APHA Environment Section’s Committee Reports

Climate Change Committee

John Balbus

More than 20 Section members have volunteered to be part of the Section’s activities on climate change and health.  Thus far, the activities of the committee have centered on next year’s Annual Meeting program and the planning for National Public Health Week.  Committee members have helped to coordinate session proposals for the meeting in San Diego.  With at least six very strong proposals submitted, the content on climate change for next year promises to be outstanding.

The theme for this year’s National Public Health Week (NPHW), which will take place April 7-13, is "Climate Change:  Our Health in the Balance."  The Section’s CC Committee is well-represented on APHA’s advisory committee for NPHW, which has held two conference calls with APHA staff so far to discuss some of the details of the plans.  National Public Health Week will feature hundreds of local events sponsored by public health departments and other organizations throughout the country, and it will be capped by the release of a white paper on climate change and health, which will offer concrete recommendations for the nation and the public health community to ensure we meet the urgent challenges of climate change in as healthy a way as possible.  A breakout session at the National Council for Science and the Environment meeting this month developed some potential recommendations to feed into APHA’s process of meetings and consensus development for the final white paper.

Once planning for next year’s Annual Meeting is complete, the committee will convene to discuss what the Section can do within and beyond the context of NPHW.  All members who are interested in participating should contact committee chair John Balbus at jbalbus@ed.org.

Policy Committee

John Balbus

Some seven policies relevant to our section were approved at last year’s Annual Meeting, including a comprehensive policy paper on agricultural and nutritional issues, a revised policy on climate change, a call to restructure the Toxic Substances Control Act, and an expanded global ban on the use of lead.  Section members are reminded that the calendar on the policy process moves quickly, with proposals for new policies due on Feb. 18 (see the full calendar at http://www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/Policycalendar/).  The Governing Council has identified policy gaps for 2008 on the APHA Web site, with two of particular relevance to our section:  Clean Water Act and asbestos disease compensation.  Of course, anyone is welcome to submit a policy resolution on any subject.  Anyone interested in participating in the Policy Committee or seeking assistance in the development of a policy resolution should contact John Balbus at jbalbus@ed.org.