Three Things Thursday highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week. Yesterday I shared the public health news of the week — that the FDA reported that particles of the H5N1 influenza virus were detected in pasteurized milk that was commercially purchased.
This is news, NOT an alarm.
And we all are in agreement that we will drink pasteurized milk.
In addition to the news about the cows, and the milk, and the influenza — this week we celebrated Earth Day on Monday.
Earth Day marks the anniversary of the start of the modern environmental movement in 1970. The first Earth Day, organized by Senator Gaylord Nelson, was celebrated on April 22, 1970, to raise awareness about environmental issues. By the end of 1970, the US government created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and in the years to come the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act would be passed to clean up our environment and improve human health.
I was first introduced to the fields of public health and epidemiology as an undergraduate student studying environmental science. In my undergraduate thesis, titled Human Health, the Environment, and Silence: Hazards Created by the Use of Poly-Vinyl Chloride Intravenous (IV) Bags, I wrote —
“The correlation between toxic, man-made chemicals and the rising incidence of serious health problems among humans is not a new phenomenon. As early as 1962, likes between the polluted environment and declining human health were being made by a wildlife biologist and victim of cancer. Carson’s book, Silent Spring, tells the story of a ‘spring without voices’ and illustrates how industrial activities of the 20th century have created numerous substances which have adverse effects on human and animal health.”
For this week’s Three Things Thursday, I want to share the three books that inspired me as an undergraduate to pursue a career in public health.
These are three books I recommend each of you read.
Hoping this post helps to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy communities.
#1 — Silent Spring
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson tells the story (with countless scientific references to support her point) of a spring without voices, where bird eggs have been destroyed by industrial chemicals. And there are no birds to sing; a silent spring. Rachel Carson hypothesized that if synthetic poisons in the environment were having adverse effects on wildlife populations they were probably having similar effects on humans. Specifically, she states —
“We [humans] have put poisonous and biologically potent chemicals indiscriminately into the hands of person wholly ignorant of their potentials for harm. WE have subjected enourmous numbers of people to contact with these poisons, without their conset and often without their knowledge (pg 12).”
#2 — Living Downstream
Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment by Sandra Steingraber is one of my all-time favorite books. It changes my life — great writing, detailed research, and a beautiful narrative.
Dr. Steingraber continues the work of Rachel Carson through her work as an ecologist, researcher, and cancer survivor. As I wrote in my undergraduate thesis —
“Sandra Steingraber deals with the growing body of evidence linking environmental contamination to cancer. Steingraber, though, has more than a professional interest in the link between synthetic. chemicals and cancer. At the young age of twenty, she was shocked when doctors diagnosed her with bladder cancer — one form of cancer whose cause has been linked to specific carcinogenic chemicals found in the environment. Her own struggle remains quietly in the background of her book, Living Downstream, which focused on chemical production, waste dumping, human exposure, and cancer.”
#3 — Dying From Dioxin
Dying from Dioxin: A Citizen's Guide to Reclaiming our Health and Rebuilding Democracy, by Lois Gibbs, tells the real-life story of the Love Canal neighborhood in New York, which was built on a toxic dump. When chemicals started to bubble to the surface and community members began to get sick, Lois Gibbs organized the community and fought to have the government relocate each of the families.
Dying from Dioxin is one part history, one part organic chemistry (detailing what dioxin is and why it is so harmful to human health), and one part how to organize and fight for clean environments and healthy communities. Theo Colborn (another amazing writer about health and the environment) says, “Now everyone has an opportunity to learn about dioxin and the issues surrounding it, in this well-presented, multifaceted book."
Fun/funny story of Lois Gibbs… when I arrived in Washington DC in 2002 as a newly minted MPH (master of public health), I was invited to a lunch at Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). I was SO excited — not only was I going to see PSR’s offices (I had been following their work for years), but Lois Gibbs was the lunchtime speaker. AH! I showed up for lunch (on time) and 15-20 people were there. I sat down at a big conference table next to this woman who was so nice — she said hello and asked if I was new to the group (I was a little star-struck!). I explained that I was; that I had just moved to DC from Atlanta; and that I was thrilled to be at PSR and to see Lois Gibbs IRL (in real life). I was giddy. At that moment, the PSR staffer, who would become a good friend, said it was time to start the meeting and that she was thrilled that Lois Gibbs was there to speak to all of us. She invited Lois to the podium. And who stands up and walks to the podium?!?! (Yes, you guessed it) The woman sitting next to me! She leaned over as she walked to the front of the room and said “Nice to meet you, I’m Lois Gibbs.” It is one of my favorite DC memories.
Anyway…
I believe these three books are MUST reads. I’ve read them all several times cover-to-cover and each time I learn something new or see things differently.
As our celebration of Earth Day/week wraps up, I leave you with the words of Dr. Margaret Chan, the former Executive Director of the World Health Organization —
“A ruined planet cannot sustain human lives in good health.
A healthy planet and healthy people are two sides of the same coin.”
Do you have other environmental health/Earth Day books to recommend?
Epi(demiology) Matters is written by Dr. Becky Dawson, PhD MPH — an epidemiologist, teacher, mom, wife, and dedicated yogi. She is a tenured professor at Allegheny College, Research Director at a community hospital, and an exclusive contributor (all things health & medicine) at Erie News Now (NBC/CBS). Her goal is to create healthy communities for all. She writes Epi Matters — first & foremost because epidemiology does matter (to all of us) and she hopes that each post will help to educate and empower readers to be healthy and create healthy communities.
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