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Breathe in a healthier state

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(MI) Detroit Free Press – Recently, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill that bans smoking in all public places beginning in May. Michigan joins the ranks of states that have taken a strong step toward protecting the health of their communities by making bars, restaurants and other public places smoke-free. We know that secondhand smoke causes premature death and disease. For example, exposed kids are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear infections and other illnesses. More

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Is truck pollution causing asthma in Detroit?

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(MI) The Associated Press – A town-hall meeting in Detroit is taking a look at the effect of diesel pollution in the city. The Alliance for Healthy Air coalition is hosting the Monday evening gathering at St. Stephens Church. Organizers plan to discuss the effects of pollution on health and quality of life of Detroiters. More

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Bedbugs are back in Michigan

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(MI) The Detroit News – It started in February when Debra Miller, who works as a caregiver, noticed dozens of red welts on the body of a man she cares for in the Griswold Senior Apartments complex. “We didn’t understand what was going on,” Miller said. “At first we thought it was the soap. Then we thought it was the fabric softener. Finally, I held up a magnifying glass and saw that something was digging into his skin.”

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South Bass Island sewer rules aim to stop repeat of ’04 ailments

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(OH) The Toledo Blade – By tightening the rules on private septic systems, state health and environmental officials hope to prevent a repeat of a bacterial outbreak here that caused 1,400 people to have stomach cramps and diarrhea in the summer of 2004.  

The agreement among the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Ottawa County commissioners, the Ottawa County Board of Health, and Put-in-Bay Township will make it harder for South Bass Island to be developed without sewer lines in place. More

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Deep budget cuts in Macomb County compromise water safety

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(MI) The Michigan Messenger – But here in the state’s third most populous county, downsizing the budget means supersizing the risk of contaminated water, among other public health calamities. “We have an extremely serious revenue problem,” Thomas Kalkofen, director of the Macomb County Health Department told Michigan Messenger last week. Already, the county has shed all of its parks employees. Over several rounds of budget cutting this year, 79 full-time positions have been eliminated overall, including 27 layoffs, from a county workforce that currently counts 2,200 workers. More

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EPA says air around schools safe in the short-term

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(IN) The Post-Tribune – The air around two Northwest Indiana elementary schools contains a slew of hazardous air pollutants, but not enough to be of short-term concern, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday. The EPA began monitoring by Jefferson Elementary on Jackson Street in Gary and Abraham Lincoln Elementary on East 135th Street in East Chicago on Aug. 23. More

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State mercury rules breakthrough for children’s health, water quality

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(MI) The Michigan News – Leading Michigan environmental groups today applauded the long-awaited finalization of state rules designed to reduce mercury pollution from power plants as much as 90 percent starting in 2015. “We are pleased that Gov. Granholm is following through on her campaign promise to help curb this dangerous metal from further contaminating our Great Lakes, poisoning Michigan’s fish and threatening our children,” said James Clift of the Michigan Environmental Council. “These reductions are affordable, achievable, and of paramount importance to creating a healthier Michigan.” More

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Was paradise lost?

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(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Health care as we know it didn’t exist 3,000 years ago. But along the Georgia coast, the Pacific Northwest, and coastal Brazil, people grew tall and strong and lived relatively free of disease. They ate game, fish, shellfish and wild plants. But as corn farming spread through various regions of the Americas, people got shorter. Many became prone to anemia and began dying of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.More

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Elders spread word on mercury contamination

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(WI) Indian Country Today – In olden days, Clarissa Welds, an elder of Lake Superior, as she calls herself, never worried about how many fish she ate. “It was the way of our ancestors. We were fisherman, and Mother Earth gave us what we needed to survive. We didn’t have to worry if the food was safe,” said the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians citizen. More

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Getting Benton Harbor to tap area’s bounty

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(MI) The Herald-Palladium – Fruit and vegetable growers from six farms stood at folding tables Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot at the Mercy Center in Benton Harbor. The tables were filled with locally grown produce, all the colors of the rainbow. More