Dioxin-Contaminated ChickenEnvironmental Health Disaster Scenarios.

Michelle Lee Urbano & Madeleine Kangsen Scammell

Boston Neighborhoods

Summer 2004

92 Students (14yrs – 18 yrs)

• 30 Middle School• 69% Female; 31% Male

• 62 High School• 62% Female; 38% Male

• 64% Black or African American

• 14% Latino

• 13% Asian

• 2% White

• 7% Multiracial

          

Youth to Health Careers (Y2HC) Summer Collaboration

School-Based Health Program Adolescent WellnessParochial School-Based Health 20+ BPHC Programs

Youth to Health Careers (Y2HC)Summer Enrichment Program

Summer Objectives:Increase knowledge of health career

professions– Primary Care– Public Health– Allied Health– Complementary Health

Introduce young people to public health issues, concepts and practices

Provide academic enrichment

Youth to Health Careers 2005 Summer Enrichment Program Statistics

553 Applications Requested 182 Applications Returned 153 Eligible Applications

– 92 Stipends Available• 62 High School Participants (Rising 10th - 12th)

– 51 Returning Students– 11 New Students

• 30 Middle School Participants (Rising 9th) – Point of Entry

Youth to Health Careers (Y2HC)Sample Outcomes

By the end of 7 weeks, students will…

Differentiate between the four areas of health care… Describe eight types of health care facilities… Describe 5 health careers… Identify 4 body systems and their functions. Describe 3 major diseases and… Demonstrate taking vital signs… Complete a draft of a college essay. Sign Up for one After school Program. Define Advocacy - name 3 ways to improve access to

health care. Recommend 1 approach on how to reduce/eliminate health

disparities. Etc…

Goals of Scenario Demonstrate public health in action

Identify who is involved in public health (e.g., farmers, concerned residents, regulatory agencies, policy makers, scientists,)

Introduce Dioxin (a chemical commonly found at Superfund sites and relevant to current Massachusetts legislation)

Goals of Scenario, cont.

Raise awareness about food, the food industry and food safety (particularly chicken)

Apply risk assessment skills

High School Students at BU SPH

Summer Picnic

July 13 2005

The next day….

DURHAM- What appears to be a mass poisoning has affected poultry farms across the states of Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina, with an estimated loss of over 100,000 chickens. According to a grower, the chickens acted very strangely for the last several days and “wouldn’t go near their feed.” Fred Pucker, CEO of PuckerUp Poultry Inc., which contracts the farms where the poisoning occurred, refused to be interviewed. The Alabama Department of Public Health is investigating the outbreak to determine the risk this poisoning may pose to human health. Poultry is a major industry in the South.

The Massachusetts Times

Nation | WorldWidespread chicken contamination

Two-Headed Chickens in Alabama!July 2005This week’s mass chicken poisoning resulted in over 100,000 mutated chickens, some with two heads, five legs, and one with three wings. When PuckerUp Poultry, Inc. discovered these reproductive abnormalities, the company immediately killed all chickens on their farms in the states of Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina. Employees are concerned that the same thing will happen to their children. PuckerUp Poultry, Inc. bought its feed, which is believed to have been contaminated with dioxin, from the PuckerUp exclusive contractor, Feed The World, Inc. located in Munchie, Alabama. PuckerUp is the largest producer of meat and poultry in the US, with over $24 billion in sales in 2003. They ship their poultry across the US where it is sold at nearly every major supermarket chain in the country.

ScenarioEach table represents the State Department of Public Health in Massachusetts.

You must make decisions abou the following questions:

Is it safe to eat PuckerUp Poultry?

Should poultry products on the shelves in supermarkets across the State remain on the shelves, or be recalled and disposed of?

People to interview: Fred Pucker, CEO, PuckerUp Poultry

Alabama Department of Public Health

US Food & Drug Administration

Concerned Resident of Massachusetts

Dioxin Scientist

What is Dioxin?2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

Formed by burning things, especially plastics made with oil and chlorine.

Pollution in the environment comes from waste incinerators and paper mills which use chlorine to bleach paper.

Remember Yuschenko?

SCENARIO

Why Dioxin?Research Needs Identified by EPA:

“The toxicity of dioxin at Superfund sites is a critical science issue…. Superfund must continue to make risk assessment and remediation decisions at dioxin contaminated sites and would appreciate research results that could be used to make/support those decisions.”

http://www-apps.niehs.nih.gov/sbrp/about/about6_s3.cfm

Why Chicken?Poultry consumption a huge source ofprotein for many Americans. It is an extremely concentrated industry, and can be sold cheaply.

Environmental justice: majority of chicken growing andprocessing facilites are in the South

This really happened

1999 Belgium

-sudden drop in egg production

-reduced egg hatchings

-reduced weight of chicks

-increased mortality of chicks

-neurological problems

Some Consequences…

France quarantined 70 poultry farms

European Union destroyed suspect poultry, pork and beef.

Dozens of countries scrambled to keep Belgian food off supermarket shelves.

Other Scenarios

West Nile Virus: To Spray? or Not to Spray?

Obesity: Vending Machines? or No Vending Machines?

http://www.bu.edu/bahec/