Pediatric specialist to speak on PFAS impacts at Wausau summit

Wausau Pilot & Review

A pediatric specialist will address sources of PFAS, health implications, the unique vulnerability of children, ways to reduce exposure and the importance of legislation during next month’s Midwest Environmental Health Summit in Wausau.

Dr. Beth Neary, MD, will present “PFAS and Your Health” at the event, which begins at 9 a.m. June 3 at Jefferson Street Inn, 201 Jefferson St., Wausau and features a full day of speakers and information.

Dr. Neary teaches Environmental Health to medical students and pediatric residents at UW-Madison,  and is Co-President of Wisconsin Environmental Health Network (WEHN). She is also a Clinical Adjunct Asst. Professor of Pediatrics at UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

She recently served on a committee with National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine to  develop guidelines for clinicians with regard to PFAS and was the featured guest in a 2022 PBS  Wisconsin segment about PFAS and health risks. 

Notably, Dr. Neary is also the Wisconsin representative for the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty  Unit (PEHSU), Region 5, a Joint Venture of AAP and EPA.  

The free Wausau event is sponsored by Citizens for a Clean Wausau (CCW), and is part of the 2023  Midwest Environmental Health Summit on June 3. More event information can be found at  CleanWausau.com and WausauEvent.com. 

Admission is completely free to the public, but citizens should RSVP online to reserve their seat at: WausauEnvironmentalSummit.rsvpify.com. 

Lineup of prominent environmental speakers set for Wausau event

Dr. Neary is just one of four prominent speakers at the June 3 event at the Jefferson Street Inn. The others  include: 

• Stephen Lester: Served as the toxicologist at the Love Canal Disaster, and on an expert panel in East  Palestine, OH following the catastrophic train derailment. CHEJ Science Director. 
• Olga Bautista: Executive Director of Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF) that successfully  opposed General Iron’s Permit in Chicago. Some SETF Members Participated in the Hunger Strike to  Stop General Iron – a hunger strike that apparently loosely inspired an episode of NBC’s Chicago Med. 
• Tony Wilkin Gibart: Executive Director of Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA), a nonprofit law  center that protects the rights of all people to healthy water, land, and air. MEA continues to participate in  defense of Wisconsin’s environmental laws, including Wisconsin’s Spills Law. 

CCW Co-Spokesperson, Terry Kilian, said it would be “amazing to have even one of these speakers at a  Wausau event, but for all of them to speak in one event is probably unprecedented here.”