Duluth News Tribune | 11/06/2004 | Mercury levels high in Wisconsin men

Duluth News Tribune | 11/06/2004 | Mercury levels high in Wisconsin men: "One in four Wisconsin men sampled in an ongoing survey have elevated levels of toxic mercury in their bodies, according to preliminary results from a state study. ... Some mercury enters the atmosphere naturally, evaporating from oceans and spewing from volcanoes, while other mercury enters the environment when coal and garbage are burned and when taconite is processed. Some of that mercury falls back to Earth and becomes toxic, called methyl mercury. It can build up in small organisms, fish and the people and animals that eat fish.

Fish is the main source of mercury in people. Because some fish from nearly all Wisconsin and Minnesota waters contain elevated levels of mercury, state agencies recommend people limit the number of meals and the size of fish they eat.

At even low levels, mercury can harm the developing nervous system of a fetus and may harm adults' cardiovascular and immune systems, according to the Division of Public Health. At high levels, mercury can trigger memory loss, slurred speech, hearing loss, lack of coordination, loss of sensation in fingers and toes, reproductive problems, coma and possibly death.

Most recent research on mercury exposure has focused on children and women of child-bearing age. But Knobeloch said new evidence shows adult men with high mercury levels may be at increased risk of heart disease."

World water situation "unacceptable," says UN health agency

Yahoo! News - World water situation "unacceptable," says UN health agency: "World water situation 'unacceptable,' says UN health agency

Mon Mar 21,12:13 PM ET Science - AFP

World water situation "unacceptable," says UN health agency

Mon Mar 21,12:13 PM ET Science - AFP

GENEVA (AFP) - The head of the World Health Organization (news - web sites) said the lack of clean drinking water in much of the world, with its accompanying pandemic of diarrhoeal diseases constituted "an unacceptable situation."

WHO Director-General Lee Jong-Wook said an estimated 30,000 people, most of them children, die of such diseases every week.

"People who can turn on a tap and have safe and clean water to drink, to cook with and to bathe in often take it for granted, and yet more than one billion of our fellow human beings have little choice but to use potentially harmful sources of water," Lee said.

"Every week, diarrhoeal disease due to easily preventable causes claims the lives of 30 000 people, most of them young children. This is a silent humanitarian crisis that thwarts progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)," he said.

The goals, adopted at a global UN summit in 2000 included a pledge to halve the number of people with no access to clean drinking water, currently estimated at about 1.1 billion, by 2015. Two years later, a world summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg added a commitment to halve the number of people -- some 2.4 billion -- who have no basic sanitation.

Little progress has been made on either promise.

"The humanitarian case for action is clear," Lee said.

"The economic case is just as strong," he added. "It has been estimated that an additional investment of around 11.3 billion dollars (8.6 billion euros) per year over and above current spending could result in a total economic benefit of 84 billion dollars annually."

Lee said the right approaches had been developed and were in use, "but there is not enough involvement or commitment by governments, by the private sector, by nongovernmental organizations or by communities."

EO News: Envisat Enables First Global Check of Regional Methane Emissions - March 18, 2005

EO News: Envisat Enables First Global Check of Regional Methane Emissions - March 18, 2005 Envisat has performed the first space-based measurements of the global distribution of near-surface methane, one of the most important greenhouse gases. As reported in Thursday’s issue of Science Express, the results show larger than expected emissions across tropical land regions.

PEHSU UCSF Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit

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UCSF Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit Website.

Caduceus vs Staff of Asclepius

Caduceus vs Staff of Asclepius: "The Caduceus vs the Staff of Asclepius"

Environmental Health Sciences: MPH and DrPH Degree UC Berkeley

Environmental Health Sciences: MPH and DrPH Degree: "ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES
140 Warren Hall #7360, Berkeley, CA 94720 | Visit Us: 760 University Hall
Phone: (510) 643-5160 | Fax: (510) 642-5815 | Email: ehs_div@berkeley.edu
2004 UC Regents School of Public Health | UC Berkeley "

School of Public Health Objectives for DrPH Students

The DrPH degree is a professional degree conferred by the School of Public Health in recognition of a candidate's command of a comprehensive body of knowledge in the field of public health and its related disciplines and proven ability to initiate, organize, and pursue the investigation of significant problems in public health practice. Through this program, graduates will:
Acquire broad knowledge of public health, including an understanding of the essential relationships between public health and societal agencies whose actions affect the health of people.
Analyze issues and problems in public health using critical evaluation, applied research methodology, and statistical methods.
Understand public health policies and practices through the study of how programs are implemented in institutions and society, and of those subjects that support decision making in public health such as organizations, financial management, strategy, information systems, and ethics.
Develop a vision and philosophy for professional leadership in public health.