Environmental & Occupational Health Issues

EBMUD treats wastewater from Berkeley. Wastewater is collected from homes and businesses through privately-owned sewer laterals that feed into a network of city sewers. EBMUD's interceptors (large pipes) carry the wastewater to its wastewater treatment plant in Oakland. I also learned that homes built before 1950 (most of the homes in Berkeley) have sewer pipes connecting the home to the main sewer line that are old and need to be replaced. These pipes are called sewer laterals and can deteriorate and crack which could lead to raw sewage leaking into the ground creating a health hazard. In Berkeley, and in most cities, the maintenance, repair and replacement of the upper lateral is the responsibility of the property owner. Another good thing to know as a home-owner! (Glad I just rent for now!)

Sometimes I feel like I am already running a campaign for tap water. But it is with my family and not a nationwide campaign :) Before taking this course I was already a huge proponent of tap water. I try and avoid bottled water whenever I can and I slowly am getting my family members to do the same. If I were to run a national campaign for tap water I would use many of the points in the video 'The Story of Bottled Water'. I would make sure that people knew the best 3 things about tap water: 1. It tastes better 2. It's more regulated than bottled water 3. It's cheaper! I think many people are purchasing bottled water because they think they are getting a superior product. I think if people knew what they were actually paying for, they would change their minds. 

East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) is the source of my water in Berkeley. The water comes from the watershed of the Mokelumne River on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. The Mokelumne watershed collects snowmelt from Alpine, Amador and Calaveras counties, which flows into Pardee Reservoir near the town of Valley Springs. Three large aqueducts carry water 90 miles from Pardee Reservoir to the East Bay. EBMUD has 6 water treatment plants where water is treated and tested for contaminants. The CCR I found for EBMUD was from 2017 so the numbers are up to date! I was pleased to see that the chemicals found in my water were found in very low levels. The report said that they met or surpasses every public health requirement set by the State Water Resources Control Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The highest chemicals found in the water are Trihalomethanes, which are byproducts from the chlorine used to disinfect the water. The levels found are still within...

Clean water is something I think many of us in the United States take for granted. In many parts of the world people have to travel miles to find clean water and then have to transport it back to their house. The Clean Water Act was created in the US because people and industry had been contaminating water sources. It was unsafe for people to drink, fish or swim in over half of the water in the US. Water is such an integral part of our lives that we need to make sure it is protected. Polluted water can be so harmful and can even cause death. I think back to all the times and places I went swimming in a lake or river. I also used to fish a lot with my dad when I was a kid and we would bring home the fish we caught and eat it. If we didn't have the Clean Water Act I couldn't have done any of these things or they would have made me very sick. The Clean Water Act is so important - we need to protect our waters as it is vital for our life on Earth.

Fragrances in personal care products have been linked to a wide range of health issues from asthma, migraines, eye and skin irritation, allergies to cancer and reproductive issues. Fragrance is often found in lotions, perfumes, soaps, shampoos, makeup and deodorant. Most people use at least one of these personal care products on a daily basis, with the majority of people using many items each day containing fragrance.  An effective fragrance-free policy would be very difficult to design and implement. I know many hospitals have fragrance-free policies, but I am not certain how they enforce the policy. When I worked at a hospital, I was told not to wear perfume  or any personal products with fragrance, but I noticed that many people still did wear some fragrance.  I think the key to a fragrance-free policy would be to educate all employees. First, educate employees on what is considered a fragrance. Then, educate them on the potential harmful effects the fragrance ...

Radon is a colorless, order less gas  that occurs naturally from the breakdown of radium in the earth. According the the EPA, "radon  is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, according to EPA estimates. Overall, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Radon is responsible for about 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year. About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked."  I don't think many people are even aware of the health risks of radon or where exposures occur. I certainly did not before a few weeks ago. And I have spoken to many family members and friends who did not even know what radon was, let alone the health hazards. A national awareness campaign is absolutely necessary to make sure all Americans are aware of radon. A mass media campaign educating people about the dangers of radon, as well as how to test for it and what to do, could be implemented with TV commercials, Facebook ads, nationwide campaig...

Urea formaldehyde Urea formaldehyde is used in the production of formaldehyde resins, plywood, particle board, paper, and urea-formaldehyde foam.  A study published in 1985 found mean exposures of 0.74 ppm (embalmers), 0.35 ppm (plywood manufacturers), 0.92 ppm (particle board manufacturers), 0.74 ppm (urea-formaldehyde foam manufacturers), and 0.42 ppm (urea-formaldehyde foam insulation installers). Formaldehyde causes eye irritation at 0.01-2.0 ppm, upper airway irritation at 0.10-25 ppm, lower airway and chronic pulmonary obstruction at 5-30 ppm, and pulmonary edema at 50-100 ppm.  In a summary of health effects data, upper airway irritation and increased nasal airway resistance were reported at 0.1 to 25 ppm and lower airway and chronic pulmonary obstruction at 5 to 30 ppm Bleach Bleach is commonly used as a household and commercial cleaner. It is corrosive to skin and  inhalation exposure can cause damage to the lungs and even pulmonary edema.  Inge...

Currently, I take public transportation very rarely. I live in the East Bay and I work in the North Bay. There is not really any public transportation between the East Bay and the North Bay, so I drive about 25 miles from my house to work and then home each day (50 miles total). I really wish there was another option to get to work because I would prefer to take public transportation most days. I used to live and work in San Francisco and so I took the bus/walked everywhere. I then moved to the East Bay and continued to work in San Francisco so I took Bart and the bus. While public transportation has it's inconveniences, I generally preferred taking Bart and the bus to driving. I definitely was more active when I took public transportation because I walked to/from Bart and also to whichever bus station I needed to get to. While I know my car is contributing to general air pollution, one thing I find interesting is that I feel that I am less exposed to air pollution while I am dr...

Zip code: 94710 Alameda County Who and what are the top polluters in your zip code? The data on scorecard.org is from 2002 and lists the top polluters in my county as: 1. New United Motor MFG, Inc (an automobile manufacturing company that closed in 2010) 2. Arch Mirror West (a company I could not find when I searched on google so I'm assuming they have also closed) 3. Pacific Galvanizing Inc. (Northern Californa's largest hot dip galvanzier. Galvanizing is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerged in a bath of molten zinc.) What percent of the homes in your zipcode have lead-based paint? 3% of houses in Alameda County have high risk of lead hazards. Are there Superfund sites in your zip?  [Toxic Waste Sites] What can you tell us about the Superfund sites that are near where you live? In 2004, Alameda County ranked among the cleaner 30...

All people, regardless of race, nationality and income, should have equal distribution of the benefits and burdens of the environment. However, this is very much untrue in the United States and around the world. Chiles (2015) noted that it is "well documented around the world that environmental hazards often impact poor communities and communities of color disproportionately". There are countless examples across the United States where communities of color and low income communities live in areas with water and air pollution. According to the World Health Organization, "social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels". People who make less money can only afford to live in places that have a lower cost of living. These cities are usually cheaper because they are less desirable. They are less desirab...

I was very surprised in the video 'What makes us get sick?' when Rishi Manchanda said that our living and working conditions have more than twice the impact on our health than does our genetic code. I feel like people consistently blame health problems on genetics. While I know that many health problems actually are genetic, there are so many that are not. I think there are many reasons why most people continue to believe that health problems are genetic. First, it is an easy explanation that removes the responsibility or fault on the individual. Second, I don't think the companies producing products that are toxic to humans and causing so many health problems want us to know that they are making us sick. The information is out there if you really look for it, but it's so much easier just to attribute a health condition as being genetic. I think it is similar for the obesity epidemic. While it is true that our lifestyles are more sedentary than they used to be, there ...

I would be very concerned to learn that these chemicals were found in my blood and urine.  However, I'm not sure if I would be shocked to learn this. I'm sure I have been exposed to many toxins throughout my life and some of them stay in your body for a very long time, if not forever, I was most likely exposed to dioxins by eating dairy, meat or and seafood. According to the World Health Organization (WHO 2016), dioxins "last a long time because of their chemical stability and their ability to be absorbed by fat tissue." DDT would be surprising because it was banned in the 1970's - before I was born. However, DDT is still used in some countries today, including Asia. I have been to two countries in Asia in the past 5 years so this is likely where I would have been exposed. Organophosphates are in insecticides and are widely used in the United States and I'm sure my parents used it on our home garden and landscaping so this is not shocking to see. You...

The household products I looked up were dish soap and disinfecting wipes. The statements from the National Library of Medicine's Household Products Database are below. Method Dish Soap - "The product contains no substances which at their given concentration, are considered to be hazardous to health." Clorox Disinfecting Wipes - "This product is not considered hazardous by the 2012 OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200)" Overall I found this database a little harder to use/understand than the EWG database for personal care products. I was a little surprised that the clorox wipes were not considered hazardous. My suspicion was that they were going to have a negative rating, but I was glad to find out that they were not as bad as I expected. While I could be making my own cleaning products using vinegar and baking soda, based on the database ratings I think I am making pretty good choices for my cleaning products and do not need to change at ...

The three products I reviewed were: 1. Tom's of Maine toothpaste - score: 1 2. Beautycounter moisture lotion - EWG verified top scoring product 3. Nivea body lotion - score: 3 In the last year or two I have been more conscious about the products I purchase and use and have been trying to switch to safer beauty products. I was pleased to see that two of the products I use everyday rank low for potential hazards and health concerns. I was not necessarily surprised that the Nivea lotion ranked higher because it is not a brand I associate with safer beauty. It also has a fairly long list of ingredients (16 total) and I have no idea what most of them are. In comparison, the Tom's toothpaste has 10 ingredients and I am familiar with 8 of them. The EWG website indicated the worst ingredient in the Nivea lotion is the fragrance (score of 8 on its own). This definitely makes me want to find a better/less toxic lotion to use. I also plan to see what the ratings are on other products...