ZWZ Chair Laura Turner Seydel Calls for Action

Lisa Jackson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, visited Atlanta in April to voice her message on the importance of the health implications from our common every day practices, in the private and corporate communities. Jackson, the keynote speaker last week at a Children’s Health Town Hall at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, says the EPA’s job is to protect the health of adults and children by safeguarding air and water and promoting clean communities. 

Laura Turner Seydel,
Dr. Robert Geller

The EPA recently named Emory and Georgia Tech as one of four new EPA Clean Air Research Centers and awarded $8 million to the new Southeastern Center for Air Pollution and Epidemiology (SCAPE) center. Center directors Paige Tolbert from Emory and Armistead (Ted) Russell from Georgia Tech will lead programs aimed at quantifying health effects from air mixtures containing toxic pollutants and studying the specific effects of toxic air on commuters, pregnant women, newborns, and adults with cardiac illnesses.


Zero Waste Zone Chairperson, Laura Turner Seydel was instrumental in creating the groundbreaking Children's Heath Town Hall Meeting.  At the meeting Laura called for “zero waste zones” in homes, churches, and offices, and the outlawing of toxic chemicals to help create “zero toxic waste zones” in the bodies of adults and children.


For more details on the town hall meeting, visit the Emory | Health Now blog post, EPA  Administrator Jackson leads town hall on children’s health.


Laura's call to action signals the next dimension of the ZWZ program that will focus on toxic-free environments and health impact of corporate operating practices.  Stay Tuned as the important work is just beginning!