Public Health

Re "Iran accuses 2 doctors of ties to a U.S. plot," Jan. 20 I was a collaborator, colleague and friend of Kamiar Alaei during his time at the Harvard School of Public Health. The charges brought against the two brothers are absolutely ridiculous, given their known dedication to the public health of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the world at large. Kamiar and Arash pioneered what became a world-acclaimed program in Iran for harm reduction toward HIV/AIDS. Both brothers were dedicated to sharing this model with other Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries.

Fifteen hospital workers have been fired for looking at medical records of octuplet mother Nadya Suleman without permission. Kaiser Permanente spokesman Jim Anderson said Monday the violations of privacy laws were reported to the state Department of Public Health. He said an additional eight employees were disciplined for accessing the files at Kaiser's hospital in Bellflower, where Suleman gave birth to the octuplets Jan. 26. Hospital officials do not think any information was shared with the media.

Anti-smoking advocates celebrated Tuesday's 20th anniversary of California's groundbreaking tobacco-control effort by releasing a slew of data showing that cigarette use is continuing its steep decline in the Golden State. Data released by the state Department of Public Health show that smoking rates among adults have declined 41% since voters approved the California Tobacco Control Program, which instituted a 25-cent tax per pack on cigarettes that has funneled 5 cents a pack to tobacco control.

Emergency contraception: An April 6 article about teenagers and the morning-after pill stated that a recent survey done by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health found that nearly 25% of pharmacies were providing emergency contraception to teens without a prescription. That number refers to the state of California, not just L.A. County, and was cited in a study done by UC San Francisco researchers, not L.A.'s Department of Public Health.

Re "Iran alleges Internet-based plot to weaken government," April 12 Iran's detention and conviction of Iranian American journalist Roxana Saberi is undoubtedly groundless and disturbingly arbitrary. In past months the Iranian government has shuttered human rights advocacy centers, banned groups with Western ties and jailed countless activists, journalists and scientists, including Kamiar and Arash Alaei, whose participation in international AIDS conferences and information-sharing with foreign doctors landed them in Tehran's Evin Prison nine months ago. Treating AIDS is not a crime, and neither is talking about public health.

Public health officials Wednesday reopened Inner and Outer Cabrillo Beach after determining that 3 million gallons of treated wastewater discharged into Los Angeles Harbor from a nearby treatment plant did not contain harmful chemicals or bacteria. Public health officials closed the beach Tuesday after the Los Angeles City Terminal Treatment Plant accidentally discharged wastewater, which already had been treated for harmful waste products, into the harbor. Officials were concerned that some of the water may have flowed to the public beach.

The first three cases of swine flu in Los Angeles County were confirmed Saturday, health officials said. The virus was found in a Cal State Long Beach student who started having flu-like symptoms last weekend, as well as in two other specimens that were sent to a laboratory for testing, said Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, the county's director of public health. Fielding said late Saturday that he did not have any additional information on the other two patients, but they apparently were not related to the student in Long Beach.

How hot is swine flu traffic on Twitter? A recent survey from Nielsen Online put swine flu at 2% of all Twitter conversations, making it an even bigger topic than British singing star Susan Boyle. But don't believe every tweet. Public health experts say the Internet can be an important source of information on the H1N1 virus, but you need to know who's at the helm. "In the current swine flu situation, some [sources] are alarmist, where others present a more balanced picture of concern," says Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, director of communicable disease control and prevention for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and a professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health.

GREENSPACE Town's asbestos crisis The EPA declared a public health emergency in Libby, Mont., on Wednesday after decades of asbestos-related diseases and deaths in the tiny community. Hundreds of people there have died and thousands have been sickened by a poisonous legacy of mining. W.R. Grace & Co. and its officials were acquitted in May of charges that officials knowingly concealed the dangers of mining asbestos-contaminated vermiculite. The company supplied more than 70% of U.S. vermiculite, a mineral used for insulation, from 1919 to 1990.

Two studies released Wednesday have linked toxic air pollution in Southern California to high cancer rates and complications with birth. Exposure to traffic-generated pollution increased the risk of major complications and premature birth, a report published in Environmental Health Perspectives online concluded. By measuring pregnant women's exposure to chemicals emitted by local traffic, the researchers concluded that the risk for preeclampsia, a condition that can lead to maternal and perinatal death, increased by as much as 42% at the highest exposures.