Reports on Health and the Environment
The Tasmanian Water Saga and Plantation Timber
Submitted by David Shearman on Sat, 27/02/2010 - 07:47. Reports on Health and the EnvironmentThis is a remarkable story and if you saw both episodes of Australian Story Something in the Water on ABC TV then you don’t need to read this introduction.
For the videos Click here and Here
Introduction
Alison Bleaney is a general practitioner (and DEA member) in St Helens, NE Tasmania. She was concerned by the number of unusual cancers and other illnesses that were diagnosed in her small community and when in 2004 a large flood of fresh water from the surrounding catchment rushed into the St. Helens bay and there was a large oyster kill, her attention turned to pesticide spraying in the catchment plantations. This was an appropriate question for the spraying practices in forestry had been a concern of many Tasmanians for a considerable time. She had difficulty getting government to investigate the problem and her experiences are detailed in our previous article, Click here Spraying practices were detailed in a further article, Click here
Dr Linda Selvey - New CEO Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Submitted by David Shearman on Tue, 01/12/2009 - 12:24. Reports on Climate Change | Reports on Health and the EnvironmentThis appointment is great news for health and the environment. The message is important, here is an eminent medical doctor and environmental expert appointed to a major organisation. It signifies the strong inter-relationship between health and the environment.
My membership in Greenpeace had lapsed-- I have now rejoined! David Shearman, Editor
The following is the press release from Greenpeace
Dr Linda Selvey is taking on the top job at Greenpeace Australia Pacific after a solid career as a senior public servant in Queensland. For more than 12 years Dr Selvey has held senior management positions in Queensland Health including being Executive Director, Population Health Queensland for almost 4 years. She is highly respected professionally and personally within the field of public health in Queensland and nationally.
Nanotechnology and the environment: A mismatch between claims and reality
Submitted by David Shearman on Sun, 26/07/2009 - 02:41. Reports on Health and the EnvironmentIn this report the European Environmental Bureau and the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) Nanotechnology Working Group, challenge industry claims about the potential environmental benefits provided by nanotechnology products:
Nanotechnologies are presented as providing unprecedented technological solutions to many environmental problems including climate change, pollution and clean drinking water. Proponents claim that it enables economic growth through better products and new markets while dramatically reducing our ecological footprint. However there is emerging evidence these claims do not provide the whole picture, with serious environmental risks and costs being trivialised or ignored.
Are Commercial Banks a Health Hazard?
Submitted by David Shearman on Fri, 24/07/2009 - 01:09. Reports on Climate Change | Reports on Health and the EnvironmentGlobal determinations will determine whether humanity survives relatively unscathed from the ecological crisis. One of the major players in determining the outcomes will be the international banks for they determine whether money will be spent on environmental innovation. Since we all accept the relationship between the environment and health then it is quite clear that some operations of the banks are a health hazard.
The indictment
The history of banking is one of recurrent financial crisis due to greed and mismanagement, each crisis necessitating government funds to restore economic equilibrium. ‘Government funds’ means your money and so there is less money to be committed to health and the environment. In the savings and loans crisis in the US in the mid eighties, deposits were gambled or stolen in the wake of deregulation and between 1986 and 1995 the cost was huge-- 3% of GDP, most of which was covered by the taxpayers. This lead to the Commissioner of the California Department of savings and loans, William Crawford, saying “the best way to rob a bank is to own one” Five hundred and fifty of those involved were convicted and 326 went to jail.
Clean and Green Tasmania?
Submitted by David Shearman on Sun, 05/04/2009 - 18:27. Reports on Health and the EnvironmentThe Premier of Tasmania says that Tasmania is clean and green and its future is to provide clean, green food produce to the world. Water will be provided to irrigate a productive centre of the island.
To be clean and green is laudable but perhaps the Premier needs to be reminded of three major problems to be solved if his claim is to be accepted. Firstly, the material below relates to meetings held in Launceston and at the Royal Hobart Hospital which documented chemical spraying practices dangerous to the environment and to human health. Secondly,the proposed pulp mill assessment procedures question the judgement of the Tasmanian government. Thirdly, forestry practices which include the wood chipping of old growth and regrowth forest are now reprehensible in terms of Australia fulfilling its necessary role in reducing green house emissions. Once the Premier has acknowledged and acted on these problems it will be satisfying for us to remove the question mark from the title of this article.
Are we meeting Sustainable Development Goals?
Submitted by David Shearman on Fri, 19/10/2007 - 08:07. Reports on Health and the EnvironmentAccording to a recent study, the challenge to increase sustainable development is currently falling short, in spite of national and international sustainability goals. In fact, almost all national and regional trends are moving away from sustainable development, particularly in high income countries.
The World Commission on Environment and Development of the United Nations (UN), better known as the Brundtland Commission, stated in its 1987 report that Sustainable Development is development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". The United Nations Millennium Development Goals, adopted in 2000, called on all countries to integrate the principles of sustainable development into national policies and programmes.
Bring Back DDT?
Submitted by David Shearman on Sat, 18/08/2007 - 18:59. Reports on Health and the EnvironmentThere are many interesting means by which humankind acts to ravage biodiversity.The following example is taken from a recent book "The climate change challenge and the failure of democracy", Shearman and Smith, Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, London
"...the arrival and spread in the United States of the West Nile virus will be described. This virus is normally confined to parts of Asia and Africa. Mosquitoes transmit the virus from birds to humans, resulting in encephalitis, an often fatal inflammation of the brain. In the summer of 1999 birds at the Bronx Zoo in New York died inexplicably. Then humans began to die from encephalitis. The diagnosis of the problem was very slow because Ronald Reagan, believing in small government, had severely reduced funding of the public health service and it had never recovered. However when it was realized that West Nile virus had succeeded in evading the U.S. quarantine service, there was official panic in New York City Hall.
Breast Cancer and DDT, implications for malaria treatment
Submitted by David Shearman on Thu, 09/08/2007 - 18:15. Reports on Health and the EnvironmentA recent paper in Environmental Health Perspectives by Cohn, BA, MS Wolff, PM Cirillo and RI Sholtz.2007. DDT and breast cancer in young women, provides important new data on the significance of age at exposure.
This was a prospective study of blood from young women that was collected between 1959 and 1967 and stored by freezing, combined with an analysis of their current medical records. The median time to diagnosis of breast cancer after the sample was taken of 17 years.
In summary it shows that women who are exposed to relatively high levels of DDT before mid-adolescence are 5 times more likely to develop breast cancer later in life than women with lower exposures. Exposure after adolescence does not increase risk.
The Broad Street Pump Ethos is Alive in Tasmania
Submitted by David Shearman on Wed, 30/05/2007 - 08:16. Reports on Health and the Environment
These excerpts are taken from the Journal of Tasmanian Community Resource Auditors, volume 3, number 3, 2007
.”Risk Awareness and Incident Response Capability in Water Catchments in North Eastern Tasmania, Australia
- A Community Based Audit”
http://www.resource-publications.com.au/tos/data/uppercatchment/upper-catchment-18.html. and
http://www.resource-publications.com.au/tos/data/uppercatchment/upper-catchment-17.html
Nanotechnology: How Green Can It Be?
Submitted by David Shearman on Sat, 28/04/2007 - 12:59. Reports on Health and the Environment
This article is reproduced here to remind members that recently we have posted a draft policy on nanotechnology on www.dea.org.au under Policy. We thank ENS for pemission to publish
WASHINGTON, DC, April 26, 2007 (ENS) – The ability to use nanotechnology to reduce pollution, conserve resources and build a "clean" economy now exists, finds a new report "Green Nanotechnology: It's Easier Than You Think." But environmentalists are at odds about how green nanotechnology can be. Not all nanoparticles are harmful to human health and the environment, but some are. Nanotech critics fear that without government oversight the industry may release harmful particles into the air and water.
