Environmental & Public Health

It seems that almost every week, another major food company announces plans to remove artificial colors and flavors from their products. In the past six months, major food companies such as Nestle, General Mills, Kellogg's, Hershey’s and Campbell’s committed to reformulating many of their iconic brands to be free of artificial colors and flavors. National restaurant chains such as Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Subway and Noodles & Company also made similar commitments. Tens of billions of dollars of products are being reformulated.

A special state commission charged with studying the safety of public drinking water systems across West Virginia resumed work this week, eight months after completing its last report to the Legislature. ...

How do activists know how many trucks rumble through neighborhoods surrounding Port Newark, belching diesel fumes that aggravate the breathing problems of residents? They count them, one at a time, as the rigs roll by. ... Volunteers at the three Ironbound locations counted a total of 1,100 trucks during a 45-minute period, said Isella Ramirez, environmental justice coordinator for the Ironbound Community Corporation, neighborhood non-profit group.

Shaye Wolf, climate science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, confirmed the dangers that fracking poses to air quality, water quality and human health.

2. Secondhand fumes. ​While that nail-polish smell is unavoidable, your eyes shouldn't water upon entry. Workers are the most vulnerable to fumes, "but even short exposure to hazardous chemicals can be harmful," says Thu Quach, Ph.D., a research scientist with the Cancer Prevention Institute of California who has done extensive research on nail-salon safety. Read more

Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods (IVAN) is an innovative program of environmental monitoring, reporting, and enforcement in California. It is intended to improve health and conditions of well-being in disadvantaged communities where residents face high levels of environmental hazards and low levels of the economic, political, and social resources need to address them.

Alumni working on climate change–related policy talk to Breakthroughs about how their efforts impact energy, water, pollution, and public health. Seth ShonkoffMPH ’08 Public Health; PhD ’12 ESPM. Executive Director, PSE Healthy Energy, www.psehealthyenergy.org

In 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its first national study tracking personal exposures to dozens of chemicals in a representative sample of the U.S. population. The agency found that almost all Americans had an array of industrial compounds coursing through their bodies, although levels varied depending on such factors as age and gender. While many of these substances are found in everyday products, most have never been adequately tested for potential health effects.

When you ask Switzer Fellow Sue Chiang (2007) about what drives her passion to expose the hidden dangers of fracking, her answer is straight and to the point. “We’re looking at a new California Gold Rush, only this time the frenzy is nationwide, and now we have technology that’s capable of leaving an environmental footprint exponentially more harmful than what was possible in the past," says Chiang.