Prum

As public health pertains to the Pesticide Neighbor Notification ordinance, I think the town has done a good job. However, there is more that can be done. Many residents are unaware of the ordinance.   Education has got to be the next step in making the ordinance work.

Hailer

I've led a healthy lifestyle that includes a focus on nutrition and moderate exercise. Being a Marin native, I've come to expect clean air and water as givens and would resist any attempts to degrade their quality. As a mother, I've become increasingly diligent in watching what products my family consumes and I'm still trying to figure out how to clean my whole house with vinegar and baking soda! I garden organically and grow my own vegetables. We are looking into adding chickens to our list of pets (dog, cat, fish) for natural pest control and fertilizer, as well as a source of eggs. At San Domenico School, my husband and I have contributed to sustainability efforts by working in the garden and constructing and donating worm boxes.

If elected, I will push for bike and pedestrian safety in the downtown and residential areas. Residential areas face problems due to narrow streets, lots of cars and the lack of sidewalks. Specific ways I see achieving this goal would be revisiting the use of speed bumps, lowering speed limits and enforcing sidewalk easements. Along with Public Safety, goes disaster preparedness and I'll push for development and promotion of such plans.

Bragman

I would say my most direct involvement in the public health arena has been through my law practice. Over the years, I have tried my best to focus on matters that do have some public impact. I recently finished a case in which I obtained compensation for a consumer who was seriously injured by contaminated herbal medication. This matter involved state of the art research into this evolving area of public health. While herbal remedies have found new popularity in the United States, they are the predominant form of treatment in many ethnic communities. In the world at large, the vast majority of people still rely on herbal remedies. These products are completely unregulated with often disastrous public health consequences. My office successfully traced a manufacturing error in this case to the provider of the product in China. We retained the services of a renowned specialist in Hong Kong and established proof of the toxic error which injured my client. The manufacturer eventually stopped marketing this particular product. I have also handled many product liability and other cases which have impacted public health. I am a member of the California Consumer Attorney and the American Trial Lawyers Association which both focus of public health consequences of products and services to consumers.

Over the next four years I would like to see a reestablishment of governmental regulation of herbal medicines in order to assure quality and purity. I would also like to see the FDA take regulatory oversight not only of prescription drugs but of chemicals that are broadcast into the environment without regulation. We are living in the midst of a breast cancer and prostate cancer epidemic. Our bodies, and those of our children are the repository of toxins that we are exposed to in our daily lives. We need to address these issues through regulatory mechanisms in order to reform the market, detoxify the environment and regain consumer confidence in a real way. The gain in public health will offset any costs associated with this process.

Weinsoff

My most important work on public health issues during the past 3 years was as the lawyer for a young father and husband who got sick because his employer didn't provide him with appropriate safety gear. As a welder, he inhaled significant amounts of Hexavalent Chromium, an extremely dangerous chemical. As a result of the lawsuit, the company took significant steps to implement safety programs providing protection to its workers in excess of current industry and governmental standards.

Strict enforcement of health and safety requirements coupled with the "precautionary principle" advanced by advocates of sustainability offer a two-pronged approach to public health concerns. Health and safety laws provide a foundation for environmental protection, while a broader more precautionary consideration of environmental dangers offers the opportunity to step-back from the chemical threats of a modern society. In practice, I would like to see both approaches brought to the table in the Town's effort to protect our kids from the threat of lead poisoning. Until the late 1970s, lead was an essential component in house paint. Many of our homes still contain this public health menace, typically encased under layers of newly applied lead-free paint. Unfortunately, when significant home renovation is conducted, the leaded paint is revealed and by sanding and other removal practices released into the air, soil, and water. I would like to see greater attention to this practice by contractors as well as greater education for parents. Compliance with the law and precautionary steps by homeowners can effectively control a danger to our children.

Tremaine

I served on the council committee, with Frank Egger, which wrote and introduced our Pesticide Notification ordinance and defended that ordinance when the State of California challenged it. We won. I am a firm believer in the Precautionary Principal and believe it should be the cornerstone of public policy. If something (cell phone towers, for instance) might cause a risk to public health, then the public should not be subjected to it. As the former Program Director of the Campaign for a Heather Community for Children, and a volunteer with that organization for over a decade, I have worked to provide multi-generational activities of all kind in our community. I have insisted that the Pavilion Renovation Plan address the recreation needs of people of all ages.