Oppose Cuts to Environmental Health funding

Board of health members are directly responsible for approving health department budgets and are often in the difficult position of cutting important public health programs. The 2012 Senate Appropriations bill and the proposed 2012 House Appropriations bill includes troubling cuts to public health funding. We as board of health member and public health professionals are concerned about:

• The continued cuts in funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC);
• The $29,000,000 cut to the National Center for Environmental Health in the Senate bill, a 22% decrease from FY 2011 and $22,860,000 less than requested for FY 2012;
• The $10,000,000 cut to the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response from FY 2011 in the Senate bill ; and
• The even larger cuts to these offices in the proposed House Appropriations bill.

Environmental health and emergency preparedness programs are crucial to ensuring the health and safety of local communities. These budget cuts threaten the services that state and local public health agencies provide. We urge the Congress and the President to help protect public health by supporting environmental health and emergency preparedness programs.