Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
"You shoulda been out here last evening" said Carey, the shrimp boat captain who took me out to South Pass today. He saw that I was taking air samples with a hand-held monitoring device, and recounted the strong smell and...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
Oil spill clean-up brings workers and volunteers into close contact with chemicals that are known to be hazardous to human health. As we deal with the oil spill in the Gulf, it helps to brush up on history. After the Exxon...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment
Local groups in Louisiana are scrambling to respond to the looming threat to their health and economy that lurks offshore. I met with some local groups today and here is what I learned: The Louisiana Bucket Brigade had a small...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment
As soon as I got off the plane I felt that humid Gulf Coast air, and I recognized that evocative hint of mold -- not the overpowering pungent smell from after Katrina, but the hint that always hangs in the air...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
I continue today with Part 3 of my Q&A about oil spill health concerns with a look at tips for people helping out with the clean-up effort. You can find answers to basic background questions in my first Q&A post...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
I continue today with Part 2 of my Q&A about oil spill health concerns with a look at different groups of people who are at a particular risk to health impacts associated with the oil spill. In my next post,...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
As we’re waiting for the full scale of environmental, economic and wildlife impacts from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to unfold, there’s a lot of speculation and unanswered questions going around about what this means for the...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , Moving Beyond Oil
Today I was privileged to be an invited guest of the community of Fort Chipewyan, Canada. I can't blame you if you've never heard of "Ft. Chip" - after all, there are only 1000 residents, and it's only accessible by plane...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , Moving Beyond Oil
It's strange how things converge in our lives. If you had asked me a month ago, I would have said I don't work on petroleum-related issues. Of course that wasn't technically true, since most of the pesticides and industrial chemicals...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
Oil spills destroy ecosystems and kill wildlife, but people's health is directly affected too. As the situation in the Gulf Coast unfolds, the local communities and workers must be protected. Oil is semi-volatile, which means that it can evaporate into the air and create...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
The original Earth Day of 1970 ushered in a decade of progress in protecting public health and the environment. Landmark laws like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act passed in the years that followed the first Earth Day...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
I can be a fanatic about germs. I wash my hands thoroughly and frequently, and when I don't have access to a sink, I use an alcohol-based skin sanitizer. As a physician, I know that most germs are spread by hand-to-mouth or...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
The federal government and the State of California have taken very different approaches to protecting children from cancer-causing chemicals. This is a situation where California has shown real leadership and has adopted scientific principles that protect children’s health. California has...
Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
Last week, the Senate held a hearing on children's environmental health, and I was invited to testify. At the same time, the Government Accountability Office released a report concluding that the EPA is not doing enough to protect children's health....
Posted by Gina Solomon in Health and the Environment
Some years ago, I was invited to speak at the Riverside County Medical Association in Southern California. A contaminant called perchlorate had been detected in the water supply, and the local physicians were concerned. I outlined the health data on...
