Health

"Is Sugar Toxic?"

If Robert Lustig is right, in a lecture that has gone viral on YouTube, "then our excessive consumption of sugar is the primary reason that the numbers of obese and diabetic Americans have skyrocketed in the past 30 years. But his argument implies more than that. If Lustig is right, it would mean that sugar is also the likely dietary cause of several other chronic ailments widely considered to be diseases of Western lifestyles — heart disease, hypertension and many common cancers among them."

Source: NY Times, 04/19/2011

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"Superbug Gene Rife in Delhi Water Supply"

"A gene that causes a wide range of bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics has been found in the water supply in Delhi, with worrying implications for the rest of the globe."

Source: Guardian, 04/08/2011

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April 12, 2011 to April 14, 2011

Johns Hopkins Workshop to Examine Climate Change and Public Health

Johns Hopkins University researchers are gathering in Baltimore for the first workshop of an ambitious program to study and address the impacts of climate change on human activity.

Workshops and Fellowships

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May 2, 2011

DEADLINE: USC Annenberg Mini Fellowship/Reporting Grant

Call for Applications! Based at USC's Annenberg School of Journalism, The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships offer professional journalists this opportunity to apply for an all-expenses-paid mini fellowship with $2,000-$10,000 reporting grant. Grantees spend the week of July 24 - 29, 2011 in Los Angeles. Students are ineligible. Apply by May 2, 2011.

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March 21, 2011 to March 24, 2011

Bridging the Gaps: Public Health and Radiation Emergency Preparedness

The Radiation Studies Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will sponsor a national conference on public health preparedness for radiation emergencies.

Professional Meetings

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"Maryland Lab Destroys Documentation On Lead Poisoning Of Children"

"Maryland's health secretary said Friday that his department's laboratory has destroyed test results dating to the 1980s documenting lead poisoning of Maryland children - potentially thousands of records that plaintiffs' lawyers say are crucial to pursuing lawsuits seeking damages on behalf of poisoned children and their families."

Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV)

Source: Wash Post, 03/15/2011

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Is Corporate Ghostwriting of Journal Articles a Threat to Environmental Information?

Before picking up stories based on journals in the environmental sciences, reporters might pause to ask about those journals' policies on transparency and potential conflict of interest. And then ask about enforcement, and any relevant conflict declarations on the article in question.

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Oil Fracking Poses Similar Concerns As Gas Fracking

EPA is conducting a study of fracking, no matter where it is used (e.g., gas shale, oil shale, coalbed methane, tight sands). Public comment is being allowed as the agency's Science Advisory Board meets March 7-8, 2011, to review the draft study plan. Initial study and research results are possible by the end of 2012, and a report may be published some time in 2014.

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March 5, 2011

Poisons: When Good Chemicals Turn Bad

This seminar, presented by the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program in collaboration with the Society of Toxicology, features an overview of the latest research in the science of toxicology, the study of the adverse effects of chemical, biological, and physical substances on people, animals, and the environment.

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