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Category archives for Cancer
Public health association adopts new policies opposing military recruiting in schools, supporting taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on November 5, 2012 At last week’s American Public Health Association (APHA) annual meeting its Governing Council adopted about a dozen new policies to guide the Association’s advocacy activities.
Public Health Classics: Assessing air pollution and health in six U.S. cities, researchers’ findings changed the air we breathe
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on November 2, 2012 In the 1974, most of us thought that air pollution was something that just looked and smelled bad. But public health researchers had just launched a study to determine whether air pollution shortened people’s lives. Twenty years later they published their results. It forever changed the way we think about and address air pollutants.
Hotel workers at Hyatt struggle for justice, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization supports workers’ cause
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on October 10, 2012 Canceling a hotel contract for a major conference is no small feat, but the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization did just that to support hotel workers call for a global boycott of Hyatt Hotels.
Public health classic: Surgeon General’s 1964 Report on Smoking and Health
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on October 2, 2012 The 1964 Surgeon General’s report on “Smoking and Health” was not the first to report the grave hazards of smoking, but it capture public attention and set the ball in motion for the nation’s first tobacco control measures.
It’s official, 50 cancers added to eligible diseases covered by World Trade Center health program
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on September 17, 2012 In response to the findings and recommendations of a scientific expert panel, the World Trade Center Health Program will now consider certain cancers a covered health condition.
Don’t blame the messenger, calls to save NTP’s Report on Carcinogens
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on September 11, 2012 Producers and users of styrene and formaldehyde can’t handle the truth about those compounds’ carcinogenicity, and use their friends in Congress to punish the messenger.
Dense breasts are not just an interesting attribute, wish I’d known the cancer risk
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on August 7, 2012 Here’s an important public health fact: women with dense breast tissue are at least four times more likely to develop breast cancer. I wish I’d known about that risk factor before learning last month that I have Stage IIIB breast cancer.
Diesel exhaust a human carcinogen concludes WHO’s cancer panel
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on June 12, 2012 A panel of scientific experts convened by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded today that diesel engine exhaust is carcinogenic to humans. Previously, the classification for diesel exhaust had been “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
Trying to avoid the “cancer-causing” label, diesel manufacturers join the club
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on June 11, 2012 An expert panel convened by the WHO’s Int’l Agency for Research on Cancer is evaluating the scientific evidence on the carcinogenicity of diesel exhaust. In preparation for the meeting, diesel engine manufacturers, oil companies and mining firms hired consultants to re-analyze and critique the epidemiological studies conducted by others to manufacturer doubt about
Tony Mazzocchi: a man who hated work and loved labor
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on June 6, 2012 Tony Mazzocchi was a visionary who was in the forefront of the labor movement’s efforts to secure protections for working people, including strong workplace health and safety laws. He was inducted this week in the Labor Department’s Hall of Fame.