Commission members pressed for faster, locally grounded health-data analysis after the commission discussed a recent University of Arizona study and persistent data gaps.

Loreen, a long-time commissioner and community voice, summarized local frustration: "The health piece... it's a disgrace... we haven't touched the data." Several members said the commission should pursue academic partners to analyze existing exposure and health records rather than defer for new, expensive studies.

Whitney of the Department of Health and Human Services told the panel the department lacks staff in its environmental public health tracking (EPHT) program because of uncertain federal funding: "that part of our website was maintained by our environmental public health tracking program... and we don't have any staff in that program anymore because the federal funding has been uncertain." She said DHHS must also make its web pages fully accessible and is targeting April 2026 for compliance, which could temporarily take pages offline.

Commissioners discussed birth-record sources and how the state could use live birth worksheets and vital records. Whitney said hospitals submit live birth worksheets to vital records and the department receives that basic information, which could be used for retrospective analysis. Members proposed inviting the University of Arizona authors and other researchers to present their methods and funding histories to the commission so the body can assess reproducibility and next steps.

Members emphasized distinguishing contamination (presence in environment) from exposure (people consuming contaminated water) and the need to pair water-testing, vital records, and other health data to make defensible linkage between exposure and outcomes. Several commissioners volunteered to help invite authors and explore legislative or subcommittee routes to secure funding and analytic partnerships.