1. Working and Regional Group Updates
2. Tools, Announcements and Resources for CHE Partners
3. CHE Science News Headlines
4. New CHE Partners
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Greetings CHE Partners and Friends:
This March brings something of a landmark for CHE, as it was five years ago this month that we formally launched this network in San Francisco in March 2002. We had developed - after 15 drafts - a consensus statement and some key tenets to guide our work. We also had a general agreement that we would commit to at least five years of concerted effort to see if CHE could fill a need - or needs - in the broad field of environmental health.
Thus there has been a fair amount of ‘taking stock’ among CHE's founding Partners and staff lately, with a general consensus that our collaborative work continues to be useful to the field of environmental public health. The still-fresh and extremely positive feedback from participants at the recent Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility (and please do see the new report on that landmark event from Chemical and Engineering News, at: http://pubs.acs.org/email/cen/html/031207105801.html), the remarkable collaboration taking place in the CHE Working Groups and Regional Partnerships, and the still-growing list of new and potential efforts originating at or supported by CHE and CHE Partners indicate that CHE continues to fill an important niche. Most of all, the ever-present need to address and reduce disease is very much present in our minds and underlies all that CHE does.
Finally, we do like to hear from CHE Partners about what works for you. The new general CHE blog, found at: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/resources/pblog, is available for that purpose. We recently took a look back at some of the comments made by CHE Partners interviewed in our ongoing Partner Spotlight series and compiled their input about CHE into a document. Such comments give us encouragement to continue, and we are grateful. This feedback can be seen at: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/articles/homepage/1007.
Our best to you as we look towards the next half decade.
Steve Heilig, MPH
Director of Public Health & Education
San Francisco Medical Society and CHE
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Correction:
In the February CHE Newsletter, we neglected to mention the outstanding leadership of Mary Wade, MJ, Summit Manager for the CHE-UCSF Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility. Mary works with UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. For more information about the summit, please visit: http://www.ucsf.edu/coe/prhe.html.
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1. Working and Regional Group Updates
Collaborative on Health and the Environment Alaska (CHE-AK) ~ coordinated by Pamela Miller, Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics (pkmiller@akaction.net)
Please join us for the next CHE-AK teleconference, "Global Warming and the Arctic: Profound Implications for Public Health of Northern Peoples," which will take place on March 26 at 9am Alaska/10am Pacific/1pm Eastern time. Health care professionals, researchers, tribal representatives, health and environmental advocates, students, health-affected persons and anyone interested is invited to participate in this call on the health impacts of climate change in the North. This call will feature Deborah Williams, President of Alaska Conservation Solutions, James E. Berner, MD, a physician with the Alaska Native Medical health care system, Director of the Alaska Native Traditional Food Safety Monitoring program and the US expert for the Human Health Advisory Group of the Arctic Assessment and Monitoring Program, John Warren, Engineering Support Services Manager for Alaska Tribal Health Consortium, and Dr. Michael Bradley of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. To join this free call and receive the dial-up instructions, please RSVP to Alaska Community Action on Toxics at: info@akaction.net or 907-222-7714.
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CHE's Working Group on Parkinson's Disease and the Environment (CHE-PD) ~ coordinated by Jackie Hunt Christensen, Minnesota State Coordinator, Parkinson Action Network (jackiehc@gmail.com) and Elise Miller, M.Ed., Executive Director, Institute for Children's Environmental Health (emiller@iceh.org)
1. CHE-PD has completed its "Parkinson's Disease and the Environment" factsheet. Jackie Hunt Christensen first began this document during her tenure as co-director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in 2004. Illness and circumstance conspired to prevent its completion before late fall 2006. The factsheet is now available online at: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/parkinsons_disease. Hard copies of the factsheet are available by contacting Jackie Hunt Christensen at: jackiehc@gmail.com, or Frieda Nixdorf at: frieda@healthandenvironment.org. If you have other questions about the document, please contact Jackie.
2. April is Parkinson's Disease Awareness Month. Interested Partners should watch for new information and advocacy efforts around the country.
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CHE’s Oregon State Regional Group (CHE-OR) ~ coordinated by Renee Hackenmiller-Paradis, Program Director, Oregon Environment Council (reneep@oeconline.org)
1. CHE-OR has held the first two lectures of its annual Healthy Environment Forum Series. These lectures featured Dr. Terry Collins discussing green chemistry and Dr. Joel Tickner initiating a thought provoking discussion on nanotechnology and the precautionary principle. The remaining forums promise to be very exciting. On March 22 we will have a presentation on environmental challenges to reproductive health and fertility by Rebecca Sokol, MD, MPH and on April 12, a presentation on the impact pollution has on health care costs by Kate Davies, MA, Ph.D. Oregon Environmental Council organizes this lecture series. For more information and to register, please visit: http://www.oeconline.org/health/healthforum.
2. CHE-OR has recruited 10 participants for the Oregon Pollution in People Study. Participants will be tested for six toxics: PFCs, PCBs, organophosphate pesticides, bisphenol-A, phthalates, and mercury. A report will be released this summer.
3. We are pleased to announce that CHE-OR has a new coordinator, Renee Hackenmiller-Paradis. In addition to coordinating CHE-OR, Renee will develop and promote policies and projects that protect kids’ health from toxic pollution, and work in other ways to strengthen collaborative relationships with health professionals for the Oregon Environmental Council. Previously, Renee worked as a researcher in the areas of immunology, cell and developmental biology, and has been working most recently with the Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education, a project of the Oregon Department of Human Services. Renee will be connecting with CHE-Oregon Partners over the next few months.
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CHE's Asthma Working Group (CHE Asthma) ~ coordinated by Polly Hoppin, Sc.D., Program Director, University of Massachusetts, Lowell (phoppin@envhealth.net), Susan West Marmagas, MPH, Director of Health Programs, Collaborative on Health and the Environment (Susan@HealthandEnvironment.org) and Christine Cordero, Community Health Program Coordinator, Center for Environmental Health (christine@cehca.org)
1. Please join us for the next two CHE Asthma quarterly calls in the "Asthma & Chemicals" series. The second call in this series -- Diesel Exhaust: Science and Action -- will take place on Wednesday, March 28, at 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern time, and will cover an overview of the science behind diesel exhaust and human health, occupational settings that are heavily impacted, as well as a model of community action. We will hear featured presentations from Patrick Kinney, Sc.D., Associate Professor of Clinical Public Health, Joseph A. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, Jennifer Flattery, MPH, Research Scientist, California Department of Health Services, Occupational Health Branch, and Swati Prakash, MS, Steering Committee Member, Ditching Dirty Diesel Collaborative, and Program Director, Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice Program, Pacific Institute.
2. The third call in the series -- Asthma & Chemicals: Models of Action -- is scheduled for Thursday, April 12, at 9am Pacific/12noon Eastern time, and will cover different models of action that may be taken to reduce the risk of asthma in response to chemicals in the environment, including examples within legislative, community and health care settings. We will hear featured presentations from Thomas P. Fuller, Sc.D., CIH, MSPH, MBA, Industrial Hygiene Manager, Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Boston University Medical Center, Leise Jones, Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow and Clean Water Action, and Martha Arguello, Director Health and Environment Programs, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles.
These calls will each last one hour. For more information, please visit: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/wg_asthma_news/879. If you are interested in joining either of these calls, please contact Julia Varshavsky at: Julia@HealthandEnvironment.org.
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CHE's Working Group on Electromagnetic Fields (CHE EMF) ~ coordinated by Nancy Evans, Health Science Consultant (nancywrite@comcast.net) and Cindy Sage, Sage Associates Environmental Consultants (sage@silcom.com)
Over the past two decades, the average exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) exposure has increased exponentially due to the proliferation of wireless technologies. This has caused concern among those who understand the potential for harm. Research on the health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) continues to suggest the need for a precautionary approach to the use of wireless technologies. The CHE EMF Working Group has compiled an update, which highlights recent items that may be of interest to CHE Partners. For more information, visit: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/wg_emf_news/990.
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CHE's Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (LDDI) Working Group ~ coordinated by Elise Miller, M.Ed., Executive Director, Institute for Children's Environmental Health (emiller@iceh.org)
1. LDDI's national quarterly call is scheduled for Tuesday, March 20 at 2pm Eastern time. We will discuss the priorities that emerged in the break-out session at the National Council on Science and the Environment (NCSE) meeting in Washington, DC in early February since they all relate to the work of LDDI participants. The purpose of this call would be to discern which of these priorities attracts the most interest of the diverse sectors represented in LDDI. For those who will be attending the LDDI national conference in May (see below), we will then have an opportunity to delve more deeply into how to coordinate our work more effectively on our chosen priorities.
2. LDDI's National Conference 2007, "Priming for Prevention: An Ecological Approach to Research, Education and Policy" will be held May 10-11, 2007, at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Early registration has been extended to March 30th! Former US Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, among other distinguished speakers, will be presenting at this conference. We will also be honoring Dr. Herbert Needleman with the “Children’s Health Pioneer Award.” Check out the new conference brochure and register at: http://www.iceh.org/LDDImeetings.html. Please note the updated agenda at: http://www.iceh.org/pdfs/LDDI/LDDINatlAgenda2007.pdf. We are very pleased that Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., has joined the list of distinguished guest faculty and will speak on her new research, "Consequences of Early Puberty in U.S. Girls -- Implications for Learning."
3. Because of the efforts of the Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan and other organizations involved in the LDDI state-based initiative there, children's environmental health was added this year to the 2007 children's agenda published by the Michigan Coalition for Children and Families. For more information, please visit their website at: http://www.miccf.org/.
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Collaborative on Health and the Environment Washington (CHE-WA) ~ coordinated by Elise Miller, M.Ed., Executive Director, Institute for Children's Environmental Health (emiller@iceh.org)
1. CHE-WA’s Precautionary Principle Working Group will hold its next conference call on Monday, March 19 at 11am Pacific time. For more information and the call-in number, please contact Steve Gilbert at: sgilbert@innd.org.
2. The next lecture in the fourth annual environmental health lecture series, "Our Health, Our Environment: Making the Link -- Seeking Solutions” will be on Biofuels. This lecture will feature three speakers and will be held at Seattle Town Hall, Seattle, Washington on Wednesday, March 21 at 6:30pm, preceded by a reception at 5:30pm. The Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation sponsors this annual series and the Institute for Children’s Environmental Health organizes. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit: http://washington.chenw.org/lectures.html.
3. “Making Change: A Workshop for People Who Want to Build a Better World” will be held on April 21 at 9:30am at the Antioch University campus, Seattle, Washington. This workshop, co-sponsored by CHE-WA and the Center for Creative Change at Antioch University, will provide participants with the time and space to think more deeply about their work and how it contributes to positive social change. This workshop is intended for people who want to build a better world and who identify themselves as social change agents. For more information, visit: http://www.antiochsea.edu/events/makingchangeworkshop.html or contact Kate Davies at 206-268-4811 or kdavies@antiochseattle.edu.
4. The next CHE-WA quarterly meeting will be held on May 16 at 2:00pm at Antioch University, Seattle, Washington. This meeting will feature several presentations on pesticide research and advocacy as well as updates on the new CHE-WA Climate Change and Health Working Group. More information will be available closer to the time of the meeting.
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2. Tools, Announcements and Resources for CHE Partners
Women’s Health and the Environment: New Science, New Solutions -- April 20
Women’s Health and the Environment: New Science, New Solutions, will take place at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA. This full day conference is free and open to the public and is sponsored by Magee Women’s Hospital, Teresa Heinz and the Heinz Endowments. For more information, visit: http://www.womenshealthpittsburgh.org/index.html.
New Project at Natural Resources Defense Council
If you or your child has a medical condition such as asthma, cancer, or autism, and you feel there is a specific environmental exposure that may have caused the illness or made it worse (such as local air pollution exposure, heavy metal exposure, pesticides, or others) and you want to share your experiences by being interviewed or possibly videotaped, then please contact Eliza Humphreys, MD, MPH, at: elizahumphreys@gmail.com. This new project will highlight people's stories to educate and bring awareness to the public about possible links between the environment and health.
EPA RFA: Building Capacity to Address Environmental Health Issues During Pregnancy -- Deadline April 26
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting proposals to build capacity to address environmental health issues during the prenatal period. EPA intends for these grants to develop effective mechanisms to educate pregnant women about environmental health risks, to demonstrate the effectiveness of information dissemination and behavioral change that results in reducing these risks, and to increase the number of health professionals who are fluent in prenatal environmental health issues. For more information, visit: http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/grants.htm#current.
2007 Cal/EPA Environmental Justice Small Grants Solicitation -- Deadline May 16
The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) is now accepting applications for a second round of funding under the Environmental Justice Small Grants Program. For more information and to obtain an application package, please visit the Cal/EPA EJ Small Grants website at: http://www.calepa.ca.gov/EnvJustice/Funding/SmallGrants/default.htm.
International Conference on Fetal Programming and Developmental Toxicity -- May 20-24
International Conference on Fetal Programming and Developmental Toxicity, which will take place on May 20-24, will focus on fetal and early postnatal development as the most vulnerable stages of human life, in regard to adverse effects of environmental hazards. This conference will take place in Torshavn, Faroe Islands. For more information, please visit the conference web site at: http://www.pptox.dk/.
4th Copenhagen Workshop on Endocrine Disrupters -- Endocrine disrupters and consumer products: Possible effects on human populations, May 28–31
The 4th Copenhagen Workshop on Endocrine Disrupters will be held May 28–31 at the Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. This workshop, which is supported by the Danish Ministry of the Environment, is intended to facilitate an exchange of information and views both within the scientific community and with experts engaged in the subject of endocrine disruption. For more information, visit: http://www.reproduction.dk/.
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3. CHE Science News Headlines
Most of these articles have been gleaned from Above the Fold.
Chemical Exposures
Chemical and Engineering News, 12 March 2007, Bette Hileman
Unusual cross-disciplinary meeting explores effects of environmental compounds on human development and reproduction. Continue reading...
How do you reduce use of pesty pesticides? EU lawmakers have an idea
New Europe, 10 March 2007
Socialists in the European Parliament on March 5 hosted a hearing on the future of pesticides in the EU in which lawmakers urged ideas to reduce use of the chemicals to protect health and the environment. Continue reading...
Environment: California Out in Front
Environmental Health Perspectives, March 2007, Charles W. Schmidt
When it comes to ecological diversity, California has it all: snow-capped mountains, wide deserts, scenic beaches, and some of the worst environmental problems in the country. Continue reading...
Pregnancy full of conflicting food advice
Seattle Post Intelligencer, 9 March 2007, Vanessa Ho
Moms-to-be crave consistent, definitive health information. Continue reading...
Fish are up to their gills in mercury
Globe and Mail, 8 March 2007, Martin Mittelstaedt
Children, pregnant women most at risk of high levels of heavy metal, report says. Continue reading...
Sparking healthy debate
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 7 March 2007, Susanne Rust
Bisphenol-A is in products from bottles to dental sealants. In the body, it may be cause for concern. Continue reading...
Chemical agency ties under review
Los Angeles Times, 7 March 2007, Marla Cone
A firm with industry connections is removed from overseeing a federal evaluation on the safety of bisphenol A. Continue reading...
Exposure in the womb to certain chemicals may lead to obesity
The Economist, 22 February 2007
"Is the environment making us fat?" That is the intriguing question posed by Bruce Blumberg of the University of California, Irvine. His research into endocrine disrupters—chemical compounds that interfere with the body's normal processing of hormones such as estrogen—has led him to conclude that some of them may well encourage obesity. Continue reading...
U.S. and EU Sign Pact on Common Environmental Challenges
EPA.gov, 9 February 2007
U.S. and European Union scientists and researchers plan to work more closely in solving common environmental problems and sharing information on emerging issues such as nanotechnology under a new agreement finalized today in Brussels. Continue reading...
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4. New CHE Partners
We welcome the many new CHE Partners who have joined since the last newsletter. To see the New CHE Partners and the growing list of all CHE Partners, please visit: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/base/partners-recent.
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Thank you for taking the time to read the latest about CHE. As always, we welcome your feedback, suggestions or questions. Please direct them to Eleni Sotos, CHE Program Director, at: Eleni@HealthandEnvironment.org.
Best wishes,
Eleni Sotos, MA, Program Director
and
Frieda Nixdorf, MA, Administrative Specialist
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