CDPH in the News
NORML Endorses California Adult Use Of Marijuana (AUMA) Act
from The Weed Blog
Today, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the nation’s oldest and largest marijuana law reform organization, announced that its Board of Directors has formally voted to endorse the California ballot measure known as the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act. NORML joins Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana Policy Project, California Cannabis Industry Association, California Medical Association and California NAACP, among others, in support of AUMA.
The official proponents of the measure are:
Dr. Donald O. Lyman, MD, award-winning physician, member of the California Medical Association and former Chief of the Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Control at the California Department of Public Health and
Michael Sutton, longtime conservationist and environmental attorney, former President of the California Fish and Game Commission and former Vice President of National Audubon Society
New Report Links Pesticides Used in Combination Near Schools to Increased Cancer Risk
from IndyBay
A new report by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has shown an increase in cancer risk from fumigant pesticides frequently used in combination near schools, including those in the Pajaro and Salinas Valleys. In response to the report’s findings, a coalition of parents, health professionals, teachers, farmworker advocates and labor unions has urged state policymakers to create stronger protections for schoolchildren across the state. Fumigant pesticides are difficult-to-control, highly volatile gasses injected into the soil to control pests around crops like strawberries, grapes, and orchard and root crops. They can persist in the air for days.
Over 25 million pounds of three fumigants – chloropicrin, metam salts, and Telone (1,3-dichloropropene) – were applied in California in the last year on record (2013). According to the California Department of Public Health, they are also three of the four most widely used pesticides near California schools. And 4.9 million pounds were applied in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties combined.
CDC to Launch Investigations into Palo Alto Suicides as an Urgent Public Health Problem
from Star Mine News
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will begin probing this week the enigma of the high incidence of youth suicide happening in the Palo Alto area as this has become an urgent public health problem.
The CDC investigation, or Epi-Aid, is in response to the request of the California Department of Public Health to the federal agency to address the number of suicides among youths that has risen since 2009, five times more than the national level.
Landmark Decision Opens First Needle Exchange in Conservative Orange County
from Huffington Post
Last Thursday, the California Department of Public Health approved the first ever needle exchange in Orange County – a major victory for public health and safety. Orange County has long opposed needle exchanges, despite decades of evidence demonstrating that these programs save lives and prevent the spread of infectious disease. However, due to the hard work of a team of community members and medical students, the Orange County Needle Exchange Program (OCNEP) will open on February 20.
AHF: CDC Confirms Porn Actor Infected with HIV on Set in 2014
from BusinessWire
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will host a Press Teleconference TODAY, Thursday, February 11th at 1:30pm Pacific Time to discuss breaking news today that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed an on-set transmission of HIV in the adult film industry from performer to performer in late 2014. In a comprehensive analysis published earlier today in its weekly Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the CDC confirms details of a 2014 California Department of Public Health (CDPH) investigation confirming an on-set HIV transmission in the adult film industry that occurred in late 2014.
About 13 percent of O.C. hospital workers skipped flu shot, state says
from Orange County Register
Public health officials repeatedly say the best protection against the flu is the flu vaccine. That advice is especially important for caregivers who work in hospitals and could pass the bug on to patients, who could face deadly complications from contracting a virus.
But not every health care worker heeds that advice. Figures released this week by the California Department of Public Health show that vaccination rates for the flu among employees varied greatly last flu season at Orange County hospitals, from 36.2 percent at Kindred Hospital Westminster to 98.6 percent at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Countywide, the rate was 86.6 percent.