2010 Rachel Carson Award

The Environmental Issues Committee (EIC) presented the Rachel Carson Award to Garrett Brown and the Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network (MHSSN) at AIHce 2010 in Denver, Colo. Brown is a founding member and primary coordinator for MHSSN activities.

MHSSN is a volunteer network of about 400 occupational health and safety professionals who have placed their names on a resource list to provide information, technical assistance and on-site instruction regarding workplace hazards in the 3,000 "maquiladora" (foreign-owned assembly) plants along the U.S.-Mexico border. Network members, including industrial hygienists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, occupational physicians and nurses, and health educators, among others, are donating their time and expertise to create safer and healthier working conditions for the one million maquiladora workers employed by primarily U.S.-owned transnational corporations along Mexico's northern border from Matamoros to Tijuana. Since 2000, the Network has expanded its work to include projects in Indonesia, China and Central America.

Established in 1987, the Rachel Carson Award is the highest honor bestowed upon an environmental health and safety (EHS) professional by the AIHA Environmental Issues Committee. It is presented to EHS individuals or groups who have attained outstanding success and distinction in their Environmental and Industrial Health and Safety business, profession or life's work.

The EIC is accepting nominations for the 2011 Rachel Carson Award, which will be presented at AIHce 2011 in Portland, Ore., May 11-15. If you or someone you know is a qualified recipient, please contact Patty Beach for more information or see the nomination form on the committee web page.

Lead Free Kids

You Can Prevent Lead Poisoning

Learn what you can do to prevent lead poisoning in your home, in your school, on the job, during your home renovation, or as a property manager/landlord.

National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (NLPPW)

Lead-Free Kids for a Healthy Future

“Lead-Free Kids for a Healthy Future” is the theme for this year’s National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (NLPPW) which will be observed on Sunday, October 24, 2010 through Saturday, October 30, 2010. The Tracking Program has teamed up with the National Center for Environmental Health’s Healthy Homes & Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch to provide health communication resources and information to help you promote awareness. The 2010 NLPPW Toolkit is an online resource that includes lead week posters and flyers plus, widgets and buttons for your use. It also includes sample press materials that can be customized for your program. The 2010 NLPPW Toolkit is available at:  http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/nlppw.htm#. For more information, please contact Desir’ee Robinson at drobinson@cdc.gov.

Also see 

• Be Lead Safe, Not Lead Sorry

• Act for a Healthy Tomorrow

Be Lead Safe, Not Lead Sorry

Stripping paint? Renovation?
Maintenance? Rehab? Restoration?

When old walls and woodwork need attention,
Take precautions. Think Prevention.

Beware lead fumes, chips and dust.
Learn lead safety. It's a must!

Bag up belongings. Take everything out.
Cover the carpets. Make sure no one's about.

No children, no pets, no mommies-to-be
Until all's cleaned up and completely lead-free.

Open the windows. Set up the fan.
Seal up the doors as well as you can.

Keep gardens and play yards lead-safe as can be.
Use drop cloths to catch flying chips and debris.

Choose tools with care. Sharp scrapers are best.
Sharpen them often. Don't make a mess.

Dress for the Job. Wear special work clothes.
Protect your hair, eyes, mouth and nose.

Choose a respirator just right for your face.
Make sure the appropriate filter's in place.

Don't eat or smoke on the job 'til you're through,
Or some of the lead will get into you.

Clean up with care. Don't spread lead about.
Vacuum and wet mop to get the dust out.

Change clothes at the work site.
Don't bring Poison dust with you.

Only after you're clean
Can kids safely kiss you.

With toxic hazards, don't take a chance.
Dispose of them properly, far from your manse.

Lead poisoning is bad news. You don't want to get it.
It comes from old paint. So take steps to prevent it.


-- Ellie Goldberg, 1985

2010 Heinz Awards announced

This year's Heinz Family Foundation awards include honors for a scientist documenting the effects of endocrine disruptors, a champion on the global seed vault and one of the giants in the field of 'green,' or non-toxic, chemistry. USA Today
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/09/2010-heinz-awards-announced/1

2010 Rachel Carson Legacy Conference

CHALLENGING MARCELLUS SHALE: The Consequences and Alternatives

Keynote Speaker: Karl-Henrik Robèrt, Ph.D., MD, one of Sweden’s foremost cancer scientists and the founder of The Natural Step

Friday, September 24, 2010, Mellon Institute Audtorium, Carnegie Mellon University

The 2010 Rachel Carson Legacy Conference: Challenging Marcellus Shale - Consequences and Alternatives will address the health, environmental and community effects Pennsylvania will face with the development of the Marcellus Shale natural gas fields.


We have gathered people from New York, Colorado and Pennsylvania with experience and expertise in evaluating the results of the deep shale fracking industry.


The Alternatives approach will be highlighted by keynote speaker Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt of Sweden founder of The Natural Step process for reaching a sustainable economy. He will be followed by Ken Melamed, Mayor of Whistler, B.C., who will describe the Whistler 2020 plan as implemented based on Dr. Robert's approach and a panel of renewable and sustainable energy businesses illustrating current economically viable applications of renewable energy systems.

This event is a conference. Registration with fee is required.

For more information and to register for the conference, please visit the Rachel Carson Homestead website.

Rachel would be appalled at how we are moving backwards...

Nearly a half century ago, in September of 1962, the groundbreaking book, "Silent Spring." about the danger of heavily marketed pesticides was released. Chemical corporations spent a ton of money attacking the damning content of the book and the character of its author, groundbreaking biologist and journalist Rachel Carson.

"Silent Spring" is credited with setting into the motion the birth of the environmental movement and the eventual creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

But now in 2010, the global predatory corporations that produce toxic chemicals and pesticides (think Monsanto and Dow as examples) are in ascendance, with formidable financial and political power. Then toss in the toxic impact of the likes of the oil companies, and it becomes clear that financial largesse now frequently trumps public health.

The "restoration of the America that used to be" that the right wing yearns for is one that predates "Silent Spring." The health of all Americans is endangered by such a simplistic refutation of science. Rachel Carson would, no doubt, be appalled at how we seem to be moving backwards when it comes to protection from the chemical industry.

Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
http://www.truth-out.org/

A Combination of Bad Choices

Even when they acknowledged limited risks, they seemed to consider each danger in a vacuum, never thinking the combination of bad choices would add up to a total well blowout.

Five key human errors, colossal mechanical failure led to fatal Gulf oil rig blowout. A string of mistakes, first by people, then by a supposedly fail-safe machine, sealed the fates of 11 rig workers and led to the fouling of the Gulf of Mexico and hundreds of miles of its coastline. New Orleans Times-Picayune, Louisiana.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/09/5_key_human_errors_colossal_me.html