Environmental & Public Health

The United States House of Representatives has passed the “Moving Forward Act” (H.R.2), legislation that will provide $1.5 trillion for transportation, climate resilience, and other infrastructure. The legislation also includes the Outdoors for All Act, which dedicates funding for city parks through the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Outdoor Resources Legacy Partnership Program (ORLP).

Never before have we sprayed so much of a chemical on our food, on our yards, on our children’s playgrounds. So it’s no surprise that Roundup – the world’s most widely used weedkiller – shows up in our bodies. What is perhaps surprising is how easy it is to get it out.

The long and devastating history of hurricanes can help society make more informed decisions about how to confront what is likely to be an increasingly tempestuous future—if we pay attention, writes Eric Jay Dolin.

Anna Robuck is doctoral student working with Rainer Lohmann, Ph.D., at the University of Rhode Island SRP Center. For her externship, Robuck will travel to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina to work with Mark Strynar, Ph.D., and James McCord, Ph.D., at the U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development.

While PCR-based diagnostic tests have been used in medicine for decades, they have never been used as they being used now, for broad screening of the general public, with a single positive result accepted as proof of infection without regard to clinical signs or symptoms or epidemiological exposure. Andrew Cohen had the opportunity in the environmental setting—unlike anyone in the medical profession—to observe the disaster that unfolds when these tests are used in this way. His research is now informing medicine, as many scientists who usually have nothing to do with viruses or infectious disease are turning their attention to COVID-19.

Juan Reynoso is only the second person to have completed a new joint Master in Public Health (M.P.H.)/Master in Urban Planning (M.U.P.) degree program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). The program allows students to pursue a transdisciplinary education in urban planning and public health and sharpen their understanding of key areas including policy, sustainability, and social determinants of health.

For people who live or work close to major roadways, air pollution — particularly ultrafine particles from vehicle exhaust — can pose a serious health threat. In this episode, Christina Fuller, an environmental epidemiologist and assistant professor in the School of Public Health, discusses her research on ultrafine particles in metro Atlanta and the role that trees may play in protecting urban residents.

Universities, cities, and now even some countries are starting to phase out single-use plastics, but what will they switch to? Tons of disposable foodware, including products made from agricultural waste and labeled compostable, are used and discarded every day. Some of the products contain chemicals that are associated with adverse health effects such as hormone disruption, increased cholesterol levels, and increased risk of cancer. Ideally, we should phase out single-use plastics and encourage the development of alternatives that are manufactured with and contain inherently safer chemicals. How do we incentivize a transition to the best reusable products?

The federal government had the foresight and mechanisms in place to minimize the risk of pandemics to human health. However, the Trump administration is placing the nation at risk by systematically undermining these structures and experts associated with them, writes Fellow Laura Meyerson.