CDPH In The News, December 2017

CDPH in the News

Bears exposed to plague found in Paradise

from ChicoER

Two black bears exposed to the plague were found in Paradise, according to the California Department of Public Health. The department collected blood in September from two bears killed under depredation permits, and the samples tested positive for antibodies to Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague.

California Plant Transforms Medical Waste to Green Energy

from Future Structure

Aemerge RedPak officials said Christmas came early as they unveiled their “technological wonder” to the High Desert in the form of the first medical waste treatment facility permitted in California. “Besides being the only facility in the state permitted to treat all types of medical waste as regulated by the California Department of Public Health, RedPak will have also created 30 new jobs within the community at full ramp-up.”

Why big business will love California’s new marijuana rules, and why you should worry

from Sacramento Bee

McWeeds may be coming soon to your community. The state of California last week proposed emergency rules to regulate marijuana when recreational use becomes legal in January. Some parts of the emergency regulations are urgently needed. But their overall breadth and lack of caution will fulfill big business’s wildest dreams. They will promote the unfettered growth of a new harmful California industry dominated by special interests and wealthy investors, not the health and well-being of our communities.
The California Department of Public Health’s subset of the proposed new regulations do make some significant progress: not allowing human or animal-shaped edibles, nixing cartoons from packaging and generally saying products shouldn’t be attractive to youth or look like M&M’s. But that’s not enough.

SLO Food Bank cited for ‘food adulteration’ in addition to permit issue

from KSBY

The Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County is facing a citation related to unsanitary conditions in addition to an issue over apparently expired paperwork. According to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), a state investigator inspected the Food Bank’s facility on Kendall Road in San Luis Obispo on Monday, Nov. 27 and observed unsanitary conditions. It also found that the Food Bank was operating without a valid Processed Food Registration permit.

Public Health Office teams up with spiritual leader to talk safe sex

from The Renegade Rip

A 2016 California Department of Public Health report found that one out of every four sexually active teen girls in Kern County has an STD. Kern County ranked fourth highest in cases of Gonorrhea and Primary and Secondary Syphilis, while ranking second highest in Chlamydia. The county also exceeds state averages for Congenital Syphilis, a form of Syphilis that is passed from mother to child during pregnancy, by 344 percent.
“We asked our community for help, including parents, educators, medical providers, media, non-profits, and the faith-based community.” The first to accept the invitation was Pastor Eric Simpson of the Bridge Bible Church. KCDPH staff joined Simpson at his church in giving a presentation on ways in which parents should discuss sexual health issues with their children.

Avoiding EMF radiation not as easy as quitting smoking

from San Francisco Chronicle

How much more proof do we need that being online isn’t healthy for us? The latest terrible tech research is from Kaiser Permanente, published last week in the journal Scientific Reports. In a study of hundreds of pregnant women in the Bay Area, the authors found that those who were more exposed to the kind of radiation produced by cell phones, wireless networks and power lines were nearly three times as likely to suffer miscarriages.
San Francisco’s radiation-warning law, championed by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom, passed in 2010. But after a lawsuit from the cell phone industry, the city backed off on implementing it. Around the same time, the California Department of Public Health drew up its set of guidelines to inform the public about the risks associated with cell phone use. The health department then sat on these guidelines — for seven years — until The Chronicle told the state it was going to publish a news story about the case, and a judge signaled that she would order them to be released.