Matthew Tarape MPH 632 Environmental & Occupational Health Blog

The sewage facility in my community of Daly City is at the Daly City Water & Wastewater Resources at 153 Lake Merced Blvd., Daly City, CA 94015. It's known to be right next to the Westlake Plaza, and whenever you drive nearby you can most likely smell how bad it is. It's also interesting that there is a neighborhood, playground, and park in the same area with the same parking lot and all. Fun fact I used to play flag football games organized by the Daly City PAL on the field right next to that treatment facility when I was in elementary/middle school.

If I were to develop a nationwide campaign to get people to drink tap water instead of bottled water, my campaign slogan would be "Why Buy What's Free". It would then have information regarding how bottled water just bottles mostly tap water, the environmental effects of manufacturing water bottles such as disposal and not really recycled, how big soda companies do this get sell more products and get more money, and also how tap water is overall better tasting, healthier, and free. 

The source(s) of my drinking water in Daly City are the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir & Spillway water form the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (60% before 2017, 100% after 2017), and also groundwater produced by local Daly City wells (before 2017). The chemicals found in my water that were higher than expected, or that I did not expect to find included the Trihalomethanes, Haloacetic Acids, but are a byproduct of drinking water disinfection. My family and I do use a filter for our water from our faucet, Brita, and shower water filter to filter out anything really. I do not drink bottled water often because I fill up my big Thermoflask with cold, filtered water from home most of the time and also because I'm worried how much plastic bottles affect the water in bottled waters. http://www.dalycity.org/Assets/Departments/Water+and+Wastewater/Water+Quality+Reports/2017+Water+Quality+Report.pdf

Clean water isn't just a basic right but also a government responsibility to keep clean. The Clean Water Act of 1972 was very important for public health, because without it, water pollution wouldn't be controlled for people to safely drink and use. Water full of toxins, chemicals, and waste also would affect the different animal species that live and use water as well. The Clean Water Act with the government and EPA responsible for clean water, not only is vital for human life in many ways but also provides a peace of mind by the people.

Some ideas for an ideal chemical/fragrance policy should include... - Fragrance-free workplaces -Having other specific places be fragrance-free and/or chemical-free (schools, - Forcing companies and brands to put a warning label that "This product contains fragrance & harmful chemicals known to...." - Having companies and brands that don't use chemicals or fragrance to have an "All-Natural" logo or label -Increasing awareness of fragrance causing migraine headaches These policies would eliminate/decrease our body burdens and exposures by... - allowing less fragrance products in the workplace - Letting the public know more of what's in their cleaning and personal care products         - With hopes to reducing the number of companies that use - Letting the public know of better and safer natural alternatives -Improve in-door air quality

Given that there an estimated 21,000 excess deaths from lung cancer associated with exposure to radon, I would develop a national awareness campaign by first having the name or slogan of my campaign emphasize lung cancer isn't just from smoking or second hand smoke, but from something invisible to the senses. The elements of my awareness campaign would include making it known that you can get lung cancer even if you don't smoke, especially from something you can't see or smell, having a website that explains more information (such as it coming from uranium rising from the ground) and has resources about ordering a radon test kit to know how much you are exposed to radon in your home, workplace, and finding an E.P.A. certified Radon mitigators located near you. This campaign would emphasize spreading knowledge and education about radon and it causing lung cancer and providing the steps order radon test kits so that more people become aware of it. Some potential collabora...

There are many health effects that are associated with the exposures to Urea Formaldehyde and Bleach. Urea Formaldehyde , which is commonly used in building materials such as glues in plywood and pressed-board products, is one of the most studies volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The resource that I read said that a study found increases in childhood asthma associated with formaldehyde levels, as well as severe allergic sensitization, respiratory symptoms, and wheezing. "The AOEC states that formaldehyde is an asthmagen in occupational environments, and the CHE found good evidence associating formaldehyde with allergic asthma" Bleach, which is a very common household chemical cleaning product, is a chlorine releasing agent used to disinfect and sterilize surfaces and equipment to eliminate pathogens. However it presents a variety of human and environmental concerns. "Exposure to chlorine gas can lead to ocular irritant and burns. Skin exposure can cause irritation, ...

In my personal experience regarding transportation and its implications for my health and the health of communities, the San Francisco MUNI system and also the BART system has been great in that it is very accessible, reduces the amount of cars (and therefore car emission into the air), and encourages me to walk more. It's really nice to have confidence in my city's public transportation knowing if I wanted to get somewhere that I can take MUNI or BART, and that at the same time both MUNI and BART are invested in making their buses/trains emit less carbon emissions and trying to reduce their carbon footprint and improve the quality of the environment. It's very cool to see that the SF MTA has been able to decrease the Co2 emission every year. I hope that in the future, MUNI and BART is completely electric so that there is almost 0 carbon emissions from public transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area. https://www.sfmta.com/reports/sfmta-carbon-footprint

In my zip code, the top polluters include Tyco Thermal Controls L.L.C., South Bay Marble Inc., Peterson Prods., Discovery Partners Intl. Chemrx Div., and Equilon San Francisco Terminal. The major pollutants in my zip code includes Syrene, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, Acetonitrile, Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether, and Dichloromethane. Only 1 percent of houses in my zip code have a high risk of lead hazards, and there are currently no Superfund Toxic Waste sites that are on the EPA's National Priority List of Superfund sites. It's scary to know that in 1999, my country was ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of pm-2.5 emissions because of Browning-Ferris Industries and Raychem Corporation. I was shocked to learn that the water quality isn't as clean as I thought it would be with about 80-90% of surface waters with impaired or threatened uses due to pesticides, sediments, and pathogens. On a social/environmental justice basis, my zip code also has people o...

It's crazy to read that " In 1987, the newly-formed Commission for Racial Justice found that race was the strongest variable in predicting the location of waste facilities (Bullard & Johnson, 2000)". Living in San Francisco my whole life, everyone knows that the Bayview/Hunter's Point area has the worst environmental health so it's no surprise that there is environmental injustice happening after reading the recent article I found in the SF Chronicle website. It basically states that out-of-town corporations targeted this community because it is low-income and has minorities for industrial projects putting the people's health at risk. It shows how much social determinants can affect people's health, especially those of low-income neighborhoods. This connects to the Black Lives Matter movement in showing that corporations and the rich don't take into account African-American's well-being, and that injustice isn't just happening in criminal c...

A quote that really stayed in my head after watching the video was in the beginning when Rishi Manchanda stated that health doesn't begin in the doctor's office, but where we live, work, eat, and sleep. This really resonated with me because I initially thought I wanted to become a Registered Nurse to help people, but learning more and more about Public Health I realized that I wanted to help people by through prevention and education of healthy behaviors (as I try and do in my personal life). I also realized that Public Health has the potential to help people's health at a larger scale (populations) rather than treating patient symptoms. It's amazing how the Veronica's symptoms improved by 90% when her environment was looked at and addressed. It shows that it doesn't always matter if you give a patient medicine because they could still come back with the same illness or symptoms if their life and environment outside the exam room isn't optimal or considere...

After watching the Anderson Cooper video that shows the amount of chemicals through the body burden test, it's scary to know that families (especially kids) are exposed to so many chemicals through simple things such as water bottles (phthalates). It's also scary to know that the public barely knows about this and that we are only at the "tip of the iceberg" in learning and knowing about the chemicals (such as DDT and PCBs) and its effects (such as infertility). I hope the U.S. and the world start realizing all of this, so that future generations won't be as exposed and blind to this eerie information. I definitely will start drinking more filtered tap water instead of water bottles because of the CNN video showing that it can contain phthalates.

After watching the "10 Americans" by the Environmental Working Group video, I can't believe that after testing the 10 Americans blood, that they tested positive for about 287 different chemicals. With 28 waste byproducts and 212 industrial chemicals and pesticides banned 30 years ago showing up in the blood samples, I really am confused and scared of how they got into the blood of those 10 Americans. This video really shocked me into how there are so many chemicals and toxins that are extremely harmful to humans, and how normalized this is in our environment. This really makes me want to be more conscious and aware about what is going into my body from the environment. Whether it's all natural cleaners, personal care products such as body wash and shampoo, I want to protect the people I know including my family, friends, and myself from harmful chemicals especially if they're known to causes cancer, birth defects, and other illnesses. This also makes me more and...

The two household cleaning products that I looked up were Clorox Bleach Lavender (concentrated), as well as Soft Scrub with Bleach Cleaner Gel. The Clorox Bleach Lavender liquid had the following health risks: skin and eye irritation, exposure to vapor or mist may irritate respiratory tract, and sodium hypochlorite (IARC Group 3 Carcinogen). It had a health rating of 2,  which is moderate (on a scale from 1-4). The Soft Scrub with Bleach Cleaner Gel also had the health risks of skin and eye irritation along with known health hazard chemicals of sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide, and dodecyldimethylamine oxide (each with 1-5% concentration). It also had a health rating of 2 -moderate. I was surprised that both products scored a 2 and not at least a 3 or 4 because they each seem to have hazardous chemicals that probably shouldn't be used without gloves and a face mask. What's interesting is that my parents have already decided to use more natural cleaners for our health ...

The products that I regularly use and looked up in the Safe Cosmetics Database were Head & Shoulder's Shampoo and Dove Men+ Body & Face Wash. The Head & Shoulder's shampoo, the brand I've used since I was in junior high school scored a 5 overall, because of the ingredients consisting of Fragrance (with concerns of organ system toxicity) and Methylisothiazolinone (with concerns of neurotoxicity). The Dove body and face wash also scored a 5 overall because of the ingredients consisting of Fragrance as well, DMDM Hydantoin which has concerns of cancer and is a formadelhyde releaser, and Petrolatum with concerns of organ system toxicity. I was surprised because the amount of advertisements for these products, for example the NFL endorsing Head & Shoulders and the numerous amounts of Dove commercials that say it's safe and dermatologist recommended. After learning about these ingredients that these products have, I think that I will be starting to buy and u...