Collaborative on Health and the Environment

The President's Cancer Panel Releases New 2008-2009 Report: Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now

5/6/10: Each year, the President's Cancer Panel holds at least four public meetings to solicit input from a variety of stakeholders and submits an annual report to the President of the United States with recommendations focused on improving the National Cancer Program.

The Panel’s latest report, Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk What We Can Do Now, was released May 5, 2010.

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

Sarah Howard Sarah Howard Photo

CHE Partner

CHE regularly highlights the work of our Partners here in our Partner Spotlight. Below, Sarah Howard discusses her work addressing environmental health and type 1 diabetes.

What first brought you into environmental health work?

I became interested in environmental health via the environmental justice movement during graduate school in the 1990s. My subsequent job involved working on lead poisoning, pollution prevention, and environmental health projects. After the publication of Our Stolen Future, I became interested in the health effects of endocrine disrupting compounds.

When I became pregnant, the political became personal. I developed gestational diabetes, and soon thereafter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. After my first son was born, he had food allergies and a speech disorder. My second son developed type 1 diabetes at 23 months of age, and also had a speech delay and some food sensitivities. My friends and I were dealing with a gamut of health issues in our children, and it seemed that these were more common than in past years. But why?

Read past interviews.

29 Jul Plankton, base of ocean food web, in big decline. Worldwide phytoplankton levels are down 40 percent since the 1950s, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The likely cause is global warming, which makes it hard for the plant plankton to get vital nutrients, say researchers who described their results as both staggering and disturbing. Associated Press.

29 Jul Accidents plague China's workplaces. Mishaps that threaten lives and the environment are an everyday occurrence in China's workplaces?in coal mines, fireworks plants or at ports. In the first half of this year, an average of 187 people died per day in industrial accidents, China's government reported this month. Wall Street Journal.

29 Jul Plan to ship radioactive generators on Great Lakes faces backlash. A global outcry is growing over a proposal to ship 16 aging radioactive steam generators across Ontario's Great Lakes, a plan critics say risks turning the iconic waterways into a permanent corridor for the transportation of nuclear waste. Postmedia News.

29 Jul Crackdown in U.S. will bring clean air to Ontario. Tough new U.S. rules on coal-fired plants in Smog Alley look to profoundly cut air pollution in southern Ontario. Toronto Star.

29 Jul Hydro-fracking fight hijacks spill bill. The fight over the Senate offshore drilling ?spill bill? shifted Wednesday from the Gulf of Mexico to the mountains of western Pennsylvania, as Republicans slammed the last-minute inclusion of language to regulate a controversial technique to extract onshore natural gas. Politico.

29 Jul Wells of wealth -- or woe? Questions waft from Marcellus Shale drilling sites. As Pittsburgh begins addressing concerns that it could be the next stop on the Marcellus Shale wagon train, many people are wondering: What is this 21st century gold rush - and how will it affect me? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

More news...

CHE-LDDI honored by Autism Society

The President's Cancer Panel Releases New 2008-2009 Report: Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now

Sarah Howard

CHE Partner