Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) works with scientists, the media and public health organizations to promote widespread awareness of new advances in scientific understanding of connections between the environment and health. They gather, organize and publish links to original articles in the news about environmental health from around the world, and highlight new discoveries just published in the scientific literature and translate them into language accessible to reporters and a broader public. They also meet with scientists to identify new, emerging science, help researchers determine which aspect of their work is most press-worthy, and assist them in translating the science into language journalists can understand and report on accurately.

This is important because rapid scientific advances are revealing dramatic new opportunities to protect public health by reducing environmental exposures. These advances represent a true revolution in how we think about the environment’s impact on health. Diseases and disabilities once considered unrelated to environmental causes are emerging as candidates for prevention through environmental protection. Achieving that promise, however, won’t be possible without broadening public understanding of how wide the gap is between current scientific knowledge and the antiquated systems currently in place to protect public health.

Support from the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation is enabling Environmental Health Sciences to expand its network of scientists contributing to EHS publications, strengthen its ability to work with reporters on emerging scientific findings, and plan, build and promote a significantly enhanced version of its principal website, which will be based upon a new approach to content management facilitating rapid customization of information dissemination.

For more information visit: www.environmentalhealthnews.org

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