 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Michael Lerner, PhD, Commonweal, Box 316, Bolinas, CA 94924, 415 868 0970, heilig@sfms.org
There is growing evidence that there are over 100 diseases and conditions of our time in which chemical exposures either do or may well play a contributing role. The list includes asthma, allergies, autism, many cancers, learning disabilities, endometriosis, infertility, Parkinson's disease, and much more. Scientists have begun to establish that low levels of chemicals in our bodies, once thought to be safe, can have significant health effects. Likewise, climate change is ever more powerfully and rapidly entering collective consciousness as a direct threat to our health, our welfare, and the economies that sustain us. In addition, the impact of poverty on health is an over-whelming reality, especially in developing countries. Scientific data on "disparities in health outcomes" increasingly demonstrates that income disparities are one of the most powerful of all predictors of public health. The emerging environmental health movement is a complex social phenomenon. It brings together, in often uneasy alliance, many groups with different primary concerns. Patient groups, for example, are first concerned with service delivery and the search for a cure. But, as they begin to recognize that environmental factors are either a known or highly suspected contributor to the disease they share, their concern with prevention begins to rise.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Environment, Environmental Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: President and founder of Commonweal