Dan's Environmental Health Blog

Asb estosis is the disease due to the inhalation of asbestos. Asbestos is the exposure and is regulated by OHSA and the EPA. I chose this one because it is a silent killer especially to lower income classes as they typically live in areas and apartments that most likely have not been improved and updated to today's standard code per OHSA. Asbestos still lives in the walls and on the ceilings with children and families inhaling it all day every day. It is also in pipes and vinyl floor tiles. You can find the information here https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/asbestos/ OHSA has three standards for addressing asbestos exposure. 1. General industry work: 29 CFR 1910.1001.  2. Shipyard work code  29 CFR 1915.1001 . 3. Construction work code  29 CFR 1926.1101 . These are coeds and guidelines that assist in asbestos work for organizations.  Interesting material if you wish to view it is the information for asbestos on toxnet https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/...

I chose to look into the ILO or the international labour organization. Within the ILO they support the Hotels, Catering, and Tourism sector. I thought this was a good one to look in to as it directly affects me and any person who travels, eats food, and stays in hotels. This sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world but lacks the structure it needs. Reasons include being a fragmented industry, seasonalized employees, low skills needed, and low wages. I specifically looked in to social protection of the employees. Typically, the hours are of non social working hours, meal prep etc. Difficulty working conditions lead to high turnover and low career stability. Additionally, seasonal tourism effect employment and wages. This is important to us as the low wage, typically migrant employees, are the ones cooking our food, changing and cleaning our rooms typically go unnoticed per the ILO. Should this sector of the industry fail or show signs of weakness, people will stay les...

I work for a company called Medtronic. We make all sorts of medical device equipment. The one I thought was the most dangerous does warn heavily against radiation exposure. I could not locate the specific document (MSDS) but this link will show you what type of radiation exposure if given out during different settings. It is called the Oarm. https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/healthcare-professionals/products/neurological/surgical-imaging-systems/o-arm/dose-considerations.html This is a Radiological safety hazard. It requires those that operate it, Rad Techs, to wear lead lined aprons and thyroid collars. All those that don't operate it leave the room when the device is doing a 3D spin (Xray). PPE is very important for this device. Sine I was not able to locate the specific MSDS I could not compare it to the ToxNet database. Here is the link for occupational hazards for xrays. PPE is very important! https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search2/f?./temp/~hSs0Wm:3

What I find most interesting about the Needlemen lead article is that is caused the following: ADHD, aggression, and delinquency among children. For adults, lead poisoning over time lead to an increase in Alzheimer's risk. What also stands out to me is that lead poisoning or at least the concern that it could cause issues occurred in Australia back in 1892. It took almost 100 years to ban lead in paint as it was as a known metal exposure to humans. The Nigeria article shocked me that this still occurs. Well, maybe not. Social injustice occurs all over the world and until something like this happens it does not get fixed unfortunately. Quite staggering numbers to have that many children die so young. I am very happy that MSF was able to treat the remaining sick children and bring the serum levels back to a healthier level. Hopefully, the gold artisanal ore processing company was heavily find or covered the cost for the healthcare.

First, watching the video, I assumed everyone had heard of the great pacific garbage patch. They either fixed the interviews or I am wrong in assuming people know where their garbage can end up. I have not heard of green chemistry before. I have heard of reducing pollution at the molecular level was something we wanted to do but did not know there was a term for it. I participate in remediation and think this is important but the real winner is green chemistry. For me, I don't know if there is anything around me that has used green chemistry. The EPA has a great website dedicated to it; find it here https://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry Biofuels seem to be the biggest hope of the EPA. As well as removing solvents from the chemical process for chemicals. They even list what they consider the benefits to the 12 steps. https://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/benefits-green-chemistry

After watching the introduction video it saddens me that one government body is capable of regulating industry. You would think someone was watching and regulating what amount of chemicals and what type go in to our products. I am so glad companies like this, the green science policy institute care enough and are here to help spread the word. I chose to focus on antimicrobials as I tend to use these products often. When I am at work, I use antimicrobial alcohol to was my hands in the operating room probably 10 times a day. I wonder if triclosan is in it. I will check at work tomorrow. If so, I am shocked it's in a hospital. At home, we have all the fragrant soap you can think of. Bath, sink, and dishwasher all contain some form. I will have to change that up.

I chose the Department of Energy (DOE) to look in to and how this branch of service might affect our environment. This division is almost solely responsible for getting us away from fossil fuels. I think this division has incredible responsibility with rising temperature and the number of hurricanes increasing in count and strength. The DOE can shape our new world through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and innovation around these topics. An interesting topic and solution from the DOE is STEM. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. It is here that the future of climate change exists. The belief that these strong subjects, taught to young kids, can hopefully foster innovation and engineering feats of tomorrow.