Ethics in Public Health -Past and Present-A Closer Look and Discussion (50m Panel Lecture)

Public health policy and actions are influenced by individual and organizational values and principles. More and more organizations and their members are making critical decisions which affect the lives of others based on past ethical study and practices. Environmental Health professionals—from Supervisors to front line Workers—are relying on the ethical problems encountered—and solved from history, best practices and proven processes to help them develop efficient solutions to public health cases.

As public health and environmental health professionals, in management and non-management positions, you are faced with making critical decisions daily. Whether demonstrating sound judgment based on known and expected outcomes, utilizing best practices within the industry, or relying upon expected (but unproven) results, you use critical skills to ensure success within the field.

This lecture and round-table discussion provides a brief overview of past cases within the (public) health field that showed the impacts of ethics (some questionable) during decision-making. We will also discuss ethics in the military and civilian public health and environmental health areas. Finally there will be an opportunity for the audience members to discuss successful and not-so-successful displays of ethics during their current or past engagements within their Public Health and Environmental Health areas.

Valley Fever (Coccidiodes immitis): Implications for Public Health at Fort Irwin and the National Training Center (Poster)

image: www.cdc.gov

Coccidioidomycosis, also known as Valley Fever or California Fever, is an infection that occurs when the spores of the fungus Coccidioides immitis enter the body through inhalation. Coccidioidomycosis is most prevalent in the desert regions of the southwestern United States, Central America, and South America.  In early 2013, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) investigated Valley Fever outbreaks in two Central Valley prisons after inmates died from the disease.  The increase in incidence of Valley Fever within populations who live in close quarters and work outdoors in endemic areas has caused growing concern for military personnel working in similar conditions.  The Desert Research Institute and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center recently began a study of Valley Fever at Edwards Air Force Base in California.  Near to Edwards AFB is Fort Irwin, home of the US Army’s National Training Center (NTC).  Research suggests presence of Valley Fever presents public health implications for the thousands of Soldiers stationed, or training, at Fort Irwin and the National Training Center including rotational, regimental trainers, and support forces.

Field Portable Toxicity Sensors for Army Drinking Water Protection (Poster)

 The U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research (USACEHR) and the United States Army Medical Materiel Development Agency (USAMMDA) is developing toxicity sensors for an Environmental Sentinel Biomonitor (ESB) system to provide rapid identification of toxicity from a broad spectrum of industrial and agricultural chemicals that may contaminate Army field drinking water supplies.  Desirable performance characteristics for the ESB system include a rapid response to a panel of 18 toxic industrial chemicals (selected to represent different classes of chemicals) within a defined sensitivity range, adequate shelf life for consumables, and size and weight characteristics consistent with field portability. 

The system has a combination of two technologies that can detect all 18 chemicals, with 12 out of the 18 in the desired concentration range, in less than 90 minutes. The sensors include an electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) system, which uses fluidic biochips seeded with rainbow trout gill epithelial cells (designed through a collaboration with Agave Biosystems, Inc.), and the ACE™ Test for the detection of acetylcholinesterase pesticides (designed through a collaboration with ANP Technologies, Inc.). The ECIS biochips can be maintained at least one year at 6 °C with no media replacement and still remain viable for ECIS toxicity testing, while the reagents for the HHA kit have a projected shelf life of more than 12 months at room temperature.

 

Each sensor prototype is available as a hand-held unit. The compact sizes, long, maintenance-free shelf lives, and chemical sensitivity of the these technologies make them excellent candidates for an ESB system that will provide a significant improvement over current capabilities for identifying chemically-contaminated field drinking water supplies.