Environmental and Occupational Health: Issues in Public Health

I had trouble locating the water source and quality reports for my city through the CCR search engine so I looked it up on the San Leandro website. The city of San Leandro receives its water from East Bay MUD or East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD). EBMUD collects water from the Mokelumne River watershed through the Pardee Reservoir and Comanche Reservoir. After reading EBMUD's quality report, it seems like our water quality is pretty good and meets public health standards and federal drinking water requirements as of 2017.  It was interesting to see that everything was below federal or state limits and that the main exposures in the water are mostly due to the erosion of natural deposits. Despite this, there are still health risks that come with plumbing (lead, rust, etc), no matter how treated and purified the water may be. EBMUD prides itself on monitoring corrosion and lead levels in water, which is reassuring. They also have removed all lead pipes and have ...

Before 1972, there was little regulation over water pollution. I can only imagine how many pollutants were discharged prior to this date and how many of them are still present in the environmental crisis we have today. The first time water pollution was addressed was through the now amended Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, which laid down the foundation of the Clean Water Act of 1972 (CWA). The CWA of 1972 gave power to the EPA to control pollution regulations and created standards for disposal. Basically, this law made it illegal to dump pollutants, or, at least not without a permit and enforces waste management disposal under the EPA. Thanks to this law, water has become a much more protected resource which not only benefits the environment but the health and wellbeing of the humans and animals that depend on it for survival. It protects public health by ensuring that we have safe drinking water and safe use of such a valuable resource.

Say NO to manufactured H20: Say YES to Tap!

The city of San Leandro has one sewage treatment facility in the area. Known as the Water Pollution Treatment Control Plant, this facility cleans within a range of 5 to 23 million gallons of waste water a day. It operates on a $7.6 million budget and maintains over 125 miles of sewage pipelines. What is also great about this plant is that it offers tours to educate the public and specific tours for school aged children. They also have quite a few educational materials such as the brochure shown below: https://www.sanleandro.org/depts/pw/wpcp/default.asp

Group 5: Paulina Avila-Martinez, Anthony Fiorentino, Sintia Shabaz Given that there are potential health effects associated with the fragrances in our personal care products, how might you develop and implement a fragrance-free policy in a hospital, school, or other institutional setting? Consider how you would deal with the fragrances that are in employees’ personal care products. In your blog groups, share your ideas for what the elements of an ideal chemical/fragrance policy should be. How would your policies eliminate/decrease our body burdens and exposures? The elements used in fragrances should be those that do not diffuse quickly, so those around are not affected with the product. Also, the smells should be kept to natural scents only, that way they do not cause respiratory problems. In order to eliminate these smells at public places, policies should be placed on strong smells. This is something that will be hard to enforce at first, but can be helpful in the long run. Even th...

In order to increase awareness about the health risks of Radon, my approach would start with reaching out to city newspaper and local media outlets to inform the public. Creating newsletters, flyers, and PSAs on the effects of Radon and what the public can do to lessen their risk of exposure would be one of the approaches I would take. This would call for a team up with community health clinics to disseminate this information to the general public and promote continued community education. I would also develop survey tools assessing homeowners and renter knowledge on Radon exposure and recognizing symptoms. For this, I would team up with doctors to develop the assessment and to create information packets with health referrals and advice on how to protect themselves. Forming a partnership with the EPA to get tool kits for the community would also be beneficial, especially donated kits for people who are low income and cannot afford to get a kit or Radon test done. With the help of E...

Urea formaldehyde was a chemical often found in building materials during the 1970's. This chemical was used for insulation purposes and pressed wood products. Exposure usually occurs through the respiratory system as products with Urea formaldehyde release vapor into the air,  can be absorbed through the skin or consumed by drinking or eating contaminated liquids and foods. There are short term and more long term effects with continued exposure to urea formaldehyde. Short term exposure can cause allergic reactions or irritations of the skin such as dermatitis, watery eyes, nose, and difficulty breathing (wheezing and coughing).  Long term exposure has been suggested to increase people's health risks for cancer. In terms of bleach, which is a highly used household cleaning product, the health risk is attributed to risk for respiratory problems such as asthma. In a study conducted by Matolunga et al. (2016), researchers examined the frequency of bleach use in the hou...

This summer I took a course in community based participatory research. One of the topics we discussed a case study focusing on the Richmond Environmental Justice movement, in which the city of Richmond through community empowerment and advocacy efforts, challenged Chevron its pollution of vulnerable low income African American communities. Too often than not, many communities of color are often rendered helpless in the pollution of their bodies due to institutionalized racism and corporate efforts to silence their experiences. It is no surprise to me that low income communities of color are the ones that suffer the most when it comes to environmental inequities.  The power inequalities associated with class and race are so intertwined in the issue of environmental justice. If the communities being affected were white and more affluent, there would be more action to protect the health and well being of said communities. Often, when we think of environmentalism, people often...

   In reflecting upon all of my experiences with a primary care physician, I do not recall anyone ever asking me about my home or work environment. When it comes to health and illness, rarely do we ever think about the role of the environment on our well being. Rishi Manchada's comment on the fact that living and working conditions have twice the impact on our health than our genetic code was quite startling. Despite this reality, the structure of one's environment is hardly addressed in health care, which as Rishi states, pushes the idea that health care only exists and begins within the walls of the doctor's office. When Rishi described Veronica's experiences, it made me think back to my own when I was in undergrad. I used to live in a very humid apartment in the Outer Richmond of San Francisco with four other students that had poor ventilation and lots of mold. We were always cleaning and trying to get rid of the mold, but it would always quickly return. As consequen...

   The Bay Area has many methods of public transportation. AC transit, the BART train, Muni, and other modes of transportation such as ride-sharing with Lyft and Uber are readily available and useful, especially for people who do not have the privilege of owning a vehicle. It is super easy to get around, I take BART and AC transit every day to get to work or where ever I need to go. Bike lanes are also fairly common here in the Bay, but I have noticed that they are less available in lower income communities which I have observed often experience high vehicle occupancy on the roads. Promoting safe walking and biking among lower income neighborhoods would be a great benefit along with the creation of more bike lanes in areas where there aren't any. This can provide a healthier alternative to get around for many people living in these areas.    Improving the environmental conditions of  low income communities is definitely something that needs to be worked on espe...

I live in San Leandro, California which is part of Alameda County. After researching the air quality and pollution my area, I found that the top polluters are as follows: The city of Fremont has the most environmental releases compared to the city of San Leandro. It seems that most of the pollution comes from the motor and manufacturing industries. Generally, however, Alameda County ranks among the dirtiest 20% of counties in the US. In terms of lead, I was surprised to find out that only 3% of homes have high risk for lead hazards, which was reassuring since I thought it would be a lot more.  In looking up Superfund sites, I found that Alameda County was ranked among the cleaner 30% of counties in the US. Superfund sites are sites that produce the most toxic waste or the most contaminated in the area and are part of the government's efforts to clean up. I found that there were 2 main Superfund sites that have caused water contamination: In all of Alameda County, there ar...

Lab Results from Blood and Urine Samples If I were to receive the results listed below, I would have to say that I would have felt extremely shocked. The CNN special has really changed my understanding on the true burden face by our bodies in being saturated with toxic chemicals. In general, I have always tried to control my exposure to certain things that I know are toxic and harmful to my health. To know that I have been exposed to these chemicals completely unaware is very scary. Knowing that these chemicals are flowing in my blood stream at this very moment in time is anxiety provoking and makes me think about where, when, and how I have been exposed to these chemicals. The fact that DDT is in my system even though it has been banned in the 70's is quite alarming. Where could this exposure have happened? Are there phalates in my blood from the plastic water bottles I drink from? Was I silently poisoned by lead in my home or way before in other settings? Several question...

I truly believed that all products were screened for safety before putting them on the market. If they are on the shelves of every store available for sale, that means that they passed, right? Cook made me realize that there are so few protections for consumers. Greed, capitalism, profits drive the pollution we see today at the great cost of people's health and well being. I wanted to cry when Cook said that "pollution begins in the womb". It is so upsetting to know that we are not protected by law from exposure to harmful chemicals and that they are hardly tested. Essentially, no one is unpolluted given that we have been polluted since the beginning of our existence. 😞 To know that outdated laws allow for companies to get away with so much and are the reason that we have rampant illnesses such as cancer and the cause of the disabling conditions we see today is so depressing. One would think that the evidence alone would be enough to push for change and charge these com...

For my household products, I chose Palmolive dish soap and Clorox disinfectant wipes. I only use Clorox wipes occasionally to wipe down surfaces or things that I know many people have touched frequently (handles, door knobs, etc). When looking up the Clorox wipes, I found that the wipes had only a slight health risk with a score of 1. In general, it is not considered hazardous. However, eye contact, skin contact and inhalation are always health risk factors as the wipes may cause irritation or problems with respiration if inhaled or gastrointestinal problems if consumed on accident. The product itself comes with warnings and advice on what to do if there is unwanted contact of any form. To protect my skin, I always wear gloves as a precaution and try not to hold the wipes near my face to protect my eyes and lessen my inhalation. I actually thought this product would be a bit more toxic than stated. I do plan on continuing to use this product, but I will use it less frequently.   h...

The two personal care items I have selected to review are the Dove Advanced Care Cool Essentials Antiperspirant Deodorant and Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer With Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 15. These are products that I use as part of my morning routine every day. Given how often I use these products, I wanted to verify whether they are actually good and beneficial for me to use or not. The first product I looked up was the Aveeno moisturizer. I wash my face every morning and night followed by the application of this moisturizing cream. This product was rated at a 5, the primary reason being its effect on allergies, immuno-toxicology, endocrine disruption and use restrictions for some of the chemicals listed in the ingredients (i.e. paraben preservatives). Reading this information was very concerning to me since I use this product regularly. It is also marketed as a hypo-allergenic product which is also frustrating given the fact that I am very prone to having allergies....