If you work in public health, you’ve probably heard about the new era of practice — an era being dubbed Public Health 3.0. Among the components that define this new phase is an emphasis on building cross-sector collaborations to affect the social determinants of health. In other words, public and private sectors have a role — and a stake — in improving community health. And now there’s evidence that such collaborations can save people’s lives.
Canada’s Ministries of Science, Health, Public Services,and Environment will be working over the next year to ban asbestos. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government made the announcement today.
Poultry processing workers and food safety inspectors are being doused with chemicals in the name of food safety. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and colleagues urge the Secretaries of USDA, HHS, and Labor to ensure that food safety doesn’t come at the expense of worker safety.
Child Labor
Hansae Vietnam: Case study of hazardous working conditions and the failure of corporate social responsibility audits to fix the hazards
New investigations by the Workers Rights Consortium and the Fair Labor Association reveal sweatshop operations in Vietnam by a major Korean factory operator. The garments produced are sold by dozens of international clothing brands. The sweatshops exist despite “audits” by the $80 billion global “corporate responsibility industry.”
Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
“Nightmare bacteria” with quick-spreading capabilities found on US pig farm
Last week, the journal Antibiotic Agents and Chemotherapy posted an accepted manuscript that contains some very bad news: an easy-to-spread gene that makes bacteria resistant to an important class of antibiotics has been found in 2015 samples from a US pig farm.
Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
CDC: U.S. life expectancy declines, death rates up for heart disease, diabetes, unintentional injury
For the first time in more than two decades, U.S. life expectancy has dropped.
EPA announced yesterday a proposed rule to ban trichloroethylene as a spot-cleaning agent in dry cleaning operations and as an aerosol spray degreaser. The agency is again moving swiftly to use its authority under a chemical safety law.
Congressional Republicans have voted repeatedly to repeal the ACA, but now that they actually have a shot at doing that, journalists and commentators are focusing on how hard it will be to preserve the provisions voters like and politicians vow to keep – let alone the gains in insurance coverage and financial stability.
Injury Control & Violence
Not an “accident”: Bud Wesley, 65, suffers fatal work-related injury in Belding, MI
This week’s snapshot of just one work-related fatality in the US. This one occurred on Wednesday, November 30 in Belding, MI.
If the ACA is repealed, miners could lose out on critical compensation for workplace illness; New York farm owner indicted in death of teen worker; possible contender for U.S. labor secretary opposes minimum wage hike; and in good news, Ikea expands paid parental leave for its U.S. workers.