Atlanta – NIOSH research successes and future challenges facing the agency are highlighted in the Oct. 7 issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Supplement.
Occupational Epidemiology and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, written by NIOSH Director John Howard and William Halperin of the New Jersey Medical School, is one of 15 articles in the special issue (.pdf file) that celebrates 50 years of MMWR at CDC.
The authors said NIOSH faces the following challenges:
- Applying epidemiology to ensure the safety of new advances in commerce and technology
- Leveraging resources to help states build capacity in occupational safety and health
- Supporting a robust system to train and sustain safety and health professionals
- Addressing safety and health amid increasing globalization
Since NIOSH was established by the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, the agency has studied hazards such as lead, asbestos, dioxin, coal mine dust, traumatic injuries, workplace violence, latex allergy and occupational lung disease linked to butter flavorings, the article notes.
