ENVIRONMENTAL AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH ISSUES IN PUBLIC HEALTH - MPH 632 (FALL 2018)

The first step to developing a national awareness campaign for Radon would be to share information about what Radon is. According to the ToxNet, Radon is a colorless, naturally occurring radioactive gas produced by the decay of naturally occurring uranium or thorium in soil and water. North American is a region containing higher amounts. It is present throughout the world, with some regions containing higher amounts such as North America. The second step would be to highlight the risks, this can be done with visuals or personal stories about people affected. Evidence shows that higher rates of lung cancers in individuals living in homes with an elevated indoor Radon concentration. Lastly, the campaign will have a call to action. The call to action is to test the home for Radon, similar to what the Utah campaign did. Potential collaborators can be the EPA, state public health departments, and health insurances. Partnering with health insurances to provide and pay for testing will increa...

Toxnet.nlm.nih.gov is a great resource for environmental research. It can also be used to look up specific chemicals and learn more about what it is, where it is used, the exposure and risk. I looked up formaldehyde and bleach. Formaldehyde, the database describes it as a colorless, flammable gas that “is used mostly to make resins used in building materials, coatings for paper and clothing fabrics, and synthetic fibers”. Formaldehyde is also used to make other chemicals and it is found in smoke from burning tobacco or fuels. Health effects with short-term exposure can cause skin, eyes, nose and throat irritation. In regard to long-term exposure, some studies have found formaldehyde-exposed workers to have an increased risk of dying from myeloid leukemia or cancer of the nose or pharynx. “Nasal tissue damage and nose tumors were found in laboratory animals who breathed in moderate concentrations of formaldehyde in the air for 6 hours per day for most of their lives.” Formaldehyde has...

Whether on public transportation, foot, bike or automobile, transportation is critical in daily living. The ability and accessibility to get around is key to live a healthy balanced life. When I was a child, my parents had one car and I often rode on the bus or walked with my mother. On occasion, I was allowed to ride my bike to the nearby park with my brothers. I resisted driving until I was 18 and I needed to get around to work, school, and home. Time was precious, and I needed to drive. I think about how transportation affects public health, and when I think of implications I think about me driving my car.  I try to limit the use of my car and make sure I run all my errands during the same time. I rarely use my car on the weekends, I make sure to walk or take public transportation to places. I try to reduce my impact on the environment. When I think about driving my care, I think about the time I spend on the road and how I close my windows to reduce exposure to toxic air. How ...

My hometown zip code of Orange County, CA had industrial corporations as the top polluters including rubber manufacturer, food companies (Kraft and Stremicks Heritage), and spa and bath manufacturer. Surprisingly the scorecard identified 0 homes with lead-based paint . This probably has to do with the fact that most housing developments were built after 1978. Superfund sites are the nation's worst toxic waste sites: 1,305 are scheduled for cleanup on the National Priorities List (NPL). About 11 million people in the U.S., including 3-4 million children, live within 1 mile of a federal Superfund site and confront potential public health risks (www.scorecard.goodguide.com). In Orange County there are two Superfund sites, El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and McColl (waste disposal facility). Air quality is one of the dirtiest counties in the U.S. in terms of air releases of recognized carcinogens and of person-days in exceedance of national air quality standard for ozone (1-hour)....

Environmental Justice is much-needed to protect the health and well-being of people of color and lower income communities. The reality is that environmental racism exists, race has been identified as the leading variable in predicting the location of waste facilities by the Commission for Racial Justice in 1987. The most recent high-profile stories have been in Flint, Michigan and Standing Rock, North Dakota. In the case of Standing Rock, the resistance to the construction of an underground oil pipeline was the potential pollution of their water reservoir from pipe bursts. The protest in Standing Rock was to protect their source of life and this was a preventative movement. On the contrary, in Flint, Michigan the water had been contaminated with high levels of toxic chemicals and it was all being concealed by public and health officials.     In the last thirty years, there has been little progress in policies and enforcement of environmental and civil right laws. Moreo...

Lower income populations are the most susceptible to being exposed to toxic chemicals, have poorer nutrition, and high stress in their lives. Dr. Rishi Manchanda addresses this vulnerable population in his “What makes us sick? Look Upstream” Ted Talk. He tells the story of a woman who is exposed to mold, roaches and water leaks in her home and explains how critical it is to understand where health begins. The woman’s living situation was causing her to have constant visits to the ER for headaches, she was given medication and sent back home. A different approach taken by Dr. Manchanda was to ask about conditions that matter in a person’s health, he diagnosed her with chronic allergies and referred her to a community health worker that would help fix the patient’s housing situation. After housing was fixed the women improved by 90% and her child’s asthma also improved. Health care is treating and preventing, it is important to ask questions about housing, food insecurity, violence, tran...

The hypothetical lab results for chemicals found in my body is concerning. These chemicals increase my risk of getting cancer, have cognitive, reproductive, kidney, and insomnia issues, to name a few. This news is somber, what have I been using and consuming to have these chemicals in my body and what can I do extract them from my body. Is there anything I can do other than stop using these chemicals in my personal care products or cleaning products? How can I get more information on the long-term effects of these chemicals in humans? I need to learn more about each chemical and share what I find out. As a woman in my 30's this news is very concerning because I want to have children and my reproductive health is very important to me. Now that I am aware I need to act and move forward in supporting policy change. The FDA has to change their grandfathering policy of new chemicals and must complete long-term testing on chemical health risks. Hypothetical Lab Results from Blood...

The American consumer is mostly unaware of the chemicals in personal care products. We have a strong belief that our government is not allowing personal care products into the market that are unsafe for use or consumption. In the Ken Cook Environmental Working Group video , he reveals the results of 10 Americans blood sample tests. These 10 Americans are newborns and it is the umbilical blood that was tested. The most astonishing finding was that the newborns had been exposed to 212 industrial chemicals that had been banned 30 years ago, what is more, most of these exposures were through the use of personal care products. This is new information to me and it makes me think of the legacy we leave behind our DNA. I am careless at times about the products I use without consideration of the future impact on the environment. Additionally, women are most at risks because they use more personal care products than men, and statistically, women of color buy more personal care products. In the A...

Household Products Database: Clorox Fraganzia Bleach Clorox Fraganzia Bleach, Fresh Squeezed Lemon I have a newer product Long Lasting Fragrance Clorox Splash-less that is similar to the one I found in the database. It has a health rating of 2 and it is considered hazardous by the 2012 OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200) Warning. Causes serious eye irritation. It has sodium hypochlorite: IARC Group 3 Carcinogen. I am not surprised by the toxicity of this product, Clorox and bleach is a product that I have used for as long as I can remember. I used it occasionally to clean my pet towels and my toilet. However, with this specific information of it being a carcinogen, I am reevaluating my behavior in contaminating the water and the environment. Now it’s not just about me having extra clean items, it’s about polluting the environment. Clorox and all cleaning products with toxic chemical ingredients should be disclosed, this is particularly critical to the health o...

CVS Health Vanishing Zinc Sun Lotion A few years ago, I learned about toxic ingredients oxybenzone and retinyl palmitate in sunscreen, since then I have been trying different sunscreen lotions with zinc as the main active ingredient. I was very surprised to find out the toxicity rating of 5 on my current sunscreen, I previously used a zinc stick, but it was too thick, and I wanted something that would blend into my skin. As a consumer, I am moderately aware of chemicals in products but at times it is overwhelming in finding healthy products that I go back to the products I know work for me. However, discovering the rating of my sunscreen has made me re-evaluate and reconsider the personal care products I use on a regular basis. It’s very important for everyone to know about the risks of this product and all products for that matter and the reason it is unknown is that corporations lack regulation in the U.S. Aveeno Positively Radiant Skin Brightening Daily Scrub I was su...

The Environmental Health Home Assessment tool is a great way to identify what could be potentially hurting us in the home. These are things in our home that go undetected or seldom thought about, however, they could be the ones doing the greatest harm to our health. I did not discover any environmental risks in my home and this does not mean they are none. I read the EBMUD annual water quality report and for the most part, I understand it to be good. I would like to understand it more and now am interested in looking into it. The assessment asks about the age of the home to rule out the use of lead-based paint inside homes built before 1978. It’s also important to know if someone is living in the basement because there are risks of moisture and mold. Additionally, basements may have increased levels of carbon monoxide due to the furnace or other combustion housed there. The individual is primarily responsible for home-based environmental health risks, secondly, it is the homeowner or l...

In class we created a list of the potential environmental exposures that we know about in people's homes, schools, workplaces, and in the community. While I know a lot about toxic exposures in the homes I was having a hard time thinking about concrete examples, then I started to remember all the changes I made to help reduce my seasonal allergy symptoms. I had to remove scented products and started using non-toxic cleaners. In our class discussion we started to talk about the departments managing exposures in these areas and I started to think about policy and how health in all policy is becoming more relevant to me. More specifically, I started to think about sanitation in homeless encampments and how this is a health issue due to the current housing crisis.