The Slow Poisoning of India is a short documentary that reflects upon the environmental hazards posed by the continuous release of chemical substances to the environment. This has been as a result of use of modern pesticides by farmers. With India being one of the largest users of pesticides in Asia, it is quite clear then that the magnitude of chemical release into the environment has been high. This combined with the slowly fading influence of the Green Movement in Punjab has not made the issue any lighter. Increase in levels of pollution and neglect by authorities and concerned groups have led to the rise in diseases among the population. The major impact has been on the children who have been exposed to poisonous substances from the environment at young age. This has affected the future of the health of the population in India. In fact research has indicated that in 10 to 15 years, 30% of the population in India will be ailing from chemical poisons related diseases (Haigh, C., & Jackson, D. 2010).
This documentary has though focusing on India, offers the situation on the ground in most countries across the globe. The US is one of the most industrialized countries in the world. New York in particular, harbors a large number of these industries. Chemical use in industries has been increasing as modern methods of production are invented on every other day. On the other hand chemical release into the environment has been increasing at alarming rates. This has not only put the population at risk, but also compromised the value of healthy in the whole country.
Environmental activists and groups have not taken the required initiatives to connect with the legislature to pass laws that can help curb the probable hazards that come with environmental poisoning. In as much as environmental activists would lobby with legislature to write, sponsor and support these bills, the Nursing Organization has not done its part. This is despite the fact that they have first hand information on the health hazards that these chemicals would have on the population in general. It is part of their duty to engage with all arms of the government at both state and federal level to ensure a healthy population (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2013).
On May 22nd 2013, the senate introduced the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (S.1009) which was meant to reauthorize and modernize the Toxic substances Control Act which among other things meant to improve the safety of consumers in the US while also ensuring that the risks from the chemical substances are sufficiently understood and managed. The bill was introduced by Mr. Lautenberg and had the backing of American Chemistry Council that represents most companies within the US. The bill was however rejected and referred back to the Committee on Environment and Public works where it was to be amended as the concerned groups could not reach a consensus about the effectiveness of the bill. Currently the bill lies with the committee and since then, the committee has not reported it back as it engages stakeholders to ensure a fine bill that would again the acceptance and support of majority to bring it into effect (GovTrack.us 2013, May 22).
The nursing organization should take a close look of this bill as it has several clauses that would effectively address the issues concerning chemical use by industries and their effect to the environment and health of the population in general. Despite the current issues that led to its rejection on the floor of the house, the bill needs just few improvements and it would be a major step towards ensuring better health. As nurses it is our duty to lobby for support of this document upon its amending. We should also engage in fine tuning the whole document so that we can offer first information of the effects of chemicals on the health and environment base d on our experience of the correlation between the two.
The fact that the bill proposes the testing of new chemicals and gives the Environmental Protection Agency authority to ban those that are deemed high risk is enough reason to support the bill. We need agencies that have authority to prevent hazards rather than just regulate. Our role as nurses is enshrined in our clinical practice guidelines (GovTrack.us, 2013, May 22). We do not only offer health care directly but it is also paramount that we offer solutions that would help reduce health problems in the society. This would be a major breakthrough if we engage and lobby for its support upon amendments.
Globally, the issue of testing products to determine their risk to the health of the population and the environment has always caused a major struggle between concerned stakeholders. While environmental and health experts feel there is a need to test and ban those products that pose high risks, companies feel that it is a fight against invention of new products. It is therefore important that the nursing organizations worldwide engage with organizations such as United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and organize global forums that would discuss and make up recommendations to ensure safer products for consumption and that with little effect on the environment. While most countries especially in less developed countries do not consider these issues on environment as a crisis, it is important that we engage them to help understand the effects of chemicals on environment and subsequently on health.
It is important to understand that the environment holds the key to good health. We breathe the air from the environment and the food we eat is a product of our environment. It therefore makes sense that protecting the environment would form the basis for a healthy population. There are several policies that I would consider to ensure safe environment and hence better health. Firstly, companies worldwide need to be held accountable for the effects that their products have on environment and health. Secondly, there must be regulations and consequences for those companies that contravene these regulations. Organizations and agencies concerned with environmental safety need to ensure that in their respective countries, the regulations suggested in across global forums are enacted in their constitutional laws that govern environmental safety.
References
GovTrack.us (2013, May 22). Text of S. 1009: Chemical Safety Improvement Act (Introduced version) - GovTrack.us. Retrieved November 10, 2013, from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1009/text
Haigh, C., & Jackson, D. (2010). Advances in contemporary nursing: Workforce and workplaces. Maleny, Qld: eContent Management Pty Ltd.
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (2013). New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Retrieved November 10, 2013, from http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/environmental/environmental.shtml
