HR 384

ENROLLED
2026 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 384
BY REPRESENTATIVE MILLER
  A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Louisiana State University School of Health Sciences to conduct
       certain studies to identify associations between environmental risk factors and
       maternal health outcomes and to report its findings by July 1, 2027.
       WHEREAS, women and the unborn are exquisitely sensitive to chemical toxicants,
therefore, a precautionary approach is needed; and
       WHEREAS, the absence of health effects does not mean no health effects; and
       WHEREAS, limitations of health surveillance include out-migration, disease latency,
health reporting gaps, data privacy rules, small populations, and ecological fallacies in terms
of using parish level data to infer no problem at the local level, and complex exposures; and
       WHEREAS, there are gaps in our knowledge of additive, synergistic, and cumulative
effects of complex exposures to chemical mixtures through the different life phases; and
       WHEREAS, the gaps in environmental monitoring in communities adjacent to
industrial and agricultural areas limit our ability to connect the dots between exposure and
health outcomes; and
       WHEREAS, regulatory standards, risk assessments, and oversight tend to focus on
one chemical, exposure route, or source at a time; and
       WHEREAS, there has been only one peer reviewed study on the association between
reproductive outcomes and environmental hazards in Louisiana as opposed to seventy
related studies in Texas; and
       WHEREAS, regulators often base facility permit decisions on cancer, which can take
decades to manifest rather than effects like adverse respiratory, cardiovascular, or
reproductive events; and
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HR NO. 384  ENROLLED
       WHEREAS, life expectancy, reproductive, developmental, renal, immune,
neurological, and other health outcomes need to be considered; and
       WHEREAS, given the sensitivities of women and the unborn, there is a need to
conduct real-time environmental monitoring in high-risk areas, expand health surveillance
in emergency rooms, urgent care facilities, and OB-GYN clinics, as well as nurseries,
daycares, and primary schools, and conduct a comprehensive study of associations between
environmental risk factors and reproductive, developmental, and respiratory health
outcomes; and
       WHEREAS, such data and studies could inform future surveillance efforts,
regulatory permitting practices, land use policies, and public health interventions to
ultimately reduce health disparities and mitigate impacts.
       THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Louisiana State University School
of Health Sciences to conduct studies to better identify high-risk areas, health disparities,
contributing risk factors, environmental monitoring, and health surveillance gaps, and
associations between environmental risk factors and maternal health outcomes.
       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the findings of the study and recommendations
shall be provided to the House and Senate health and welfare committees and the Senate
Select Committee on Women and Children in the form of a written report no later than July
1, 2027.
       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that one print copy and one electronic copy of any
report produced pursuant to this Resolution shall be submitted to the David R. Poynter
Legislative Research Library as required by R.S. 24:772.
       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
dean of the Louisiana State University School of Health Sciences.
  SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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