Can you kindly advise the course policy for review (Professor or T/A) of drafts before final submission of assignments? I’ve had classes in which it is mandatory, optional, or prohibited. Thank you.

U.S. health systems not ready for catastrophes: report

The report recommends a systems-based approach to allocating resources and delivering care during catastrophic events. It also provides the organizations and agencies involved in disaster planning and response with tools and guidelines to help them identify their core functions during a major disaster, the release said.

Health Professionals Organize to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Worldwide:

A group of over 30 prominent and respected Deans of Schools of Medicine and Public Health have signed an open letter calling for nuclear weapons abolition. A related scholarly piece titled “A Prescription for Survival: Prevention of Nuclear War,” has been accepted for publication in the March 2012 issue of the prestigious American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

A major study on global impacts of limited nuclear war on agriculture, food supplies, and human nutrition or “Nuclear Famine” will be released within a few months indicating that potentially a billion people would be at risk of starvation from even a limited nuclear exchange in South Asia.

http://www.thelundreport.org/resource/health_professionals_organize_to_abolish_nuclear_weapons_worldwide

Related video of the health consesquences of the Fukushima meltdown on the Japanese people.

Is Water Flouridation Good for Public Health?

But why is politicized opposition to fluoride happening now?* The process has been in use since the 1940s, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hail it as one of the top preventative public health measures of all time. It is thoroughly supported by the American Dental Association, and when it was initiated in the middle of the 20th century, rates of dental cavities fell by 50 percent or higher, arguably because of fluoride. But opposition groups, notably the Fluoride Action Network, a non-profit dedicated to fluoride-danger awareness, put forth a much darker picture. They say the effect of tap water fluoride on tooth decay is hard to pinpoint, and in a large enough quantity, fluoride is a toxin — one that can possibly make bones fragile, lower IQ in children, and contribute to bone cancer. They insist cavities can be prevented by brushing alone.

Interesting article in the Atlantic

http://theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/02/what-do-we-know-about-fluoride/252683/

Climate change and human health
Human-induced climate change – now deemed by international climate
science to be real, demonstrably underway, and apparently accelerating –
reflects the mounting pressures of human numbers and intensified economic
activity. The existence, and long-term prospect, of risks to human health
provides an important signal as to the profound nature of this extraordinary
phenomenon. This important “signal”, adequately documented and clarified
by health researchers, will reinforce the motivation of governments and their
constituencies to take rapid and radical mitigation actions.
The health risks arise variously from direct stresses (e.g. weather disasters
and heatwaves), altered ecological processes (e.g. changes in infectious
disease patterns, impaired food yields), resource conflict over depleted
resources (water, fertile land, fisheries, etc.) and population displacement.
Low-income and geographically vulnerable populations are at greatest risk.
The risks to health jeopardise the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals. Those risks will increase over time, and afflict future
generations.
While nations strive to reduce emissions, health-protecting adaptive
strategies are needed, both for current risks and as part of longer-term
planning. Health sector adaptation initiatives should be part of a coordinated
multi-sectoral response that recognizes that protecting human health must
be a central goal of, and reason for, climate stabilization and sustainability.
Indeed, in the agenda-setting 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change, damage to “health and wellbeing” is one of the three categories of
adverse effects that the Convention is intended to address, along with
damage to the natural environment and economic development.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Z5gtjhWJ-3M

MIT researcher: U.S. taking leadership on mercury in the environment

Americans have long known the dangers of mercury in our environment, with doctors repeatedly warning pregnant women to remove fish from their daily diets. But despite this solid knowledge of the health impacts, the United States has never regulated mercury emissions from powerplants — our nation’s number one source of mercury — until now.

Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. The standards require coal-fired powerplants to install scrubbing technology that will cut 90 percent of their mercury emissions by 2015.

Wind power creates public health benefits

While I do believe that wind turbine energy’s renewable and clean nature creates great health benefits, I think that the author of this OPED needs to consider the risks for people who live near wind turbine farms.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120119/OPINION/201190303/-1/NEWS01

In my opinion, wind turbine farms should not be developed anywhere near residential property since the potential health risks have not yet been completely analyzed. People are referring this issue as Wind Turbine Syndrome.

Fruit bats are a carrier for the Hendra Virus, which has recently made the jump from bats to horses to humans:

http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2011/11/hendra-virus

For 17 years, the Hendra virus smoldered in its host - the fruit-bat population - only rarely crossing over to humans. Then it exploded, likely triggered by heavy rains and floods in Australia earlier this year. And that has public health doctors nervous about climate change.

“The interesting change was the big floods in January,” said Raina Plowright, a disease ecologist at the Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics. “Floods are expected more frequently with climate change – so, if they are linked, climate change may increase disease.”

Lawsuit Filed Against EPA to Protect Public Health From Coal-mine Air Pollution: “It’s time to stop giving the coal industry a free pass to pollute the air we depend upon for our health, well-being, and our safety,” said Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director for WildEarth Guardians, one of four groups bringing the lawsuit. “With coal mines spewing methane, dust, toxic orange clouds, and other dangerous gases, we need a national response that puts clean air first. We need EPA to take action.” Follow link for more…

The world climate is changing. The question wich we do every day is “Why is it happening?”

Most scientists say that the cause is human activities that induce greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse and global warming are the most worrying problems for our planet Earth. The high emission of greenhouse gases leads to a remarkable climate change.
After several studies, the experts concluded that the increase of typhoons and cyclones is caused by a warming of the oceans in recent decades. Most devastating hurricanes have occurred after 1900 causing many deaths. Evidences of this are many in recent year:
10 tropical cyclones in Japan in year 2004,
cyclones Gafilo in Madagascar,
cyclones larry in Australia,
cyclones Saomi in China,
a lot of seasonal tropical cyclones in the Atlantic between 2004 and 2005, including Hurricane Katrina which caused catastrophic consequences socio-economic status.

In Italy changing climate is also evident. Earthquakes occur more frequently in the last 20 years than before. We must remember the eartquakes in Sicilia in december 1990 (force magnitude 7), in Umbria in september 1997 (force magnitude 5), in Molise in october 2002 (force magnitude 5), and one in Abruzzo in april 2009 (force magnitude 6). Although deaths are decreased, an earthquake remains a really scary phenomenon for people. In addition to earthquakes, floods have increased in Italy (they there have also been recently). The climate in Italy is changing really quickly: the winter is more hot than past years and mid-seasons are disappearing.

Humanity should reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Countries that emit more greenhouse gases are North American (many gases are emit by USA) and Asia (the majority is emit by China), next follow Europe.

In Italy greenhouse gas emission is caused by transport and industry for the majority.

Giulia.