» Fluoride talk raises controversy

By Amanda Lam ‘08 and Amy Chen ‘09

CHI recently invited two speakers to Cornell to discuss the heavily debated topic of fluoride content in public drinking water. Dr. Quanyong Xiang, from the School of Public Health at Fudan University, works for the Jiangsu Province Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China. The other speaker, Dr. Paul Connett, is from St. Lawrence University.

Dr. Xiang has studied the Wamiao and Xinhuai area to examine the effects of fluoridated water on intelligence and IQ. In 2003, his research team associated fluoride levels as low as 1.8 ppm in drinking water to higher levels of mental retardation and lower levels of IQ.

Dr. Xiang’s main research concern is on “endemic fluorosis”; Dr. Xiang cites 100 million people in China living in endemic fluoride areas, 38 million people with dental fluorosis, and 2.8 million people with skeletal fluorosis (which cripples the back and causes other bone problems). Of the three major causes of fluorosis in China, 1. brick tea, 2. coal burning (for internal heat, cooking, etc.), and 3. public water supply, Dr. Xiang and his research team have eliminated the first two causes and now believe the third cause to be the sole cause for the fluorosis existing in the two villages. The team used Combined Raven’s IQ Test to test the IQ of the villages’ children and found that the IQ of the children in Wamiao is lower than that of Xinhuai. They report no significant association between the IQ of the children and the income level of their parents, nor did they find any significant association between the IQ of the children and their parents’ education levels.

The Chinese government is financing the development of deeper wells so that the villages can stop drinking from the shallow water, which contains greater amounts of fluoride. On average, the water in China contains 1.8 ppm of fluoride. In the U.S., fluoride exists in 0.7-1.2 ppm, but Dr. Connett argued that this is equally dangerous because Americans on average use far more substances with fluoride content, such as toothpaste.

In the 1950s, the U.S. Public Health Service announced its endorsement of fluoride in public water to prevent tooth decay, but Dr. Connett claims that their decision lacked any backing by real research on the effects of fluoride on the rest of the human body. The U.S. Health Service maintains their stance today. 1/3 of American children have mental fluorosis (even kids who do not live in fluoridated areas), with 6% having mild symptoms and 2% having moderate symptoms.

Authors’ notes: Dr. Quanyong Xiang gave the main presentation while Dr. Paul Connett filled in as people started to ask questions. Dr. Connett gave the introduction to Dr. Xiang and concluded the event. He recommended the following two resources: 1) Fluoride Deception by Chris Bryson, and 2) http://www.fluorideaction.net/. While the talk stirred people’s interest, one complaint about the talk was that it was biased towards one side of what is actually a very controversial issue. Dr. Connett espoused a strongly anti-fluoride stance, and Dr. Xiang gave a more neutral view on the subject, but none of the speakers represented the pro-fluoride position.

» AIDS Conference fosters dialogue

The AIDS Conference held on December 2, 2006 quickly became a lively interaction between AIDS activists, researchers, faculty, and students. Guest speakers included an ambassador from the US Global AIDS Office. The conference concluded with a performance by WAIT.

» Young Leaders Summit on Global Health recap

By Ben Solomon ‘09 and Alisa Mo ‘08

“Be unreasonable. Fail. Stick it to the Man. Every time we speed up, we save lives; every time we slow down, people die.” This was the message of Ira Magaziner, keynote speaker and chairman of the policy board for the Clinton Foundation, last week at the Americans for Informed Democracy (AID) Summit on Global Health. The conference, hosted by New York University, was envisioned and enacted by several local students and was designed to address the challenges in creating public health awareness throughout the general public. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and young professionals from around the country were invited to participate in several panel discussions and small group work sessions.

Throughout the conference, many strategies for promoting global health were discussed. Of particular interest were the methods used by the “Veto the ‘Squito’” campaign, a joint effort by AID and the Love Hallie Foundation to provide malaria relief and awareness. In addition to the traditional town meeting, the strategies used by this organization ranged from international real-time web conferencing to local “pajama parties” where participants sleep under bed nets and watch films that discuss the face of malaria in the world today.

An additional theme throughout the conference was that of what students and young professionals can do themselves in improving health care crises around the world. In his keynote address, Magaziner explained that one must challenge themself and make sacrifices in order to have even the smallest of impacts on alleviating health inequality. In addition, one must also be wary to collaborate and work together with others of similar resolve, lest one create a myriad of fractured organizations that end up competing for the same common goal. Finally, Magaziner emphasized the importance of creating lasting change in developing countries that is self sustainable. No country can be dependent solely on the aid of others; each must ultimately by responsible for its own fate.

Here at CHI, we must consider Magaziner’s message. Our project board must be careful to not act as a stand alone organization; we must work with established groups to streamline our goals. Our journal must not simply repeat that which has already been said; we must listen to other’s ideas and expand upon them. At CHI we feel that we are poised to follow such ideals as in the coming months we will be working with other universities around the country to launch a nation wide network dedicated to global health discussion and action.

Other speakers included Paul Zeitz (Global AIDS Alliance), Carolyn Makinson (Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children), Andre-Jacques Neusy (New York University), Michele Barry (Yale University), Aakanksha Pande (Windows of Hope), Michelle McMurry (Biomedical Science and Society Initiative), Allan Clear (Harm Reduction Coalition), Pete Kellner (Richmond Management), Alessandra Durstine (American Cancer Society), and Paul Zeitz (Global AIDS Alliance).

» New Global Health Minor at Cornell

By Aditya Shirali ‘08

Aspiring students of global health will have a new minor to help them gain a more focused and dynamic understanding of health problems that transcend national boundaries. Next year, the new Cornell University Global Health Program will offer a Global Health minor to any interested and capable students.

This new program involves faculty from Weill Cornell Medical College, and the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Human Ecology, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Engineering, and Veterinary Medicine, and seeks to “create a sustainable and innovative university-wide Global Health research and training program at Cornell University that engages undergraduate, graduate, and medical students and faculty from multiple disciplines to solve problems of global health,” according to Dr. Rebecca Stoltzfus, program director for the Ithaca Campus.

The program is being established in collaboration with the Weill Cornell Medical College, where Dr. Warren Johnson is the program director. The new minor will be available to both undergraduate and graduate students interested in integrating their knowledge of human and veterinary medicine, nutrition, engineering, agriculture, or any other discipline with a strong desire to address global health issues. The new program will not only provide a means of learning about global health on campus, but will also provide students with very applied and interactive programs through internships and research opportunities abroad.

Cornell University provides numerous opportunities to broaden one’s knowledge of global health issues through various organizations and classes. In fact, there are so many opportunities that students often feel overwhelmed and may not know how or where to start cultivating their own interests in global health.

The Global Health minor seeks “to integrate and publicize the substantial strengths that already exist in global health at Cornell, including outreach, teaching, and research,” says Dr. Stoltzfus. The minor would be one of the first steps in helping students early in their careers to form solid links between their various interests and global health. The beauty of the Global Health minor is in its multidisciplinary capacity to blend the many fields of study offered at Cornell University with global health problems. The minor will allow students with virtually any major within the four colleges, to pursue a study of health problems across the world with the aim of addressing multidisciplinary solutions.

It will consist of a 200-level gateway course, a problem-focused course that will address global health issues through a variety of different perspectives, and additional elective courses that would be a total of approximately 15 credits. The approved elective courses will be a selection of both existing and new courses designed for the minor. Over time, a seminar level course will be added to the curriculum. The new curriculum will take advantage of the infectious disease expertise of faculty at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and set up video-conferencing sessions with professors at the medical school. Lectures will be designed to give students an integrated approach to global health, with clinical lectures from the medical school and social and natural science lectures from the Ithaca campus.

In addition, the minor will include the possibility global health research and internships abroad. Students will be encouraged to participate in rotations in well established Cornell faculty research sites in Bangladesh, Ghana, Tanzania, Peru, and Brazil. Students interested in more bench-lab research, however, can take advantage of the minor’s connections with the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and Weill Medical College of Cornell University to participate in internships and research in fields such as tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, or parasitic diseases.

The Global Health minor is still being designed and structured. Prior to seeking approval on a college by college basis, program coordinators are developing student and faculty advisory boards to seek opinions about the structure of the minor. The advisory boards are currently looking at several models of minors at Cornell University and other universities to make a strategic decision about the flexibility and structure of the minor. Once a consensus is reached, coordinators will work with the administrations of several colleges to approve the minor.

Students are encouraged to communicate their ideas and suggestions about the Global Health minor to the program coordinators. If they have any comments or suggestions for the curriculum, they should contact Dr. Rebecca Stoltzfus, director of the Global Health program, or Ms. Jeanne Moseley, the Global Health program coordinator.