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Dear CHE Partners:
What is public health and why don't people understand its importance?
The American Public Health Association and other health groups have struggled with that question for a decade.
"Americans don't quite make the link between public health and water that's safe to drink, air that's safe to breathe, and food that's safe to eat," says APHA Executive Director Georges C. Benjamin in the September issue of APHA's The Nation's Health. The publication's lead article is dedicated to why public health advocates have failed to achieve effective critical mass promoting the absolutely critical mission of protecting human health and the environment that supports us all.
Why Americans don't care more about public health is a fundamental, one could even say profound question. It is a question that seems made to order for CHE dialogue and exploration. Why haven't we succeeded in convincing Americans that clean water, clean air and safe food really matter? Why have we failed to make public health a powerful and effective national and international brand?
Trust for America's Health is a Founding CHE Partner that has thought deeply about public health issues. TFAH writes:
A new survey commissioned by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) finds that Americans place a high value on preventing disease and promoting healthy lifestyles. At a time when the rising costs of health care has become the central economic issue, Americans are eager to invest in preventing diseases and promoting healthy lifestyles as a way of helping to reduce long term health care costs in the country.
TFAH has obviously found ways of framing public health issues for Americans that elicit these positive responses. And yet those responses have yet to "go to scale" with widely recognized branded concern in the same way climate change, for example, has.
Public health frames depend on cultural values. Ted Schettler recommends a remarkable website on the World Values Survey. (See http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/.) The site is extraordinarily interesting as we think about the different dilemmas that public heath poses depending on cultural context or frame.
We would like very much to hear from CHE Partners about why have we failed to energize Americans about public health. What should we do and what are the critical obstacles we face in helping Americans -- and people everywhere -- understand how fundamental public health is? We welcome your thoughts. And thank you for being a CHE Partner and committed to our values of science and civility.
Michael Lerner
Founding CHE Partner
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CHE Partnership and Working Group Calls
From Lab to Law: The Phthalates Ban, the Precautionary Principle, and How New Science Becomes New Policy
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008 at 9 AM Pacific / Noon PM Eastern
In late July, lawmakers in the United States passed the Consumer
Product Safety Improvement Act, which includes provisions banning three
types of phthalates (plastics softeners) and temporarily banning three
other types from certain children's products. The ban is based on
limited data suggesting that phthalates act as endocrine disruptors.
The CPSI Act, as well as the 2007 European REACH (Registration,
Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) legislation,
are landmark examples of a precautionary, rather than reactionary,
approach to public health.
How do REACH and the phthalates ban
fit into a larger movement toward the precautionary approach? What
constitutes "proof of harm" in light of emerging knowledge about the
complexity of disease causation? Just how does new science become new policy? Join us on Thursday, Sep 25, at 9 AM Pacific/ Noon Eastern for a special CHE Policy Education Call exploring these important and timely questions.
The
call will be moderated by Steve Heilig, MPH, Director of Public Health
and Education at the San Francisco Medical Society. The call will last
one hour and will be recorded for archival purposes.
Featured speakers will include:
- Janet Nudelman, Director of Program and Policy at the Breast Cancer Fund
- Dr. Ted Schettler, Science Director at the Science & Environmental Health Network
- Lisette van Vliet, Toxics Policy Advisor at the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and Health Care Without Harm
RSVP for From Lab to Law
Resources related to this call
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Resources from recent CHE calls
If you missed any of the following CHE 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.
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Tools, Announcements and Resources
--Call for Papers--
Advancing Climate Justice: Transforming the Economy, Public Health & Our Environment
Deadline: October 6, 2008
Conference to be held Jan 29-30, 2009 at Fordham Law School's Pope Auditorium in New York City.
WE ACT for Environmental Justice, along with cosponsors Fordham Law School Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan, and the New York University Law School's Environmental Law Society; announce an international call for abstracts of papers to be presented at our 20th Anniversary Conference: Advancing Climate Justice: Transforming the Economy, Public Health & Our Environment on January 29-30, 2009 at Fordham Law School's Pope Auditorium in New York City. Abstract submissions are invited for reports and papers to be published in the conference primer. Submissions can include work that is unpublished and original work that has been previously published.
Research can be submitted on any of the following broad topics:
- Climate justice and economics
- Climate justice and public health
- Climate justice case studies
- Any combination thereof
Abstracts can be submitted through our abstract submission website: http://www.weact.org/conference, by email to ogonnaya@weact.org, by fax at 212-961-1015, or by U.S. mail to:
Scientific Advisory Group - Abstract Review Committee
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
271 W. 125th Street
Suite 308
New York, NY 10027
Authors are strongly encouraged to use the on-line submission form. All abstracts will receive an electronic receipt upon arrival. If a receipt fails to follow submission, abstracts should be re-submitted. Authors will be notified of acceptance by October 20, 2008 via email.
For further information, please feel free to contact Ogonnaya Dotson-Newman via phone at 212-961-1000 ext. 315 or email at ogonnaya@weact.org
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States battle pesticides in groundwater
Should we be worried about pesticides in groundwater contaminating the water we drink and the food we eat?
ABC News
Sep 10, 2008
Pollution 'hinders heart pacing'
Air pollution from traffic hinders the heart's ability to conduct electrical signals, a study has suggested.
BBC, United Kingdom
Sep 10, 2008
Allergies to worsen with global warming
Warmer temperatures and more carbon monoxide are causing allergenic weeds to be more abundant and produce more pollen, according to the study.
Denver CBS4 TV, Colorado
Sep 10, 2008
That plastic baby bottle
What do you do when one arm of the government says everything is O.K. and another tells you to watch out? That is what is happening with bisphenol-A - a chemical used in plastics that is found in baby bottles and liners for canned goods. When in doubt, especially when it comes to children, err on the side of caution.
New York Times
Sep 6, 2008
Deal would allow state oversight of chemicals in California
An ambitious proposal crafted in the dwindling days of the legislative session would for the first time give state regulators broad authority to oversee chemicals in consumer products.
Sacramento Bee, California
Aug 25, 2008
The journey to safe chemicals
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 was signed last Thursday morning by President Bush. It marks America's most important regulatory advance against toxic chemicals in many years.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania
Aug 20, 2008
Calling all chemists
Our collective fate will come down to our ability to shift the way we produce and consume electricity and fuels and the way we design and use chemicals and the materials made from them. This task will require thousands of innovations.
Chemical & Engineering News
Aug 18, 2008
Progress against toxins in toys takes small steps
When a nationwide ban on hormone-disrupting chemicals in soft plastic toys and cosmetics takes effect early next year, it will mark an important turning point in efforts to remove toxic compounds from consumer products.
Chicago Tribune, Illinois
Aug 17, 2008
New Partners
We welcome the many new CHE Partners who have joined since the August 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.
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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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