MPH 632 Environmental Health Blog

My initial thoughts about living a zero waste life are that it would take too much time to accomplish this goal. I feel like I would be spending the entire day and spending all of my energy trying to achieve a zero waste life. Then I began to think that it would become easier overtime. Sure, the first few weeks would be difficult, after all, I am changing my life completely. I'd be concerned about things I normally would not be concerned about. Therefore, my entire though process would completely change. Now, I couldn't jump straight into this. I would definitely have to gradually initiate change in my life to reduce the amount of trash I contribute to the planet. I would have to go beyond the current things I do. For example, I like to use things that are reusable like my water bottle and my storage containers. I think a logical next step would be DIY personal care products. This is something I had not really given a lot of thought about, but after watching the video, I feel l...

For the purpose of this blog post, I will consider my current job, but I will be blogging from the Housekeeping perspective. They come into contact more with exposure to chemicals than I do at the front desk. Ergonomics - Housekeeping is a very demanding job physically, and they are at risk to cause themselves physical harm if they are not practicing proper postures and lifts while preforming their job. Biological - Asbestos exposure is something I gave listed here because it is possible that they will be exposed to asbestos. The St. Francis Hotel is original and was built in 1904. It survived the earthquake, and the building definitely contains materials within it that would not be deemed suitable by current contraction standards. Another potential exposure is to blood. Although it isn't come across as often, one can only imagine the things that are found in a hotel room. Chemical - Housekeepers are consistently exposed to chemicals throughout the day with their job requirem...

NIOSH is involved in a range of occupational safety and health activities including surveillance, research and technology transfer. One sector they sponsored is involving Agriculture, Farming and Fishing. They have identified health risks and worked to minimize them by focusing on work safety, prevention, and education. The main goals of the sector  are reductions in illnesses, injuries and fatalities, as well as improvements to health and well-being. For example, a goal to reduce a workplace hazardous exposure might contribute to reducing both cancer and adverse reproductive outcomes. This wouldn't effect my line of work, but it could effect me though what I eat. This safety sector within NIOSH is helping to reduce health hazards in our food wether it is coming from the ocean or farm.  Specific details can be found by going to this website.   https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/programs/default.html

I currently work for Marriott Hotels and decided to look up the MSDS on Clorox bleach. This is the brand that housekeepers are using multiple times on a daily basis cleaning rooms. I was able to find the MSDS directly from the Clorox Company.  What are the health risks associated with this chemical? Some health risks include severe skin burns and eye damage and it was listed as a category 1.  Is the chemical a carcinogen? Under the MSDS, the product isn't listed as a carcinogen, but it is listed in the unknown category. I believe this means it could be carcinogenic, but there needs to be testing done.  What personal protective equipment or special precautions should be taken when working with this chemical? PPE required when working with this product include wearing protective gloves, clothing, face protection and eye protection.  If this is a chemical found in your workplace, what training/education were yo...

Asbestos is a mineral that consists of very fine, microscopic, needle-shaped fibers. The fibers are so small that you cannot see them unless the concentration in the air is very heavy. Asbestos is an excellent material for many uses. It is strong, resists heat, acids, and friction, and is virtually indestructible! Because of these properties, asbestos was often combined with other materials for use in industry and construction.  Asbestos fibers can cause serious health problems when they are inhaled. The problem is with the shape and length of the fibers, not their chemical composition. When the asbestos fibers are breathed in, they can become trapped in lung tissue. After being inhaled, the fibers can also be coughed up and swallowed or distributed throughout the body from the lungs via the lymph system. OSHA - Has put regulations in place to protect workers for harm from asbestos exposure. Protections in place include assessment of the workplace, permissible exposure limit...

Lead poisoning - I remember when I was younger, lead poisoning used to be a bigger deal. but haven't heard much about it recently because the government had banned its use in paint. I had always just assumed that we did not know that lead was toxic, and that is why it was allowed to be in paint. What I learned from the article is that there were concerns about lead exposure in ancient Greece, and there were several events even within the United States that spread concern over the link between lead and harming ones health. My main question is, if we knew lead was toxic, why didn't we ban it? Instead, we just reduced the acceptable amount, but that never solved the problem. Nigeria - This was a very sad article to read. It is just another example of how harmful toxins can make their way into the food we eat, and like many other things, end up harming the most vulnerable in society.

I really love the idea of green chemistry, and it is so refreshing to read about greener safer options. This course has been filled with so many negatives around chemicals in materials that we come into contact with everyday, so reading about green chemistry proves that our society can help reverse some of the damage we have done to ourselves and the planet. The 12 principles focus a lot on prevention, which is something I have been advocating for throughout this course as it seems we tend to spend a lot of money on correcting things rather than preventing them. Hopefully this effort behind green chemistry is just the beginning of all of the earths inhabitants cleaning up our planet.

Highly Fluorinated - This chemical provides stain and water repellency, but are they worth it? First of all, they remain within our environment for decades and are not naturally occurring. They have been found in our water, and in our homes and are found in the bodies of 98% of people. Some health problems that are linked to this chemical are testicular cancer, elevated cholesterol, thyroid disease and so on. Vaccines even become less effective if you are contaminated. We must choose textiles and carpeting that does not contain water and stain repellency, because the damage that is being done by highly fluorinated products is almost irreversible. Antimicrobials - Are they helping, or harming us? Antimicrobials are not harming specific microbes. In fact, they harm all microbes, even the good ones. We often put them into many everyday things that are not necessary. Some antimicrobials that we use are toxic to algae, crustaceans and fish. They also contribute to bacterial resistance. Us...

Like the UK chemical regulation, we need similar regulation and enforcement. It is very important to regulate the chemical residues and active substances before it hit the market. Education is important, labeling is also important but often general public, like the guy from India, just doesn't want to take their physical wellness into account. People are often bombarded with so many other life struggles and issues that they often overlook harmful things, even knowing full well their risk. So, it would be vital to regulate and enforce what active chemical substance can be on the market for public to use.

After going through the readings and viewing the videos for this module, I think there are a few main things that should comprise of an ideal chemical policy. The first that comes to mind is proper labeling and having a labeling standards for companies to follow. Another thing would be premarket testing of chemicals. This should not be done by the manufacturing company alone, but through an unbiased third party in order to ensure a fair test. I also think having full disclosure between the workers and public is a must. There should be no "secrets" or "surprises" when it comes to chemical content.

Act on Early Warnings I decided to read this background paper on the Louisville Charter Website. The reason I have chosen this paper is because I feel like this country spends a lot of time, money and resources on reacting to harmful events rather than spending a significant amount of time, money, and resources on prevention. I wanted to gain insight on policies and practices that are currently in place to gain an idea of what a little forward thinking can do. This section aims to prevent harmful events from occurring through science and through history. The focus isn't solely on the individual, but it also focuses on the Federal and State Levels. Some important steps that are to be taken include  Create and Strengthen Health & Environmental Programs to Detect and Predict Possible Harm, T ake Action when Credible Evidence of Harm is Found,  Monitor Novel Technologies,  Consider Clusters of Health Problems to Be Early Warnings and  Open Toxic Tort Records. I fou...

Last night, I decided to have some steak and I sautéed some squash and cooked some rice for the sides. Using the Whats on my Food website, I was able to find all of the items I had for dinner listed here. My findings were disturbing. On the squash, the USDA has found 40 pesticide residues. Some of which are carcinogens, neurotoxins, developmental toxins and reproductive toxins. On the steak, 6 pesticide residues were found, and 15 residues on the rice. I look at our current system here in America and think it is poorly regulated and has little regard for the consumer. The only thing of concern for the producers is money. They'll do whatever they can to protect their crop even if it means poisoning the consumers. We honestly need to be more like Europe. We need scientists who study the crops and we need a government who will then use that information to decide on what to use and what not top use. There simply needs to be more regulation in order to ensure the health of the environme...

For the literature review, I have decided I wanted to explore and learn more about how we will be cleaning up our oceans. Ive been hearing more and more recently about how forward thinking states and counties are moving towards eliminating plastic. for example, replacing straws at restaurants. Also, there has been an explosion of people buying refillable water bottles as to not contribute to the waste that plastic water bottles provide. The Ocean Cleanup is an organization that has started the largest organized cleanup in the history of Earth. They have developed advanced technologies to help rid the oceans of plastic waste. There website is full of information on how to donate, get involved, and also has plenty of info about the garbage that its currently in the ocean. There are 5 ocean garbage patches with the largest one being between Hawaii and California. If left to circulate, it will impact our economies, and health

There is a listing for a Senior Environmental Specialist (Wetland Program) in Scottsdale Arizona. There are several responsibilities that come with the job including organizing, budgets, outreach, program development ands so on. Basically, the person hired for the job is expected to survey and protect the current wetland areas in Scottsdale Arizona. They also will be responsible for identifying new wetland areas and will need to seek governmental approval along with the fundings necessary to complete the task. A lot of the job is data collection and surveillance as well as preserving the natural wetlands. National Wildlife Federation This federation is dedicated to preserving animals within the United States. Anything that preserves, and improves the quality of animals lives within the United States is a focus. The federation has several million dedicated employees/volunteers that work to protect animal environments from deforestation, and infringement of human activity.

The San Francisco Public Health Department lists a ton of different environmental health programs. I did come across a few that I was surprised to see because I didn't necessarily link them to an environmental concern. For example, The Noise Enforcement Program which one of it's main focuses being to enforce local regulations regarding fixed equipment noise. San Francisco is such a tightly packed city, and can be very noisy. This particular program helps to lessen the level of noise coming from city operations. I was also extremely surprised to see a massage program listed under the environmental health section. What does a massage have to do with the health of the environment? Upon reading its description, there is a section pertaining to sanitary conditions, thus the link between environmental health and massaging has been made. Lastly, there were several programs I expected to see. Garbage, air quality, and water quality were all among the programs I expected to see within t...

Seasonal Foods : I find myself to be lucky to live in a state like California where so much produce is produced and where the majority of its inhabitants are thinking progressively and organically. There are tons of locally grown vendors and they are easy to find. There are also lots or produce currently in season. To many to list really but some of them include apples, carrots, cabbage, grapes, green beans etc.. This time of year is prime time for produce in season. I really like the idea of integrating seasonal food with hospital menus. This would ensure that the patients within the hospital are getting local food, and the most nutritious foods available at that time. Obesogens : I had never before heard of the concept of obesogens, but the idea of them having an effect on rates of obesity makes sense to me, and I do believe that "obesogens" play a role in obesity rates. It all sort of stems back to my idea of the world being in a chemical imbalance. Much of this coming f...

In todays world, I see countless instances where antibiotics are prescribed without the Doctor knowing if there is an infection or not. Doing this introduces antibiotics in the environment, exposing the antibiotics to bacteria. The bacterial life cycle is is so much more rapid than any other animals life cycle on earth. This allows for evolution at a much higher rate than other animals. Just to put things into perspective, What takes humans thousands of years to evolve, could take bacteria just a couple of years. Antibiotic resistance is a very scary thing, because what happens when we run out of antibiotics? What happens when we can't come up with new antibiotics fast enough? This scary concept could eventually become reality if we continue to misuse antibiotics.

Vanishing of the Bee's : If we want to continue to eat fruits and vegetables, then we need bees. A single colony of bees can pollinate over 100,000 flowers in one day. This is why it is extremely disturbing to know that the population of bees is continuing to decrease at an alarming rate. I am convinced the reason we are losing bees is because of how we treat them. We are feeding them artificially, raising queens artificially and have turned them into "industrial bees". Not only that, but honest honey farmers are having to compete with artificial honey. This fake honey is being sold as real honey at cheaper prices which is creating a terrible cycle for the honey farmers. Dirt the Movie : This movie does an extremely good job at showing the connection humanity has with dirt, dirt's importance to life, and our existence on earth. Healthy dirt is every bit as important as water, because dirt is a building block in which life comes from and life is sustained. Like many ...