CHE’s Top 10 Environmental Health Stories from Mid 2012

marylandenvironmentalhealthnetwork — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:46:56 +0000

Reblogged from Our Health and Environment Blog:

The Collaborative on Health and the Environment initiates a quarterly Top 10 series with this offering of journal articles, news stories, policy recommendations and actions from the last few months.

Given that we all are inundated with dozens of stories—often compelling new science and ideas—every week, if not every day, discerning which ones seem most significant and influential is challenging. This is why we decided to start this service—to help us all figure out which ones seem particularly important to track over time.

So who are we and what are we about?

marylandenvironmentalhealthnetwork — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:13:22 +0000

The Maryland Environmental Health Network (MEHN) convenes diverse stakeholders in the fields of health and environmental advocacy, research, and community activism, to support cross-sector dialogue and action that results in better protection of both human health and the environment.

The Network operates from the principle that health is a unifying and mobilizing concern for many different interest groups. Members believe that a focus on health can increase environmental action and that a focus on environment can help address intransigent health disparities.

MEHN held its first meeting on February 9^th, 2012 and adopted a provisional vision and mission statement:

Vision: We envision a Maryland where children and adults enjoy clean food, air and water, and benefit from safe environments in their homes, schools and communities.

Mission: The Environmental Health Network seeks to improve the health of Marylanders by minimizing exposures to environmental threats and toxic chemicals by:

inspiring, informing, and empowering people and communities
coordinating organizational efforts
promoting effective environmental legislation and institutional policies (including enforcement of laws)
advancing environmental health equity throughout Maryland

Maryland is a leader in health and environmental policy. Yet we have missed key opportunities to pass health protective legislation in recent years, including failure to pass a pesticide reporting bill, a bill that would identify and track chemicals of concern for human health, and a bill to mandate OSHA-like protections for students and teachers in schools during renovations and construction. MEHN seeks to call attention to these failures and challenge Maryland to do better in future years.