General

Here you will find topics ranging from current events that affect public health in Arizona to overall information about the Arizona Department of Health Services

Political Convention Food Tested by Our Lab

By |2017-02-10T09:51:00-07:00September 11th, 2012|General|

Our State Lab performed chemical and biological surveillance testing on food samples from the Republican National Convention.  We were selected to participate in the testing because of our reputation and previous experience working with the Food Safety Inspection Service for the detection of biological and chemical agents in food.  The samples arrived at the State Laboratory [...]

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Long-Term Weight Loss

By |2017-02-10T09:51:00-07:00September 7th, 2012|General|

Lots of people tell me it is easy to drop pounds quickly when starting a diet. Keeping that weight off long-term seems harder. Particularly for older women, natural declines in energy needs after menopause make long-term weight loss even more challenging. Traditional behavioral treatments for obesity have focused on calorie intake and have poor long-term [...]

Our New e-Public Health Classroom

By |2017-02-10T09:51:01-07:00September 6th, 2012|General|

I’ve mentioned in previous posts about how I’d like to build more bridges between the Arizona’s academic public health infrastructure and Arizona’s public health system.  After all- our goal is to use evidence-based practices to drive our interventions- and the U of A’s expertise at the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health is a [...]

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Community Water Fluoridation – An Evidence Review

By |2017-02-10T09:51:01-07:00September 5th, 2012|General, Prevention|

I've written a few times about fluoridation - about it being an inexpensive public health intervention and the benefits of fluoride when the EPA and HHS changed the how much they recommend to add to the water supply. But it's always an interesting topic to revisit. Recently, the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College [...]

Breastfeeding & Cannabis

By |2017-02-10T09:51:01-07:00September 4th, 2012|General|

Some AZ health care providers and parents have asked questions about whether medical marijuana is safe for use while breastfeeding.  The short answer is no, because the active chemical in marijuana is passed to the baby through breast milk. For this reason, most experts, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC advise moms not to use marijuana [...]

Dispensary Drawing Procedures Report Published

By |2017-02-10T09:51:01-07:00August 31st, 2012|General, Licensing|

We carefully planned our processes for randomly selecting medical marijuana registration certificates in competitive districts to make sure the process was fair and transparent.  Part of our planning included contracting with Henry & Horne, LLP to independently observe the entire process.  The contract included a requirement to develop a final report documenting their observations.  The [...]

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Think Before You Ink

By |2017-02-10T09:51:01-07:00August 31st, 2012|General|

Many of you have probably seen the signs around town about the Tattoo Expo that is happening this weekend in Phoenix.  Tattoos have been growing in popularity over the past decade, but that doesn't mean they’re completely safe. Recently there was a recall of tattoo ink because the ink was contaminated with an unusual (and stubborn)  bacteria [...]

New “Home-Grown” ITS Programs

By |2017-02-10T09:51:02-07:00August 28th, 2012|General|

Team ITS delivered and deployed 2 more new web modules for the Medical Marijuana application this week: the 1) dispensary agent processing module; and 2) a new version of the Verification System which more efficiently facilitates card verification for law enforcement officers and employers in real time.  Thanks much to everyone who assisted in the development of these modules. From ITS, [...]

Tattoo You 2

By |2017-02-10T09:51:02-07:00August 23rd, 2012|General, Preparedness, Prevention|

Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released information about an infection some folks were getting because of the ink used in their tattoos.  It reminds me that there are some good practices that folks who want tattoos can ask their artist about - I wrote about it last year in Tattoo You? Regardless [...]

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