Title: Summary of New Available Reports
Author:
Section/SPIG: Environment
Issue Date:
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The global Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a four-year study released March 2005 involving more than 1,350 scientists and other experts from 95 countries, is the most comprehensive look at the health of the world’s oceans, land, forests, species and atmosphere. It concluded many of the world’s ecosystems are headed for collapse unless radical measures are implemented to revive them. Issues highlighted include: 1) accepting carbon constraints; 2) tracking global/air pollution; 3) water wars -- quality and availability; 4) spread of infectious diseases, old and new; and 5) the body burden of disease - increased exposure to personal care products contaminating our water, air, soil, etc.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment can be found at <http://www.millenniumassessment.org>; the National Commission on Energy Policy is at <http://www.energycommission.org>; the Investor Network on Climate Risk is at <http://www.incr.com>.
Gila Neta
gneta@jhsph.edu
--------------------
RELATIONSHIP TO THE ENVIRONMENT KEY TO THE FUTURE OF HEALTH
EARLY SUCCESS DUE TO PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAMS
About 100 years ago, major improvements in American health were brought about by a new realization of environmental factors in infectious diseases.
Cleaning up water supplies, improving sanitation, pasteurizing milk, mosquito abatement, improving antisepsis in health care settings, refrigerating foods, and electrification of interior spaces significantly impacted the experience of morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases by 1923. Although there is a widespread belief that these diseases were "conquered" by individual clinical treatments, they were not available until about 1940.
CHANGE OF FOCUS
During the 20th Century, the value of these environmental successes was overshadowed by the continued growth of technological advances in pharmacy and diagnostic equipment for treating diseases one person at a time. Hence, some major trends have grown somewhat unnoticed until quite recently:
a.) Continuing introduction of toxins into the environment without a clear picture of how they accumulate and persist. Recent surveys of the increasing BODY BURDEN of persistent toxins illustrate that they are accumulating in all humans. There has been inadequate research on the health consequences of this trend. One example of unintended consequences of technology is the discovery of the remnants of legislated fire retardants for children's clothing and bedding in the blood of these children.
b.) Planetary climate changes resulting from the rapid expansion of industry and transportation systems. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment by the United Nations reveals that ". . . rising populations and pollution are putting such a strain on the natural functions of the Earth that the ability of the life systems on the planet to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted.” (See above for reference to report.)
The public health overview needs to be brought back into both professional and public awareness if significant improvements in individual health are to be achieved.
HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS SHOULD BE THE VANGUARD
Since the public looks to physicians, nurses, and other professionals for authoritative advice about their health, they should be the vanguard of the public health perspective of these issues, but are not well informed. The Telosis Institute of Berkeley, Calif., provides valuable tools and resources for greening medical practices including Symbiosis: The Journal of Ecologically Sustainable Medicine, patient handouts for better management of environmental health risks, and guides for professionals to improve recognition of environmental illnesses.
Check out their Web site at: <http://www.Telosis.org>.
Richard B. Miles and Joel Kreisberg
Richard@Telosis.org and DrKreisberg@teleosis.org
-------------------------
Information on pressure-treated wood
New online resource (www.safe2play.org) from the Center for Environmental Health provides important health and safety information on arsenic and pressure-treated wood
In backyards, parks and playgrounds throughout the United States, there are decks, picnic tables and play sets made of wood that has been treated with arsenic. The arsenic-based preservative, Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA), has been widely used since the 1970s to protect wood for outdoor structures from rotting. Arsenic continually leaches out to the wood’s surface and can be released to children’s hands by direct contact. Young children, in particular, are at risk of ingesting arsenic through frequent hand-to-mouth activity after contact with CCA-treated wood. Arsenic, a known skin, bladder and lung carcinogen, is also linked to immune system suppression, endocrine disruption and diabetes. Adults are potentially at risk of acute arsenic poisoning through inhalation if they try to saw, sand or burn CCA-treated wood.
The voluntary agreement between the wood products industry and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) phased out the manufacture of arsenic-treated wood for most residential uses by Jan. 1, 2004, but it failed to address the existing structures. In 2002, it was estimated that 90 percent of existing outdoor structures were made of CCA-treated wood.
The Safe Playgrounds Project wWb site provides recommendations on ways to minimize exposure to arsenic from pressure-treated wood found at schools, child care facilities, public parks and backyards. Safe2play.org provides important health and safety information about the dangers posed to young children and the general public from the use of CCA-treated wood, how to obtain a simple arsenic test kit, safety precautions and simple steps to minimize arsenic exposure, as well as answers to frequently asked questions. Some materials are available in Spanish and Chinese.
Please visit the Center for Environmental Health’s Safe Playgrounds Project Web site at <www.safe2play.org> or call our toll-free hotline at (877) 604-KIDS.
Sue Chiang
info@safe2play.org, or sue@cehca.org