A. Policy
1. New Policies
New policies were submitted to APHA by midnight, EST on March 15. See APHA Web site for additional details. Feel free to contact John Balbus if you have questions about the process.
Kyle Kinner, John Balbus and Tracy Kolian are working on updating the climate change and health policy, which was passed in 1995. The policy on inorganic lead and air quality should also be considered for updating given the current EPA review of the lead NAAQS.
Roni Neff is coordinating an effort to write a new policy position paper on food, environment and nutrition. Contact her if you are interested in participating in this activity, mccurdy@neetf.org.
2. Archived Policies
A number of policies were reviewed by the Joint Policy Committee and recommended for archiving. No recent policies of relevance to EH were recommended for archiving. Several policies from the early 1980s or before were recommended for archiving, including one on lead in the environment from 1972 (highlighting the need for a new policy statement) and policies on food inspection and labeling, environmental health planning, and occupational cancers. Anyone interested in working on reviewing the archived policies in detail and working on new policies to update and replace should contact John Balbus at jbalbus@ed.org.
Submitted by: John Balbus, MD, MPH, Policy Committee chair; director, Health Program, Environmental Defense
3. Subcommittee on Climate Change
The climate change committee, co-chaired by Kyle Kinner and John Balbus, is planning to meet soon and discuss actions for APHA as a whole to take on this issue. A new policy is being written and several sessions are planned for the Annual Meeting. Please contact Kyle or John if you have not already and wish to be involved in this activity jbalbus@ed.org.
4. Subcommittee on Healthy Food and Environment
Jill Litt, Karen Perry Stillerman and David Wallinga among others are working with APHA as an advisory group on advocacy efforts related to the Farm Bill and other connections that relate to food/environment. Roni Neff and the Committee are developing a policy paper reaching across sections that outlines the issues, food system, trends in industry, consequences (environmental, health, social justice), policy implications and recommendations. The committee has developed a special session proposal both for APHA and for the Section. If interested in joining a committee on this issue, please contact Jill Litt at jill.litt@uchsc.edu.
B. Program Planning
Barbara Glenn and Bill Daniell are the new program planners for 2007. They launched the 2007 Call for Abstracts on Monday, December 17. If you are interesting in reviewing abstracts, please contact Barbara at Glenn.Barbara@epa.gov. She will then input your information into the APHA Web site and you will be notified in regarding your status as a reviewer.
C. Nominations Committee
Interested in getting involved in the leadership aspects of the section? If so, please send your name to Nse Obot Witherspoon at nobot@cehn.org.
D. Membership Committee
Welcome to Robin Lee, MPH, as the new chair of the Membership Committee. We grateful to the wonderful efforts put forth by Dorothy Stevens and Susan Stone as previous chairs of the Membership Committee. If you would like to participate on this committee, please contact Jill Litt at jill.litt@uchsc.edu.
E. Student Involvement Committee
The Student Involvement Committee has a lot of ideas for 2007. Some of the goals include revisiting acceptance criteria for student applications and expanding sources of revenue to support a scholarship program. Taylor Anderson has developed a survey on surveymonkey to send to all students in the Student Assembly and the poster and travel award winners. Becky Gluskin is developing an Environment Student Council as a subcommittee within the Student Involvement Committee to help develop leadership and facilitate involvement in monthly calls, Web development, newsletter submissions, etc. Nse and Devon Payne-Sturges are brainstorming fundraising activities in the areas where annual meetings take place. Please send ideas to Nse at nobot@cehn.org.
F. Committee on 2011
Leyla McCurdy has volunteered to chair this newly formed committee that will work to plan events related to the Section’s upcoming 100th Anniversary in 2011. If you would like to work on this committee, please contact Leyla McCurdy at mccurdy@neetf.org.
G. Green Council
This group is currently seeking members with the idea to identify practices for APHA to adopt to increase nutrition and decrease waste at the annual meetings, and as an organizational leader. If you are interested in participating on this Council, please e-mail Jill Litt at jill.litt@uchsc.edu.