Environmental Health

I love eating foods when they are in season! Currently in California we have apples, artichokes, arugula (one of my favorite greens for salads), asian pears, avocados (who doesn't like avocados?!), basil, beets, blackberries, bok choy, and so many other fresh fruits and veggies were listed here . When I think about seasonal foods in relation to hospital menus, I would hope that whoever is in charge of designing and preparing the food takes into consideration the fruits and veggies in season. Having this be done creates a healthier population, especially those who are in long term care at the hospital. More often then not, I see that the food prepared in hospitals lack flavor and color. Often times being bland. Working at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General, I have learned that the foods prepared and served daily have gone through this process of being cooked, then freezing it for storage/transportation, and then reheated when time comes to serve. So much seems wrong with this proc...

Antibiotics carry a lot of weight. Reading through these articles brings up many facts and concerns I've had when it comes to the constant use of antibiotics. For so long people have discussed how the frequent use of antibiotics is leading to bacteria and viruses that can withstand these drugs leading to what one article called, antibiotic-resistant bacteria (AR bacteria). It is not only these bacteria that are becoming resistant to antibiotics, but we as humans are also. I've learned that some people will take antibiotics when they are having symptoms related to the common cold or doctors giving patients antibiotics for minor cases. What will we do when these antibiotics no longer work? This topic can be also viewed through the lens of herbicides and pesticides. With the widespread us of these chemicals we are then breeding stronger pests that can survive these already harsh and dangerous chemicals. With this comes the use of stronger chemicals leading to greater adverse healt...

When I think about the vanishing bees, I worry about what that is going to do to how plants get pollinated. Bees play an important role in sustaining human life and as we see with climate change, the loss of bees is in our near future. There was this one episode of a Netflix series called Black Mirror . In this episode the world has lost all their bees and tech company made mechanical bees to continue pollenating. It was an interesting solution to a problem we may face in the near future. I think the issue behind the vanishing bees needs to be taken more seriously and people need to be more aware about the severity. Looking at San Bernardino County there are roughly 1,608 factory farms. These factories have mostly cows and produce dairy products. I was not aware of that many factory farms being in the county and seeing this number doesn't surprise me. I remember growing up and going to a farm for a freshly slaughtered goat. Tanzanian culture has a tradition where the slaughtering...

Developing a nationwide campaign to get people to drink tap water instead of bottled water, I would first want to think about the tap water quality around the world and understand that not all places have clean tap water to drink. Conducting a needs assessment for places that are in need for water filter and meeting people where they are when it comes to clean water access. It would be important to provide education about tap water and ways individuals can work to improve their own water quality. As mentioned in the  video , many people have been told that tap water is unsafe to drink and that bottled water is cleaner and safer. Debunking this myth and changing the social norms around bottled water would be the basis of my campaign. Using the Health Belief Model to target self-efficacy toward carrying a reusable water bottle everywhere you go would be one of my main goals in promoting tap water. Another goal would be to bring awareness to the severity of bottle water usage and ho...

For this section I decided to look up the nearest sewage facility near my hometown of Fontana California. Near Fontana there are 10 wastewater treatment plants and sewage disposal. 5 miles away from Fontana is the  Rialto Wastewater Treatment Plant . Rialto produces 7-8 million gallons of sewage everyday. I remember growing up and passing by the  Regional Water Recycling Plant No. 1 , What I remember most is how awful it smelled and all the brown water I could see when we dove past the facility on the freeway. Not knowing much about what was really going on there. Watching this weeks videos on our sewage system and the amount of work that goes into cleaning out water is eye opening. This particular plant treats approximately 28 million gallons per day.

Looking up San Bernardino County, I found that most of the water comes from ground water, surface water, ground water that is under influence of surface water, and surface water purchased (not sure what that means). One of the reports I looked at was for East Valley. It is not my hometown, but it is close by and within the San Bernardino County lines. Their water originates 11% from the Santa Ana River, 11% is imported from state water projects, and 78% of the water comes from the Bunker Hill Basin. When looking at what is in the water, a lot of inorganic compounds like: aluminum (levels of 0.009), fluoride (levels of 1), nitrate (levels of 10), arsenic (levels of 0.004), and chromium (levels of -100). Since most of these chemicals are chemicals found from natural erosion or runoff from fertilizer. A few radioactive contaminates, uranium and gross alpha particle activity. While looking through the report I was not surprised by what was in the water in East Valley. Nothing was in viol...

The Clean Water Act is important because it began to regulate the discharge of pollutants into water sources that flow into surface waters such as lakes, rivers, streams, and ponds. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put in place permits to control the discharge if industries planned to pipe their discharge into surface waters. This act helps to improve the water quality for communities that live near these surface waters and works to decrease the exposures to toxic chemicals that come from this discharge. It is important as public health professionals that we continue to uphold this act and make sure industries are acquiring permits and are regularly regulating the discharge.

How would you develop a national awareness campaign? Name some potential stakeholders/collaborators. Since I have never really heard about radon until this class, I feel it would be important to target youth on this subject and bring awareness to them. To reach this audience I would want to work with a social media team to create relevant information and fact sheets to post on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other forms of media. Using this mode of communication can increase discussion surrounding the topic and allow for youth to learn about their environments and the harmful effects of radon, a chemical we can't see or smell. With climate change becoming such a huge topic that concerns all people, youth in particular, increasing awareness of the potential harms of a chemical like radon is important. Potential stakeholders for such a campaign would be organizations that work with youth and environmental safety/policy change. Connecting with Instagram i...

Elements for an ideal chemical/fragrance policy would be to first increase regulations surrounding the testing, uses, and adverse health effects for chemicals found in fragrances. Without this increase in regulation, it would be hard to crack down on companies who resist exposing their formula to the public in fear of others stealing it. This fear that fragrance companies have, especially when it comes to perfumes and colognes, does not make sense because they usually have patents on their name brand and/or formulas. At least that is my assumption. With a large number of these chemicals found in fragrances being unstudied, there needs to be an increase in research done to learn about the health effects associated with fragrances. Creating a policy around making it mandatory for companies and products to be tested before selling to the consumer would be beneficial and also decrease our exposures.

Sodium Hydroxide (bleach) is a chemical found in multiple cleaning products. It is found in Clorox bleach (what we use to whiten our clothes), All-purpose cleaners, disinfecting sprays, Lysol, and many other products. Other names for this chemical are: hydroxyde de sodium, matrium causticum, hydrate, sodium hydroxide dimer etc. The health effects that are associated with exposures to sodium hydroxide (bleach) at high concentrations of vapor or mist can lead to heat conditions or chronic respiratory problems like asthma, chronic bronchitis of obstructive lung disease. Urea formaldehyde is found mostly in plastics and rubbers. A few other names for this chemical are: formaldehyde, urea polymer, uformite 700, piatherm etc. Back in 1982 the use of this chemical within home insulation was banned due to it being an indoor air hazard when released. This chemical is also found in make-up products made by Cover Girl and miracle indoor plant food. The adverse health effects of being expose...

Who and what are the top polluters in your zip code? One of the main polluters in Fontana is the mass building of warehouses. With these wear-houses comes the onslaught of diesel emissions increasing adverse health affects of asthma, respiratory illnesses, heart disease, and birth defects. A few of the pollutants found in my hometown of Fontana with the zip code of 92336 are:  Carbon Dioxide Methane Nitrus Oxide What percent of the homes in your zip code have lead-based paint? Fontana, California was established in 1913 and from this time until 1965 houses were most likely painted with lead-based paint. Finding the information on the percentage of homes that have lead-based paint is not available. Since the time I've grown up, there have been and still are new development of homes and communities that are lead free. The house I grew up in my entire life before moving to the Bay was built in 1991 and I can be certain that my parents house and...

M3.2: Vulnerable Populations Obesity is one of the most preventable diseases we face here in the United States. According to the World Health Organization , more than 1.9 billion adults were overweight and 41 million children under the age of 5 were obese in 2016. There have been numerous efforts to tackle the rising rates of obesity, but these efforts seem to fall short in targeting the root of the problem. These efforts in the beginning may have been unethical or efforts put into decreasing obesity started strong, but later lost traction. Michelle Obama and her program, Let's Move , started off strong by raising awareness to childhood obesity and getting communities/families involved in healthy eating and daily physical activity. This is a great example of only looking at nutrition and activity levels, but does not address how processed foods and exposures to chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides effect the likelihood of children becoming obese. From our speaker in lect...

When I think about public transportation, a lot of different things come up. Growing up in the suburbs of Southern California and now living in San Francisco, I have seen huge shifts regarding transportation and its implications it has on my health and community. Everyone knows when someone is from Los Angeles, people automatically comment on the traffic. I can 100% vouch for this traffic and how at any point in time traveling on a freeway to or from LA you will be stuck in traffic driving 5 to 10 miles per hour for the next hour and half, depending on your destination. With all these cars siting at a standstill you can only imagine how much pollution and smog is being produced each and every day. I remember there being a time where I would be driving toward a mountain and can see the hazy layer of smog hovering over the city and just above that layer is "clean air". Seeing this layer would make me think about how I am breathing in this bad air which in the long run is af...

Environmental Justice as stated by the US EPA is "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies." When I think about all the places around the world that turn the other way when it comes to polluting the earth it breaks my heart. This feeling deepens as I learn how these incinerators, waste lands etc are developed and ran near less developed neighborhood or countries and in communities filled mostly with people of color. It seems to happen more often than not, due to lack of education, socioeconomic status, employment levels, and the physical environment. This fits into the concept of social determinants of health because those living in low income communities have less opportunity or options available to them when it comes to removing themselves from such toxic environments. It is unfortunate ...

Looking at the lab results that were given back to me and seeing so much of the health effects be related to organ toxicity and cognitive disfunction, I would be sadden to know that I was, and still am, unknowingly exposing myself to toxic chemicals. Learning about the possibility of having problems conceiving due to the presences of DDT and Phthalates would be devastating, especially if it were discovered during the conceiving period. Just recently I had a conversation with a client discussing the multitude of women having trouble conceiving and how this issue does not seem to be only about the health of their uterus or the age at which they are trying. I feel as I learn more about these toxic chemicals and the combination of varying birth controls has affected our ability to conceive naturally. Of course conditions such as Polycystic ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is one of the reasons many woman resort to IVF, but could the toxicity levels due to chemical exposure over a long period be p...