Contents
• CHE Partnership Calls
• Working and Regional Group Updates
• Tools, Announcements and Resources
• May Science News
Dear CHE Partners:
One of the founding commitments of CHE is that we would not overwhelm CHE partners with emails - we would never want anything from CHE to be looked at as "spam." So we keep our direct communications to you at a minimum. That said, we also strive to feature a wide variety of relevant information on the CHE website - sometimes so much that the home page itself might appear overwhelming. Please allow me to highlight a recent addition to that page - an interview in Discover Magazine with founding CHE partner Philip Landrigan, MD.
Dr. Landrigan, a professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is one of the pioneers and leading lights in the field of environmental health. He has been a leader at the Centers for Disease Control, the National Academy of Sciences, and now as part of the National Children's Study. And we are proud to say that he has been among the faculty at CHE conferences and on our Partnership Calls, and has provided much sage advice as we navigate the complex waters CHE swims in. Some of the perspectives and lessons Landrigan relates might be valuable to anyone working in the environmental health field.
You may find this interview, complete with many useful links to other information here, thanks to both Dr. Landrigan and Discover Magazine, in the "What's New" section on our homepage, http://www.healthandenvironment.org.
For those who wish to read the latest contribution to our field from another legendary figure, see this new opinion piece in the online journal PLOS Biology. Herbert Needleman, a psychiatrist, pediatrician, and professor, is renowned and much-awarded for his pioneering research and advocacy on lead exposure. He has also lent his brainpower to CHE at times. His new piece is "The Case of Deborah Rice: Who is the Environmental Protection Agency Protecting?".
Beyond that resource, note that some valuable new reports and resources have been added to our web site, with more to come. If you missed the May 7th CHE Partnership Call - Sick Plastic, Sick People? The Science and Policy of Bisphenol A - resources and a recording are available here. You can read a new article from the AARP newsletter, a most heartening development from this influential organization. You can also read the proceedings from our landmark conference on fertility issues. And there's much more.
Yes, we are well into the age of information overload, but we hope you will agree that we at CHE strive to serve as a quality filter for material that matters.
Steve Heilig, MPH
Founding CHE Partner
San Francisco Medical Society
CHE Partnership and Working Group Calls
Stay tuned!
The June CHE Partnership Call will explore the topic of autoimmune diseases. Watch your inbox for the call announcement...
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Resources from Recent CHE Partnership Calls
If you missed any of the following CHE Partnership Calls, you may listen to MP3 recordings and find supporting materials at the following links:
And of course, you can always explore our archived resources from past Partnership calls.
CHE Working and Regional Group Updates
CHE Fertility ~ coordinated by Julia Varshavsky, julia@healthandenvironment.org
An
MP3 recording of the April 15 CHE Fertility teleconference -
Looking Forward: Chemical Impacts to Future Generations - is now available! This call featured presentations on the latest science of how environmental contaminants can have transgenerational health effects.
We heard from
Dr. Pete Myers of Environmental Health Sciences,
Dr. Andrea Gore of the University of Texas at Austin, and
Dr. Elizabeth Hatch of the Boston University School of Public Health. The discussion highlighted recent findings of ovarian cancer in the granddaughters of women who took Diethylstilbestrol (DES) while pregnant; of reproductive health problems found in mice exposed to PCBs; and what these studies mean for the broader environmental reproductive health field.
Go to the teleconference webpageDownload the MP3________________
CHE EMF ~ coordinated by Nancy Evans, nancywrite@comcast.net and Cindy Sage, sage@silcom.com
On May 27, 2008, an international conference on "Health Risks From Non-Ionizing Radiation due to Mobile Telephony" will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Philippe Grandjean, MD, PhD, Harvard University School of Public Health, will chair the conference. Dr. Grandjean is also the lead author of the Faroes Statement on human health effects of developmental exposure to chemicals in our environment, published in The Lancet in November 2006. Cindy Sage and David Carpenter will attend this meeting, which is free to all researchers and others interested in the research on health risks of mobile telephony.
For more information or to register, visit the conference website.
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Health & Environment Alliance ~ coordinated by Lisette Van Vliet, lisette@env-health.org
HEAL fact sheet on "Nanotechnology and Health Risks"The Health & Environment Alliance (HEAL) has developed a fact sheet on nanotechnology and health risks in close consultation with member organizations and other NGOs in Europe. The fact sheet highlights the risks of nano-toxicity for human health and the environment, summarizes action taken so far by the European Union, and calls for a strong precautionary approach to manage nanotechnology.
The fact sheet can be downloaded on HEAL website at:
http://www.env-health.org/a/2892 Join HEAL as an individual supporterDo you share the Health & Environment Alliance's (HEAL) goal of improving people's health through better environment policy? It is now possible for individuals to become supporters of HEAL and join a group of others committed to the same vision of a healthy planet for healthy people. Joining HEAL as an individual supporter requires no fee, no commitment of individual resources, and no expertise on health or the environment.
Individual supporters can be researchers, scientists, young people, activists, health professionals or anyone else who agrees with HEAL's overall mission and goals, and shares our vision. In becoming an individual HEAL supporter, you will be part of a group of other committed individuals that will help strengthen our voice calling for healthier environments.
For more information and to apply, please visit:
http://www.env-health.org/a/2904
Tools, Announcements and Resources
Coal City: China Environmental Health Project Work in Huainan
Presented by the Woodrow Wilson Center's China Environment Forum and Global Health Initiative
Featuring:
Zhongbing Dong, Deputy Mayor, Huainan Municipal Government
Wei-Ping Pan, Professor, Western Kentucky University
Derek Vollmer, Senior Program Associate, National Academy of Sciences
Thursday, May 22, 2008
9 - 11 AM
5th Floor Conference Room
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C.
Please RSVP to cef@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.
If you are interested, but unable to attend the event, please tune into the live or archived webcast at www.wilsoncenter.org/globalhealth. The live webcast will begin approximately 10 minutes after the posted meeting time.
The speakers of this meeting will introduce the coal component of the USAID-supported China Environmental Health Project (CEHP), which aims to obtain accurate data on coal-fired pollution emissions in Huainan city in Anhui Province. Key to the success of this data collection is the strong collaborative partnership Western Kentucky University (WKU) has formed with the Anhui University of Science and Technology (AUST) and the provincial and municipal government agencies. This project also includes health studies conducted in the communities where coal is being monitored. Derek Vollmer will make comments based on his participation in a National Academy of Sciences study of energy and air pollution in Huainan and Dalian in China; and Pittsburgh and Los Angeles in the United States.
For more information about the Global Health Initiative, please visit: www.wilsoncenter.org/globalhealth
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Oregon Environmental Council's 2008 Healthy Environment Forum Series
Portland, Oregon
This year, the Oregon Environmental Council (OEC) presents the seventh season of the Healthy Environment Forum series. This unique series brings several hundred health professionals, health advocates, environmentalists and interested citizens together to learn about emerging issues. These forums have traditionally helped to build understanding and cooperation toward consensus about some of Oregon's most difficult environmental and health challenges.
Events remaining in 2008:
The Falling Age of Puberty in U.S. Girls: What We Know and Need to Know
Sandra Steingraber, PhD
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Drugs in the Water: How Our Medicine Cabinets are Contaminating Nature
Ilene Ruhoy, MD
Thursday, June 19, 2008
All events are from 6-8 PM at the Doubletree Hotel-Lloyd Center, 1000 NE Multnomah, Portland. Hors d'oeuvres will be served. Cost is $35 per event ($25 for OEC members and employees of nonprofit or governmental agencies). Purchasing tickets for this event also entitles non-members to a complimentary year of membership with the Oregon Environmental Council.
Reservations can be made online at www.oeconline.org.
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Environmental Justice Small Grants Program
Closing date for applications: June 30, 2008
Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-OECA-OEJ-08-01
The Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) established the Environmental Justice Small Grants Program (EJSG) in fiscal year (FY) 1994. The purpose of this grant program is to support and empower communities that are working on local solutions to local environmental and/or public health issues. The EJSG Program is designed to assist recipients in building collaborative partnerships that will help them understand and address the environmental and/or public health issues in their communities. Successful collaborative partnerships with other stakeholders involve well-designed strategic plans to build, maintain and sustain the partnerships, and to work towards addressing the local environmental and/or public health issues.
Details at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/grants/ej-smgrants.html
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Mini-Grant RFP - Health Care Without Harm Nurses workgroup
Health Care Without Harm is announcing round eight of the Nurses Workgroup Mini-Grant Program. The program is designed to support innovative efforts to expand and deepen the involvement of nurses in environmental health issues, to promote advocacy activities and to encourage those initiatives that showcase collaborative efforts between nurses and environmental organizations.
The HCWH Mini-Grant Program welcomes all applications for funding from members of the HCWH Nurses Workgroup, participants of any RN-No-Harm Workshops or HCWH mini-grant-funded workshops; American Nurses Association's Constituent Member Associations; specialty nursing organizations; labor organization that represent nurses; Luminaries and Beacons of the Luminary Project; schools of nursing; and nurse participants of any Clean Med meeting.
The awards will range from $500 to $3,000 and will be for one year only. The deadline for submission is June 2, 2008.
Full details at http://www.noharm.org/us/nurses.
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American Journal of Public Health
Call for papers: environmental and occupational justice
The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) intends to publish a theme issue that will feature current research and contributions of environmental justice and community-based participatory research projects to the fields of environmental and occupational health. Key topics to be addressed include exposure assessment, especially as it relates to cumulative risk; environment-related diseases; community-based approaches to improving exposure and disease surveillance for populations that are hard to track; and evaluation of partnerships designed to promote health research, education, and prevention/intervention programs for low-income, immigrant, and minority populations who may be disproportionately exposed to environmental and occupational stressors.
Research articles and briefs that address these issues and provide innovative insights into the influence of economic and social factors on the health status of individuals exposed to environmental toxicants and occupational hazards and their impact on public health will be considered. Papers that address novel models, approaches or theories on, but not limited to, capacity building; health communication strategies that consider culture, language, and literacy; policy change; and community-based partnerships will be considered for Field Action Reports. Analytic essays on new research and communication strategies to address emerging environmental or occupational health problems will be considered for the Framing Health Matters; Government, Politics, and Law; and Health Policy and Ethics forums. All manuscripts will undergo the standard peer review process by the AJPH editors and peer referees as defined by AJPH policy.
Submit manuscripts to http://submit.ajph.org by August 1, 2008.
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WE ACT co-founder and CHE Partner wins Rockefeller Foundation 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal
On May 5, 2008, the Rockefeller Foundation announced that one of the two recipients of the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal will be Peggy Shepard, co-founder of West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. (WE ACT). Peggy's award is for lifetime achievement for her 20 years of work at WE ACT to find solutions to longtime problems in the Northern Manhattan community.
Along with the Medal, Shepard will receive $100,000. The Medals will be awarded at a ceremony on September 8th at the Morgan Library and Museum.
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Premier issue of Environmental Justice - free online access
Environmental Justice is a new quarterly peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. focused on research, debate, and discussion of the equitable treatment and involvement of all people, especially minority and low-income populations, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. The premier issue is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/env
The goal of Environmental Justice is to provide an intellectual forum that presents a balanced and objective assessment of environmental inequalities locally, nationally, and globally. The Journal draws upon the expertise and perspectives of all parties involved in environmental justice struggles: communities, industry, academia, government, and nonprofit organizations.
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CHE Partner Spotlight
Molly Jacobs, MPH: Running Toward a Sustainable Tomorrow
Program Manager
Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, University of Massachusetts--Lowell
www.sustainableproduction.org
When I was in second grade, we did a project where we were asked the question "If you found a money tree, what would you do?" My answer, in big block letters: "I would give it to the government so they could help people."
Read more...
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Fenceline Stories by Steve Lerner
Tallevast, Florida: Residents Live Atop Groundwater Contaminated By a High-Tech Weapons Plant
"This would have been handled differently in a white community," says Wanda Washington about the contamination found in the drinking water in her hometown of Tallevast, Florida, a community of 87 households located 38 miles south of Tampa.
Read more...
May Science News
For some, breast cancer prevented by physical activity
Medical News Today, UK, May 13, 2008
A recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine reports that physically active women are 25% less likely to develop breast cancer.
Read more...
Nanoparticles scrutinized for health effects
San Francisco Chronicle, California, May 12, 2008
Some scientists are concerned that these seemingly magical materials are hitting the market before their effects on human health and the environment have been sufficiently studied.
Read more...
Being breast-fed may lower breast cancer risk
Reuters Health, May 12, 2008
Adult women who were breast-fed as infants may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer than those who were not breast-fed, unless they were first-born, study findings suggest.
Read more...
Tree-lined streets may cut city kids' asthma risk
Reuters Health, May 12, 2008
City blocks boasting plenty of trees aren't only more pleasing to the eye; they may be healthier for children's lungs, according to research conducted in New York City.
Read more...
EPA's scientific integrity
Chemical & Engineering News, May 12, 2008
In their continuing investigation of EPA, Senators focused on a controversial new policy that gives federal agencies facing cleanup liability more, and sometimes secret, opportunities to sway EPA's health assessments of pollutants.
Read more...
Worry over incubator "emissions"BBC, UK, May 5, 2008
Electromagnetic fields from incubators may be interfering with newborn babies' heart rates, claim researchers.
Read more...Study links child's autism, parents' mental illness
Reuters, May 5, 2008
In another sign pointing to an inherited component to autism, a study released on Monday found that having a schizophrenic parent or a mother with psychiatric problems roughly doubled a child's risk of being autistic.
Read more...
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New Partners
We welcome the many new CHE Partners who have joined since the April newsletter. To see the list of new CHE Partners and the growing list of all CHE Partners, please visit http://www.healthandenvironment.org/base/partners-recent.
Thank you for taking the time to read the latest about CHE. As always, we welcome your questions and suggestions. Please direct comments to Eleni Sotos, CHE Program Director, at Eleni@HealthandEnvironment.org.
Best wishes,
Eleni Sotos, MA, Program Director
Shelby Gonzalez, Administrative Coordinator
Julia Varshavsky, Program Associate
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