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Dear CHE Partners:
We are pleased to announce that CHE will start hosting a new working group later this month-namely, the Initiative on Children's Environmental Health. As many of you know, I served as Executive Director of the Institute for Children's Environmental Health (ICEH) for 10 years before becoming Director of CHE this past January. After a great deal of discussion and reflection, ICEH's staff and board decided that the most useful way ICEH could continue to contribute its decade of national leadership and expertise in this field would be to merge with Commonweal, CHE's fiscal sponsor, and become a CHE Working Group. ICEH, in this new iteration, will use the same acronym, but become the Initiative on Children's Environmental Health.
With an emphasis on science and precaution, CHE already focuses on the impact of environmental factors from conception through adolescence. Emerging science on environmental factors and children's health, including the fetal origin of some adult diseases and disabilities, is evident in CHE's array of white papers, consensus statements, workshops, working groups and calls. Having a specific working group focused on children, however, will augment the resources we provide you in this area and help ensure children's health is prioritized in all of our efforts to promote public health research and policy.
As a CHE working group, ICEH plans to launch its newly revamped website, including its rich database of searchable articles and other resources, under CHE's website later this month (look for the official announcement). ICEH will also continue to offer bi-weekly e-bulletins and will soon feature web-based materials on climate change and children's health. In addition, ICEH will feature the remarkable work of so many of your institutions and organizations-nationally and internationally-already dedicated to children's health. We are in the process of considering other opportunities and activities that would be value-added in this field and welcome your suggestions.
Along these lines, I would like to bring your attention to an outstanding new report, "Towards Tomorrow: A Common Agenda for Health and the Environment," published earlier this week by the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, a CHE organizational Partner, in collaboration with over 100 leaders representing diverse sectors, including many other CHE Partners. This report (read report here) emphasizes generational goal-setting and prioritizes action steps-steps I would recommend we all consider taking to ensure the health and well-being of current and future generations.
With warm regards,
Elise
--
Elise Miller, MEd
Director
Collaborative on Health and the Environment
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CHE Partnership and Science Cafe Calls
 Update from Copenhagen: New Science on Hormone Disruptors and Reproductive HealthWednesday, June 3 at 10 AM Pacific/ 1 PM Eastern / 7 PM Central European
********** Join CHE and the CHE Fertility Working Group to discuss exciting new data from the 5th Copenhagen Workshop on Endocrine Disrupters (http://www.reproduction.dk/cow2009/index.htm), held at the University of Copenhagen, May 20-23, 2009. The Copenhagen workshops consistently feature a multidsciplinary group of distinguished international scientists and hot new research emerging from the environmental and reproductive health fields. Link to past workshop proceedings: http://www.reproduction.dk/index-filer/Workshops.htm . This year's Copenhagen workshop will focus on new science regarding the health effects of exposures to endocrine, or hormone, disruptors present in our everyday lives - in our food, products and homes - and will feature mixture studies and links between effects in laboratory studies and observations in wildlife and humans. Some of the topics covered include hormone disruptor impacts to prenatal reproductive development, reproduction, obesity, puberty, brain development and thyroid hormone function. The workshop is intended to facilitate an exchange of information and views both within the scientific community and with experts engaged in regulation and policymaking.
- Pete Myers, PhD, CEO, Environmental Health Sciences
- Shanna Swan, PhD, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Associate Chair of Research, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Professor of Environmental Medicine; Professor of Community and Preventative, Medicine University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry
This call will be moderated by Steve Heilig, MPH, Director of Public Health and Education at San Francisco Medical Society and CHE. It will last one hour and will be recorded for archival purposes.
**********
CHE Science Cafe: A Conversation with Dr. Steve Gilbert of the Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders
Join CHE for as we host our first Science Café call on Thurs, June 4, 10 AM Pacific / 1 PM Eastern featuring Steve Gilbert, PhD with
the Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders. Dr.
Gilbert will discuss Toxipedia (www.toxipedia.org), a tool he created
that uses a modified wiki approach. Now with a contract from the
National Library of Medicine, funding from King County, and WA
Department of Ecology, he will be able to further develop the site and
lessen the information gap between those with knowledge on
environmental public health and those that need the information to lead
healthier lives. Already Toxipedia has evolved into a suite of related
sites that use Toxipedia as a foundation of common information,
including: IPMopedia focused on Integrated Pest Management; The World
Library of Toxicology; the WA Nuclear Museum and Educational Center;
and a creative project bridging science and art, Healthy World Theatre.
Among other important topics, Dr. Gilbert will discuss how advances in
the internet are offering new ways to collaboratively build and share
knowledge ideally to the end of creating a healthier and safer world. This call does not require that you RSVP. Dial-in information: 1-712-580-8025 Access code: 198686#
Link to call page on the CHE website (related resources available)
Link to CHE Partnership Spotlight on Dr. Steve Gilbert
Elise Miller, MEd, Director of CHE, will facilitate this call. There will be ample time for questions and discussion.
___________________Resources from recent CHE calls:
New articles:
Change Your Lifestyle, Change Your Genes: Mind-body medicine pioneer, Dean Ornish, MD, explains surprising new research
by Shelby Gonzalez
Gonzalez builds on the powerful conversation had with Dean Ornish on the March 26, 2009 CHE Partnership call (see link below).
Read article
Is the Environment Making Us Fat and Sick?: Obesogens, other environmental factors contribute to metabolic syndrome
By Shelby Gonzalez
"While poor diet and inactivity play an undeniable role in fostering
metabolic syndrome, that's not the whole story. Clinical and
epidemiological evidence increasingly implicates another culprit: the
environment." (see link to May 7 Partnership call on metabolic syndrome below)Read article
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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CHE Working and Regional Group Updates
CHE LDDI
~ coordinated by Laura Abulafia, laura@healthandenvironment.org and Elise Miller, CHE Director, elise@healthandenvironment.org
~ Next LDDI Working Group call: LDDI's next call is scheduled for Thursday May 21st 11:00 AM Pacific / 2:00 PM Eastern. The dial in information will be: 219-509-8222, Access code: 164622#. A reminder with this information and the agenda will be sent a few days prior to the call. Contact: Laura Abulafia at laura@healthandenvironment.org~ The Raben Group has been hired to work with LDDI this year on communications and outreach, and we have begun conversations with them about messaging. They are gathering information from LDDI members about what kind of messaging is necessary to impact chemical policy reform. They are also collecting information about how the LDDI website can best serve its broad members. To contact them with suggestions, please email Ellie Collinson at ECollinson@rabengroup.com~ New LDDI Co-Coordinator: Laura Abulafia, MHS started as LDDI's national co-coordinator half-time starting April 20th while continuing to serve as director of AAIDD's Environmental Health Initiative half-time. Elise Miller will still be very active in LDDI, but Laura's leadership will be essential in effectively accomplishing LDDI's goals for this year and beyond. ~ AAIDD has hired on Joyce M. Martin, JD as new Director of Health Policy in the Washington DC office on a full-time basis. Joyce currently serves as Director of the Office of Science Policy & Planning at NIEHS and will bring her significant experience in environmental health science and policy.~ In collaboration with IPEN, Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) prepared two new reports in advance of the Stockholm Convention Conference of Parties taking place in Geneva last week. They are: 1) Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Arctic: A Report for the Delegates of the 4th Conference of the Parties, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and 2) Lindane: Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Alternatives. These can be found at www.akaction.org
~ Mental Health and Environment Working Group: This new working group, a subcommittee of LDDI, will hold its next call on Friday, May 15, 2009. The group is chaired by the National Association for the Dually Diagnosed (NADD). The working groups goals include: a) educating and engaging the mental health community in regards to environmental exposures that may impact mental health and result in psychiatric symptoms, b) developing materials for health professionals and patients regarding how to reduce environmental exposures that may contribute to neurological or behavioral problems, and c) encouraging the mental health community to support chemical policy reform and other efforts to improve environmental health. Contact: Ed Seliger at eseliger@thenadd.org
~ LDDI biomonitoring project: The planning group for the LDDI biomonitoring project has starting to move forward with confirmed participants on testing for specified chemicals. For more information, please contact Sharyle Patton at spatton@igc.orgCHE Fertility
~ coordinated by Julia Varshavsky, CHE Program Associate, julia@healthandenvironment.org
~ CHE Fertility Working Group participants are encouraged to participate in the upcoming CHE Partnership Call: Update from Copenhagen: New Science on Hormone Disruptors and Reproductive Health on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 10 AM Pacific / 1 PM Eastern / 7 PM Central European. This call is also a CHE Partnership call and will be open to the entire CHE national/international network.
~ NIH Office of Research on Women's Health to Convene Public Hearings
The
NIH Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) is convening the second
in a series of four public hearings and scientific workshops to update
the Women's Health Research Agenda at the NIH for the coming decade.
The upcoming hearing will be co-hosted by the University of California,
San Francisco (UCSF) and is scheduled to take place May 27-29, 2009 in San Francisco.
Dr.
Linda Giudice, Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics,
Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at UCSF, will be moderating the
public hearing, and Dr. Tracey Woodruff, Director of the Program on
Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) at UCSF, will lead a
session on reproductive health and the environment.
Click here for an agenda
This is a wonderful opportunity to incorporate environmental reproductive health issues into the recommendations for the NIH Women's Health Research Agenda. If you cannot make it to the meeting in person, your written testimony is highly valuable.
Registration is free and the deadline is May 15, 2009. Click here to register and/or provide written testimony.
The third workshop in the series will be hosted at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, September 21-23, 2009. The fourth workshop in the series will be hosted at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, October 14-16, 2009.CHE EMF~ coordinated by Nancy Evans nancywrite@comcast.net and Cindy Sage, sage@silcom.com
Microwave News
reports that the Interphone study's long-awaited paper on the possible
links between mobile phones and tumors is about to be submitted for
publication. The Interphone study is a project of the International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Christopher Wild, the director of
IARC forced a compromise to end the three-year stalemate over release
of the paper.
Read editor Louis Slesin's incisive commentary on the Interphone saga
Earlier
this year, the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health requested
a meeting with representatives of the BioInitiative Working Group to
discuss the scientific and public health findings of the 2007 report
regarding health risks of cell phones and other wireless technologies.
On April 15, 2009, Cindy Sage and David Carpenter, co-editors of The
BioInitiative Report, met with agency representatives and presented
findings and recommendations. As Cindy noted in her report, "Although
there is no indication that FDA intends to revise the agency's website
on cell phones or to issue any precautionary warnings for children who
use cell phones, that they asked for a briefing is seen as a positive
development."CHE Washington
~ CHE-WA's next science lecture will be held Tuesday, June 2nd 2-4pm at Antioch University in Seattle (http://www.antiochsea.edu/). At this meeting Elaine Faustman, PhD, of the University of Washington will be discussing her recent research on household dust and associated potential health implications. In particular, a group at the Child Environmental Health Risks Research Center has collected house and vehicle dust of farmworkers before and after interventions in Yakima for many years and has interesting information to share. Also at this meeting there will be a series of other updates on health and the environment in Washington and nationally. This meeting is free and open to the public. For more information contact aboulanger@iceh.org or sgilbert@innd.org.
~ CHE-WA is now being hosted by the nonprofit Institute for Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders, which is directed by Steve Gilbert, PhD. Steve can be reached at sgilbert@innd.org. Later this month CHE-WA's founding organization, the Institute for Children's Environmental Health will merge into California-based Commonweal, which hosts the national Collaborative on Health and the Environment program. Elise Miller, ICEH's founder and long time Executive Director, is now Director of CHE nationally. Through CHE she will be hosting a new national working group on children's environmental health, which will allow ICEH's core mission to continue; Elise can now be reached at elise@healthandenvironment.org. Elise and the full CHE-WA Steering Committee are most grateful to Steve and INND for taking on the role of hosting CHE-WA. Aimee Boulanger, ICEH's Program Director, will continue to serve as a volunteer on the CHE-WA Steering Committee, and will also be an active member of the CHE-WA children's environmental health working group. You can continue to reach Aimee at aboulanger@iceh.org (this email will still work throughout this transition time).
~ CHE-WA's Children's Environmental Health working group is hosting a Northwest Children's Environmental Health Forum October 1-2, 2009 at the Tukwila Community Center. Anyone interested in being involved with this event, or who would like to learn more about the efforts of the children's environmental health working group, please contact Margo Young at young.margo@epamail.epa.gov or Gail Gensler at gail.gensler@kingcounty.gov.
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Announcements and News Highlights
CHE Announces News Feed
CHE has begun publishing a daily news feed with articles, calls for proposals, job openings and other announcements in environmental health. Individuals can subscribe to the feed via RSS. http://www.healthandenvironment.org/news/announce
Lowell Center for Sustainable Production Releases "A Common Agenda for Health and Environment"
In 2007, nearly 100 leaders of healthcare, community development, environmental, labor and agriculture organizations began a conversation about the world we want leave our children, and what it will take to get there within a generation. These leaders have now produced the report "A Common Agenda for Health and Environment" and are asking for signatories as well as help in prioritizing the agenda's goals.
Read the report
Schettler and Stein Interviewed
Ted Schettler and Jill Stein and were interviewed by Mike Cuthbert on AARP Prime Time Radio about their report Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging. The interview is available on AARP's website and was broadcast on a number of radio stations throughout the country.
Listen to the interview
More Than Sound Productions Publishes Interview with Michael Lerner
Michael Lerner's conversation, Environmental Health, Human Healing is available for download from More Than Sound Productions as part of a 3 CD series with Daniel Goleman called Ecological Awareness.
More information
EPA's New Pesticide Testing Is Outdated
In its search for endocrine-disrupting chemicals, the agency should turn to new scientists, says an advocate
By Theo Colborn and Environmental Health News
Read the article
article related to the above editorial:
EPA Will Test Pesticides' Effect on Endocrine System
The EPA announced today it will order pesticide manufacturers for the first time to test 67 chemicals contained in their products to determine if they disrupt the endocrine system, which regulates both animals' and humans' growth, metabolism and reproduction. Washington Post
Read the article
UN: Treaty Expanded by 9 More Dangerous Chemicals
A
U.N.-sponsored treaty to combat highly dangerous chemicals has been
expanded beyond the original "dirty dozen" to include nine more
substances that are used in pesticides, flame retardants and other
products, U.N. officials said Saturday. Associated Press
Read the article
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Reports and Other Resources
ATSDR Announces New Online Environmental Medicine Education Resources
ATSDR has launched a new Environmental Health and Medicine Education training portal. The portal houses updated and redesigned educational materials for health professionals as well as products for the general public. Free continuing education credits are available for physicians, nurses, health educators and other health professionals.
ATSDR's Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine (DTEM), the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR,) and the University of California-San Francisco Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) teamed up to develop an environmental health anticipatory guidance training module. This training module is based on PSR's Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit, which has been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It introduces users to environmental health, instructs pediatric health care providers in the use of the toolkit, and discusses the best methods for delivering environmental health anticipatory guidance in the clinical setting.
The Toolkit is a valuable reference to have on hand. To order copies contact:
Physicians for Social Responsibility
1875 Connecticut Ave, NW Suite 1012
Washington, DC 20009
202-667-4260
www.psr.org
Or Toolkits can also be downloaded online, includig for PDA's at:
http://www.psr.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pediatric_toolkit:
The May 2009 Issue of the Environmental Factor is now online.
Read the issue
Critical Windows of Development Launched by TEDX
TEDX announces its newest release! The Critical Windows of Development is
a unique interactive webpage that pairs normal human development in the
womb with laboratory research showing where and when low-dose exposure
to bisphenol-A, phthalates and dioxin has effects.
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See the Critical Windows of Development
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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 Elise Miller, Director of CHE, at elise@healthandenvironment.org.
Best wishes,
Elise Miller, MEd, Director
Steve Heilig, Director of Public Health and Education at San Francisco Medical Society and CHE
Erika Sanders, Administrative Coordinator
Julia Varshavsky, Program Associate
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