Public Health

Major Chemical Accidents Are Alarmingly Common In The US

October 17, 2024 Mike Ludwig, Truthout. Educate! BioLab, Chemical Industry, Environment, Georgia, History, Public Health

Investigators have been busy at the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, the independent federal agency tasked with determining the root causes of major chemical accidents at industrial facilities. In Georgia, fallout is continuing more than two weeks after a massive chemical fire erupted at the BioLab pool and spa supply facility in Conyers, just outside of Atlanta. The fire created a toxic plume of chlorine gas that forced 17,000 people from their homes just days after Hurricane Helene hit the state. In the suburban petrochemical corridor east of Houston, Texas, the Chemical Safety Board is investigating the toxic release of hydrogen sulfide at an oil refinery that left two contract workers dead and 35 others injured on October 10.

Black Residents In Cancer Alley Try A Last Legal Defense Against Pollution

October 16, 2024 Lylla Younes, Next City. Resist! Black America, Cancer Alley, Environmental Justice, Louisiana, pollution, Public Health, zoning

On the banks of the lower Mississippi River in St. James Parish, Louisiana, on sprawling tracts of land that break up the vast wetlands, hulking petrochemical complexes light the sky day and night. They piled up over the past half century, built by fossil fuel giants like Nucor and Occidental. In that time, they replaced farmland with concrete and steel, and threaded the levees with pipelines that carry natural gas from as far away as West Texas. When the plants came, the lush landscape of this part of south Louisiana deteriorated. “The pecans are dry. They don’t yield like they used to,” said Gail Lebouf, a longtime resident of the region.

The West Would Rather Burn The Planet Than Let China Shine

October 15, 2024 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast - Clearing The FOG China, climate crisis, New Cold War, Povery, Public Health, Socialism, Wars and Militarism

October 1 marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since its founding, China has made remarkable accomplishments in public health by addressing opium addiction, in the elimination of poverty and in the building of an eco-socialist society. Clearing the FOG speaks with K J Noh, an activist, author and political analyst specializing in Asia. Noh recently wrote "Your Mind Is A Battlefield: Decolonize It To Prevent Global Catastrophe!," which was published in Popular Resistance. Noh describes the Chinese approach of designing policies that benefit everyone, why the West, especially the United States, views China as a threat rather than a partner, and what people in the US can do to counter anti-China propaganda and prevent a global war with China.

2024 Roadmap For Opioid Settlement Funds

August 14, 2024 Mariah McGough, VOCAL-US. Create! Drug War, Harm Reduction, Opioid crisis, Public Health

Unfortunately, since we released our inaugural Roadmap last year, the overdose epidemic has only gotten worse. In fact, we are in the midst of an unprecedented overdose epidemic, with more than 220 people each day dying from opioid-related drug overdoses. Rather than focus on proven solutions —such as supportive housing, services and care — state lawmakers across the country are instead trying to “ticket and arrest” their way out of the problem. These punishing measures are torn directly from the well-worn pages of failed Drug War and “tough on crime” playbooks, which for decades have failed to get people off the streets and into stable housing.

The United States Government Has Abandoned Us To Endless COVID

August 11, 2024 October Krausch, Truthout. Educate! COVID-19, Donald Trump, Health Care, Joe Biden, Pandemic, Public Health

This week, Nassau County, New York, passed a mask ban. Those wearing face masks will now face the possibility of up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine. Angry at the power of anti-genocide protests, lawmakers banned one of the most basic forms of disease protection just as the world is experiencing a record surge in COVID cases. While officials insist that the law will not be used against those masking for medical reasons, disabled activists protesting the move say they were intentionally coughed on during the city council meeting where the bill was passed. In a world of airborne contagious diseases, everyone has a medical reason for masking. So why doesn’t our public health policy recognize that?

How The ‘War On Drugs’ Tears Families Apart

June 9, 2024 Princess Harmony, Workers' World. Resist! Child Protective Services, Families, Harm Reduction, Public Health, War On Drugs

Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder (also known as opioid addiction) is a valid pathway to recovery. In fact, it can be recovery itself, even if a patient requires staying on it for a set period of time or indefinitely. The viewpoint that MAT for chaotic opioid use is a form of recovery is one that people are slowly coming to accept, even if it comes into conflict with other, abstinence-based viewpoints of recovery. Unfortunately, there is a stigma associated with MAT, as expressed in the Narcotics Anonymous World Services Board of Trustees Bulletin #29, “Regarding Methadone and Other Drug Replacement Programs”: “We make a distinction between drugs used by drug replacement programs and other prescribed drugs because such drugs are prescribed specifically as addiction treatment.

Arizona’s Health Department Adds Chief Heat Officer

March 10, 2024 Paige Bennett, EcoWatch. Organize! Arizona, climate crisis, extreme heat, Public Health

Following the hottest year on record, complete with a megadrought in Arizona that led to construction restrictions to reserve groundwater around Phoenix, Arizona has added a new chief heat officer to its Department of Health Services. The officer’s role is to help with extreme heat preparedness in the state. Dr. Eugene Livar, a physician who was formerly the assistant director for public health preparedness for the Department of Health Services, has been chosen for the role. Dr. Livar had helped in developing the Arizona heat preparedness plan in his former role, The Associated Press reported.

Baltimore’s ‘Downward Spiral’ Of Poverty, Disinvestment, And Policing

February 12, 2024 Mansa Musa, The Real News Network. Resistance Report Baltimore, Disinvestment, Maryland, Police, Poverty, Public Health

The crisis of mass incarceration is about more than the conduct of police officers—it’s a question of public expenditures, and how pouring taxpayer money into incarceration at the expense of other, more humanizing ventures takes a toll on society at large. As public schools and public health programs across the nation grapple with a host of preventable problems arising from underinvestment, state and local governments across the nation spend over $200 billion each year on prisons, jails, and police. Now, a new report from the Justice Policy Institute, “The Right Investment 2.0”, takes a detailed look at the “downward spiral” low-income, predominately Black and Brown communities across Maryland are forced into by this imbalance in public expenditures.

An Environmental Activist’s Guide To The Great Barrington Declaration

January 4, 2024 Phil Wilson, Resilience. Strategize! Capitalism, COVID-19, Libertarian, Pandemic, Public Health

The Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) is standard issue libertarian free market ideology sanded down to fit the confines of public health – this document (coauthored by three highly credentialed academics: Sunetra Gupta of Oxford, Martin Kulldorff of Harvard, and Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford) recommended that governments do nothing to combat a once in a century pandemic destined globally to obliterate as many as 27 million lives. The fever dream enshrined in every libertarian narrative holds that “self regulating forces” exhibit a mystical benevolence only realized when governments retreat, and defer to the “natural order.”

Treat Climate And Biodiversity Crises As One Global Health Emergency

October 28, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! Biodiversity, climate crisis, Public Health, World Health Organization

A new editorial published in more than 200 health journals challenges health professionals and world leaders to look at global biodiversity loss and climate change as “one indivisible crisis” that must be confronted as a whole. The authors of the editorial call separating the two emergencies a “dangerous mistake,” and encourage the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a global health emergency, a press release from The BMJ said. “The climate crisis and loss of biodiversity both damage human health, and they are interlinked. That’s why we must consider them together and declare a global health emergency.

Healthcare Activists Demand: Restore Covid-19 Protections Now!

April 12, 2023 Will Hodgkinson, Workers World. Resist! COVID-19, Health Care, Massachusetts, Public Health

Boston, Massachusetts - The Massachusetts Coalition for Health Equity (Mass. CHE) held an online press conference on April 5 to demand the state keep protections against COVID-19 in place to safeguard health care workers, people with disabilities and the general population during the continuing pandemic. The conference was a response to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy’s decision to comply with the Biden administration’s decision to terminate the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11. Ending the PHE, which was initially declared by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in January 2020, will allow bosses at medical facilities in the U.S. privatized health care system to strip millions of health care workers and patients of safety measures, including masking, social distancing and surveillance testing.

15 Million In The US To Be Kicked Off Of Public Health Benefits

April 6, 2023 People's Dispatch. Educate! Biden administration, Health Care, Medicaid, Public Health

As US-based news is inundated with coverage surrounding the spectacle of former president Donald Trump’s arraignment, 15 million people are being quietly phased out of receiving Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) benefits, beginning April 1 and going through May and July. As the Joe Biden administration will end the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration on May 11, starting this past weekend states have already begun to kick people off of Medicaid and CHIP. These states are all Republican Party-controlled: Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, New Hampshire, and South Dakota.

Biden Hands The Covid Response To The Private Market, Endangering Us All

March 7, 2023 Artie Vierkant and Beatrice Adler-Bolton, In These Times. Strategize! COVID-19, Health Care, Joe Biden, Public Health

In this year’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden took care to portray the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as a trial that is behind us and a victory for the people. “Today, Covid no longer controls our lives,” Biden said, adding that “while the virus is not gone, thanks to the resilience of the American people … we have broken Covid’s grip on us … And soon we’ll end the public health emergency.” This rosy depiction belies reality. Even by the official count, hundreds of people in the United States are dying of Covid-19 daily. In recent months, more than half of all Covid deaths have been among people who are fully vaccinated.

Hundreds Of Thousands Rally Across Spain Against Attack On Public Health

February 14, 2023 People's Dispatch. Resist! Health Care, Mass Action, Public Health, Spain

Spain - On Sunday, February 12, massive mobilizations took place in several cities across Spain, organized by health workers, trade unions, and left-wing groups. The protesters demanded an improvement in public health services, which are currently suffering from a lack of resources and understaffing. Protesters at a major mobilization in Madrid, attended by hundreds of thousands of people, condemned the apathy of the regional government led by the conservative People’s Party (PP) towards the needs of the public health sector. They also protested bids to privatize health care. The march in Madrid was organized by several organizations, including the Federation of Associations in Defense of Public Health (FADSP), and was backed by political groups including Communist Party of Spain (PCE), Podemos, the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (PCTE), and others.

Senate Votes To Overturn Covid-19 National Emergency

November 29, 2022 Mike Pappas, Left Voice. Educate! Congress, COVID-19, Electoral Politics, Public Health

Just a week after the midterm elections, the Senate voted to end the National Emergency Declaration on Covid-19. This vote, in which Democrats joined Republicans 62-36, comes after the U.S. handled the Covid-19 pandemic in impressively pitiful fashion, with over 1 million dead and millions more grappling with long Covid-19 symptoms. It also comes as winter months approach and respiratory illnesses are on the rise, particularly among children as pediatric intensive care units reach capacity. Ending the National Covid-19 Emergency declaration could affect anything from the access to medical supplies to helping cover costs of Covid-19 testing. Its end could also help pave the way to restart student loan payments. Ironically, the vote comes with the help of the Democrats, members of the same party who claimed just a week earlier that they needed the public’s support at the ballot box so they that could keep protecting the public interest, from Covid-19 policies to protecting abortion rights.

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