The FDA made a preliminary determination that partially hydrogenated oils (the primary dietary source of trans fat in processed foods) are not "generally recognized as safe" for use in food. Their review of the research has led them to conclude that consuming trans fat raises LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, and increases the risk of coronary heart disease. The FDA opened a 60-day [...]
Our Newborn Screening Program ensures that each newborn is tested for 28 inherited disorders and hearing problems. The goal is to help kids avoid illness, developmental delays and even death by quickly identifying problems and swiftly letting their doctors know so they can implement interventions. On any given day our newborn screening team tests from [...]
You may have noticed some new faces around the ADHS the past few months as we have been hosting visiting Professors from Korea, Japan, and this coming year from Singapore. The two Professors who are currently working with us are Dr. Sungwoo Moon from Korea University and Dr. Taro Irisawa from Osaka University in Japan. They’re Emergency Physicians [...]
Our core environmental health responsibilities include administering the statewide public health sanitation program for food safety, bottled water, hotels and motels, children’s camps, public schools, and public and semi-public swimming pools. We delegate most of the actual inspection work to the county health departments. We finished our 2012 statewide Annual Report last week. Last fiscal year [...]
The ADES & Magellan of Arizona have developed a new Foster Care Toolkit to help foster families navigate the support system that’s available for foster families. It’s a one-stop guide connecting them to resources to make their job a little easier. The Toolkit includes information to help current and prospective foster parents connect with community resources [...]
One of the ways we create good public health interventions is by studying outcomes. This week, the 20th Annual Child Fatality Review report came out- which examines all 854 deaths of children under the age of 18 in 2012. The Report reviews the circumstances of each child’s death, determines preventability and makes recommendations to save children’s lives moving forward. Although the number [...]
Guest blog by Jessica Rigler, Bureau of Epidemiology and Disease Control 11th Annual Valley Fever Awareness Week Valley Fever is a lung infection caused a fungus in the soil here in Arizona. People get it by breathing in Valley Fever spores in the air. Most people will have no symptoms or recover after a few [...]
A Complaint was filed against the ADHS and others last week. It’s called a “Request for Declaratory Judgment and Permanent and Preliminary Injunction”. It basically asks the Court to declare that: 1) extracts and resins from the marijuana plant are protected in the definition of “Useable Marijuana” under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act; and 2) dispensaries, patients, caregivers, [...]
Our Vital Health Statistics team along with our partners at the UA College of Public Health completed our Year 2 Annual Report for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Program last week. You’ll find a wide range of information in the report including data about the demographics and kinds and qualifying conditions of our cardholders, geographic distribution [...]
Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Arizona. Most of the new diagnoses of the disease are late stage. Discovery in late stage reduces the chance of survival. There’s really no reason for people to die from it – research shows colonoscopies that find polyps can dramatically reduce the chance of [...]
