Title: Environment Section Meeting Report
Author:
Section/SPIG: Occupational Health and Safety
Issue Date:
In the spirit of fostering greater cooperation between the Occupational Health and Safety Section and the Environment Section of APHA, a group of about five OHS section members, many of them secondary members of the Environment section, attended the Environment Section’s business meeting on Wednesday night at the San Francisco APHA meeting. This business meeting was devoted largely to conference program planning for the 2004 meeting in Washington, DC. Below are some notes on the meeting.
Before beginning the discussion about future APHA Annual Meetings, the results of the APHA elections that day were announced. The group was elated that for the first time in some years, the candidates it supported for APHA officers and Executive Board won (These were essentially the same candidates the OHS Section Councilors had supported). Also, Environmental Councilors Paul Locke and David Walinga reported that all the good resolutions had passed as well, mentioning specifically the successful resolution opposing federal interference with science review panels by OHS Section member David Michaels and others.
Environment Section members were pleased with the choice of theme for the 2005 APHA conference, namely “Evidence-Based Science and Policy.” Possible keynote speakers Section members suggested included former EPA Director Carol Browner, former WHO Director-General and former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Brundtland, Senator Hillary Clinton, scientist Jane Goodall, and authors Michael Lerner and Eric Schlosser.
Larger themes for 2005 which members discussed, possibly for plenary sessions, included: Workplace/Community Pollution, Evaluation of Federal Oversight of Government Regulatory Agencies, Environmental Problems and Access to Care. Participants also strongly recommended a special session on the upcoming 20th Anniversary of the Bhopal Tragedy in India, and what has been done there and here to improve chemical safety for workers and residents of surrounding communities. In these and following discussions, note was taken by the body of the presence of OHS members, and participants welcomed co-sponsorship and further participation with the OHS Section.
A variety of topics was proposed for regular conference sessions. These were listed by the meeting secretary, but in most cases not further discussed by the body. They included:
Environmental Health Education for various Public Health Professionals
Environmental Health and Economics
Environmental Determinants of Health Disparities
The Built Environment and Environmental Justice Issues
Community-Based Environmental Research
Links between Ecological and Environmental Health
Food Health and Safety from Farms to Forks
“Dropping the Ball” at the World Trade Center
The Retreat from an Active Governmental Role in Regulation: Will it Improve or Harm Community and Worker Protections?
The Impact and Implications for Health in a Deregulatory Environment
Attacks on Public Health Science
Alternatives to Petroleum
Use of Bioterrorism Monies
Medical Wastes
One session which was strongly endorsed at the meeting was the so-called “Talking Agency Heads” session, which is held annually and co-sponsored with the OHS Section. This session was not held at the San Francisco Annual Meeting this past year, and Environment Section members would like to resume it next year, especially since we will be meeting again in Washington. (It was understood and discussed that we may not agree with the sentiments expressed by the Agency Heads, but we should hear them and hear their plans for the future of the agencies they direct. One caveat expressed: If the Administration changes based on the outcome of the preceding week’s national Presidential elections, we should also seek to hear informally from spokespersons for the new administration.)
Finally much sentiment was expressed for sponsoring a Continuing Education session of the Application of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) Software Programs to Public Health.
As OHS Section members organize and develop sessions for the 2004 conference, we should keep the above topics in mind, and seek out co-participation and co-sponsorship with the Environment Section and its members.