Environmental & Public Health

Fellow Story

Jatkar finds program to report environmental hazards in California is effective

Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods (IVAN) is an innovative program of environmental monitoring, reporting, and enforcement in California. It is intended to improve health and conditions of well-being in disadvantaged communities where residents face high levels of environmental hazards and low levels of the economic, political, and social resources need to address them.
August 12, 2015
Fellow Story

Morello-Frosch's mentorship cited by former student

Alumni working on climate change–related policy talk to Breakthroughs about how their efforts impact energy, water, pollution, and public health. Seth ShonkoffMPH ’08 Public Health; PhD ’12 ESPM. Executive Director, PSE Healthy Energy, www.psehealthyenergy.org
August 7, 2015
Fellow Story

Morello-Frosch advocates frank talk about chemical exposures by physicians

In 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its first national study tracking personal exposures to dozens of chemicals in a representative sample of the U.S. population. The agency found that almost all Americans had an array of industrial compounds coursing through their bodies, although levels varied depending on such factors as age and gender. While many of these substances are found in everyday products, most have never been adequately tested for potential health effects.
August 6, 2015
Fellow Story

Exposing the Hidden Dangers of Fracking

When you ask Switzer Fellow Sue Chiang (2007) about what drives her passion to expose the hidden dangers of fracking, her answer is straight and to the point. “We’re looking at a new California Gold Rush, only this time the frenzy is nationwide, and now we have technology that’s capable of leaving an environmental footprint exponentially more harmful than what was possible in the past," says Chiang.
July 13, 2015
Fellow

Candice Kim

2015 Fellow
Candice Kim previously worked with the Climate Law Institute to fight pollution from oil and gas extraction. Prior to joining the Center, she worked at the Coalition for Clean Air on campaigns to reduce toxic air pollution from ports and...
Fellow Story

Gill on how El Paso residents can protect themselves from dust storms

Most of the time, wind-borne dust and sand seems just a nuisance, but it can present real risks to our health and safety. Read more
May 29, 2015
Fellow Story

Quach's research featured in New York Times article on nail salon workers' health

It was from routine community outreach trips to local nail salons in Oakland that Ms. Liou and her colleagues from Asian Health Services, as well as Thu Quach, a research scientist, became alarmed: Almost all of the manicurists interviewed had health complaints; some were terribly ill. Dr. Quach, with the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, set out to conduct a health survey of nail salon workers in Alameda County, which includes Oakland. The stories poured in.
May 26, 2015
Fellow Story

Hansen quoted in Wall Street Journal on roll back of West Virginia's storage tank rules

From The Wall Street Journal: West Virginia lawmakers approved a measure on Saturday to roll back strict water-protection rules enacted last year after a chemical spill contaminated drinking water for 300,000 people in West Virginia’s capital. ... Environmental groups fought the measure. "It reduces the regulation of tens of thousands of above-ground storage tanks, some of which have the potential to contaminate drinking water," said Evan Hansen, president of Downstream Strategies, an environmental consulting company based in Morgantown, W.Va.
April 2, 2015
Fellow Story

Bradman joins advisory panel of The Honest Company

The Honest Company, a leading lifestyle brand whose mission is to empower people to live a healthy life, today [February 12, 2015] revealed its new social goodness platform and committed $3 million in 2015 to build healthy, safe families. The multi-faceted effort focuses on critical life stages for families, including the whole child development of children ages 0-3 and educational support to help young people pursue their dreams.
March 24, 2015
Fellow Story

In Safer Hands

Nail salons offering “manis” and “pedis” have become a booming business in the United States, setting up shop on seemingly every corner and approaching $8 billion in annual sales. “You have numerous chemicals being mixed, new products coming out all the time, limited available data on health effects and weak accountability for the manufacturers,” says 2008 Fellow Thu Quach, who is a research scientist with the Cancer Prevention Institute of California and research director for Asian Health Services. “That would make it difficult for the workers to protect themselves even if there weren’t language barriers.” She is part of a grassroots effort that empowers low-wage, Vietnamese immigrant-dominated nail salon workers to fight for healthier conditions.
March 23, 2015