CHE Newsletter: August 2007

New Health and Environment Bulletin from CHE-Alaska
CHE-Alaska has published a peer-reviewed Health and Environment Bulletin for Health Care Providers on Reproductive Health and the Environment (Spring 2007) that is available at: www.akaction.org.
________________

New WHO Report Tackles Children's Environmental Health
A new report by the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) says that environmental hazards are responsible for the deaths of several million children every year. The report, titled Principles for Evaluating Health Risks in Children Associated with Exposure to Chemicals, highlights the fact that in children, the stage in their development when exposure occurs may be just as important as the magnitude of the exposure. The report can be found at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2007/np27/en/index.html.
________________

Countries Support WHO Children's Environment and Health Action Plan to 2009 and Beyond
Environmental health, especially children's health, was high on the European political agenda in June. Health and environment ministers and stakeholders met in Vienna to assess progress within the Children's Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE). This was an important opportunity for non-governmental organizations to show-case some of their projects and activities to improve children's environmental health across Europe. But it was also an opportunity to flag a number of concerns and problematic areas that still need to be tackled by national governments and the EU when adopting and implementing legislation, namely:

Children's vulnerability, particularly during the prenatal stage
Need for more inter sectoral cooperation
Environmental health inequalities

Read an extensive report on the Vienna events on the Health & Environment Alliance website: http://www.env-health.org/r/82.
________________

Pangea 2007 - A conference for the Future of Pediatric Wellness
Sponsored by the Integrative Pediatrics Council and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the UCSF Department of Pediatrics and the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, the Pangea 2007 conference provides a forum for presentation and intentional dialog about leading topics in pediatric integrative medicine. The two-day program will be held this year in San Francisco, CA on October 25th and 26th. Topics include environmental health, neurodevelopmental disorders, atopic conditions, and vaccines. For more information and to register, go to: http://www.pangeaconference.com/.
________________

Making the Case for Environmental Justice in Central and Eastern Europe: A New Report by HEAL and CEPL
The Health & Environment Alliance and the Center for Environmental Policy and Law (CEPL), a HEAL member, have launched a new report entitled "Making the Case for Environmental Justice in Central and Eastern Europe" accompanied by a brochure on "Environmental Justice: Listening to Women and Children." The report provides sound support for the assertion that poor and ethnically marginalized people in Central and Eastern Europe, especially women and children, are more exposed to environmental hazards than majority populations. They are also more likely to lack access to water, seweage and other environmental benefits. This situation is further exacerbated by inadequate access to health care. Case studies describe the death of a two year-old from lead poisoning, high rates of birth abnormalities, and an ominously quick succession of child deaths from cancer attributed to the environmental conditions in which they live. More information and electronic version of the report: http://www.env-health.org/a/2571.
________________

New Report on Toxic Chemicals in Cleaning Products Released by Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE)
Household Hazards: Potential Hazards of Home Cleaning Products is a new report by WVE, a national women's environmental health and justice group based in Montana, which examines 5 types of chemicals commonly found in household cleaners. These five chemicals are especially of concern to women and children, as they are linked to increases in either asthma or reproductive harm (such as birth defects or fertility problems). The report draws from over 75 scientific studies and reports highlighting the links between these chemicals and health impacts. The report can be found at: http://www.womenandenvironment.org.
________________

Chemicals Compromising Our Children: A New Briefing by the Health & Environment Alliance
A briefing entitled "Chemicals Compromising Our Children" has been prepared by HEAL as part of their Chemicals Health Monitor project (www.chemicalshealthmonitor.org). The briefing summarizes the main adverse effects of chemical exposure on children's health - and particularly on their developing brains at fetal stage, and their cost implications in EU terms. A PDF of the briefing can be downloaded here: http://www.env-health.org/IMG/pdf/18June07_final_Briefneuro_for_EU.pdf.
________________

New Green Chemistry Fact Sheets -- Why We Need Green Chemistry? and Why Promote Green Chemistry?
Chemistry has improved our quality of life, and made thousands of products possible. Unfortunately, this achievement has come at a price: our collective human health and the global environment are threatened. Green chemistry is an approach to the design, manufacture and use of chemical products to intentionally reduce or eliminate chemical hazards. The goal of green chemistry is to create better, safer chemicals while choosing the safest, most efficient ways to synthesize them and to reduce wastes. To download the fact sheets, visit: http://www.cleanproduction.org/Home.php. For more information, contact: Bev@CleanProduction.org.
________________

New Book by CHE Partner, Phil Brown
Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement, focuses specifically on breast cancer, asthma, and Gulf War-related health conditions - "contested illnesses" that have generated intense debate in the medical and political communities. Phil Brown shows how these concerns have launched an environmental health movement that has revolutionized scientific thinking and policy. For more information, visit: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/catalog/data/978023112/9780231129480.HTM.
________________

New Book by CHE Partners, Liz Armstrong, Guy Dauncey, and Anne Wordsworth
Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic offers solid evidence that many cancers are preventable, since their causes lie with the contamination of our bodies by pollution from the air we breathe, the products we use, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Each solution shows what individuals and families can do to reduce their risk of cancer, and then moves to solutions for community activists, healthcare workers, labor unions, cities, businesses, governments, and developing nations. For more information, visit: http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3950.
________________

North Carolina Community-Based Environmental Justice Summit - Call for Research Presentations - September 7 Deadline
North Carolina's 9th Annual Community-Based Environmental Justice Summit will be held October 19-20, 2007 at the Historic Franklinton Center at Bricks, Edgecombe County, NC. Community members, government officials, environmentalists, students and researchers will participate. The Summit seeks to raise public awareness about environmental justice; connect communities in need with technical resources; support and encourage community-driven research; help communities and policy makers address problems of environmental injustice; and, bring about positive changes in public health and the environment by promoting social and environmental justice. For more information, contact Steve Wing at: steve_wing@unc.edu.
________________

New on the CHE Website: Add Your Announcements and Events to the CHE Website!
Do you have an environmental health announcement or event that you would like to announce? Now you can add both to the CHE website at: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/.
________________

DVDs of the CHE National Conference, Environmental Public Health: Science, Medicine, Prevention And Policy are Now Available
We are pleased to offer a limited number of DVDs from the October 2006 CHE National Conference titled, Environmental Public Health: Science, Medicine, Prevention And Policy. Each DVD set (the conference spans three DVDs) is available at cost for $15 (including shipping) and features all of the conference presentations. For more information and to place an order, visit: http://www.healthandenvironment.org/articles/announcements/1045.
________________