Electronic Newsletter

Once again, MAHB will celebrate April as Public Health Month with our 7^th Annual Board of Health Recognition Day at the State House. We will also use this opportunity to give out Skin Cancer Prevention Grants. With the legislature debating the 03 budget, this is an important chance to bring a message to their door about the important work being done at local boards of health.

MAHB will also be giving out awards recognizing board members and staff. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 28th. Award Nominations and Skin Cancer Grant application forms are available on our website.

This event is FREE. It is also an important opportunity to receive positive local publicity. Contact the office for help with a press release.

We encourage you to set up display tables to let legislators know more about what your board is doing for your community. Contact the office to reserve a table (no charge) The Great Hall is a large space, and if we are to send a strong message about local public health, we need your participation.

Board of Health Recognition Day was established in 1995 to honor the volunteers who serve their communities on local boards of health, and recognize the contributions of exceptionally dedicated staff. It is an opportunity for board members to share ideas about innovative programs, and inform legislators about local health issues.

Governor Swift has received notification from Tommy Thompson, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, that federal funds will soon be made available to states for public health preparedness efforts against biological threats. These funds are intended specifically to upgrade infectious disease surveillance and investigation, enhance the readiness of hospital systems to deal with large numbers of casualties, and expand public health laboratory and communication system capacity.

State implementation plans are to be submitted between March 15^th and April 15^th. The DPH will be establishing two advisory committees: The State Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program Advisory Committee and the Hospital BioPreparedness Planning Committee. These committees will include state and local officials and representatives of a range of public and private sector entities. MAHB has been invited to name a representative and alternate to each committee.

MAHB has contributed $500 to the Alexandra Dawson Legal Education and Action Fund which was established in late 2001 by the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC). In a letter of thanks, MACC President George A Hall Esq. wrote, “This fund was established in 2001 to honor Alexandra for her dedication to the law and her many unselfish contributions to the Commonwealth as a leader , scholar, teacher and friend. Many of the activities and programs widely associated with MACC are possible only through the generosity of attorneys like Alexandra who provide pro bono consultation and written commentary. When fully funded the Dawson Fund will allow MACC to build on this strong tradition and significantly enhance our leadership role in protecting the Massachusetts environment.”

MAHB’s executive board voted unanimously to contribute to this fund in appreciation for the countless hours of pro bono service which Alexandra also has given to MAHB, including presentations at MAHB programs and authoring the Title 5 Chapter of the MAHB Legal Handbook for Local Boards of Health.

MAHB is a proud member of the Massachusetts Environmental Collaborative.
This group brings together over fifty organizations from around the commonwealth to improve our combined research,
advocacy and communication capabilities. The member organizations include local land trusts, coastal protection groups,
environmental justice organizations, watershed associations, and other resource conservation and environmental health groups.

Collaborative Membership spans the state from the Berkshires to Cape Cod, bringing small grassroots organizations together with sizeable regional groups. Participation in this diverse coalition affords organizations and their members the opportunity to dramatically increase their impact on state environmental policy. The following is the latest news bulletin from the Collaborative.

The Environmental Justice Bill (now S.2243) passed the Senate in a unanimous vote today at 3pm! There was a little scurrying around prior to the session start when Senator Magnani suggested a 14-page amendment to the bill, but Senator Wilkerson made sure it was defeated before it was even brought to the floor. During the session, Senator Wilkerson presented the bill, its purpose, and its urgency.

Thanks to everyone for making calls to your Senators, it made all the difference!

bill (H.3772) was on the calendar Feb. 12th, and considered by the Senate this afternoon. Senator Lees, the Minority leader from Longmeadow, questioned the $500 fine included in the bill -- and succeeded in having the bill tabled until the next Senate session, which has not yet been scheduled.

In a strange twist, the enforcement bill was put off until the next Senate session when Senator Lees, the Minority leader, asked for postponement. We're working to find out the reason for the delay, and will keep you posted if any action is needed.

Will the suburbs destroy the land or can we have both? How can we offer affordable housing and keep the vistas? Mark Bobrowski will answer these questions and address other pressing issues facing Groton and surrounding towns today. This free lecture will be held on Tuesday,

Professor Bobrowski, attorney and acclaimed land use planner, is the author of the Handbook of Massachusetts Land Use and Planning Law. He has written extensively on issues affecting municipal government. A member of the New England Law School faculty since 1986, he has worked with communities across the region on community growth control, economic development, and resource protection. If you care about preserving the land and want to understand the alternatives available for creative land use, you will not want to miss this evening.

The lecture is the first of a three-part series entitled Conservation Conversations: The Land and Us that will continue on Tuesday, March 19, with author Jane Brox (Here and Now and Five Thousand Days Like This One: An American Family History) who will discuss life on her family's apple farm in Dracut, MA. The final program on Tuesday, April 9, will feature author Diana Muir (Reflections on Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England) focusing on the ecology of one pond in Newton MA and how humans have impacted it. All programs will be held in Sibley

Hall Meeting Room on the Mid-Level and begin at 7:00 PM at the Groton Public Library. The library is handicapped accessible.

This series is sponsored by the Nashua River Watershed Association, the Groton Public Library, the Groton Conservation Trust, and the Town of Groton Planning Board and is made possible by a grant from the Groton Trust Funds' Lecture Fund. To register or for more information, please call Al Futterman, Nashua River Watershed Association at 978/448-0299 or

Between February 10 and February 23, you can exchange your mercury thermometers for safer digital thermometers at Walgreens, Brooks, Stop and Shop Pharmacies, and independent pharmacy locations across the state. As part of the Keep Mercury From Rising effort, participating pharmacies have agreed to voluntarily remove mercury thermometers from their shelves.

The Keep Mercury from Rising campaign is an EOEA initiative to reduce mercury. Visit http://www.stopmercury.com to find out about participating pharmacies near you.

"Getting to Smart Growth: 100 Policies for Implementation" is a new publication in the ongoing smart growth series from the Smart Growth

This 100-page resource serves as a "roadmap" for states and communities that have recognized the need for smart growth, but are unclear on how to achieve it. The document provides ten policy options to achieve each of the ten Smart Growth Principles endorsed by the Smart Growth Network.

For example, to achieve the smart growth objective of mixed land uses, communities are offered policy options ranging from efforts to encourage employees to live near their work, to the adoption of parallel building codes to foster more innovative design, to the conversion of declining commercial centers into mixed-use developments.

Each policy is supported with "Practice Tips" which offer additional resources or brief case studies of communities that have applied the approach to achieve smart growth. A matrix demonstrates how each policy can achieve multiple smart growth objectives.

The publication is available free of charge online at www.smartgrowth.org or www.epa.gov/smartgrowth. A free hard copy may be obtained by contacting Juanita Smith at 202-260-6226 or via email at mailto:smith.juanita@epa.gov, or by faxing your request to 202-260-0174.

Director, MA Environmental Collaborative
Environmental League of Massachusetts 14 Beacon Street, Suite 714 Boston, MA 02108

Several people reported that they never received their Primary Certificates. Further investigation showed that they had passed the exam, and certificates were mailed to their town hall in the first week of January, but they were apparently lost in the mail. If you completed and returned your exam but never received your certificate, please send an email to benes@mahb.org. Replacement certificates will soon be in the mail.

FY'02 cuts to public health and mental health programs continue, and the revenue picture is

looking increasingly bleak. In addition, both the House and Senate are currently looking at and voting on revenue enhancement options. We have to let them know, this week, that there is a constituency supporting efforts to raise new revenues. Legislators are telling us that they need to immediately hear from their constituents about this!

1. CALL LEGISLATORS THIS WEEK- It is time to organize your board and staff members, health departments, community supporters and consumers to flood the legislature with phone calls or letters to both their senators and representatives. (The Senate will be voting on potential new revenue options the week of Feb. 11th.) To find out who your legislators are and how to contact them, visit <http://www.state.ma.us/LEGIS/citytown.htm> . Or you can call 617-727-7030 or 1-800-392-6090. Whether you call or send a

letter, the message you may want to convey is simple: (Please don't use this exact wording if you write a letter-and fax it to them if you can.)

I am contacting you because I am very concerned that our state's budget crisis is hurting public health and mental health programs, which I strongly support. I urge you to support proposals to raise new revenues to offset health and human service cuts during this recession. These revenue options may include (name the ones here you feel most comfortable with) implementing a freeze on the income tax rollback, closing the capital gains tax loophole for the wealthy, using all of the tobacco settlement dollars to support

health programs, continuing to tap into the "rainy day fund", supporting the "Health Now! cigarette tax, and any other innovative revenue options that are available to us.

Sign your name and give your full address and telephone number. If you call, ask to speak directly with your Senator and Representative. If (s)he is unavailable, ask who in his/her office you can leave your message with.

2. WRITE LETTERS TO THE MEDIA- Legislators avidly read their local newspapers to stay in touch with the opinions of their constituents. Letters to the editor are an extremely effective and underused means of influencing public opinion. Over the next 1-3 weeks, try and organize at least 3 letters per week in your local newspaper by different people. Also send these same letters to the Boston Globe and Herald. To find out the name of and contact information at your local newspaper, visit these websites: <http://www.weeklynewspapers.com/reviews/massachusetts.html> or <http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/usmassac.htm> . Attached are some media resources and a sample Letter to the Editor. If you can get the editor to write a story, that's great too! Call your local newspaper and ask to speak to the editor. They are always looking for new story ideas!

3. LINE UP PROVIDERS AND CONSUMERS from your programs who would be willing to speak with the media about the importance of public health and your programs. It is likely that the media will want to speak with them to help make their stories interesting. Don't wait until the last minute to do this! Reporters need to turn around stories on a moment's notice, and they may call you in response to all the Letters to the Editors.

Sponsored by Mass. Department of Public Health, American Cancer Society,Mass. Association of Health Boards, Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention,Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

March 16th 8:00 am to 6:30 pm
Curry Student Center
Northeastern University Boston
www.toxicsaction.org/events.html

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Tanning Beds

Science - Reuters News StoriesNews PhotosAudio/VideoFull CoverageAll of Yahoo!

Science | Reuters | Space.com | AP

Tanning Beds, Lamps May Double Cancer Risk - Report
Wed Feb 6,12:24 PM ET
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tanning beds and tanning lamps may more than double the risk of cancer, and the effect is the worst in the young women most likely to use them, researchers said on Wednesday.

The researchers suggested use of the devices be limited to adults, and anyone who uses a tanning bed perhaps should be required to sign a consent form acknowledging the risks.

The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is one of several that strongly link the use of tanning lamps with skin cancer.

Dermatologists are not surprised by this -- in order for the skin to tan it has to be damaged. Tanning is the skin's response to the damaging ultraviolet rays given off by the sun and tanning lamps and beds.

In the United States, more than a million people develop two types of skin cancer, known as basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma, every year. Both are easily cured if caught early.

Margaret Karagas of Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire and colleagues interviewed 603 people who had just been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma and 293 with squamous cell carcinoma.

Researchers asked the study's participants how often they sunbathed, whether they ever had a sunburn, if they smoked or underwent radiation treatment and whether they used tanning lamps.

Everyone they spoke with was between 25 and 74 years old and lived in New Hampshire.

Those who said they had used a tanning lamp or sunbed were 2.5 times as likely to be in the squamous cell carcinoma group, and 1.5 times more likely to be in the basal cell carcinoma group, as those who said they had never used the devices, Karagas found.

"Our findings suggest that the use of tanning devices may contribute to the incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancers," researchers wrote. Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer.

Karagas and her colleagues considered that the study participants who used tanning beds may have sunbathed as well, thus raising their risk of skin cancer from the sun. So they accounted for sunbathing in the report.

But, they said, "no other factors, including summer outdoor exposure, sunbathing or sunburns, affected our results."

The very people who are warned to stay out of the sun were the ones most likely to use the tanning devices, they said.

"Study subjects who reported using tanning devices were more likely to be female, to be 50 years of age or younger, to (be) sun-sensitive ... to have more painful sunburns and to have sunbathed more than four times per year," the study said.

As with sun exposure, the risk of cancer built over time. Those most likely to have developed skin cancer had first used the tanning devices decades earlier.

"Given that recent studies have found that up to 51 percent of high school-aged girls report using a commercial tanning bed at least four times in the past 12 months, suggestions have included preventing minors from using these devices and requiring written informed consent from adults seeking to use them," the researchers concluded.

Skin cancer is on the rise throughout the developed world. The lighter someone's skin, the higher the danger of skin cancer, and doctors say there is no such thing as a "healthy" tan.

People used to believe UVA rays from the sun and tanning lamps were harmless, but that was shown to be false and sunscreens now protect against both UVA and UVB rays.