December, 2016 | The Pump Handle

Government In the fight for a rest break, Dallas construction workers find their voice: ‘This is not the end, but a stepping stone to something bigger’ (rerun)

December 30, 2016 The Pump Handle

While The Pump Handle is on holiday break, we are republishing some of our favorite posts from the past year. This one is from May 2016: Last summer, 25-year-old Roendy Granillo died of heat stroke while he installed flooring in a house in Melissa, Texas, just north of Dallas. His tragic and entirely preventable death marked a turning point in advocacy efforts to pass a rest break ordinance for local construction workers.

Environmental Health Making the case for safer paint strippers (rerun)

December 29, 2016 The Pump Handle 1Comment

While The Pump Handle is on holiday break, we are republishing some of our favorite posts from the past year. This one is from March 2016: A painter named Jason, who nearly died from using a methylene chloride-based paint stripper, teams up with the California Department of Public Health to make the case for using safer alternatives.

Government Disease outbreak guarantees: A proposal to build public health capacity in developing nations (rerun)

December 28, 2016 The Pump Handle

While The Pump Handle is on holiday break, we are republishing some of our favorite posts from the past year. This one is from July 2016: In 2005, the World Health Assembly adopted a revised version of its International Health Regulations, a legally binding treaty among 196 nations to boost global health security and strengthen the world’s capacity to confront serious disease threats such as Ebola and SARS. A decade later, just one-third of countries have the ability to respond to a public health emergency. That’s why Rebecca Katz thinks it’s time to get creative.

Labor Rights Two decades after welfare reform, more deep poverty and fewer college degrees (rerun)

December 27, 2016 The Pump Handle 4Comment

While The Pump Handle is on holiday break, we are republishing some of our favorite posts from the past year. This one is from August 2016: Two decades ago, President Bill Clinton signed the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act” (PRWORA) and heralded the end of “welfare as we know it.” The law lived up to that promise, but the outcomes for families who depend on it have been problematic.

Women's Health Drop in preterm births followed Colorado’s rise in long-acting contraception use (rerun)

December 27, 2016 The Pump Handle

While The Pump Handle is on holiday break, we are republishing some of our favorite posts from the past year. This one is from February 2016: A study finds the odds of preterm birth were lower among Colorado women living in counties served by Title X clinics, which began offering free access to IUDs and contraceptive implants in 2009.

Public Health Practice Public health ROI: Fluoridation prevents tooth decay and saves a ton of money

December 22, 2016 Kim Krisberg 12Comment

As 2016 comes to a close — and 2017 looms with enormous uncertainty — let’s end the year with some encouraging public health news. This time it’s a study on one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century: fluoridation.

Mining Deadly legacy of coal mining: a thousand new black lung disease cases

December 21, 2016 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 4Comment

An NPR investigation identified nearly 1,000 new cases in Appalachia of the most severe form of black lung disease. The government’s surveillance system recorded just a fraction of them.

Injury Control & Violence Injury incident alerts: blaming worker is not a safety lesson

December 21, 2016 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH

The Labor Department’s safety alerts should not point blame at a worker for suffering an injury.

Environmental Health Occupational Health News Roundup

December 20, 2016 Kim Krisberg

The Center for Public Integrity investigates working conditions inside the nation’s oil refineries; mine safety advocates worry about changes under a Trump administration; garment workers in Bangladesh continue to face abusive conditions; and workers chronicle sexual harassment and retaliation within the National Park Service.

Public Health Practice Worth reading: Zika, Agent Orange, and Obamacare enrollees who voted for Trump

December 19, 2016 Liz Borkowski, MPH

Recent pieces address the potential impacts of ACA repeal, the latest Zika research, and an investigation into whether Agent Orange might have increased the risk of birth defects in veterans’ children.