CDC Environmental Health Nexus Newsletter
Healthy Environment, Healthy You
March 2023 | Volume 17
CDC’s Environmental Health Nexus (EH Nexus) shares environmental health messages with the public and gives special attention to environmental justice.
EH Nexus newsletters provide information about environmental health issues and promotes actions to help save lives. The newsletters explain how to reduce harm from many threats, such as climate change, contaminated food and water, toxic environments, and inadequate systems and practices.
This issue covers the following topics:
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You Can Prevent Carbon Monoxide Exposure
- Do have your heating system, water heater, and any other gas, oil, or coal burning appliances serviced by a qualified technician every year.
- Do install a battery-operated or battery back-up CO detector in your home. Check or replace the battery when you change the time on your clocks each spring and fall. If the detector sounds, leave your home immediately and call 911.
- Do seek prompt medical help if you suspect CO poisoning and are feeling dizzy, light-headed, or nauseated.
- Don’t use a generator, charcoal grill, camp stove, or other gasoline or charcoal-burning device inside your home, basement, or garage or near a window.
- Don’t run a car or truck inside a garage attached to your house, even if you leave the door open.
- Don’t burn anything in a stove or fireplace that isn’t vented.
- Don’t heat your house with a gas oven.
- Don’t use a generator, pressure washer, or any gasoline-powered engine less than 20 feet from any window, door, or vent. Use an extension cord that is more than 20 feet long to keep the generator at a safe distance.
EH Nexus Webinar—Healthy Gardening: Tips for Preventing Lead Poisoning
Join us Wednesday, March 29, 2023, 1:00–2:00 p.m. E.T. for the next EH Nexus webinar. Subject matter experts (SMEs) from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will present on innovative education and outreach events called soilSHOPs (Soil Screening, Health, Outreach, and Partnership) and childhood lead poisoning prevention efforts. You will also learn about ATSDR’s plans for upcoming regional soilSHOP events to commemorate Earth Day on April 22, 2023.
During this webinar, you will
- discover how to plan your own soilSHOP event with our customizable resource,
- learn about safe gardening and your health,
- explore best practices for reducing exposures to contaminants in your soil, and
- gain awareness of CDC’s childhood lead poisoning prevention efforts.
Registration link: https://www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_mte2tM9_SEW4xp3C3cyDOQ
Closed captioning will be available.
Dawnovise Fowler, Ph.D., LMSW
Chief, Community Engagement Science and Interventions Section
ATSDR
Kathryn L. Bing, B.S.
Environmental Health Scientist
Office of Community Health and Hazard Assessment
ATSDR
Perri Ruckart, Dr.P.H., M.P.H.
Team Lead, Health Scientist
Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch (proposed)
CDC
All Children Can Be Exposed to Lead: case vignettes of children of various backgrounds who were exposed to lead
CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics will host the Childhood Lead Prevention Education National Webinar for Pediatricians and Others. This webinar will provide information on the importance of testing children for lead in the context of pediatric practice. Additional information, including how to register, will be provided when available.
Groundwater Corrosivity and Lead in Private Wells
Corrosive groundwater can cause lead to leach from pipes, plumbing fixtures, and solder that contain lead into the public drinking water supply. Similarly, lead also poses a threat to private well users because the Safe Drinking Water Act does not mandate the monitoring of the drinking water quality produced by private wells. Learn about corrosive groundwater and what to do when private well owners find lead in their drinking water.
Improve Foodborne Outbreak Investigation in Your Jurisdiction
Environmental assessments help identify the underlying environmental causes of foodborne illness outbreaks.
- Use CDC’s National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS) to capture environmental assessment data from outbreak investigations to improve your food safety program.
- The skills needed to investigate outbreaks of foodborne illness in restaurants are different from those needed to inspect restaurants. Learn to conduct environmental assessments as part of outbreak investigations and practice skills in an interactive virtual environment through our Environmental Assessment Training Series (EATS).
- Learn more about environmental assessments.
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