environmental health | The Pump Handle

Affordable Care Act Trump’s budget is a disaster for public health: ‘If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu’

June 6, 2017 Kim Krisberg 1Comment

When you ask public health advocates about President Trump’s recent budget proposal, you typically get a bewildered pause. Public health people don’t like to exaggerate — they follow the science, they stay calm, they face off against dangerous threats on a regular basis. Exaggerating doesn’t help contain diseases, it only makes it harder. So it’s concerning when you hear words like this about Trump’s budget: “devastating,” “not serious,” “ludicrous,” “unfathomable.”

Environmental Health Study: U.S. Zika burden could cost billions in medical care, lost productivity

May 18, 2017 Kim Krisberg 1Comment

A Zika attack rate of just 1 percent across the six states most at risk for the mosquito-borne disease could result in $1.2 billion in medical costs and lost productivity, a new study finds. That’s more than the $1.1 billion in emergency Zika funding that Congress approved last year after months of delay and which is expected to run out this summer.

Agriculture Occupational Health News Roundup

May 16, 2017 Kim Krisberg

A historical look at the ‘radium girls’ and their legacy of worker justice; OSHA’s website for receiving injury and illness logs not accepting submissions; California farmworkers sickened by pesticide after Trump’s EPA reverses course on a probable ban; and former Walmart employees file class-action lawsuit for pregnancy discrimination.

California Study: One-third of U.S. children with harmful lead exposures going unidentified

May 5, 2017 Kim Krisberg

Right now, according to public health officials, about half a million U.S. kids have blood lead levels that could harm their health. However, new research finds many more children — hundreds of thousands more — are likely going unidentified.

Agriculture Study: Seven-fold increase in antibiotic-resistant infection among children

March 3, 2017 Kim Krisberg

Most news on the dangers of antibiotic-resistant infections focus on adults. But children are very much at risk too. In fact, a recent study found that U.S. children have experienced a 700 percent surge in infections caused by particular bacteria that’s both resistant to multiple antibiotics and responsible for growing numbers of serious bacterial infections in kids.

Environmental Health Researchers identify thousands of fracking spills, highlight why data is critical to prevention

March 1, 2017 Kim Krisberg 1Comment

In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a report finding 457 fracking-related spills in eight states between 2006 and 2012. Last month, a new study tallied more than 6,600 fracking spills in just four states between 2005 and 2014. But, as usual, the numbers only tell part of the story.

Environmental Health Study: Fast food packaging contains chemicals harmful to human health, environment

February 24, 2017 Kim Krisberg 3Comment

Earlier this month, news broke of a study that found potentially health-harming chemicals in a variety of fast food packaging. Upon hearing such news, the natural inclination is to worry that you’re ingesting those chemicals along with your burger and fries. Study researcher Graham Peaslee says that’s certainly a risk. But perhaps the greater risk, he says, happens after that hamburger wrapper ends up in landfill and the chemicals seep into our environment and water.

Environmental Health Study: U.S. households that can’t afford water projected to grow by the millions

January 24, 2017 Kim Krisberg 3Comment

Can I afford the water that comes out of my tap? It’s not a question that Americans typically ask themselves. However, a new study finds that in the next few years, many more of us might be asking that very question as we open our utility bills and realize that we’re merely accustomed to affordable water — we don’t have a guaranteed right to it.

Environmental Health CDC: Health care workers report highest rates of asthma

December 2, 2016 Kim Krisberg 1Comment

More than 2 million U.S. adults may be living with workplace-related asthma, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Affordable Care Act A reminder that advocates for health and justice are ready to fight

November 11, 2016 Kim Krisberg 15Comment

Three days out from the election and many of us are still trying to adjust to this new reality. It’s been a very rough week.

Liz Borkowski, MPH	Celeste Monforton, DrPH,
Kim Krisberg	Garrett Brown