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    • In land of gas drilling, battle for water that doesn’t reek or fizz.
      It has been more than four decades since the first well was drilled in the natural gas field beneath this stretch of slow rolling alfalfa and sugar beet farms near Pavilion, Wyoming. But for some who live in the shadows of the Wind River Mountains, the drilling rigs have brought more than industry.
    • Coping with two-headed fish and other effects of selenium.
      Like many Western waterways, in southern Wyoming Muddy Creek carries selenium, a natural poison that accumulates in the food chain much as mercury does. Now, researchers are studying the Muddy Creek watershed, trying to determine how much of the element occurs naturally, and how much is being released by human activity.
    • Fracking operation in Erie begins near two elementary schools.
      Encana is preparing to drill the Canyon Creek well site, where a prairie rife with birds and a wetland alive with waterfowl separate it from the Creekside neighborhood. Red Hawk Elementary, which is now on summer break, is only a few hundreds yards south of the drilling site.
    • Paper strikes back: Defending books, mail and dollar bills.
      Crumple it, drench it, lock it in a hot attic or a damp cellar, but paper can come back to life. And it is doing so now, after taking a battering from environmentalists, the Internet and a glum economy.
    • France to ban a Syngenta pesticide to protect bees.
      France said it plans to ban a pesticide made by Swiss agro-chemical group Syngenta that is widely used to treat rapeseed crops, after scientists suggested it could pose danger to bees.
    • When cleaning up power plants, time is money.
      New rules on pollution from coal plants will cost the American economy $175 billion to $275 billion between now and 2035, according to a new analysis from the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit utility consortium.
    • Holy river now a great drain of India.
      The Yamuna River is one of the holiest waterways in India. Despite the Yamuna's significance as one of a trinity of holy rivers, it is also one of India's most polluted.
    • Good times reignite the water wars.
      Whisky's for drinking, Mark Twain is said to have observed, but water is for fighting over. And a fight there is in eastern Australia's irrigated farmlands, with a seemingly irreconciliable stand-off – among states and between farmers and conservationists.
    • World-class landfill closing in 'Rio.'
      One of the world's largest open-air landfills, a vast, seaside mountain of trash in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where thousands of people have made a living sorting through the debris by hand, will close this weekend after 34 years in malodorous service.
    • Chemicals that make you fat.
      Some researchers, including Bruce Blumberg of the University of California, Irvine, believe chemicals we’re unwittingly exposed to could be making us fat. If the timing is right, chemicals may be instructing stem cells to become fat cells.
    • Low-dose effects of endocrine disruptors, with Laura Vandenberg.
      The body of scientific evidence so far suggests that even at very low doses, exposures to endocrine disruptors may have very real effects, and that low-dose effects may disappear at higher doses, giving an illusion of safety if chemicals are not tested at low-enough doses.
    • Feds to rule on cancer aid for WTC dust exposure.
      A federal health official is expected to decide within days whether to expand an aid program for anyone sickened by World Trade Center dust to cover cancer, a move that would be cheered by many former ground zero workers, but could also prove costly and come at the expense of people with ailments more conclusively linked to 9/11's toxic fallout.
    • In Louisiana, rising seas threaten Native Americans' land.
      It used to be a long walk for Theresa Dardar to reach her ancestors' cemetery here in coastal Louisiana. Now, a boat ride is necessary to visit the burial site, which is surrounded by water as coastal Louisiana sinks and the sea level around it rises.
    • Climate change bringing more ticks, infections.
      An apparent rise in ticks crossing Canada’s southern border has the local health unit urging residents to use caution in wooded areas. "We’re fairly confident the number of ticks is increasing because of climate change," said Dave Dodgson, of the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit.
    • In a dead, toxic town, life goes on for one couple.
      Turn off the main road into this town and your car will nose-dive into a ditch. You’re not supposed to be here. Treece, Kansas, is dead. Air, water and dirt, all poisoned by decades of lead and zinc mining. The stores and filling station are gone. People, too, their houses torn down.
    • Scientists decry Ottawa’s plan to close environmental research centre.
      Supporters from Canada and across the world are signing an online petition and writing letters urging the government to reverse its decision to close the Experimental Lakes Area, arguing the centre is irreplaceable and critical to public and ecosystem health.
    • Michigan approves Dow dioxin cleanup plan for Midland.
      The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality said Friday it had accepted Dow Chemical Co.'s plan for cleaning up properties contaminated with dioxin released from its chemical plant in Midland.
    • D.C. toughens lead-paint disclosure requirements for home sellers, landlords.
      District residents who plan to sell or rent their homes will now have to comply with tougher lead paint requirements that must be satisfied before the deal can go through. If the home in which you live or rent was built before 1978, chances are there is — or at one time was — lead paint.
    • White House releases plan to reduce asthma rates among Latinos.
      A blueprint for a plan to reduce the rates of asthma among low-income and minority children was released Thursday, an effort taken on by several federal agencies.
    • Pro-smoking activists threaten and harass health campaigners.
      Academics and health campaigners are being subjected to threats of violence, harassment and personal abuse by pro-smoking activists as UK ministers consult over whether tobacco should be sold only in plain packets.

About us

This weblog is for the discussion of contemporary environmental public health issues – issues that may occur locally, nationally, or internationally. My name is Dr. Raymond W. Thron and I will be one of your hosts for this weblog. Joining me is Dr. Shana Morrell. Additional contributors and authors will be announced as they join. The commentaries reflect the opinions and beliefs of the individual writer. Your hosts will will attempt to ensure that all information posted is credible.

For any commentary, to see comments offered, please click on the commentary title, or on “comments” link at the end of the commentary.

Please note that all links in the commentaries were functional at the time the specific commentary was published. Links, however, do change. If you should encounter a non-functional link, do let me know. I will then try to find the new document location, if possible. Send a note to rwthron@yahoo.com

Thank you.

Raymond W. Thron, Ph.D.
Dr. Thron has had a life long career in environmental public health, having worked for both local and state agencies, the private sector, and currently as a faculty member at Walden University. At Walden University, he helped create and served as the first faculty chair for its doctorate program in public health. For ten years, he served as the director of environmental and occupational health for the State of Minnesota.

Previously he had the opportunity to work in several East European countries helping them regarding public health infrastructure, including environmental and occupational health issues, workforce development, and public health collaborative endeavors. Past academic affiliations include the University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN), Howard University, and through training provided to faculty at Namibia University, Namibia, and Kenyata University, Kenya.

Shana Morrell, Ph.D., MPH
Dr. Morrell received her MPH and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She majored in environmental health, specializing in environmental toxicology. She currently is the Academic MPH Program Coordinator with Walden University, in the School of Health Sciences. She also teaches graduate level environmental health and public health biology courses. She maintains a special interest in global environmental health and environmental and social justice.

Mehrdad M. Javaherian

Mr. Mehrdad Javaherian has over 17 years of consulting experience in the evaluation and management of environmental impacts, including quantifying the extent, fate, transport, health risks, and remediation of contaminants in surface and subsurface systems. Mr. Javaherian’s project experience includes numerous site investigations, chemical fate and transport studies, human health and ecological risk assessments, implementation of innovative remediation technologies, and development of risk management plans for hazardous waste sites. His research and development experience includes contributions to the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) in areas of fate and transport modeling and/or toxicological risk assessment. His current research focuses on indoor air quality, vapor intrusion, and green remediation practices. Mr. Javaherian holds a BS degree in civil/environmental engineering, a Master’s Degree in Public Health (MPH), and he is a Ph.D student in epidemiology.

Nina M. Bell, MPH
Mrs. Bell has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and public relations, most of which encompass the healthcare arena. A resident of Northwestern Pennsylvania, she currently works as the Vice President of Stewardship and Development for The Wesbury Foundation, which supports a Continued Care Retirement Community of 400 aging adults.

In the realm of athletics, Mrs. Bell is a triathlete and completed five Ironman competitions as well as several Olympic and Sprint distance races. In 2000, she was named the ASCInet Ohio State Triathlon Series Age-Group Champion. She has also won her division in several regional races in Northwestern Pennsylvania/Eastern Ohio. In 2007, she was named the Ford Ironman Everyday Hero at Ironman Wisconsin for her work in developing a children’s bicycling program to combat childhood obesity. That program is being developed into a publication that will be used as a model for other communities.

She holds a BA degree in public relations/journalism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a master’s diploma from the University of London in organizational behavior, and is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), a credential held by only 5,000 people worldwide. She is currently working toward her MPH and PhD in public health/health promotion and education at Walden University.

Return to the Environmental Public Health Today home posting page.

08 Feb 2010>

12 Responses

  1. I tried to register to the blog and am having a hard time registering to the site. I never get the email back to verify my email address.

    • Good day!

      First, you need to establish an account with WordPress.com. After you have done so, your instructor will forward your name to one of the administrators of this site if you have been approved to post. Please note that you must receive a score of 6 or better on your assignment in order for you to be enrolled as an “author.”

      At this blog site, in the left hand column you will see a link to WordPress.com. Clicking on this link will take you to the WordPress homepage, where you will be offered the opportunity to establish an account. Alternatively, click on the “Create a WordPress account” link in trhe left hand column. This will take you to the page where you can create your account – select to create a username, only.

      Instructions for doing this may also be posted in your PUBH 8165, Environmental Health course site – please check with your instructor.

      Hope this offers some help.

      Dr. R. Thron
      Walden University
      raymond.thron@waldenu.edu

  2. Hai All,

    I’m new here and came here from search engine.

    Let me introduce my self…

    People call me Jacob and i’m 29 years old come from USA

    RIght now i’m building a site about health related and this is my first time making a site so if you don’t mind would you please check my website below and giving me a review about it ?

    Health Care Information

    Thanks so much for your attention and for reading my post and i hope i can make lot’s of new friend here :)

  3. Hello Dr Thon;

    Can you please add me as contributor/authjor for 6165-5 using this user profile? I had to re-register as user, since I was initially registered with my personal blog.

    Thanks and regards,
    Esther Shisoka

  4. The most difficult thing is to find a blog with unique and fresh content but your posts are not alike. Keep it like this.

  5. Hello!
    I have registered on the WordPress.com website last week and still have not heard anything from the administrators as for adding me as an author in regards to uploading my powerpoint presentation for the Environmental Health Service-Based Learining project. My professor informed me that I was approved for uploading my presentation. Please help. Thank you.

    • Dear Bobbi,
      Instructors are supposed to provide an email template to students to send to us when they have registered. We have no way of knowing who is waiting, otherwise. If you did send that, I apologize that I missed it. You are entered now, so you can post. Instructions are in your course under the Course Home tab.
      Enjoy,
      Dr. Morrell

  6. Dr. Morrell,

    I have been approved to post my Environmental Health project to the
    Environmental Public Health Today website. I have registered my Walden email
    in WordPress. Please add me as a user to the website.

    Sincerely,

    Student (Fartun Weli

    Dr. Patrick Tschida

  7. I am not sure if this is right place to email you Dr. Morrell, but I couldn’t find you direct email.

    Thank you

    Student -Fartun Weli

  8. Dr. Morrell,

    I have been approved to post my Environmental Health project to the
    Environmental Public Health Today website. I have registered my Walden email
    in WordPress. Please add me as a user to the website.

    Sincerely,

    Student: Mercy Ukpe

  9. Dr. Anderson or other Walden U Help requested,
    I am not sure where I went askew, but it appears I have set up a blog, and not sure how to post my ppt. onto the Environmental Public Health Today. This is an exciting possibility to be approved to post to the Environmental Public Health Today website. I have registered my Walden email on WordPress.com. Please help.
    Sincerely,
    Renee Huth

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