Chile: Formal Request to the Secretariat of Public Health to Ban the Use of Mercury Thermometers
HCWH – HCWH Latin America has called on the Secretary of Health Dr. Jorge Diaz Anaiz to end the sale of mercury thermometers to prevent health problems arising from mercury contamination while guaranteeing access to safer alternatives.  more (in spanish)

India: Training Programme on Bio-medical Waste
Punjab Newsline – Environment Protection Training & Research Institute (EPTRI) conducted training program on Bio Medical Waste Management in collaboration with Punjab Pollution Control Board & IMA Ludhiana at IMA House Ludhiana. During the Training Program, doctors and paramedical staff were educated about the importance of Bio Medical Waste Management and of knowing proper methods of segregation and disposing the waste.  more

India: Shun the Use of Mercury-based Instruments, Advocates PPCB
Toxics Link – The Punjab Pollution Control Board in association with the Indian Medical Association and Toxics Link, New Delhi, organised a workshop on the hazards of mercury and stressed the need for replacing mercury-equipped instruments with aneroid-based instrument.  more

Philippines: Marinduque Gears up For mercury-free Health Care
HCWH – In a continuous bid to make the Philippines 100% mercury-free, HCWH Southeast Asia turned-over non mercurial thermometers to the Province of Marinduque, the province that seats at the heart of the country.  more

US: Nurses' Miscarriages Linked to Chemicals at Work
Reuters – Nurses who worked with chemotherapy drugs or sterilizing chemicals were twice as likely to have a miscarriage as their colleagues who didn't handle these materials, in a new study. Lead author Christina Lawson, a researcher at the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety, said she was not too surprised that exposure to certain chemicals would be tied to lost pregnancies.  more

South Africa: Could Public Health Benefits Make Combating Climate Change Free?
Scientific American – Climate change threatens human health, therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions may help our medical well-being, too. As a result, WHO—and a consortium of other public health organizations—declared climate change to be among the most pressing emerging health issues in the world at the recent climate negotiations here in South Africa.  more

Global: Health in the Green Economy
WHO – Low-carbon transport measures can provide "win-win" options for developed and developing countries that benefit health as well as reducing climate change, suggests a new WHO report launched at COP17 in Durban, South Africa, 6 December. The report identifies some of the "win-win" strategies that can help reduce climate change in one of the world's most polluting sectors, and generate large health benefits at the same time.  more

US: Kaiser Permanente Converting to Safer IV Equipment
Washington Post – Kaiser Permanente, one of the country's largest health-care providers, plans to announce Thursday that it is converting its intravenous equipment to more eco-friendly alternatives free of two chemicals that have been shown to harm humans and the environment.  more

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