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Quynh Nguyen and Thu Nguyen examine how built environment features affect U.S. traffic collisions

Health focused pollution regulations could protect Michiganders' health

Bill would require diverse representation on the committee

Assistant Professor Jennifer Roberts will be a presenter for the University of Washington's Nature and Health Spring Talk series

Global Warming and the Demographic Future

It’s Raining Babies? Flooding and Fertility Choices in Bangladesh

To support the African ChemObs project (the Integrated Health and Environment Observatories and Legal and Institutional Strengthening for the Sound Management of Chemicals in Africa), we provide a critical review of methodologies for valuing the health damages from policy inaction associated with chemical exposures. In particular, we discuss how disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and IQ loss should be valued. We conclude by providing advice on communicating the costs of inaction and the benefits and costs of action to policymakers. By the social costs of inaction, we mean the private or market costs, as well as the external costs, from pollution exposures compared with no exposure. Knowledge of these damages can then lead to policies designed to force investment and operating decisions in the market to account for (internalize) such costs/damages. The costs of inaction can be distinguished from the benefits and costs of action. The benefits of action are the value of, for example, the health improvements from regulations or other forms of action. These actions usually come with a cost of resources to bring about such actions. The net benefits to society of an action are the benefits minus the costs of action. In general, as regulations of chemicals rarely eliminate all exposures, the costs of inaction generally exceed (in absolute terms) the benefits of action.

Greywater is increasingly treated and reused for agricultural irrigation in off-grid communities in the Middle East and other water scarce regions of the world. However, there is a dearth of data regarding levels of antibiotics and herbicides in off-grid greywater treatment systems. To address this knowledge gap, we evaluated levels of these contaminants in two types of greywater treatment systems on four farms in the West Bank, Palestinian Territories. Samples of household greywater (influent, n = 23), treated greywater effluent intended for agricultural irrigation (n = 23) and pumped groundwater held in irrigation water ponds (n = 12) were collected from October 2017 to June 2018. Samples were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the following antibiotics and herbicides: alachlor, ampicillin, atrazine, azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, linezolid, oxacillin, oxolinic acid, penicillin G, pipemidic acid, sulfamethoxazole, triclocarban, tetracycline, triflualin, and vancomycin. All tested antibiotics and herbicides were detected in greywater influent samples at concentrations ranging from 1.3 to 1592.9 ng/L and 3.1–22.4 ng/L, respectively. When comparing influent to effluent concentrations, removal was observed for azithromycin, alachlor, linezolid, oxacillin, penicillin G, pipemidic acid, sulfamethoxazole, triclocarban, and vancomycin. Removal was not observed for atrazine, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, oxolinic acid, tetracycline, and trifluralin. Pond water also contained the majority of tested contaminants, but at generally lower concentrations. To our knowledge, this is the first description of an extensive array of antibiotics and herbicides detected in household greywater from off-grid treatment systems.

Lack of access to a health-promoting food environment can lead to poor health outcomes including obesity which is a problem for African-Americans in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Previous research examined the quality of the food environment at the regional level but did not consider local level indicators. In this study, we utilized an environmental justice framework to examine the local food environment in the County. We collected data from 127 food outlets, (convenience stores, grocery stores, and supermarkets), in three racially and socioeconomically diverse communities – Bladensburg (predominantly African American/ Black, with the lowest median household income); Greenbelt (similar percentage of non-white persons as Hyattsville, with the highest median household income); and Hyattsville (dominated by a Hispanic population). We examined the availability, quality, and accessibility of food within each community, using a modified version of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) healthy food availability index (HFAI).We also used ArcMap 10.6 to examine the spatial distribution of stores in relation to sociodemographic factors and generate descriptive statistics to examine HFAI score differences across the communities, sociodemographic composition, and store types at the block group level. Mean HFAI scores were 7.76, 10.75, and 9.60 for Bladensburg, Greenbelt, and Hyattsville, respectively suggesting a relative disparity in access to diverse healthy and good quality food sources for these communities although these differences were not statistically significant (p=0.79). Statistically significant differences between the communities were found with respect to ethnic stores, stores that sold fresh vegetables (p=0.047), and stores that sold fresh fruits (p=0.012). Getis-Ord Gi Hot Spot Analysis revealed one statistically significant cold spot at 95% confidence, and two others at 90% confidence in Hyattsville, indicating a cluster of low-scoring stores. The results indicate a potential need for expanded food infrastructure in these communities to improve public health. We also identified the need for culturally appropriate foods and proposed ethnic stores as potential salutogens to improve the food environment in culturally diverse neighborhoods.