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 […]
UNEP/CARICOM: Drastic Climate Change Consequences for Insular Caribbean / PNUMA/CARICOM: drásticas consecuencias por cambio climático en el Caribe Insular
Saturday, December 27th, 2008Although this report (English only) was finished in October, it was formally unveiled at the global climate change talks in Poland in November, but did not get much media play because of all the other actions, initiatives, reports and declarations made in Poznan at the same time. But it deserves much more attention and hopefully […]
A mortalidade de não-fumantes expostos à fumaça do tabaco / The Mortality of Non-smokers Exposed to Tobacco Smoke
Thursday, September 4th, 2008Synopsis in English: Just before Brazil’s National Day to Combat Tobacco (29 August) the National Cancer Institute (INCA) released a study on “Mortality Attributable to Passive Smoking in the Brazilian Population.” The first study of its kind in Brazil and one of the first worldwide served as backdrop to the National Day’s theme this year, […]
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 […]