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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982-10-18 .35 0 BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING OCTOBER 18, 1982 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Monday, October 18, 1982 at 7 15 p m in Room G-1 (Recreation Office) of the Town Office Building Members present were Mr James W Lambie, Chairman; Linda Roemer, ph D and George A Smith, Director of Public Health Minutes of the last meeting were approved as read At seven-thirty p m Bernice Joyal, Health Commissioner for the City of Newton came into the Board Meeting at the request of George Smith, Health Director for the Town of Lexington Mr Smith explained to Ms Joyal that Collaborative Research has moved into Lexington, At the present time they are not doing research but there is a lab there that is not being utilized at this time as far as he knows Mr Smith said he knows Newton has come up with regulations for DNA research and he and the Board would like to hear about it Ms Joyal said it is a long process that started with them in 1980 Their problem at the time was pharmaceutical labs moving into town They started with using the NIH guidelines They then had a couple of open meetings and made the police and fire departments aware of the hazards that could occur Other towns and Mass Public Health began to have meetings at that time about DNA research and had drawn up guidelines Newton also had meetings with the two people that were originally involved in the Cambridge and M.P H guidelines In Newton they have to apply to the "Land Use Committee" and then it is discussed with the bio hazards committee The CDC also are making guidelines and determinations of what containmant should be used for which organism There is some thought that eventually the CDC guide- , lines will be substituted for the NIH guidelines The questions also comes up - should we allow institutions to come in that are working with exempt organisms without a license such as ecola and we decided "No, they should also have to get a license the same as anyone else because you don't know what they will eventually be working with" Newton has also written in to have a surveyor go in to survey the Lab Someone that is an expert in DNA and they will survey the facilities at least once a year We had a few guidelines drawn up after meeting with different people knowledgeable on the subject Ms Joyal also got involved with a committee with people from Boston, some scientists, etc that were drawing up guidelines and interested in DNA In addition, Tufts had a course in relation to DNA that Bernice took and now the ordinance is three pages in relation to the zoning laws Ms Joyal would suggest you send for the NPHA model ordinance that is being used throughout the country Ms Joyal said that there will still be changes in their regulations and she wants to get them updated again within the year She suggests that if and when the guide- I 3I lines are made here, be sure to make them open ended to update them. Ms Joyal told the Board that she had contracted with the safety officer of Harvard University to do the surveys at their companies in Newton She said the person she hired has the expertise in DNA and we certainly need an expert Ms Joyal said she set up the Biohazards Committee She tried to get experts in this field One is a physician (communicable diseases specialist) , a nursing instructor from B C and a biocrobiologist, etc She said any person that is an expert is usually associated with these institutions Ms Joyal is on the Biohazards Committee and one more person that she approved of to represent the city in this area Ma Joyal said this committee discusses plant accidents, employee physical re- quirements, who get into the plant and how you get out, etc They also talked about the organisms being used All told the regulations took about one year to complete Ma Joyal said the Board of Health could be made a Board of Health Regulation Newton does not have a Board of Health The basic thing is to protect the community The question was asked if the town had to allow these institutions Ms Joyal said, "How can you stop them? There is a "restraintive trade" law You would have to have a very good reason to keep a trade out" Another question was asked, "How long should they keep blood serum of employees?" Ms Joyal put ten years in her regulations Mr Lambie asked if she thought it necessary to go through all the committees Newton did She said Newton is a differently run city They have so many sub- committees to deal with, but she doesn't think this town would have to do that She does not think that the open meetings are necessary, either, the Board could do the regulations themselves The Board felt they should have open meetings and get some input from the public After further discussion, the Board thanked Bernice Joyal for coming to the meeting Mr Smith told the Board about the Friendly's Restaurant incident He told FRIENDLY'S how he was called at 11 00 p.m , spent the night at the restaurant, police station and hospital checking out anything that would tell what caused the six people to become ill The Waltham police had gathered all foods, wrapped them and put them under lock and key Everyone cooperated including Waltham Director, Bob Mailloux Everything checked out perfectly and the cause has not been found for the people to have become ill Mr Smith told the Board how he had checked out all stores in Lexington TYLENOL to make sure Tylenol products were all taken off the shelves ENCEPHALITIS Mr Smith told the Board that an eight-month old baby from Bedford and an 18 year old girl from Dover has been diagnosed as having encephalitis He has found the girl from Dover goes to Minute Man Vocational School and rides her horse in the Lincoln, Bedford and Lexington area Doctors from Children's Hospital, who are also residents, have called and expressed an opinion that mosquito control should be brought back into Town Mr Smith said anyone contacting equine encephalitis and survives is usually debili- tated the rest of their life Mr Smith has talked to the new Supt of East Middlesex Mosquito Contorl, David Henley, and he would be willing to meet with the Board and explain any issues and answer any questions they would like answers for It is probable that by next August we could have a large mosquito population The mosquitoes can be controlled, not isolated Mr Smith said the residents should make their opinions known He said in the long run the Board of Health could order the spraying of mosquitoes 22 BOWKER ST The Hearing at court of Mrs Andrea Ciccolo of 22 Bowker Street was held and she was given an extension for six months to connect to Town sewer Mr Keshian, owner of property at 455 Lowell Street has cleaned up all the rubbish that had accumulated Honeywell has been testing water and soil samples and sending them out to be tested since the spill-up at their premises and they will continue to do so After the spill took place, two or three people were fired The pneumonia clinic was held on September 30, 1982 We only immunized 22 people The Diabetes Screening Clinic went well There were 23 people screened at this clinic The flu clinic is set for Thursday, October 28, 1982 at Cary Hall There had been a group of women employees at the library complaining about different maladies The State has been running sone tests there but have not come up with anything as yet Mr Smith told the Board that he had interviewed 16 people today (Monday) for the intern's job There are five of these that seemed very good for the job Mr Smith said he had received a couple of calls with people concerned about chlorodane in their homes as the houggs- had been treated at one time with chioredane Patricia Martin-Paul has been unofficially appointed as the permanent dog officer She is waiting for a letter from the Town Manager to make it official 353 The following permits were signed by the Board Animal Permits Francis W K Smith 4 Clematis Road, Lexington Methyl Alcohol Permits Cumberland Farms 189 Mass Ave , Lexington Mobile Canteen Servers Charles E Stefanilo 6 Winship Drive, Wakefield Richard Rocco DeSalvatore 3 Stephanie Circle, Woburn Food Service Establishments - to operate Bellino's Donut Shop Friendly's Ice Cream Shop 141 Mass Ave , Lexington 60 Bedford St. , Lexington Creative Gourmets for Itek #1 Hayden Precision Team (Temporary) 10 Maguire Rd , Lexington 24 Lincoln St (for Oct 21, 22 & 23) (for Nov 11, 12 & 13) Maunder's Meat Market 1768 Mass Ave , Lexington Sack Cinema I, II 1794 Mass Ave Versailles Restaurant (formerly Guenther's) 1777 Mass Ave , Lexington Sack Cinema III 10 Muzzey St The Kitchen 363 Mass Ave , Lexington Food Establishment Vending Machines A & B Vending for Atex, Inc 35 Hartwell Avenue, Lexington N.E Vending for Varian Vacuums 121 Hartwell Ave , Lexington Apple Vending for Tektronix, Inc 482 Bedford St , Lexington DAKA Food Service for G T.E 128 Spring St , Lexington