Vehicle Pollution in São Paulo Quadruples Risk of Death
Saturday, March 7th, 2009Vehicle emissions indirectly kill 20 people per day in the São Paulo metropolitan region, according to a study reported in the daily Folha de São Paulo done by the Air Pollution Laboratory of the University of São Paulo’s (USP) Faculty of Medicine (FM). The study was commissioned by the Brazilian Health Ministry (MS) and has […]
Paraná Bans Smoking in Areas Intended for Children
Monday, November 24th, 2008Synopsis in English: The governor of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná just signed a law that bans smoking inside vehicles transporting children or at any commercial establishment or event intended for children. The new instrument is considered a complement to Paraná’s 2005 law on smoking in public places. In all probability other Brazilian states […]
Brazil Wants CFCs Out of Inhalers
Thursday, November 1st, 2007Synopsis in English: Brazil's National Sanitary Vigilance Agency (ANVISA) just published a portaria (an administrative regulation) that will ban, as of 01 January 2008, the production and import of medicines in metered dose inhalers (MDIs) that contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as propellent. Anvisa is asking for public comment on the measure [Temas Observation: Interesting how Anvisa […]
Country Profiles of Environmental Burden of Disease for LAC
Friday, August 3rd, 2007Several weeks ago the World Health Organization (WHO) released what it billed as "the first ever country-by-country analysis of the impact environmental factors have on health." It phrased it that way ("country-by-country") because it released a more global analysis of the issue last year — in fact, that report was the subject of one of […]
Assessing Children’s Vulnerability to Chemical Exposures
Saturday, July 28th, 2007The report discussed in the press release below is actually from the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), for which the World Health Organization (WHO) serves as secretariat, but is also cosponsored by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP). It represents an emerging international (not just North American or European) consensus […]