Americans Want Tracking Of Diseases Caused By Environment

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nine in 10 Americans say the government should make it a priority to reduce diseases caused by the environment and would support a national program to track and treat them, a survey finds.

The survey released last week also found that 90 percent of Americans consider environmental factors such as pollution, waste and chemicals important contributors to disease.

``These numbers tell a very clear story,’’ said Jim O’Hara, executive director of Health-Track, a nonprofit public health organization that sponsored the survey.

``People are concerned about environmental causes of chronic disease and believe their elected officials should do more to track chronic diseases and their links to environmental hazards.’’

Health-Track advocates a comprehensive national approach to tracking and monitoring links between the environment and health as a way to prevent chronic disease. It says 100 million Americans suffer some form of chronic disease at a cost to the nation of an estimated $325 billion a year.

The survey, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, found that 40 percent of Americans believe the government routinely tracks asthma, childhood cancer and birth defects and their links to the environmental hazards, while 28 percent are not sure.

When told that no such tracking mechanism exists, 84 percent of the respondents expressed concern.

Also, 49 percent strongly supported the idea of a ``national system for tracking, monitoring and responding to’’ health threats caused by environmental factors. Forty percent said they would ``somewhat support’’ the idea.

The nationwide survey of 1,565 registered voters was conducted April 20-30. The margin of error for the full sample was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Health-Track was established with a grant to Georgetown University from The Pew Charitable Trusts, a foundation that emphasizes improvements in the health and the environment.