Environmental Health Equity

After watching all of the provided videos and reading material blog about what you think is essential for an ideal chemical policy and then elaborate on one of the elements from a public health protection perspective. I think the most essential components of an ideal chemical policy are: Requiring the use of the safest chemical and product available  Requiring written justification and approval from the government on a narrow case-by-case basis for ANY chemical or product that is deemed hazardous or potentially hazardous for human health. (and requiring this approval be renewed with a new application appeal process annually) Elimination of use for all the most toxic chemicals across the U.S. and pushing out guidance to the rest of the world.  Regulating U.S. companies' use of toxic chemicals not only in the U.S., but abroad through tax structures that penalize any use of hazardous chemicals or products by the company anywhere in the world. Requiring comprehensiv...

Consider the elements of an ideal chemical policy. The Louisville Charter is a consensus-built position paper identifying the key elements of a good chemical policy. READ: THE LOUISVILLE CHARTER FOR SAFER CHEMICALS  (Links to an external site.) In the article above, read through the headers in RED (h3 for screen readers). On the left-sidebar, there are background papers for each of the elements. Choose one or more of the background subjects to blog about. The background subject I chose to discuss is "require safer substitutes and solutions." I think this so fundamental to an ideal chemical policy, and it seems so obvious and yet I don't think this has ever been implemented in any form near as comprehensive as it should be according to this position paper. I think it should be the government's duty to seek to eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals by requiring substitution with safer alternatives wherever ones exist, and by rewarding innovation and research...

BLOG  about the following: Recall your last night's meal.  Go to the  What's on my Food website  (Links to an external site.)  and enter the foods that comprised your meal. The information on the site is based on foods that are NOT "organic". What did you find out about the pesticide residues that may be in or on your food? What do you think about this? What should we be doing about this in terms of public health, not just in terms of our personal choices? Last night for dinner I made a white bean chicken chili soup (recipe:  https://www.asaucykitchen.com/white-bean-chicken-chili-soup-instant-pot/ ). The ingredients I used in this meal are: 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 medium white onion, chopped 1 jalapeño pepper, deseeded and chopped 4 large cloves of garlic, minced or crushed 2 teaspoons dried oregano 1 teaspoon cumin 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 3 cups low sodium chicken stock 1 pound skinless chicken breast ...

My topic of interest for my literature review is the association between air pollution and mental health issues among children. Specifically, I am interested in the increased risk of autism among children due to particulate matter. The main agencies that can provide information, regulatory oversight, or otherwise are implicated in addressing this topic in some way are the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Public Health, the local Department of Public Health, the state Environmental Protection Agency, and any other local air quality control agencies. It is shocking to me that so many agencies and programs should have insight and interest in the issue of poor ai...

Each of these agencies has some jurisdiction over a topic/issue that is related to public health.  Obviously, the Department of Health and Human Services does.    Choose one of the other agencies and write in your blog how that agency’s work might impact public health. Note, you should go to the agency’s official website.   Also, note that the EPA is NOT one of the Executive Agencies.   The head of the EPA is a Director, not a Secretary, which is the title given to the head of the Executive agencies.  Because of this, the EPA is not represented in the President’s Cabinet.   The same is true at the state level in California. I chose to explore the Department of Energy (DOE) ( https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/u-s-department-of-energy ). The Department of Energy (DOE) has a clear impact on public health and environmental health in particular. The DOE manages the United States' nuclear infrastru...

Review your local (city or county) health department's website and list the services that you would consider Environmental Health Services.  I reviewed the Alameda County Public Health Department website ( http://www.acphd.org/programs-and-services.aspx ) for this blog post. I was surprised by the breadth of services and programs they had listed on their website. I was disappointed at how poorly organized and difficult to navigate the website itself is, but it seems there is some useful information hidden in all of the overwhelming links they have on their website. Out of all of the programs and services listed on their website, the ones that I would consider environmental health services are: - Asthma Start Program - Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) - Community Assessment, Planning, and Evaluation (CAPE) - Ebola - Emergency Preparedness - Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) - Enterovirus D68 - Equity, Social & Health - Hantavirus - Lead Poison Prev...

Utilizing the first article, discuss what is locally grown and what is currently in season in your area. There are a lot of locally grown foods in California that are currently in season. These include pears, plums, apples, winter squash, avocado, pears. strawberries, melons, mushrooms, and more! I was surprised to see how many different produce items are currently in season and happy to see that we have so many locally grown options in our area. I know that California has a lot of agriculture, but I sometimes forget this because I live in San Francisco. Most of the state has local farms and it is easy to forget when you live in an urban bubble. Discuss your thoughts on seasonal/local foods and hospital menus.  I think that having seasonal and local foods on hospital menus is an excellent and worthwhile endeavor. UCSF's cafeteria has locally grown and seasonal food options on their menu and it is ranked as one of the better hospital cafeterias in the state. It is also an...

The four articles we read were about the use of antibiotics on factory farms, antibiotics causing superbugs among livestock, antimicrobial wipes and soaps making us sick, and incorporating antimicrobials into the manufacture of hospital furnishings. All of these articles were alarming and disheartening. It seems like there is no escape from harmful manmade antibiotics and they are being used recklessly and without good cause. I am hopeful that as more studies come out showing the negative impacts of these commonly used chemicals, we decide to change course and not use them so carelessly. 

Your thoughts about the vanishing of bees (what else have you heard/seen about this issue?) I have heard a lot about bees vanishing in mainstream media over the last few years, but I did not understand the depth of the issue at all until watching the movie, "Vanishing of the Bees." It is frightening to think about all the ways in which we are doing irreparable harm to our ecosystem and planet. The only other thing I had seen recently about this issue is a startup by a young woman who is putting beehives on tech company campuses in order to promote beekeeping and raise awareness about this issue. (And also as an activity for people working on the tech campuses, I guess?) The name of her nonprofit is Bee Downtown. Here is a link to an article describing the company:  https://www.wraltechwire.com/2019/05/08/bee-downtowns-ceo-turns-passion-for-bees-into-company-nearing-1m-in-revenue-heres-how/ Dirt!: The Movie  This movie was pretty interesting. I have never learned...