Personal Care Products

From a public health perspective, population health is and always be our main focus. One of the elements that I feel is most important is the data proof of any chemical compound/ and or pesticide as safe for humans at the lowest tolerance level possible made as the standard practice. An assessment of individual tolerance levels of pesticides and chemical in humans should be tested regularly. I am not suggesting to test pesticides and chemicals on humans but to routinely have the population go into the lab and get tested for pesticides and other chemicals just as we would for vaccines and shots. It should be standard blood work included in our insurance. If this was part of our medical histories, correlations between high levels of toxins could help point to potential cancer or reproductive health risks before it is too late. This is a possible solution to ensuring the health of all the population. The risks are too high and too grave among our most vulnerable populations. The persist

In reading the Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals Policy, it reminded me off learning about all the toxic and harmful chemicals in my beauty products, the extensive list of chemicals found in umbilicord blood and how maddening it was to read about how there was little to no government regulation on a majority of these chemicals. The most important chemical laws are the ones that enacted and put in place for the community's welfare and provides protection of every individual's health against harmful effects of  household, personal products, clothes, pesticides and all other chemicals put on the market. The elements of this safer chemicals policy that stand out to me the most is the requirement to provide a comprehensive safety data on all chemicals before they are placed on the market or to remain on the market. The tagline, " No Data, No Market" says it all. We live in a world where driverless cars are a possibility and of sending people to Mars, it is hard to im

Neurotoxicity from pesticides in children The local, state, and federal agencies that play a role in  addressing pesticides are Contra Costa Integrated Pest Management Program (IPM). In looking through the 2016 IPM report, the department of Contra Costa has reduced pesticide use from 154 lbs. of active ingredients to 76 lbs. This reduction in pesticide use is due largely to reducing weed management. Every month, the pesticide data report is reviewed and sent to the County Agriculture Commissioner then to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR). In the state of California, pesticides include herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, miticides, rodenticides, plant growth regulators, defoliants, desicants and adjuvants.  In a study conducted by Shelton et. al (2014), California was number one in agriculture production in the county. Many studies show relationship between commonly used pesticides and abnormal/impaired neurological development in children. At CDPR, there a

After reviewing http://www.ecoemploy.com/agency.html  , I was interested in finding out more about the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's role in environmental health. The most popular topics were animal health, animal welfare, biotechnology, emergency response, wildlife damage, and plant health.    In animal health, this sector works to protect the, "health, quality, marketability" of the animals in the U.S- cattle, pigs, etc... the animals do include wildlife as well as animal products. This agency's role works to prevent animal diseases and eliminate them. Which is interesting given what we learned about the overuse of antibiotics in the meat industry. I also checked out the monitoring and surveillance (NANHMS) which includes documents and studies related to the health management of domestic livestock. I looked through a document that was named Control and Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis on Table-Egg Farms in the U.S, 2013. This goes over

Solano Public Health Department website currently down due to wildfires. I will be exploring Contra Costa County Public Health  instead. The environmental health services provided by Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) include body art, land use, medical waste, plan review, recreational health, retail food, small water systems, and solid waste. I was surprised to see body art as one of the health programs but once I thought about it, it made sense to me. I watch Skin Wars and thought there may be some risk associated with transdermal diffusion of paint in the models skin, and the chemicals they inhale through the airbrushes. I am certain models may have fainted due to exposure and the time exposed. The environmental health department (EHD)conducts required inspections, investigates complaints, conducts trainings and consults with body artists. Contra Costa Health Services divisions does have the EHD  and the public health department. Most environmental programs are found in EH

Last night I had nopales (cactus), black beans, a salad, corn tortillas and a berry water. According to http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/involved.jsp  there was an incredibly high amounts of pesticide residue on my dinner last night. The pesticide residues on my food ranged from 52 found in the lettuce, 86 in the cucumbers, 35 in the tomatoes, 68 in the cilantro, and 21 in frozen berries. These pesticides range from honeybee toxins, developmental and reproductive toxins, neurotoxins, hormone disruptors and carcinogens.  WHAT IN THE WORLD!?? So, what this website was basically letting me know was that I consumed 262 pesticide residues last night. After learning about the active substance residue and how there is a max residue level, I can't help but wonder how it is possible for that many pesticide resides be on 1 vegetable? Why is the Department of Food and Agriculture not doing more for our healthy and safety. Learning that in California alone, 200 million pounds of active pes

Antibiotic Resistance 101: How Antibiotic Misuse on Factory Farms Can Make you Sick This article was well written, easy to understand and included a lot of the microbiology behind Antibiotic Resistance (AR) in the livestock industry. What I learned that I previously did not know was that nontherapeutic use of certain drugs was not just to prevent livestock from getting ill but as growth hormones as well. It was also shocking to find out that nontherapeutic use of drugs in animals was more common than its medicinal use for humans with an estimated 70% of pharmaceuticals sold to the animal agricultural industry. With the increase use of this drugs, it makes it more challenging for diseases or infections to be treated when AR bacteria have been accidently selected for and are thriving in every environment from the digestive tract of an animal, to the waste, to the humans that work with it and those that consume the meat. I know that our digestive tract is colonized by endogenous flora t

 Not long ago, I first heard about the disappearance of bees from an NPR story that mentioned how our food system would be affected because there would be little to no bees that would pollinate the flowers/plants. After watching the Vanishing of Bees , I have a better understanding of how it is affecting our food system and the root cause of the colony collapse disorder. I loved this documentary about bees because it only made me more appreciative of all that bees do for our environment and for our food. As a vegan/ vegetarian, most of my daily foods are fruits and vegetables. If bees disappear the price of fruit and vegetables will start increasing before those plants will completely disappear and we will be dependent on grains and proteins for survival. It was interesting to learn that bees from 1 colony can visit 100,000 flowers in one day! That is incredible. Pesticides are the culprit behind the bees disappearance. More specifically it is the systemic pesticide combined with mo

  Through reading my city's  two- page Consumer Confidence Report 2016 I learned that lead is one of the top concerns were lead, security, and sensitive populations. The concern with lead is due to service lines and home plumbing. The city states that is strives to provide high quality drinking water but that it unfortunately has no control over the materials used in plumbing components which can erode over time. Those living in older homes may be more concerned, I am assuming. The tests that assessed lead in water were done in 2014. This year, 2017 is when the next round of testing is expected to occur. The source of my drinking water is Lake Berryessa and San-San Joaquin Delta. The water is transported through he Putah South Canal and the North Bay Aqueduct. There are two treatment plants- Waterman and  North Bay Regional. The chemicals found in my water that were higher than expected was Aluminum. Aluminum was found at 0.049 parts per million (ppm). The standard range is

Water is essential to life. The human body is made up of 50-75% water and the earth surface is covered in about 70% water. Due to water's integral role in every area of life from farming to manufacturing, it is evident how the Clean Water Act was necessary from a public health standpoint. After watching the videos Water Facts, What is Ground Water and Clean Water Act of 1972 I learned a few new things about water. First, what I learned about the Clean Water Act (CWA)  as that it first began in 1948 but after receiving recognition it expanded in 1972. The purpose of the CWA is to, "regulate discharges of pollutants into the waters of the U.S and regulate the quality standards for surface waters (epa.gov. 2017)." The act sets high standards from municipalities, industries and other facilities to follow by requiring them to get a permit if discharges are ejected in water directly. This is part of a pollution control program. Second, I learned that surface water are lake

The produce that is locally grown in my area are apples, oranges, stone fruits, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, corn, lettuce and several others.  Through my work in the nutrition and physical activity promotion program we stress the importance of eating locally as a healthier, tastier, and less costly alternative than buying at the supermarket. We educate the community about the different programs in the community like Farmer’s market, community gardens and Freshest Cargo as resources for obtaining local seasonal foods. Elementary schools in Richmond (West County) are beginning to incorporate the eat local concept in their lunchrooms after seeing the success Conscious Kitchen had in Marin County. We should all incorporate and eat local produce as often as possible. Not only are there less pesticides in our fruits and vegetables which is beneficial for our bodies but is also helping the environment. By buying local produce we are stimulating and putting money back in our local econo

You just finished watching the videos: Water Facts, What is Ground Water?, and Clean Water Act of 1972. Note in your blog the public health importance of the Clean Water Act. 

The sewage facilities in my community are Fairfield Water and Sewer Services, Dixon Waster Water Facilities, Easterly Waste Water Treatment Plant in Vacaville.

 " TAP THE TAP- Drink Tap Water Instead "  The marketing strategy I am using here is to appeal to millennials and teens. It is catchy, short and tells the viewer what do. It inspires people to think, "why should we drink tap water instead of bottled water??" Which may led them to research and reconsider their choices. This campaign slogan would benefit from a partnership with Hydro Flask, Kleen Canteen or any other non-plastic water bottle to drive the message home and not only encourage people to drink tap water sometimes but all the time since they would have bought a refillable metal bottle. Stickers that say "TAP THE TAP" could be made to promote this campaign and raise awareness. Schools and workplaces could promote this campaign to their students and employees using social marketing, a short video presentation (i.e The Story of Bottled Water) and incentives like free water bottles to reduce bottled water consumption. Schools and worksites can enac