NWDA Air Quality Committee Minutes, 5.14.12

5.14.12
Minutes, Air Quality Committee

Present: Mitch Ritter, Bob Amundson, Caroline Skinner, Bob L, Sharon Genasci

Bob L Talked to the group about some problems with the odor survey form and data collection arrangements. He described an odor complaint he filed that went as usual to the AQ Chair and himself and to DEQ. However, DEQ modified the complaint information, removing some of the data collected and then sent the modified complaint on to ESCO, who forwarded it to all NAC representatives. He then received an email offering follow up data from Ethics Point System. However, when he tried to access this data a password was required, which he did not have.

Next, Bob Amundson talked with us about the Follow-up Review of Cancer Data for
NW PDX, that we requested a year ago from Sujata Joshi at Oregon Health Division, which we recently received. It compares various cancers in NWDA voter districts with Metro and statewide cancer data. We are sorry that it did not also compare with national cancer statistics. We will ask Sujata if we could get this as well.

Some distinctive findings were: “The rate of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in NW PDX men was 1.7 times higher than the rate among other men in PDX and 1.9 times higher than the rate among other men statewide. These findings were statistically significant.”

“The rate of melanoma among Northwest PDX women was 1.4 times higher than the rate among other women in PDX, and 1.6 times higher than the rate among other women statewide. These findings were statistically significant.”

“While the rate of breast cancer among NW PDX women was similar to the rate among other PDX women, it was 1.2 times higher than the rate among other women in Oregon. This finding was statistically significant”

Sharon talked about the document that she and Bob Amundson are writing, that
summarizes achievements of the Health & Environment Committee renamed the NWDA Air Quality Committee over the period 1992-2012. She will post this on the website soon.

The June AQ Committee meeting was rescheduled to June 25th, at 7:00, because
of holiday disruptions. And people were reminded to attend the NWDA Annual meeting on May 21, 2012 from 6:00-7:15 at Legacy Good Samaritan, Wistar Morris Room, 1015 NW 22nd Ave.

Finally, Caroline sadly said goodbye to the group after over ten years of working with us.

Sharon Genasci