, and K-25 sites began in early 1999. Since that time the program has expanded to screen workers from 14 DOE sites in eight states. To date, over 34,000  DOE workers have participated nationwide, receiving over 68,500 exams, including rescreen examinations.

The program is funded by the DOE and has been designed and run by physicians and support staff with extensive occupational health experience at the Barry Commoner Center, located on the Queens College campus of the City University of New York (CUNY), in conjunction with the United Steelworkers, the Atomic Trades and Labor Council and local area medical partners. Screenings are free and open to former workers who meet the eligibility requirements, usually a minimum of 30 days to one year, depending on the DOE site and trade.

WHPP medical screenings are focused on occupational exposure to asbestos, silica, beryllium, noise, solvents, and other chemical exposures common at DOE sites. Specialized tests like the beryllium lymphocyte test and chest x-ray with b-reading, often detect work-related illnesses that general practitioners are unlikely to test for.

The program was initially created under Section 3162 of the 1993 Defense Authorization Act, directing the DOE to fund former worker health screenings to be conducted by independent medical groups.  If illnesses are found to be related to this work, participants may be eligible for compensation under the Department of Labor’s Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP) or state worker’s compensation plans

• Pictured above: Dr. Steven Markowitz, Director of WHPP, presents David Fry, WHPP Local Coordinator for the Idaho National Laboratory, with a plaque celebrating 20 years of the program.

Summer Interns Arrive!

This summer, The Barry Commoner Center is happy to be a placement in the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety-funded Occupational Health Internship program (OHIP). This highly selective program places undergraduate and graduate-level students in projects around the country, where students conduct occupational health research in partnership with a labor union or a community-based organization. Our OHIP students are working with Make the Road NY and the National Domestic Workers Union to design a curriculum to teach Latinx domestic cleaners about safer cleaning approaches and how to advocate for a safer workplace. Meet our interns:

Jasmine Olivera

Graduating summa cum laude, Jasmine Olivera was the valedictorian of the Queens College, City University of New York’s (QC) class of 2019. She majored in Urban Studies and minored in Cities & Social Medicine, and Spanish, and received the Paul Klapper Scholarship, QC’s most prestigious award. She traveled to Costa Rica to study community health, participated in post-hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, and volunteered at the Good Samaritan Hospital in NY. She was active in various campus clubs, including MEDLIFE (Medicine, Education and Development for Low Income Families Everywhere). Next year, she will pursue a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Cambridge with the goal of using her degree to reduce health inequities within marginalized Latin American communities. Prior to being accepted into the national OHIP program, Jasmine had been previously interning at the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment for over two years with Drs. Baron and Cuervo in various immigrant worker health projects.

Gloria Perez

Gloria Perez is a first-generation undergraduate student from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and is currently majoring in Gender Studies and minoring in Civic Engagement, and Labor and Workplace Studies. Through her studies, she is interrogating the struggles that low-wage workers face in the workplace, but most importantly, she hopes to enact change that empowers workers to demonstrate their agency and humanity. She recently completed a year-long internship with the Americorps JusticeCorp program, assisting self-represented litigants at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse with family law petitions In LA. She has been a peer mentor for two years at the Center for Community College Partnerships where she helped students of color access higher education. She also works for the UCLA Labor Studies Department and is in charge of student outreach and the weekly newsletter. Most recently, Gloria was chosen to become an Astin Scholar through which she will participate in a year-long research project that investigates inequities in public education, along with the wins and losses during the United Teachers Los Angeles strike this year.

NYCCAS has become vital to the understanding of variation in pollution exposures within New York City; however, its operation relies on trained technical, analytic, and field staff to collect and analyze air quality data. In recent years, technological advancements in air quality monitoring have brought to market many low-cost, easy-to-use, portable air quality sensors that provide high time resolution data in real time providing exciting opportunities for additional data collection. Simultaneously, there is a growing field of ‘citizen scientists’, non-scientists who are engaged in specific issues that collect or analyze data to contribute to scientific research or advocate for environmental or public health improvements. The NYCCAS team is currently expanding into the area of community engagement and community-based participatory research by developing air quality “citizen-science” toolkits that will include how-to guides for accessing available data on emission sources, designing neighborhood air pollution surveys using new, low-cost technologies, and sharing data online.

Pilot study goals:

Barry Commoner Center Co-Creates Safer Cleaning Awareness Program

Target, the consumer super-store chain, has awarded the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment (Isabel Cuervo, PhD, Project Director) funding to create a 3-year Safer Cleaning Awareness Program, which is aimed at improving knowledge about safer cleaning products and work practices among domestic cleaners and other consumers. While the health and environmental benefits of safer consumer cleaning products are well established, there is inadequate awareness about the benefits of these products among the Latinx population. As part of the multi-institutional Safe and Just Cleaners Project, an ongoing 5-year NIH research project (Sherry Baron, MD, MPH, QC Principal Investigator; Homero Harari, ScD, Co-Principal Investigator, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai; and Make the Road New York) domestic cleaners have been identified as key decision-makers in choosing cleaning products.

Establishing a new partnership with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a local and national organization, the goal of the Safer Cleaning Awareness Program is to change consumer preferences towards safer cleaning products through an English/Spanish domestic cleaner training program delivered via in-person and social media training modules. In addition to information about product content, the training will include rights-based messaging to better communicate about safer alternatives with family members, neighbors and employers.

Steven Markowitz Appointed Chair of the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health of the U.S. Department of Labor

Steven Markowitz, MD, DrPH, will serve a second term as Chair of the Department of Labor's Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health. Congress passed legislation establishing the Board in 2015 to advise on selected issues regarding the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. A total of 12 board members representing the scientific, medical, and workers' representative communities were selected for two year terms.

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) was passed in 2000 and amended in 2005 to provide medical benefits and compensation to former workers of Department of Energy sites who were exposed to radiation and other toxic substances. It was awarded $12.4 billion in compensation and medical benefits over the past 15 years.

The Board will advise the Secretary of Labor on selected aspects of the existing compensation program. Stated areas of focus will be: the DOL's database of Site Exposure Matrices, medical guidance for examination of claims, evidence requirements for lung disease claims, and the evaluation of work by existing industrial hygienists and physicians. The Advisory Board's next meeting will take place in the Fall of 2018.

New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) Releases 2018 Report

The New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) has released its annual report on air quality in New York City. The largest trend was a decline in winter sulfur dioxide due to the regulation of heavy heating oils. Between winter 2008-2009 and winter 2015-2016 averages of sulfur dioxide decreased by 95%. The report also found a citywide decline in the annual averages of particulate matter (28%), nitrogen dioxide (27%), nitric oxide (35%) and black carbon (24%.)

Read more

Barry Commoner Center Co-Creates The Safe and Just Cleaners/Limpieza Sana Y Justa Project

The Safe and Just Cleaners/Limpieza Sana y Justa Project will document exposures to cleaning agents among the Latina immigrant domestic cleaners in NYC, both at work and at home. In collaboration with Make the Road NY, a survey will be conducted with Latina domestic workers about work practices, values, knowledge and attitudes about potential hazards and self-reported health problems associated with consumer cleaning product use. Exposure samples of volatile organic and quaternary ammonium compounds will be collected. Additionally, a public health campaign will inform Latino domestic cleaners and their communities about safer alternatives. This work will lay the basis for a joint effort that will simultaneously improve conditions for cleaning workers and reduce exposure to hazardous cleaning agents in the larger community of which the workers are a part.

This 5 year project, funded by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, is a collaboration between the Barry Commoner Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, and Make the Road New York. Partners also include the National Domestic Worker Alliance, the BlueGreen Alliance and the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.

Sherry Baron Discusses Post Disaster Training at University of Texas

On September 29th, Sherry Baron, MD will give a seminar titled "When Uncertain, Protect: Lessons from Hurricane Sandy on Post-disaster Safety and Health for Immigrant Clean up and Reconstruction Workers." This seminar, which is part of the UTHealth EOHS Research series, will describe the lessons learned while creating the Post Disaster Toolkit for Training Clean-up and Reconstruction Laborers. The project was created after Hurricane Sandy with funding from the Robin Hood Foundation and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The Barry Commoner Center and Make the Road New York (MRNY) trained and equipped 525 Latino day laborers doing Sandy cleanup and reconstruction with personal protective equipment to reduce potential work hazards.

Read more

Barry Commoner Center Co-hosts National Day Laborer Organzing Network's Assembly

The Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment (BCCHE) co-hosted the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)’s regional assembly on March 11th and 12th, 2017. About 100 participants representing over 10 affiliated immigrant worker-oriented community-based organizations (worker centers), and invited guests, including Carlos Menchaca, NYC Council member (D-Brooklyn) gathered to discuss current presidential administration immigration policies and organizational responses, as well as strategic planning for the annual assembly to take place in the San Francisco Bay Area later in the year.

BCCHE forged a growing relationship with NDLON after a two-year of collaboration on a research and capacity building project with six member affiliate organizations – La Colmena, New Immigrant Community Empowerment, New Labor, Wind of the Spirit, Workers’ Justice Project, and Workplace Project, and the Labor Institute in partnership with the United Steelworkers, and Make the Road New York. Isabel Cuervo, PhD and Sherry Baron, MD, MPH presented on the outcomes of the partnership.

Chief Medical Officer for the Fire Department of New York Interviewed by Steven Markowitz

David J. Prezant, MD interviewed by Steven Markowitz, MD, DrPH. Dr. Prezant is Chief Medical Officer at the Office of Medical Affairs for the Fire Department of New York. Steven Markowitz is an occupational medicine physician, epidemiologist, Professor, and Director of the Barry Commoner Center for Health and Environment at Queens College, City University of New York. The interview is part of a special issue of the American Journal of Industrial Hygiene.

New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) Releases Annual Report

The New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) has released its annual report on air quality in New York City. This latest collaboration between the NYC Department of Health and the Barry Commoner Center describes trends in air quality from winter 2008-2009 to fall 2014.

During that period NYCCAS found that annual averages of pollutants like fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and nitric oxide all declined over six years of measurement. The largest improvement reported was in wintertime sulfur dioxide levels, which fell by 68% over the span of the report. The decline is attributed to increased City and State regulation of high sulfur fuels used for heating and power.

Other findings include:

NYCCAS began in 2007 as a partnership between Queens College and the NYC Department of Health through the city’s PlaNYC initiative for sustainability. The program aims to track air pollutants over time and location, identify neighborhood emission sources, set priorities for city officials about clean air, and give air pollution estimates for health studies.    

NYCCAS data is collected using air pollution monitors fixed 10-12 feet high on lamp posts at around 100 locations throughout New York City. Sampling occurs at each location for two week increments that occur four times per year.   Air pollution monitors collect samples that measure fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide, wintertime sulfur dioxide, and summertime ozone.

Steven Markowitz Appointed Chair of the new Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health of the U.S. Department of Labor

Steven Markowitz, MD, DrPH, has been named Chair of the Department of Labor's newly created Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health. Congress passed legislation establishing the Board in 2015 to advise on selected issues regarding the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. A total of 15 board members representing the scientific, medical, and workers' representative communities were selected.

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) was passed in 2000 and amended in 2005 to provide medical benefits and compensation to former workers of Department of Energy sites who were exposed to radiation and other toxic substances. It was awarded $12.4 billion in compensation and medical benefits over the past 15 years.

The Board will advise the Secretary of Labor on selected aspects of the existing compensation program. Stated areas of focus will be: the DOL's database of Site Exposure Matrices, medical guidance for examination of claims, evidence requirements for lung disease claims, and the evaluation of work by existing industrial hygienists and physicians. The Advisory Board's first meeting will take place April 26-28, 2016 in Washington DC and is open to the public. The Advisory Board intends to meet at least twice each year through 2019. Instructions on remote participation in the upcoming meeting will be available at http://www.dol.gov/owcp/energy/

Commoner Center Co-Sponsors Transit Worker Health Conference in Buenos Aires

Lewis Pepper, MD, MPH, of the Barry Commoner Center, traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina in late January, 2016, to participate in the 5th Bob Crow International Conference on the Health of Transit Workers. The Professional Association of Subway and Premetro Workers and the Argentine Confederation of Workers hosted the three-day conference of over 120 people. Dr. Pepper, along with Dr. Frank Goldsmith and Paul Navarro, from the Transit Workers Union, Local 100, New York City and Eckhardt Johanning, MD, MSc, presided over sessions discussing: Respiratory and Cancer Issues from Diesel Exhaust and Asbestos; Track Safety and Subway Technology; and, Vibration, Noise, and Ergonomics.

Pepper, and Argentine occupational health physician, Dr. Fernando Ariel Rossi, coordinated the sessions addressing respiratory hazards and diseases in the transit workforce. Special attention was directed toward the Early Detection of Lung Cancer program of the Barry Commoner Center.

Other sessions addressed Women and Youth in the Transit Industry; The Struggle to reduce hours worked and Promote Health in Subways; as well as International Reports from delegates from Australia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile.

The conference, which was simultaneously translated in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, shared a broad perspective on the issues presented. The level of the discussion and knowledge represented by the conference participants reflected an engaged and dynamic interest in transit workplace health and safety issues. The sessions on Track Safety and Women Workers had the liveliest, richest, and most informative discussions.

Conference presenters and participants also brought an interesting mix of medical and scientific understanding, which interacted, with the overarching political concerns of the attendees. Union health and safety representatives described how South American public transit systems face ongoing fiscal and political challenges to their work protecting the health and safety of their members and the riding public. Privatization of the public systems, along with work rule changes and downsizing, were seen as the greatest threat to the transit workforce.

The CBNS Worker Health Protection Program for Former Department of Energy (DOE) workers issued its 15th annual Health Watch Newsletter

The CBNS Worker Health Protection Program now has a Facebook Page. The Page will have frequent posts relating to the medical screening program, health and safety, and Department of Energy sites. The page can be viewed here: Worker Health Protection Page on Facebook

Health Watch consists of program updates and health and safety news relevant to the former DOE workforce and is distributed to all program participants.

The CBNS Worker Health Protection Program hosted joint public outreach meetings in Parumph and Las Vegas, Nevada on May 6th and 7th, 2014. The meetings were attended by representatives from the Worker Health Protection Program, Department of Energy, Department of Labor, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and the Ombudsman for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, all of whom provided information and answered questions regarding medical screening and compensation to former workers from the Nevada National Security Site (formerly known as the Nevada Test Site).

Hearing on the Impacts of Radon from Natural Gas on Indoor Air Quality held by the Assembly Committees on Health, Environmental Conservation, Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions, and Energy and the Legislative Commission on Science and Technology.

Lew Pepper testified at a New York State Assembly hearing on May 9th in support of proposed legislation aimed at mitigating the impacts of radon from Natural Gas which originates in bedrock and shale and is transported in New York State's energy delivery systems.

Queens College and Make the Road New York receive $547,000 CDC grant to address working conditions for immigrant laborers in post-disaster reconstruction.

The Center for the Biology of Natural Systems of Queens College and Make the Road New York, a New York City-wide community-based organization, have received a two year $547,000 grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control to conduct research on improving working conditions for immigrant construction laborers in post-disaster settings. This activity is part of the Federal government response to the needs created by the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy. This project will fill important gaps in knowledge about the prevalence of unsafe working conditions in this environment and will develop and test methods of addressing those hazards. Immigrant workers will be trained and will conduct > 200 worksite safety and health hazard assessments. Barriers to and facilitators of safe work will be identified through focus groups and key informant interviews. New training content and methods to address workplace safety and health hazards for immigrant workers will be tested, described and disseminated to community groups, labor organizations, the public health community, and other concerned parties.

Partners in this project, in addition to CBNS and Make the Road New York, include the CUNY School of Public Health, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New Perspectives, Inc., and Maria Brunette, PhD.

CBNS receives funding under CUNY Workforce Development Initiative, 2013-2014

The Center for the Biology of Natural Systems has been funded for the academic year 2013-2014 under the CUNY Workforce Development Initiative ($16,000) to work with Make the Road New York (MRNY), a community-based organization in New York City, to engage in three activities: 1) to enhance the workforce training by embedding occupational safety and health training in all relevant MRNY employment activities, 2) to identify a strategy and plan to make occupational safety and health training sustainable within MRNY, and 3) if new Federal immigration legislation is passed, to develop a plan on how to integrate new occupational safety and health activities in new workforce initiatives that are likely to be undertaken in conjunction with such legislation. Make the Road New York currently sponsors a series of innovative workforce development activities, including job readiness classes, community health worker training, green jobs development, pre-apprentice training for entering union apprenticeships, and worker coop development.

Hurricane Sandy Training MRNY and CBNS reach goal of training 500 Latino day laborers.

Since December 2012, CBNS has assisted Make the Road New York (MRNY), a community-based organization that serves low income and immigrant communities in the New York metropolitan area, to address the workplace safety needs created by the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. MRNY in collaboration with CBNS, secured a $150,000 grant from the Robin Hood Foundation to conduct targeted training in occupational health and to provide a full set of personal protective equipment to 500 Spanish-speaking day laborers in New York City and Long Island in a 12 month period. We created a two hour training curriculum in Spanish; trained groups of 15 to 30 day laborers in recognizing Sandy-focused occupational safety and health hazards; and distributed full protective equipment to trainees, including proper medical respirator clearance and OSHA-certified fit-testing. Program evaluation is ongoing and will provide an improved understanding of both the obstacles to safe work among immigrant construction workers and opportunities to improve safety conditions for such workers.