Environmental Health News

Solar-energy Power Used to Save Lives at Hospital

Excerpt: "HCM City Institute of Physics has installed and successfully brought into operation the first solar integrated photovoltaic system in Quang Nam Province. This system has effectively supplied electricity to the hospital for nearly a month."  more 

HCWM Resolution Adopted at 63rd World Health Assembly

Excerpt: "The resolution urges member states to assess the health aspects of waste management in order to make it safe and environmentally sound."  more 

Government to Set Up Own Waste Sites

Excerpt: "Government is considering setting up its own facilities to help dispose of thousands of tons of so-called health care risk waste (HCRW) generated each year."  more 

Kaiser Presses Suppliers on Green Hospital Goals

Excerpt: "Kaiser Permanente, which has been on the leading edge of the "green hospital" movement, said it will begin pressuring its suppliers to be better stewards of the environment and public health."  more 

WHO & the UNDP Launch Unprecedented Global Project

Excerpt: "WHO, along with UNDP, launch the first global project on public health adaptation to climate change."  more 

Pilot Project to Manage Medical Waste in India

Excerpt: "India and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization joined hands to implement a $40 million pilot project for managing the country’s health care system effectively and dispose of hazardous medical waste."  more 

Medical Waste Reduction Focuses on Technologies

Excerpt: "A project targeting medical waste reduction in Vietnam have kicked off, aiming to promote sustainble and economical medical waste treatment and management techonologies."  more 

Bio-Medical Waste: Notices to Hospitals in Satara, Solapur

Excerpt: "The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board is conducting a special drive to identify health care set-ups that have not taken the mandatory authorisation for generation of bio-medical waste and also have not joined the common facility for treatment of the waste."  more 

Bottle and Can Chemical Linked to Heart Problems

Excerpt: "According to the latest findings, higher levels of Bisphenol A mean higher risk of heart disease."  more 

Phthalates May Play a Role in ADHD Symptoms

Excerpt: "Recent research finds that exposure to phthalate chemicals may be linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in school-aged children."  more 

CIC Directs Delhi Government to Put Biomedical Waste Info On Web

Excerpt: "The Central Information Commission has directed the Delhi government to put all the information pertaining to bio-medical waste generation in the national capital on its website."  more 

Medical Waste a Concern

Excerpt: "Environmental activists raised concerns over improper medical waste management at a programme in Kathmandu. Improper management of hospital waste not only pollutes the environment, but also poses a health hazard to the staff and public."  more 

Preparing for Global Mercury Treaty Negotiations

Excerpt: "A meeting held in Bangkok helped to prepare all stakeholders for the upcoming first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC1) to prepare a globally binding instrument on mercury in June 2010 in Stockholm."  more 

Substituting mercury-based devices in India

Excerpt: "HCWH’spartner in India, Toxics Link, put together a document that presents the efforts and initiatives taken so far by dozens of hospitals working to substitute mercury-based medical devices."  more 

Madrid: Activists Call for Public Health to Take Central Role at UN Climate Talks

Excerpt: "Environmental health activists have been campaigning for public health aspects of climate change to be incorporated into any agreement reached when world leaders meet to discuss global warming in Copenhagen next month."  more 

Madrid: Health Impact of Weather Change "Could Eclipse All Pandemics"

Excerpt: "The severe health impacts of climate change would "eclipse all known pandemics in the 21st century", it was claimed yesterday, with even a one degree Celsius rise in average temperatures causing a six-fold increase in mortality among respiratory patients."  more 

Mexico Commits To Withdraw Mercury From Public Hospitals

Excerpt: "Mexico City is the third mega-city (after Buenos Aires and New Delhi) to join the HCWH-WHO Global Initiative to substitute mercury-based medical devices with safer, economically viable alternatives."  more 

City Awaits Bio-Medical Waste, Garbage Treatment Plants

Excerpt: "It will be a year in September since a blast at the bio-medical waste treatment facility at Kailash crematorium near Naidu Hospital killed seven of its employees. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) closed down the facility and till date the authorities have been unable to find an alternative treatment facility for city's bio-medical waste."  more 

USA: Will Health Care Slip on Oil?

Excerpt: "Health Care's Oil Problem: Given health care's dependence on fossil fuels and the prospect of higher oil prices, dwindling oil supplies will likely give our health system a shock. Think massive heart attack."  more 

Kenya: States Agree to Mercury Treaty Talks

Excerpt: "More than 140 countries agreed Friday to launch negotiations establishing a treaty on mercury to limit pollution affecting millions of people across the world, the UN environment body said."  more 

Uruguay: End of Mercury-Containing Thermometers

Excerpt: "The Minister of the Public Health Ministry said the aim of this campaign is to raise awareness among families, who should phase out mercury containing thermometers from their houses and replace them with safer alternatives."  more 

Delhi Declaration on Mercury-Free Health Care

Excerpt: "The First South Asian Conference for the Elimination of Mercury in Health Care took place in New Delhi, India on December 5-6. Organized by the Indian-based Toxics Link and Health CareWithout Harm, in Association with WHO and UNEP, the event was attended by health care leaders from throughout South Asia."  more 

Green Hospitals

Excerpt: "Critics say hospital buildings and food are enough to make you sick. Today there's a growing movement in health care to get hospitals to green their facilities and, as host Bruce Gellerman reports, it's transforming the medical community."  more 

South Korea: World Medical Association Statement on Reducing the Global Burden of Mercury

Excerpt: "The World Medical Association unanimously passed a resolution calling for the phase-out of mercury use in the health care sector. Delegates said hospitals and medical facilities should switch to non-mercury equivalents"  more 

USA: Bush Signs Act Banning Mercury Exports

Excerpt: "Under the legislation, the ban on the federal sale and export of elemental mercury will take place immediately. All exports of the substance will be banned as of Jan. 1, 2013. The act provides for a long-term management and storage option for elemental mercury generated by the private sector as of 2010."  more