It's FINALLY sunny!!! YAY!!! What a great start to this weekend!
The last two weeks of class have just flown by. During Week 11, we watched the documentary, "Unnatural Causes", in class. This documentary was incredibly interesting to me. The documentary basically explained that power, money, and economic ranking all relate to a person's health status. I did a review on this documentary, and loved it!!! This was by far my favorite documentary that we have watched in class. We then learned about the goals of Healthy People 2010 and found out that we were going to choose one, and find some Environmental Legislation, using THOMAS. We used that information to make our next advocacy post.
In Week 12, we talked more about our Advocacy Projects. We also were assigned Reading 20 from our book. This reading was about the fact that the hole in the ozone layer is closing. We had a great class conversation on Thursday about how we are used to hearing the bad about the environment, and that it is also really important to hear about the good that is coming from all of our hard work. If people start thinking that what they are doing isn't making a difference, they will eventually give up. I think that this article really brought our class' spirit up.
Earlier this week we received reusable cloth bags from Super One, so in class on Thursday we took a class picture and made a thank you note out of a recycled Super One paper bag. I think that the whole class had fun with that, I know I did.
Well, thanks for reading! I hope you all have a blast this weekend!!!!! Have a Great Day!!!
Goal: Reduce illness, disability, and death related to tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke.
I am really concerned about second hand smoking, so I chose to focus on the areas in this goal that relate to smoking its effects on the outdoor and indoor environment that people live in.
From the Progress Quotient Chart I found the following progress on this goal:
section 27-10: Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke: nonsmokers 4+ years, has been met by 136%.
section 27-11: Smoke-free and tobacco-free schools, is 13% towards its target.
section 27-12: Worksite policies prohibiting smoking, is 6% towards its target.
section27-13: Smoke-free indoor air laws: a. Private workplaces are 8% towards the target
All of the sections of my goal moved towards their target, and one of them even exceeded its goal.
Disparities-I found the following information from Healthy People 2010
The Asian or Pacific Islander population had the best rate of working in worksites that prohibit smoking.
Exposure to tobacco smoke at home among children showed persistent disparities by race and ethnicity and by income level.
The Hispanic population had the best rate in 1998, with half as many Hispanic children aged 6 years and under exposed to tobacco smoke as black non-Hispanic and white non-Hispanic children were.
Among populations by income, children in poor and near-poor families were twice as likely to be exposed to tobacco smoke as children in middle/high-income families were. Poor families have over 100% greater health disparity compared to high income families.
Black non-Hispanics had 100% health disparitydifference for exposure to tobacco smoke at home in comparison with the best group Latinos or Hispanics.
Black non-Hispanics also, increase their health disparity over 50% when it comes to exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
Opportunities & Challenges
None
Emerging Issues-I found the following information from Healthy People 2010
Potentially Reduced Exposure Products (PREPS) deliver lower amounts of toxic, carcinogenic, or addictive agents to the user compared with conventional products.
Youth obtaining tobacco from other sources as it becomes harder for youth to access tobacco from retail sources.
Smokeless Tobacco-example: Hookah, can lead to use of other carcinogenic things.
Internet Sale of Tobacco Products- weak or no age verification mechanisms.
Related Bill I was not able to find any current national legislation relating to what I would like to advocate. I was looking for a bill on second hand smoke relief or smoke free homes and cars. I was unable to find any legislation on these topics through Dr. V.'s links, so I am going to do some research on my own, and find something I would like there to be legislation on. I am leaning towards a ban on smoking in the car with underage children. My next step is to contact my local representatives and ask them to propose new legislation on this issue.
I will be calling Minnesota Representative:Roger Reinert and Minnesota Senator: Yvonne Prettner Solon and ask them to create some legislation on this issue.
It's FINALLY sunny!!! YAY!!! What a great start to this weekend!
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