NEHA – Housekeeping Channel Partnership to Improve Home Cleanliness and Health

Relationship to enhance the availability of environmental health research to consumers.

Boise, Idaho (PRWEB) August 18, 2009 — The Housekeeping Channel (HC) and the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) have announced a collaboration that will bring consumers the research necessary to help them make informed decisions to keep their homes clean and healthy. The Housekeeping Channel is an online resource dedicated to keeping consumers up-to-date with the latest cleaning tips and techniques. The relationship furthers NEHA’s mission to “provide a healthful environment for all.”

Now, visitors to The Housekeeping Channel will be able to access environmental health science data in easy-to-read articles pertaining to related health risk areas in their homes. Articles will cover topics such as indoor air quality, dust containment, toxic substances, children’s environmental health, emerging pathogens such as the swine flu and MRSA, and pest management.

 

provide a healthful environment for all.

Consumers often clean for appearance and do not understand the potential health implications of using particular cleaning products or processes

From asthma triggers to the long-term implications of toxic chemical exposure, there are a variety of potentially harmful agents associated with cleaning in the home. By increasing accessibility to NEHA research, consumers will have the information necessary to make educated decisions to keep their homes clean and families healthy.

HC exists to help consumers clean, protect and enhance their home environment using proven processes and practices from experts

Our relationship with NEHA is a clear extension of this mission, and we are gratified to be aligned with them and to help bring their expertise to mainstream consumers.

One of the Nation’s Top 15 Leaders in Environmental Health

The direct correlation between cleaning and environmental health is becoming apparent to more consumers

This relationship will bring consumers the information they need to make informed decisions that will help keep their homes safe and healthy.

“Consumers often clean for appearance and do not understand the potential health implications of using particular cleaning products or processes,” said Nelson E. Fabian, Executive Director and CEO of NEHA. “From asthma triggers to the long-term implications of toxic chemical exposure, there are a variety of potentially harmful agents associated with cleaning in the home. By increasing accessibility to NEHA research, consumers will have the information necessary to make educated decisions to keep their homes clean and families healthy.”

 

“HC exists to help consumers clean, protect and enhance their home environment using proven processes and practices from experts,” said Allen Rathey, President of The Housekeeping Channel. “Our relationship with NEHA is a clear extension of this mission, and we are gratified to be aligned with them and to help bring their expertise to mainstream consumers.”

As a part of the agreement, Fabian will serve on the advisory board of The Housekeeping Channel. Serving as the Executive Director of NEHA for more than 25 years, Fabian has achieved several accolades, including the Journal of Environmental Health’s “One of the Nation’s Top 15 Leaders in Environmental Health” in 2007. Recently, Fabian has focused on the topic of pandemic outbreaks, giving numerous presentations on the subject and authoring online courses for environmental health practitioners.

“The direct correlation between cleaning and environmental health is becoming apparent to more consumers,” added Fabian. “This relationship will bring consumers the information they need to make informed decisions that will help keep their homes safe and healthy.”

About Housekeepingchannel.com

The Housekeeping Channel strives to be the Web’s most comprehensive storehouse of factual information for consumers and media on achieving a cleaner, more organized and healthier indoor environment. The site provides how-to tutorials, news and reviews regarding the latest innovations in the cleaning industry, time-saving systems and motivation for keeping a better house at the click of a mouse. HC is a respected source of information relevant to cleaner, healthier homes, and has been cited or quoted by national media including US News and World Report, Newsweek, Real Simple and major news outlets. The Housekeeping Channel’s Advisory Board helps ensure the technical accuracy of its content.

About NEHA

NEHA is a non-profit association for environmental health professionals. Since 1937, NEHA has been working to advance the environmental health profession, and thereby improve the human environment in cities, towns, and rural areas throughout the world, to create a more healthful quality of life for us all. NEHA’s 4,500+ members practice their profession in the public and private sectors as well as in academia and the uniformed services, with a majority being employed by state and local health departments. In partnership with the National Center for Healthy Housing, NEHA offers the Healthy Homes Specialist Credential. This credential tests an individual’s understanding of the connection between health and housing, enabling a holistic approach to identify and resolve problems that threaten the health and well being of residents. For more information about the National Environmental Health Association, please visit NEHA.

DDT linked to health problems – South Africa

SUE BLAINE, 08 May 2009
Researchers urge alternative to effective antimalarial pesticide.
SPRAYING the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) indoors to fight malaria, as is done in SA’s malaria areas, could be leading to increased incidences of cancer, diabetes, foetal and childhood developmental problems and decreased fertility among exposed communities, an international panel of health and toxicological experts said yesterday.Although the use of DDT as an agricultural pesticide has been largely abandoned worldwide, it has been used since the 1940s to combat malaria in SA and other areas, with its use endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

There were 48 deaths from malaria recorded in SA in 2007, according to Health Systems Trust statistics, down from 459 in 2000, and the WHO reported that in 2006 there were 247-million cases of malaria and 880000 deaths from the disease worldwide. Most of the deaths were of young children in Africa.

The South African researchers on the international panel, who published their concerns in this month’s issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, have “strongly urged” an accelerated drive to look at better, safer ways of controlling malaria without compromising people’s health, and that of the environment .

The consensus statement emerged from a conference last year jointly organised by the US-based Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force, a citizen rights organisation, the Alma College’s Centre for Responsible Leadership and its Public Affairs Institute, also from the US, which was attended by University of Pretoria professors Tiaan de Jager and Riana Bornman and the North West University’s Prof Henk Bornman. The researchers reviewed nearly 500 epidemiological studies.

“We have to put our concerns in the context of people dying of malaria … We know DDT can save lives by repelling and killing disease-spreading mosquitoes. But the evidence suggests that people living in areas where DDT is used are exposed to very high levels of the pesticide.

“The only published studies on health effects conducted in these areas have shown profound effects on male fertility. Clearly more research is needed on the health of populations where indoor residual spraying is occurring,” said lead author Brenda Eskenazi of the University of California’s School of Public Health.

In the meantime, DDT should be used as a last resort, she said.

DDT has been banned from agricultural use in SA since 1976, but its use is allowed to combat malaria.

While SA’s malaria control programme was protecting between 5-million and 6-million people through the application of pesticides inside buildings , researchers have observed a general lack of compliance with safety measures, indicating an urgent need for retraining, monitoring and raising awareness.

blaines@bdfm.co.za

But the evidence suggests that people living in areas where DDT is used are exposed to very high levels of the pesticide

City to debate revised air pollution bylaw

May 04 2009 at 06:52PM

By Lindsay Dentlinger

Cape Town is to get a new pollution bylaw to bring it in line with fresh national legislation.

Now the City of Cape Town is calling for public comment on the revised air pollution bylaw over the next two months.

The city became the first local authority to promulgate an air pollution bylaw in 2003, and remains the only municipality to have such legislation.

James Vos, chairman of the city’s health committee, said the new bylaw would seek to address concerns regarding the illegal burning of tyres and copper wire, dust emissions from unpaved surfaces and construction activities, and stricter control of diesel vehicle emissions.

It would also open the way to a legal mandate to allow the city to set emission standards.

Vos said it was important for the city to monitor and improve air quality because this was a key factor in the health of residents.

The objective of the air quality management plan is to see Cape Town achieve the cleanest air in Africa, and to reduce the health effects of poor air quality on citizens, especially during brown-haze periods.

The city says although the current bylaw led to considerable and measurable improvement in air quality during the past six years, it is no longer compatible with contemporary environmental legislation, such as the National Environmental Management Act and the National Environmental Management Air Quality Act.

The draft replacement bylaw will include control mechanisms to become effective from September 11, in line with national legislation, which includes appointing environmental management inspectors at local government level; ensuring compliance; enforcement and licensing of a list of activities; and enhancing financial structures to enable the collection of licence fees.

Public participation will start this month with a public hearing and workshops at the civic centre with other spheres of government, non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, business and industry.

This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Argus on May 04, 2009

Green Week: How to Prepare a Sustainability Policy

By Gail Nickel-Kailing on April 20th, 2009

This week is the 39th anniversary of Earth Day, and we have lots planned for you. Our big event: Wednesday, April 22 – Earth Day – we will be announcing the winners of our first WhatTheyThink Environmental Innovation Awards. We had to choose from more than 45 applications; it was hard! The companies who applied are all working hard to make their companies environmentally sensitive – and profitable.

We will also be providing insight, input, and useful tools for you as you continue to develop your sustainability practices and initiatives. Today, our topic is How to Prepare a Sustainability Policy.

This is a condensation of an article written by Gary Jones, director of Environmental, Health, and Safety Affairs at PIA, which first appeared in the  January issue of the  PIA Management Portfolio. (Download a <1MB PDF of the original article,)

Preparing a Sustainability Policy

Sustainable green printing is being driven mainly by print customers looking to green their own business, operations, and products. As a result, they are requiring all of their suppliers to respond accordingly.

Printers can no longer afford to ignore the issues of sustainability and resource conservation. In order to capitalize on the movement and turn it into a competitive advantage, printers need to have an approach that is both systematic and systemic.

The question is: How do you formulate a rational approach and create a plan that can gain support at all levels within your company? The answer is by creating a Sustainability Policy, the basis of a Sustainable Management System (SMS).

What Is the Purpose of a Sustainability Policy?
The Sustainability Policy serves as a company’s public statement for its management and employees, plus a communication tool for its customers, vendors, and other interested parties. The policy needs to be integrated into the set of parameters or guideposts any printer uses to make decisions on products it will manufacture, technology that will be used for production, and all supporting activities such as maintenance, transportation, energy, etc.

What Is Sustainability?
In the general sense, sustainability has become a term that encompasses ecological and environmental goals to help mitigate a broad spectrum of scientific, social, and political issues.

Sustainability implies the ability to operate in a way that meets present needs while providing for the needs of the future and future generations. Sustainable manufacturing for the printing industry embodies three principal concepts:

• Product. This includes the design, input materials used to make it, and the ultimate fate of the finished goods.
• Process. This includes the actual manufacturing process involving prepress, press, and postpress.
• Envelope. This includes all of the support activities that occur at a printing operation such as the building, grounds, maintenance, transportation, employees, etc.

Sustainability is more than just printing a product on recycled paper with “vegetable oil-based” inks. Sustainability requires an examination of all the aspects involved in a company’s operation.

What Are the Essential Elements of a Sustainability Policy?

The elements in the policy are designed to address the core principle aspects of sustainability that reflect what the company has put into place via their SMS. A sustainability policy addresses these items:

• Clearly states the company’s vision statement and present core values and principles.
• Contains content relevant to the company’s existing culture and operation.
• Signed and dated by either the owner or a company official representing the executive level. Signatures demonstrate personal commitment at the top of the company.
• Made public, both on the company’s website and in the facility where all employees and visitors can see it.
• Reviewed and renewed annually to ensure the policy is current and applicable.
• Has supporting documents and resources.
• Audited by a third party for conformance.

Where to Start?

1. Gain management commitment and support.
2. Form a sustainability committee.
3. Develop a draft policy of no more than one page for review and revision.

How to Actually Write the Policy?

Start with a list of general concerns related to sustainability that can be addressed iin a policy statement such as:

• Environmental impacts associated with the product being produced including prepress, press, and postpress operations.
• Packaging and transportation of the finished goods.
• Composition and delivery of input materials.
• Impact from operating the printing facility that includes energy consumption, building, grounds, and equipment maintenance, office waste, food/cafeteria waste, etc.
• Employee issues such as health and safety, wellness, and other benefits
• Community issues such as the release of air pollutants that can cause short-term problems such as odor or longer-term ones such as smog.

The focus should be on those actions that cause changes to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, which result from the company’s activities, products, or services.

Once the list of general concerns is identified, they need to be translated into commitments. Do not include commitments in the policy the company will not be able to carry out.

Conclusion

A sustainability policy is your company’s declaration of commitment to the environment and worker health and safety. Your policy serves as the foundation for your Sustainable Management System and provides a unifying vision of sustainability principles that will guide the actions of both employees and management.

Due to the demands from a rapidly growing base of customers, the interest in sustainability has really skyrocketed in the past two years. The printing industry is clearly in the midst of a fundamental change in the manner in which business is conducted. As a result, a printer’s ability to stay competitive and profitable is directly tied to their ability to meet this new challenge. The sustainability policy statement serves as the framework for setting objectives and targets that will drive those business activities which will result in increased profits while simultaneously protecting people and the planet.

About the Author

Gary Jones is the director of Environmental, Health, and Safety Affairs at Printing Industries of America. His responsibilities include assisting members to understand their regulatory obligations as specified by EPA, OSHA, DOT, and state/local agencies; providing input on regulations impacting the printing industry; and leading Printing Industries of America’s efforts on the Sustainable Green Printing (SGP) Partnership. He can be reached by phone: 412-259-1794 or by email: gjones (at) printing (dot) org.

Reprinted with permission from the 2009 Management Portfolio. Copyright 2009 by the Printing Industries of America. (www.gain.net)  All rights reserved.