Health Canada-US EPA (Windsor/Detroit Studies) Workshop

Detroit, Michigan
October 21, 2005

Workshop Background

Researchers and interested parties from Health Canada, Environment Canada, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the University of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the Detroit Department of Environmental Affairs, and the Detroit Public Schools met in Detroit, Michigan on October 21, 2005 to report upon ongoing and planned human exposure and health effects research studies involving the Windsor/Detroit air shed. A list of attendees and their contact information has been provided. The meeting was hosted by Ms. Anne Chevalier of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's Air Quality Division. This meeting was a follow-up to a November 2004 meeting held in Windsor, Ontario with a similar focus. The meeting was organized and moderated by Ron Williams (US EPA) and Amanda Wheeler (Health Canada). The agenda for the meeting contained a series of sessions dealing with such issues as human exposure research study designs, preliminary health effect findings, cancer and respiratory incidence studies and advanced measurement technologies. In addition, a separate session was conducted that examined potential collaborative research efforts involving all parties. Adobe Acrobat copies of a majority of the presentations presented at the workshop are provided in the following links:

• Spatial and Personal Exposure Study (PDF, 23 pp., 670KB, About PDF ), Amanda Wheeler
• Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (PDF, 37 pp., 1.1MB), Ron Williams
• CRUISER (PDF, 20 pp., 2.8MB), Jeff Brook
• Diabetic Panel Study (PDF, 7 pp., 290KB), Ling Liu
• Exposure Monitoring Component for the Detroit Children's Health Study (PDF, 23 pp., 670KB), Shaibal Mukerjee
• Detroit Cardiovascular Health Study (PDF, 11 pp., 720KB), Rob Brook
• Children's Respiratory Health Study (PDF, 17 pp., 548KB), Anna-Maria Frescura
• Development of SOP for Personal, Indoor and Outdoor Monitoring of Airborne Metal (PDF, 8 pp., 43KB), Pat Rasmussen
• Border Air Quality Strategy. Toxicology of Urban Particulate Matter (PDF, 22 pp., 5MB), Dalibor Breznan

NOTE: The information on this page summarizes discussions from a recent workshop involving researchers and interested parties from various institutions, including the US EPA. The information contained in on this web page, including the presentations from workshop participants (EPA and non-EPA), does not necessarily reflect official Agency policy. In addition, mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

Workshop Summary

The primary purpose of the workshop was the exchange of information about the progress of ongoing studies and independent efforts to plan/perform additional studies. All of the reported and planned studies focus upon the impact/association of particulate matter, select air toxics, and criteria pollutant gases on the Windsor/Detroit air shed and surrounding populations. Sources of these pollutants were not primarily discussed but data on monitoring trends, hot spots and monitoring methodologies were discussed in varying degrees. Information on early findings from observed health effects data linking potential human exposures to the aforementioned pollutant classes from Windsor-based studies were reported with more work in this area planned by both Canadian and US researchers.

Opportunities For Potential Collaborations

A session dealing with how interested researchers might promote collaborative research (intra- and international) was conducted in the closing session. Summarization of these discussions indicate:

1. There is a general interest in continuing the current level of dialogue between Canadian and US researchers involved in studying the Windsor/Detroit air shed.
2. The workshop and its format were viewed as highly successful and the information provided useful in better understanding the current state of research in the region.
3. There was consensus that the variety and depth of the ongoing or planned studies presented multiple opportunities for potential intra- and international research opportunities.
4. A number of potential collaborations were specifically named. These included land use regression modeling for pollutant species across the Windsor/Detroit geographical area.
5. It was agreed that one of the most productive approaches in examining potential collaborations would be for interested parties to complete a form specifying what the collaboration might involve, what parties would be involved, the timeline for conducting the collaboration and the resulting products. To meet this need, a form was provided to all attendees. These forms are currently being collected.
6. It is understood by the respective parties that formal agreements providing a framework for this collaboration need to be resolved. John McDonald of the Canadian-US International Joint Commission, has agreed to work with Ron Williams (US EPA) on continuing the dialogue necessary for such a framework to be developed.

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