M5.7 Your Sewage Facilities

In my city, Rancho Cucamonga, there are 421 miles of sewer lines that are cleaned every 12 months, 37,000 service connections, and 8,300 manholes that are inspected every 12 months. The Cucamonga Valley Water District is our sewage system that allows our sewage to be transferred safely through our city underground. They replace any damaged, rattling, or missing manholes. There are about 3 main sewage lines that allow for our sewage to be transferred through the city. We have a clean city that allows for transportation of sewage that keeps our city free from toxic chemicals and matter than can cause health issues. I am lucky to live in a city that keeps our streets clean of excrement and pollution.

M5.5 Blog: Campaign for Tap Water - (video 8m 4s)

My slogan to drink tap water over bottled water would be "think globally, drink locally." I would campaign a slogan than would attempt to persuade the public to think on a global scale. Drinking bottled water is much more harmful for the environment since you are constantly promoting the throwing and dumping of plastic in the ocean. It is harmful to throw dump plastic in the environment and I would want a slogan than emphasizes the importance of thinking about the environment first. You must start to think globally in order to drink locally. I believe that if an individual is aware of the harm they are doing to the environment, they will start to think locally. The campaign would be centered around educating the public around why purchasing plastic water in not healthy for you to drink from and why it is not good for the environment. Plastic water bottles harm the organisms of the environment by exposing them to chemicals lined in the plastic. I would hope that the public would be conscious of the harm plastic water bottles do to the environment. 

M5.4 Blog about your Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR) and water quality

1. What is the source of your drinking water? Where does your water ORIGINATE? (It is treated at a water treatment plant, but what watershed or aquifer is the sources of the water?) The source of my drinking water is originated from a local treatment plant. It is a locally treated water that is filtered through our city. 
2. What chemicals were found in your water that were higher than expected? The chemicals that were found in my water were salts of: arsenic, radium, aluminium, copper, lead, mercury, cadmium, and barium. Also some pesticides were also found. I was surprised to find certain chemicals were found. 
3. What chemicals did you NOT expect to find in your water? I did not expect to find pesticides in my water. I did not know that I was drinking water with those chemicals in it. 
4. Are there associated health risks with the chemicals found in your water? (sources for this last question include the EPA, CDC, ATSDR and the National Library of Medicine's ToxNet program). Yes, there are many health risks associated with pesticides including genetic risks. Nitrates can contaminate water and pose an immediate threat to infants. Lead can cause both physical and mental developmental problems in infants and children.
5. Where does your water come from? The source! Track it from the source to your tap. My tap water comes from a public municipal water treatment system. It is a serious of pipes that transports the water to my home. I receive water from a treatment system  and it arrives in my house through a mainline from the distribution system.
6. What did you discover about your water quality? My water quality is not poor according to the websites provided. The only things that I should be aware is the lead that is kept in my water.
7. Do you use a filter for your water? Yes, our refrigerator filters our water or we use a manual filter to filter our tap water if necessary.
8. What are you trying to filter out? We filter out any dirt or chemicals that are in our water. My household primarily tries to filter out the lead and pesticides in our water.
9. Do you drink bottled water? How does this square with what you learned when you watched the Story of Bottled Water (see next exercise)? We drink bottled water but my household attempts to buy water that is filtered well and does not contain a lot of preservatives or chemicals. I learned from the video that you should not reuse water bottles continuously since the plastic does contain chemicals. You must not reuse the plastic bottles because they can cause health issues and it is not healthy to refill them. 

M5.2 Blog about the public health importance of safe drinking-water

Safe drinking water is highly important in terms of sustaining life. It is a basic need for all life and without it, we cannot exist. It is so important for a county to have a supply of clean water to drink, otherwise a variety of health issues can arise. Without clean drinking water, not only will disease spread, but whole ecosystems can be completely destoryed. It is absolutely essential for policies to be created to preserve clean drinking water for the populations.

Many countries do not have access to clean drinking water. In my travels, I have to be aware of the drinking water and what I am putting into my body. I am going to Pakistan in the two weeks and a huge issue they have in the country is not having clean water; or water that only people who are born and raised in Pakistan are accustomed to. You must be careful when you go there and drink the water. Most foreigners of the country have to drink bottled water because the tap water is not safe since different microorganisms inhabit the water supply that would be in America. It is absolutely essential when I travel I am aware of safe drinking water and take the proper precautions to ensure I am safe.

M4.6 Blog Assignment: Radon

The way I would educate the public with the exposure to radon is by creating a fact sheet. I find that fact sheets are the easiest and effective ways to get a message out their to the public. I would being my national awareness campaign by starting a website on the exposure to radon and its effects. Some questions that my fact sheet on my website would be:

1. What is radon?
2. How is the public exposed to radon?
3. How does radon cause cancer?
4. Where can people find information on radon?
5. How many people are exposed to radon on a national level?

Another way I would attempt to get my message across to the public is start to set up educational seminars with funding with environmental agencies. I would attempt to get the public attention by first educating potential stakeholders about why education about radon is important and how it affects the general population. Radon is a radioactive gas that is released from the normal decay of the elements uranium, thorium, and radium in rocks and soil. Radon causes cancer by giving off tiny radioactive particles; when inhaled these particles can cause damage to the cells that line the lungs. Exposure to radon causes lung cancer. I would attempt to reach out to local public health institutes to educate and get the word out about the risks of radon.

M4.2 Blog Assignment: National Library ToxNet

Urea formaldehyde is found in foam insulation that is easily injected or pumped into walls. Health effects occur when urea formaldehyde is released into the air. Some health effects can include damage to the upper respiratory tract, lower respiratory tract disease, and cancer. Exposure to urea formaldehyde can cause watery eyes, nose irritations, wheezing, couching, fatigue, ski rash, severe allergic reactions, nausea, and difficulty breathing. The EPA recommends that people should use "exterior grade" pressed woods products to limit urea formaldehyde exposure in their home. 

Bleach can be dangerous in many ways. Although it is a household cleaning product, it should be used with caution. The health risks associated with bleach exposure include damage to your lungs and organs. If you accidentally inhale the fumes, you can feel a sting in your nose and eyes, coughing or lightheadedness. It can cause damage to your skin and eyes and if it is left on the skin, it can burn it. Also, if it gets in your eyes it can cause permanent tissue and vision damage. That is why it is important to wear protective wear when cleaning your house with bleach. EPA recommends even using eye googles when cleaning with bleach. 

M3.2 Vulnerable Populations

We focus more heavily on sedentary lifestyles and diets when addressing obseity because we find that is the easiest target audience to pinpoint. We see an obese individual as someone who has an issue with eating unhealthy foods and point to diet as the immediate cause. Although, there can be other factors that cause obseity such as environmental and parental factors. For example, if a child is accustomed to have an unhealthy diet at birth, they will eventually always eat unhealthy foods growing up. Again, preference and taste does affect a child’s psyche as well when it comes to overeating. 

Environmental factors can also affect obseity. High energy/high fat foods, fast food consumption, television watching, "super-sized" portions, etc. can contribute to excess caloric intake and inadequate amounts of physical activity. We have to take into consideration. The many options that can contribute to high calorie intake. A big factor than can affect an individual and their diet is also the area they grow up in. If they are always around fast food chains, there is more temptation to grab that quick meal. Again it is about being health conscious and having self control with your diet. In order to combat obseity, there needs to be social policy changes, particularly in the areas of portion size, availability of healthful foods, and promotion of physical activity.

M3.5 Transportation

My personal experience regarding transportation in my area has varied from the time I was a child to now as an adult. I lived in many difficult neighborhoods growing up in the Los Angeles county. I was born in a small condo in West Covina where the metro would pass by every day. That emitted much pollution in the area whenever it would pass and smog would always come from the metro and linger for days. Sometimes when I would go out and play as a child in the condo complex, I would remember the smell of the smog that metro would emit. I felt the air quality was very poor living in that community.

In 2000, my family moved to Diamond Bar where a majority of our transportation pollution came from the cars that passed by on the main street. The pollution was not excessive but it did affect the air quality of those around me. Then we moved to West Covina in 2004 to a house on hills which was protected from a lot of pollution from the city since our house was isolated high in the hills. It was a great home to grow up in for the rest of my life. Then just a year ago, we moved out to Rancho Cucamonga in a one story home that is isolated from the main street where the car pollution would be. Overall, my experience with transportation and pollution has not been much. I have started to ride a bike whenever I can do conserve energy. I live in an industrial city so it is difficult to escape the pollution from the metro and transportation. I ride a bike now and then to help the environment whenever I can.

M3.4 Air Pollution

My Zip Code: 91739 & My Community: San Bernardino County

• Who and what are the top polluters in your zip code? The top 5 polluters in my county are Cemex California Cement, U.S. Marine Corps Natural Resources & Environmental Affairs, Txi Riverside Cement Oror Grand Plant, U.S. Army for Irwin, and Northwest Pipe Co. 
• What percent of the homes in your zipcode have lead-based paint? 1% of houses in San Bernardino County have high risk of lead hazards. 
• Are there Superfund sites in your zip? A Superfund site is any land in the U.S. that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the EPA as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment. There are 5 Superfund sites in my county. 
• What can you tell us about the Superfund sites that are near where you live? What did you learn about the air quality in your zipcode? The Superfund sites are all military bases or stations that pollute my environment the most. They are in secluded and marked off areas where not a lot of people can access. In 2003, the county was ranked one of the dirtiest/worst 10% of all countries when it comes to air quality index. 
• How about the water quality? The water quality is one of the cleanest and best counties which is great to hear that we are maintaining safe and drinkable water. 
• How did your zipcode fair on a social justice / environmental justice basis? In terms of the races that add to the most pollution in my county are whites. Low income families and families below poverty also add to majority of the pollution. A majority of working class people add to the pollution as well. 

M3.3 Environmental Justice Blog

Environmental justice is an integral part of the struggle to improve a healthy environment, especially for those who live in the area of pollution. Many minorities found themselves living in impoverished neighborhoods where pollution was high. Communities of color, which are shown to be poor, are targeted to inhabit areas that have a negative impact on the environment. It was great to see Bill Clinton address this issue in 1992, when he made it clear that environmental justice is something of importance. Environmental justice finally became known to the federal government and the Clinton administration began to advocate for it. There are also many justice organizations that have formed to address the issue.

I think it is highly important for us to recognize that many minorities live in neighborhoods that are surrounded by pollution. Although they live in areas that contain pollution, they should not be blamed for this pollution. I believe that it is difficult for those who have lived, worked and played closest to the sources of pollution and should not be ostracized for this. It could have been a generation issue as well; where the generation before that lived in the area and could have caused the start of the pollution. We must take into consideration that many racial groups could not be the cause of the pollution, but also different ages or sexes could as well. 

M3.1 Biomonitoring

Body Burden testing unpleasantly surprises me that there are so many chemicals that can affect our body in a negative way. Children are exposed to high risks of these chemicals and its frightening that human health is so affected by so many products. There are so many chemicals that can have a negative affect on the human body. Many chemicals were found in Cooper's body and they were determined by the environment he grew up in. I would like to be cautious of any chemicals that would cause infertility since I aspire to have children someday. 

Another thing I think that is important to note is where PCBs are found. Those can cause cancerous affects to the body and be toxic to the immune, neuro, and repro systems. Therefore, I believe its highly imperative that we watch our exposure to PCBs. Many PCBs were found in older products and now are discontinued since they were found to have cancerous affects on the human body. Personally, I am very aware of what chemicals I am exposed to and would like to limit my use of anything that causes more exposure to toxins. It would be important to me to find out what toxins are in my body so I could be more careful to the exposures around me so I could limit it. 

M2.3 Blog Assignment: Household Products Database

The first household product that I use is Windex Original Glass Cleaner, Pump Spray. According to the Household Products Database, it does not contain any hazardous chemicals at or above a reportable level. There is no special requirements if there is eye, skin, inhalation, or ingestion. The health rating is slight and it has a moderate flammability rating. You should always avoid contact with skin, eyes, and clothing. Overall, the rating for this product is safe and is good to use in the household. I was not surprised that this was a safe product to use since I have been using it in my household for quite some time.  I would recommend using this product in all households and still knowing the normal risks is important.

The second household product that I reviewed on the Household Products Database was Clorox 2 Laundry Stain Remover & Color Booster. I use this product in my household to remove stains from my clothing and any cloth material. The chemical is considered hazardous as it does cause eye irritation. If it does get in the eyes, it needs to be rinsed out immediately and for several minutes; if irritation persists, medical advice and attention is needed immediately. To keep myself safe from this product, I use gloves whenever handling and refrain from rubbing my eyes until I have washed my hands thoroughly after use. It has a health rating of moderate, but still needs to be handled with care since it is a hazardous product. I am not surprised that this is an unsafe product to use and always handle it with care whenever I am using it around my household.

M2.2 Blog Assignment: Personal Care Products & M2.4 Blog Assignment: Ken Cook and Advocacy Organizations on Toxics in Personal Care Products

Personal Care Products

The first personal care product I reviewed on the Safe Cosmetics Database was my moisturizing lotion. I use Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion and I have been using this product for as long as I remember. I was pleased that I found the overall hazard for this product to be low since I have been using this lotion for years now. There was no reading populated for the product to be cancerous which was a relief since I do use this product quite often. I was surprised however that the product does have close to a moderate allergy and immunotoxicity reading. Although only if the product was ingested, then it would cause damage to internal organs. Other than that, I am pleased to find that it is a safe product to continually use on my skin. Everyone should know about the little risks of this product so they do not consume it.

The second personal care product I reviewed on the Safe Cosmetics Database was my facial cleanser. I have acne prone skin and have changed products continuously to find something suitable for my breakouts and scaring. The facial cleanser I finally found that helped my skin was Desert Essence Throughly Clean Face Wash with Organic Tea Tree Oil and Awapuhi. I found that switching to organic products helped control my acne immensely. According to the database, I was overall pleased with the review of this product. The overall hazard of this product is low which I am happy to see. There is no cancer reading on this product. Just the toxicity on the product is close to moderate, again if it is ingested. Overall, the rating for this product is good and I will continue to use this product.

Ken Cook and Advocacy Organizations on Toxics in Personal Care Products

Ken Cook introduces 10 Americans who are exposed to chemicals in personal care products. A test was run on 10 Americans and it was determined that 287 toxic chemicals were detected in these individuals. When the chemicals are looked by categories, the Americans were exposed to more industrial chemicals than anything. This talk opened my eyes to the personal care products I use on myself. It calls me to take a closer look in the care products I use on a daily basis. Cook comments that more women are exposed to more industrial chemicals than men, since they use a majority of these products.

Another thing that did shock me was the effect personal care products have on an unborn child. I would not want my future child to never be exposed to such toxic chemicals. I have attempted to get rid of a lot of products that are not good for my skin and health. I am starting to reduce the use of these chemicals since Cook has begun to open my eyes to the dangers of these chemicals. I would want the best health and care for my child in the future.