Dr. Sumchai declares a Local Public Health Emergency in Bayview Hunters Point

by Ahimsa Porter Sumchai MD, Health and Environmental Science Editor

“California law governs a local health officer’s decision to declare or proclaim a public health emergency in order to exercise extraordinary protective powers to respond. The term ‘emergency’ can be applied to any situation where urgent and immediate action is required to mitigate or prevent an adverse situation that threatens public health, property or the environment.”

“Human Biomonitoring (HBM) is the only way to identify and quantify human exposure and risk, elucidate the mechanism of toxic effects and ultimately decide if measures have to be taken to reduce exposure.”

Under California Health and Safety Code, Section 101080: A regulation expanded to include any imminent or proximate threat of introduction of any contagious, infectious or communicable disease, chemical agent, biologic agent, toxin or radioactive agent – the local Health Officer or designee may declare a Local Public Health Emergency to exercise extraordinary power to respond to imminent and proximate threats to human health and safety. 

As Local Health Officer Designee operating a licensed medical facility within the half-mile buffer zone of the Federal Superfund Sites at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, its radiation contaminated industrial landfill, shoreline and campus of the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratories, I hereby declare under California Health and Safety Code Section 101080 a Local Public Health Emergency within the one-mile buffer zone of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard – the active source of human exposures to radioactive heavy metals and cancer causing chemicals on the State of California Proposition 65 list. 

Signed,

Ahimsa Porter Sumchai MD

October 18, 2022

Founder, Director, Principal Investigator

Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program 

Medical Screening Clinic

5021 3rd St.

San Francisco, CA 

94124-2311

415-859-5471

SF Bay View Health and Environmental Science Editor Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, MD, PD, founder and principal investigator for the Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program, founding chair of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Restoration Advisory Board’s Radiological Subcommittee and contributor to the 2005 Draft Historical Radiological Assessment, can be reached at AhimsaPorterSumchaiMD@Comcast.net. Dr. Sumchai is medical director of Golden State MD Health & Wellness, a UCSF and Stanford trained author and researcher, and a member of the UCSF Medical Alumni Association Board of Directors.