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Environmental Health

3 articles

Zip Codes as Diagnoses: How Non-Health Policies Drive Chronic Disease Across American Communities

Zip Codes as Diagnoses: How Non-Health Policies Drive Chronic Disease Across American Communities

Chronic disease in America is frequently treated as a medical problem requiring medical solutions, yet a growing body of peer-reviewed evidence demonstrates that its root causes lie substantially outside the healthcare system—in housing codes, food access infrastructure, transportation networks, and the architecture of economic inequality. This analysis examines case studies in which policy interventions far removed from clinical medicine produced measurable reductions in disease burden, and arg

Invisible Contaminants, Absent Regulations: Confronting the Microplastics Threat in US Drinking Water

Invisible Contaminants, Absent Regulations: Confronting the Microplastics Threat in US Drinking Water

Mounting scientific evidence confirms that microplastics are pervasive in American municipal and private water supplies, yet no binding federal regulatory standard exists to limit their presence. This analysis examines the widening chasm between detection science and regulatory action at the US Environmental Protection Agency, draws instructive comparisons with European legislative frameworks, and advances a set of evidence-grounded policy recommendations for closing this gap before irreversible

From Copenhagen to Cleveland: A Five-Point Evidence Framework for Climate-Resilient Urban Health in American Cities

From Copenhagen to Cleveland: A Five-Point Evidence Framework for Climate-Resilient Urban Health in American Cities

European municipalities have accumulated a compelling body of evidence demonstrating that strategically deployed green infrastructure meaningfully reduces heat-related mortality, respiratory disease burden, and mental health strain among urban populations. American cities now face analogous environmental health pressures but must navigate distinct regulatory, financial, and demographic landscapes. This research synthesis translates peer-reviewed findings from European urban health studies into a