NIEHS Seeks Community Engagement Partnerships

Jan 19 Deadline. As a follow-up to a Congressional hearing in September 2007, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is planningto develop a unified program referred to as "Partnerships forEnvironmental Public Health" (PEPH). The intent of the program is to support a variety of research, outreach and education activities to prevent, reduce, or eliminate environmental exposures that may lead to adverse health outcomes in communities, with the active engagement ofthose communities in all stages of the work.

NIEHS currently envisions that this program would build upon the strengths of past and current research programs, as well as trans-NIH program announcements in this area, and:

* support hypothesis-driven research that engages community partners;

* support research to improve the theories and methods for working withcommunities to address environmental health concerns; and

* develop, implement and disseminate educational and outreach materials for usein communities.

To establish a vision for the PEPH Program in an appropriate and responsive manner, the NIEHS is seeking input from the lay public, environmental health researchers, healthcare professionals, educators, policy makers and others with a vested interest in the effects ofenvironmental exposures on public health. The NIEHS released a Request for Information (RFI) - posted online at http://www.blogger.com/ -with six open-ended questions that will help the institute advance itscommitment to environmental public health.

Please take a few moments to complete the questions in the RFI. You can send your responses to Mr. Liam O'Fallon (ofallon@niehs.nih.gov) byJanuary 19, 2008. The following are easy ways to submit your responses:

1. Download interactive Adobe Acrobat form that can be completed and submitted electronically;

2. Copy and paste the questions from the RFI into the body of an e-mail message and send your responses to ofallon@niehs.nih.gov ; or

3. Mail or fax your responses in a letter to the attention of Mr. O'Fallon (address provided in the RFI).

If you have questions about this Request for Information (RFI), please contact Mr. Liam O'Fallon ofallon@niehs.nih.gov. Please reference the RFI in your subject line.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE JOURNAL

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE A New Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal will be launched in the Spring of 2008. Call for Papers on: human health and the environment, occupational health, science and technology, land use, public policy, urban planning, legal history as it pertains to environmental justice, sociology and anthropology of environmental health disparities.

Environmental Justice will focus on the legal challenges threatening and adversely affecting our health and well being, especially minority and low-income populations. These challenges will continue to grow as more attention and social responsibility is directed toward redressing inequitable environmental practices and hazards. Legal challenges and lawsuits to ensure prevention of harmful policies, projects, and developments are within its purview, as are issues of compliance and enforcement, activism, and corrective actions.

Environmental Justice is a law journal but it extends to industry and public policy. Legal challenges abound, in both the public and private sectors. Studies that demonstrate the adverse health affects on populations who are most subject to health and environmental hazards are pertinent, as well as the complicated issues inherent in remediation, funding, relocation of facilities that pose hazardous risk to health, and selection for new locations. Questions of legalities in relation tothese concerns will be anticipated and discussed.

Environmental Justice will be published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR MANUSCRIPTS TO THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF FOR CONSIDERATION FOR THE INAUGURAL ISSUE NO LATER THAN JANUARY 10, 2008. There will be a web-based manuscript submission system up and running by January 1 (seewebsite above ) or you can submit your papers directly to the Editor-in-Chief at: drswashumuc@aol.com