In this issue, NEHA President Larry Ramdin explores the legacy of the environmental health practice. Every day, we continue a story that began centuries ago: a story of resilience, innovation, and professionals who care enough to act to protect their communities.
This column reflects on a pivotal moment in the history of the Journal of Environmental Health as it transitions from print to a fully digital publication. While acknowledging the nostalgia and significance of ending the Journal’s 88-year print tradition, the author explains the financial, technological, and sustainability factors that led to the decision. Further, the column traces the Journal’s evolution from its origins as The Sanitarian in 1938 to its current role as a leading environmental health publication, highlighting milestones such as the adoption of peer review, digital publishing, and open-access availability. The author also outlines several recent and future innovations. Emphasizing both stewardship and progress, the column affirms the National Environmental Health Association’s commitment to advancing environmental health knowledge while adapting to the changing needs of readers, researchers, and practitioners in an increasingly digital world.
In this column, the authors describe the development of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s (ATSDR) Public Health Assessment Training (PHAT) Curriculum, a comprehensive web-based platform designed to strengthen workforce capacity for conducting public health assessments (PHAs) at hazardous waste sites. Recognizing the increasing complexity of environmental exposures, contaminant mixtures, and data analysis, ATSDR created the PHAT website as a centralized hub for training, guidance, tools, and continuing education resources. Organized around 10 core professional competencies, the curriculum supports learners at varying levels of expertise through introductory modules, topic-specific resources, webinars, and advanced technical materials. The platform integrates more than 100 training resources and offers continuing education opportunities to support professional development and certification requirements. By improving access to standardized, science-based training and practical tools, the PHAT curriculum enhances workforce competency, promotes consistency and rigor in environmental health assessments, and supports more effective public health actions to protect communities from environmental exposures and associated health risks.
Healthy and Safe Swimming Week 2026 highlights the importance of preventing swimming-related illnesses, especially diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidium contamination in pools and aquatic venues. Environmental health practitioners play a key role in promoting safe swimming practices and supporting the use of the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The MAHC provides science-based guidance for pool design, operation, and response procedures. Because Cryptosporidium can survive for days in properly chlorinated water, diarrheal incidents require immediate action, including hyperchlorination or supplemental disinfection methods. This column emphasizes that swimmers with diarrhea should avoid pools until 2 weeks after symptoms end. It also encourages aquatic staff and environmental public health professionals to remain vigilant in preventing contamination and educating communities about healthy and safe swimming behaviors.
This column shines a spotlight on success stories from the field of environmental public health. These stories enable us to learn from our peers and provide an avenue to incorporate successful programs, innovative solutions, and unique approaches to our own programs and initiatives. This issue’s column showcases the journey of a local jurisdiction with the Food and Drug Administration’s Retail Program Standards.
This issue’s Direct From ATSDR column highlights work led and supported by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on metal-induced genotoxicity, telomere biology, and toxicological profiles, emphasizing how these support efforts support community health protection, risk assessment, and prevention strategies.
In this issue, NEHA President Larry Ramdin explores the role of professional organizations in advancing the environmental public health profession. From credentials and advocacy, to global collaboration and addressing modern challenges, he highlighs how these organizations strive to support our profession.
This column explores the role of bioaerosol monitoring as a valuable component of environmental monitoring programs in food processing and retail food environments. While surface sampling identifies the presence of contaminants, bioaerosol monitoring helps determine how contaminants are dispersed and transported through the air, providing critical insights into contamination sources, cross-contamination risks, and the effectiveness of ventilation systems. The authors describe the scientific principles underlying bioaerosol sampling and distinguish between air sampling, which captures conditions at a specific point in time, and air monitoring, which tracks changes over time. The article reviews passive and active sampling methods, compares their advantages and limitations, and outlines commonly used monitoring instruments and protocols. By incorporating bioaerosol evaluations into environmental monitoring programs, environmental health professionals can better identify contamination pathways, strengthen preventive controls, and develop more effective corrective actions to improve food safety and public health protection.
In his final column, President Larry Ramdin reflects on a year of service to the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), expressing gratitude for the opportunity to lead and advocate for the environmental health profession. He emphasizes the importance of elevating public understanding of environmental health professionals as scientists, educators, investigators, and protectors of public health rather than solely regulators. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples, Ramdin highlights the profession’s often-unrecognized contributions. The column also celebrates significant accomplishments during his tenure, including the publication of key guidance documents, the launch of new professional development initiatives, expanded educational offerings, and strengthened international partnerships. While acknowledging ongoing challenges in increasing awareness among local government leaders, Ramdin expresses confidence in the profession’s future and gratitude to NEHA members, staff, and leadership for their support and dedication to advancing environmental health.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) achieved full conformance with all nine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards in 2024, supported largely through NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model grants. Funding enabled the hiring of a full-time standards coordinator, creation of a statewide Community of Practice, and development of inspector training modules to improve consistency and collaboration among food safety agencies. MDA also launched a mentorship program to strengthen onboarding and staff retention. Building on this success, MDA and the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing are leading a new Midwest Regional Food Standards Network to expand partnerships, share resources, and strengthen retail food safety systems across jurisdictions. Additional initiatives include a Skills & Auditor Inventory to connect agencies with subject matter experts and experienced auditors. The program emphasizes collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement in environmental health and food safety practices.
In this issue’s Building Capacity column, we publish the first part of a 4-part series that explores environmental health modernization and the foundational support modernization requires. This part looks at workforce capacity as the hard contraint.
In part 2 of the People, Pipes, and Population series, the author examines the often-overlooked infrastructure dependencies that underpin environmental health modernization. While agencies increasingly rely on digital tools, cloud-based platforms, and data-driven systems, these advancements depend on aging and fragile water and power infrastructure that was never designed to support today’s technological demands. Drawing on recent events—including the 2021 Texas power crisis; the 2022 Jackson, Mississippi, water system failure; and the 2023 Maui wildfires—the column illustrates how disruptions to essential utilities can quickly cascade into public health emergencies and hinder environmental health operations. The author argues that modernization efforts must be paired with resilience planning, as power outages, water disruptions, and connectivity failures can undermine inspection programs, laboratory operations, and emergency response capabilities. Looking ahead, the column calls for a broader understanding of capacity building that accounts for infrastructure vulnerabilities and emphasizes that environmental health’s future rests on the interconnected foundations of people, pipes, and population.
The world continues to change quite rapidly in 2026. In this issue’s Building Capacity column, the author looks at our profession throught the lens of a futurist’s view and provides a set of predictions related to the practice of environmental health.
This column presents tricks of the trade from a group of authors with over 300 years of experience in environmental health. In this issue’s column, the author explore the differences between HACCP (hazard analysis critical control point) and HARPC (hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls) plans to help ensure retail food safety.
In this column, the authors examine how strategic partnerships and innovative staffing approaches strengthened environmental public health emergency preparedness in North Carolina. Supported through the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the initiative addressed longstanding preparedness challenges, including limited staffing capacity and competing operational priorities. A temporary staffing model enabled dedicated personnel to focus exclusively on preparedness activities during nonemergency periods, resulting in the development of guidance documents, training programs, tabletop exercises, and online preparedness resources. These tools were actively used during subsequent emergency events and gained interest beyond North Carolina. The authors highlight the staffing model’s flexibility, efficiency, and scalability, demonstrating how targeted investments in workforce capacity and interorganizational collaboration can strengthen preparedness infrastructure. The column presents a replicable framework for integrating environmental health into broader emergency preparedness efforts and enhancing community resilience.
As we continue our mission to build, sustain, and empower an effective environmental health workforce, the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) is excited to publish the Voice From Your Association column to share our valuable insights and expertise on key issues shaping our field. Aligned with our vision of healthy environments, protected communities, and empowered professionals, this column serves as a space to engage our community and extend our influence in advancing the environmental health profession. In this first column, the author explores how we can build the environmental health profession to face the challenges ahead within our profession.
Environmental health professionals increasingly need tools to evaluate the health impacts of exposure to multiple environmental contaminants rather than individual pollutants. This column highlights the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s third annual Environmental Epidemiology Methods Workshop, which introduced innovative statistical and machine learning approaches for analyzing complex environmental mixtures. The workshop featured methods such as weighted quantile sum regression, Bayesian kernel machine regression, and other machine learning applications that help researchers identify interactions among multiple pollutants and better characterize their combined effects on human health. The column also emphasizes the importance of workforce development by providing environmental public health practitioners with access to emerging analytical methods and training resources. By strengthening applied environmental epidemiology capacity, these educational initiatives can help environmental health professionals generate more robust evidence, improve data-driven decision-making, and better inform public health actions addressing complex environmental exposures.
The Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides scientifically based recommendations that state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) public health partners can use to ensure healthy and safe experiences in public aquatic venues. Our study aimed to characterize MAHC use and implementation and identify facilitators and barriers to MAHC use across STLT jurisdictions. A mixed-methods approach was used, combining a web-based survey with virtual focus groups that included public health professionals from STLT health departments working on aquatic venue safety, regulation, and inspection. In total, 88 participants from 35 STLT health departments completed the survey that was distributed to 13,887 recipients via CDC-administered and nongovernmental listservs. In total, 47 (53%) respondents reported using the MAHC to justify existing code, 34 (39%) to provide guidance for sections not covered in their code, and 31 (35%) to grant code exceptions. Further, 13 (15%) respondents reported they frequently incorporate or have adopted the MAHC in full, and 34 (39%) reported they do not incorporate the MAHC but are considering incorporating the MAHC into code. Facilitators to MAHC use included the need for updated regulations, political will, and collaboration. Barriers included slow regulatory processes, resource constraints, and insufficient staff training. MAHC users indicated that an up-to-date MAHC provides flexibility for jurisdictions to adopt or reference it to best fit jurisdictional needs. Overall, MAHC use varies, and a multifactorial approach beyond code adoption might be needed to measure MAHC use. Moreover, implementation and adoption tracking support could improve MAHC use. Respondents generally agreed that the MAHC should be kept up-to-date, but that future update cycles could extend beyond every 3 years.
In his first President’s Message, NEHA President Scott Holmes shares a firsthand account of his investigation into a suspected plague outbreak in a North Dakota prairie dog colony to illustrate the knowledge, training, and professional relationships that prepare environmental health professionals to respond to unexpected public health emergencies. The story demonstrates how a strong scientific foundation, continuing professional development, and collaboration with trusted colleagues enabled an effective response to a high-risk situation. It also highlights the important role organizations such as NEHA play in building workforce competency and fostering professional networks. Ultimately, the column reminds readers that investing in education, training, and collaboration equips environmental health professionals to protect public health when it matters most.
This column presents tricks of the trade from a group of authors with over 300 years of experience in environmental health. In this issue’s column, the authors provide an overview on the evalution of air quality.
