Category: Health

From Environment News Service / Jan. 7, 2024

Tons of munitions, DDT and petrochemicals were dumped for decades in deep ocean basins off the coast of Los Angeles, scientists from three California universities are discovering. This dumping is known to have happened from the 1940s until 1972, when the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, also called the Ocean Dumping Act, came into force, and the chemicals are still there.

County health officials have issued an advisory for Dog Beach in Ocean Beach as bacterial levels exceed health standards and which advises people — and dogs — to avoid water contact in that area. The advisory is from the San Diego River outlet to 300 feet south.

The advisory was issued Saturday, January 6, 2024 and was part of an updated water contact closure and advisory list starting Sunday for county beaches..

Water contact closures have been issued for the following locations due to bacteria levels exceeding health standards:

As virulence rises, medical providers across the nation have gradually begun to tighten their procedures, cutting back on visitation of hospitalized patients and increasingly requiring masks, according to a recent report from the Associated Press.

More U.S. hospitals are requiring masks and limiting visitors as health officials face an expected but still nasty post-holiday spike in flu, COVID-19 and other illnesses.

Point Loma Nazarene University’s inaugural class graduates 28 students.

By Paul Sisson / San Diego Union-Tribune / Dec. 18, 2023

They came to the stage one at a time, trailing parents, siblings, spouses and significant others who took white coats from a rack, holding them up as the graduates shrugged into them, getting a feel for a new level of responsibility in the medical world. And just like that, Point Loma Nazarene University minted its first 28 physician assistants Friday,

Beginning Dec. 9, fireworks will return to the sky over SeaWorld.

Dubbed “A Christmas Wish Fireworks Show” it will return every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in December. And beginning Dec. 22, the show will take place daily through Dec. 31.

The loud explosions will begin 10 minutes prior to the park closing at 10:30 pm. Special fireworks displays will be held at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 9 to kick off the Mission Bay Boat Parade, as well as at 9 p.m. Dec. 31 to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Local residents have been complaining about the fireworks for years

There’s a county water advisory in place for OB’s Dog Beach — to include 300 yards south of the mouth of the San Diego River.

Bacteria levels exceed health standards and humans — and dogs are advised to avoid water contact in the advisory area. (See here.)

The advisory at Ocean Beach – Dog Beach has been in place since Nov. 29.

Other advisories for the following beaches are also in place:

40 years ago a group of surfers from Malibu, California, were concerned about the health risks associated with environmental threats posed by escalating coastal development at their favorite surf spot. They took action. Not even they could have envisioned the history they were making when they succeeded in protecting their beloved surf spot.

Since its inception in 1984, the Surfrider Foundation has evolved into one of the largest non-profit grassroots organizations with a volunteer-activist network dedicated to its mission to protect and enjoy the world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Today, the Surfrider Foundation has over 200 chapters and student clubs …

By María José Durán / San Diego Magazine / Nov. 21, 2023

Some Californians rejoice when rain falls—but surfers aren’t among them. San Diegans have known for a long time that swimming in the ocean after a storm is a risk to their health, since runoff can send contaminants streaming into the sea. But recent discoveries are bringing to light that swimming or surfing in bacteria-contaminated water is no longer the only way to get exposed. Just walking on the beach—or merely existing near the coast—can make people sick.

Roll Up For Cannabis Equity – A Monthly Column

By Terrie Best

I met Wade years ago at a cannabis activist meeting and he stood out when he volunteered to host a seed exchange for patients who would like to grow for themselves. That generosity, very typical of Wade, eventually morphed into a really fun activist action at the first ever Cannabis Row at Earth Day in Balboa Park.

Earth Day is held every year around April 20th which of course begs for a cannabis presence. The legal market had begun to flex its PR and marketing muscle beyond the back pages of The Reader and Cannabis Row at Earth Day goes down in San Diego history as one of the first mainstream weed events. A win. After all, it was 2017!

by Dave Schwab / Peninsula Beacon / November 2, 2023

Members of Ocean Beach Community Garden, who just held their annual fall festival on Oct. 21, are actively recruiting new membership.

“This summer we experienced a lot of turnover, and we are now collaborating on exploring options to revive membership,” said spokesperson Melva Gitana-Monsivais, who discovered the community garden, tucked away at 2351 Soto St., via Google. “We hope to get the exposure to keep plots filled and empower the community’s efforts in growing gardens.”

by Shreya Agrawal / CalMatters  – Times of San Diego / October 22, 2023

Gov. Gavin Newsom last week passed on a chance to limit the use of the so-called “forever chemicals” in legions of plastic products when he vetoed a bill that would have banned them in synthetic lawns.

His veto of an environmental bill that overwhelmingly passed the Legislature underscores California’s convoluted guidance on the plastic turf that some homeowners, schools and businesses use in place of grass in a state accustomed to drought.

Roll Up For Cannabis Equity

By Terrie Best

For this Roll Up column I thought I would go farther back in San Diego cannabis time to the late 2000’s when people powered the cannabis movement.

To help, I used a multi-year collection of NUG Mag, a cannabis focused magazine co-founded by San Diegan Dion Margraaff (RIP). Dion was a long-time cannabis and hemp activist not just in San Diego but across the globe. He was a proponent of hempcrete in construction, a man who carried the torch for legalization as a way to save the planet, relentlessly engaged politicians for compassion and was an all around good steward of the earth. We lost him in 2021.