>> So if you take a look at this slide, and
actually this is, I've done an awful lot of teaching at Hopkins.
But I've never had a lecture that included anything about strippers.
Until this.
So, here is a slide, actually from today's news.
And this could be in the paper on any given day.
EPA identifies health concerns from chemical used in paint strippers.
Now paint strippers, we've probably all used them.
We know that they're an important part of a,
from cleaning graffiti off the sides of buses and subways.
To redoing, like I like to do, old oak furniture and refinishing things.
But we also know that the chemicals that we've used for solvents and
stripping have certain volatile organic components.
That may cause health effects.
And sure enough,
one that is a common chlorinated component of paint strippers was, just today.
As you see in the slide EPA released their assessment of it.
And here's something in very common use, used for cleaning and
stripping and, and getting grease off metals and things like that.
That has health implications for literally hundreds of thousands of workers.
And probably millions of consumers around the world.
On the other hand, there are benefits to having paint strippers, and so
how do we manage these?
This is a tough one.
But this is an example of a regulatory agency,
of a science agency, doing an assessment and putting information out there.
Because I hope one of the key messages about this course has been
the more information we have about health effects.
The more we understand how chemicals move through the environment.
How we're exposed to them.
The better we can do on a societal level and
a personal level because there are concerns about health effects.
>> And a key point here too as Tom said, workers and consumers, so
again that occupational health piece.
I think many of us are thinking about our own personal use,
but that workers are at an even more heightened risk.
In terms of that they are interacting with this on a daily basis in
their employment every day.
>> And it's not necessarily just industry workers.
Probably more than a few of you have wondered as you sat by the copy machine.
Whether things that perhaps are coming off the copy process are exposing you to
harmful chemicals.
So this is a, an issue that it's important to understand.
And it's important to put in perspective.
From a prevention perspective,
it's important to understand how we use chemicals, how we're going to market them.
And how were going to control exposures because of the health issue.
And so, for
the next slide I wanted to actually, bring you back to my own personal past.
To something that was perhaps even today after a long career in
environmental health.
One of the more moving times in my life as a scientist and
as a public health professional.
So here you see a clipping from a New Jersey newspaper.
From August of 78.
A long time ago.
I was a young public health professional and
I was leading the investigation of a cluster of leukemia.
Now you know we've probably talked about the challenge of clusters in this course.
And people's concern, particularly with childhood cancers and
how chemicals in the environment may be related.
One of the more moving things that I've ever done was to
interview the parents of Jimmy.