Environmental & Public Health

Fellow Story

Hsu quoted in Wired article on lack of reliable lead poisoning data in US

YOU HAVE NO real way of knowing if your town, your family, or your children face the kind of water contamination that exposed everyone in Flint, Michigan, to lead poisoning. Not because Flint is an outlier–it may, in fact, be the norm—but because no one has enough data to say for sure. ...
August 17, 2017
Fellow Story

Gill and colleagues find possible link between rise in both dust storms and valley fever

Researchers have discovered a possible link between the rise in both dust storms and valley fever cases in the southwestern United States over the previous two decades. A study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that dust storms have dramatically risen by 240 percent from the 1990s to the 2000s. In the Southwest, the average number of windblown dust storms increased from 20 per year in the 1990s to 48 per year in the 2000s, according to the NOAA-led study.
August 2, 2017
Fellow Story

Kimberley Rain Miner: Security matters

2016 Fellow Kimberley Rain Miner is developing a framework to assess the threat of pesticides — including DDT — that for years have been trapped in glacial ice and now are entering watersheds as the glaciers melt. She seeks to quantify effects of pollutants downstream for her doctorate at the University of Maine.
August 2, 2017
Fellow Story

Karen Levy: Aligning science with public service

Among her many accomplishments bridging her love of science and public service, Fellow Karen Levy's most recent is her selection as a fellow of the AAAS Leshner Leadership Institute (LLI) for Public Engagement with Science. “The best way to maintain public support for science is for people to understand it,” Levy says, “to understand the underlying scientific process, to learn about exciting discoveries, and to understand how it affects their own lives.”
July 17, 2017
Fellow Story

Wilcox helps develop notification system to close net on illegal fishing

A notification system that alerts authorities when fishing vessels that are believed to be operating illegally arrive in port is being developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Australia’s national science agency explained that the web-based reporting tool identifies and ranks vessels across the globe based on a list of behaviors associated with illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. It uses data collected by satellites to monitor and report vessels behaving suspiciously.
July 17, 2017
Fellow Story

Asa Bradman: Environmental Exposure in California

Dr. Asa Bradman is an environmental health scientist and expert in exposure assessment and epidemiology focusing on occupational and environmental exposures to pregnant women and children. He co-founded the Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health (CERCH) in the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and directs an initiative to improve environmental quality in California child care facilities.
June 28, 2017
Fellow Story

U.S. chemical safety rules need to be updated

Fellow Mike Wilson, a former professional firefighter, paramedic and EMT, writes about the updated safety requirements for high-hazard industries-- and says the Republican decision to strike them down and delay updates for two more years is misguided.
May 27, 2017
Fellow Story

The Penobscot is polluted with mercury. Without the EPA, it would be much worse.

Environmental regulations save our country money, provide jobs, and ensure the health of all animals, plants and the humans who see clean air, water and soil as an American right. The EPA needs a leader who will defend that right, write Dianne Kopec and Fellow Aram Calhoun.
February 28, 2017
Fellow Story

Connors signs Nagaland Health Project deal for World Bank

The US$ 48 million Nagaland Health Project will empower village health committees to deliver better health service delivery across the state and strengthen existing health systems and public health facilities. This will include capacity-building and results-based financing for village health committees, who are responsible for local health services, to improve services as well as enhance the knowledge and awareness of their communities.
February 21, 2017
Fellow Story

Fuller finds socio-economic differences in toxic release inventory siting and emissions

Prior research has found that low socioeconomic status (SES) populations and minorities in some areas reside in communities with disproportionate exposure to hazardous chemicals. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relevance of socio-demographic characteristics on the presence of Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) facilities, air releases, and prevalence and resolution of air quality complaints in the 20-county Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). We found that there were 4.7% more minority residents in census tracts where TRI facilities were located.
February 15, 2017