Collaborative on Health and the Environment

New Resources for Parents and Kids

8/16/10: The Healthy Schools Network has published a new guide titled, "BP Oil Spill: Keeping Kids Safe!" and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice has published "Back to School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies". Both of these resources are available in CHE's Portal to Science or by searching by title in the search box at the top of this page.
Go to the CHE Portal to Science

CHE-LDDI honored by Autism Society

7/2/10: The Autism Society has announced that CHE's Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative (CHE-LDDI) is one of six recipients of the prestigious "Autism Champion" award to be given at their annual conference, July 9, 2010 in Dallas.

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

Sarah Howard Sarah Howard Photo

CHE Partner

CHE regularly highlights the work of our Partners here in our Partner Spotlight. Below, Sarah Howard discusses her work addressing environmental health and type 1 diabetes.

What first brought you into environmental health work?

I became interested in environmental health via the environmental justice movement during graduate school in the 1990s. My subsequent job involved working on lead poisoning, pollution prevention, and environmental health projects. After the publication of Our Stolen Future, I became interested in the health effects of endocrine disrupting compounds.

When I became pregnant, the political became personal. I developed gestational diabetes, and soon thereafter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. After my first son was born, he had food allergies and a speech disorder. My second son developed type 1 diabetes at 23 months of age, and also had a speech delay and some food sensitivities. My friends and I were dealing with a gamut of health issues in our children, and it seemed that these were more common than in past years. But why?

Read past interviews.

2 Sep What's killing the babies of Kettleman City? In the last two years and 10 months, Kettleman City, California residents say, at least 11 babies have been born with serious birth defects. Mother Jones.

2 Sep Feds warn residents near Wyoming gas drilling sites not to drink their water. The federal government is warning residents in a small Wyoming town with extensive natural gas development not to drink their water, and to use fans and ventilation when showering or washing clothes in order to avoid the risk of an explosion. ProPublica.

2 Sep The long journey of the Katrina trailers. Five years after Katrina, the infamous trailers ? bought for billions, sold for pennies on the dollar ? are still causing trouble. The campers were once congregated around New Orleans, but now blanket the entire country, uncounted and mislabeled in dealers? lots, back lawns and sites for oil spill cleanup. Washington Independent.

2 Sep Environmental groups hail selenium ruling as 'game changer.' A federal judge's ruling that Patriot Coal must clean up toxic selenium pollution violations at two mines in Southern West Virginia is a "game changer" that could force the mining industry to bear far more of the full costs of its operations, environmental groups said Wednesday. Charleston Gazette.

2 Sep Heavy metal cleanup goes off target. For a country that has not been to war in its modern history, it comes as a surprise at first to learn that the ground is pumped full of lead - up to 40,000 tons of it. Swiss Radio International.

2 Sep Is fracking even worse than drilling? Hydraulic fracturing operations have been linked to environmental risks that could have significant financial implications for the companies involved and are leading to increased regulatory scrutiny. Congress has directed the EPA to study the potential impact of fracking on drinking water, human health and the environment. Inter Press Service.

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