-: Welcome to week five of Environmental Public Health.
In this presentation, I'm going to give a brief overview
of environmental health policy.
Some of this may be familiar to you if you have a background
in environmental science or even political science
but it will ensure that we're all
on the same page going forward.
We often think of policy as being synonymous with law
but it encompasses a lot more.
Policies can exist at the international level
in the form of law, treaties or agreements.
At the national and state levels,
policies exist as law and regulations.
Policies that can positively or negatively affect health
can also exist on a much smaller scale,
such as in communities, for example,
investment in public transport, or even in workplaces,
such as providing onsite showers
for those commuting by bike.
Legislation is a word that is used
for law before it has been enacted,
but sometimes the term is also used
to refer to laws collectively.
Federal laws are bills that have passed
both houses of Congress, been signed by the president
or have been passed over the president's veto
or allowed to become law without the president's signature.
Individual laws, also called acts are arranged
by subject in the United States Code.
For our purposes, the term statute simply refers
to a law enacted by a legislative body of a government
whether federal or state.
Bear in mind that the US Constitution is the formal system
of primary principles
and laws that is the foundation of our government.
So no federal or state law may violate it.
Federal laws or statutes enacted
by the United States Congress must be followed
by every state in the country.
If a state law contradicts the federal law,
the federal statute preempts the state law
and therefore, the state will be required to abide
by the federal statute.
However, federal laws do not cover all areas of the law
and in those instances, state or local laws will control.
So similarly, within a state, the state constitution
represents the highest legal authority.
The state may then enact state statutes,
which apply to everyone within the state.
State statutes cannot violate the state constitution,
the federal constitution, or federal law.
So regulations are authorized by statutes
and are developed and enforced by executive agencies.
Regulations are sometimes called rules
or administrative laws, and they have the effect of law.
Someone violating a regulation
is in effect violating the law that created it.
Regulations are designed to increase flexibility
and efficiency in the operation of laws.
Many of the actual working provisions
of statutes are embodied in the regulations.
So most regulations are developed and enacted
through a rulemaking process, which includes public input.
So agencies hold open meetings
and public hearings and allow citizens to participate
in the creation of the regulations.
Participation in the process is extremely important
but it's often overlooked by citizens.
It provides a unique opportunity
for citizens to influence and shape the rules directly.
So most regulations are in effect
for only a limited period of time
and they have to be updated or reenacted on a regular basis.
Federal regulations are arranged by subject in the Code
of Federal Regulations, so you can always look there
if you are interested in a specific one.
So generally, remember that laws are written by legislators
while regulations are written
by government agencies to provide details
about how the laws are carried out.
I shall also briefly mention executive orders.
Executive orders have the force and effective law
and are generally issued by the president
of the United States to provide direction
to federal agencies and officials.
Executive orders are not legislation
and don't require approval from Congress.
Okay, bear with me.
Let's just cover a few more definitions quickly.
So in the field of public health,
guidelines and recommendations predominate
and these are not legally binding.
For example, the Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practices provides recommendations
on the childhood vaccination schedule.
You aren't breaking any laws
if you don't follow the recommendations
unless there are separate immunization laws in your state.
Local governments, including county
and municipal governments, enact laws,
often called ordinances via specific powers granted
to them by the state.
County, and municipal ordinances apply
to everyone within the county or municipality limits.
These ordinances cannot violate state or federal laws.
For example, bans on smoking in bars and restaurants
were first passed as local ordinances
and have been very successful
in reducing exposure to secondhand smoke.
Common law is sometimes called judge made law
and it consists of the rules of law that come
from the written decisions of judges who hear
and decide litigation or lawsuits.
So judges are empowered to make these decisions
by the constitution and statutes,
and when a judge decides a case
and publishes a written decision,
the decision becomes the precedent
for future litigation or lawsuits.
And finally, strategic plans are a form of policy
that provide a framework for government agencies, businesses
or nonprofit organizations to plan,
budget and assign accountability for measurable outcomes.
So next, I'm gonna walk through a few examples
of international treaties, national laws, regulations,
executive orders, and guidance or recommendation
that are related to environmental health.
Let's start with an example of an international treaty.
The Paris Climate Agreement
is a legally binding international treaty that entered
into force on the 4th of November 2016.
The agreement set long-term goals to guide nations,
including substantially reducing
global greenhouse gas emissions to limit emissions
to the point where the global temperature increase
in this century will only be two degrees Celsius
while also pursuing efforts to limit the increase
to only 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Also, reviewing countries' commitments every five years
and providing financing
to developing nations to mitigate the effects
of climate change, strengthen resilience
and enhance abilities to adapt to climate impacts.
Today, 194 parties, which include 193 member states
of the United Nations, as well as the European Union
have joined the agreement.
I've also listed a couple other examples
of international treaties on the slide.
Next, let's take a look at some major US laws.
So legislation is enacted into law
to fund programs and requires
or restricts actions of individuals and/or institutions.
For example,
the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation,
and Liability Act, referred to as CERCLA,
provides a federal superfund,
superfund as in a lot of money, to clean up uncontrolled
or abandoned hazardous waste sites, accident spills
and other releases of pollutants.
This law also gives the EPA the power
to seek out the parties responsible
for the pollution to ensure site cleanup.
I've listed a whole bunch
of other major US laws that are important to public health.
If you're interested in environmental health as a career,
then I recommend
that you take a little extra time to familiarize yourself
with these laws, but you don't need to memorize any facts
about them at this point.
So remember that regulations are authorized by statute
but written by a government agency.
For example, Congress enacts legislation,
which gives the Food and Drug Administration
the responsibility to write regulations,
which are the details
of how the legislation will be carried out.
The example here is the FDA's Egg Safety Regulations,
which give instructions to industry
on how to produce, store and transport eggs.
The regulations are designed to prevent illnesses
and deaths caused by the consumption
of eggs contaminated with salmonella.
I've also included a couple
of other examples of regulations on the slide.
Some executive orders are also important
to public health and environmental health.
Executive Order 12898 was issued
by President Clinton in 1994.
Its purpose is to focus federal attention
on the environmental and human health effects
of federal actions on minority
and low-income populations with the goal
of achieving environmental protection for all communities.
Specifically, it directs federal agencies to identify
and develop a strategy
for implementing environmental justice
and promoting non-discrimination
in federal programs that affect human health
and the environment, as well as to provide minority
and low-income communities access
to public information and public participation.
In addition, the executive order established
an inter-agency working group
on environmental justice that's chaired
by the EPA administrator and comprised
of the heads of 11 departments
or agencies and several White House offices.
Two other examples of executive orders relevant
to environmental health are listed here.
Finally, a federal agency or advisory committee
may provide guidance or recommendations.
This is a way to communicate the current scientific thinking
to practitioners or to industry.
For example, the FDA has guidance to industry
to help phase out the use of medically important antibiotics
in food animals to help address antimicrobial resistance.
However, guidance and recommendations
are not legally binding.
This wraps up the examples
of environmental health policy that I wanted to share
with you today.
Please feel free to reach out
if you have any questions about the different types
of environmental health policy that we've covered
in this lecture.