CIEH launches environmental and public health manifesto

12 March 2010

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has called on the next government to urgently help millions of people living in excessively cold private homes and to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent.

Launching their election manifesto, the CIEH stated that there are 2.1 million private sector dwellings with excess cold hazards in England.

CIEH Executive Director Tim Everett said:

"Improving thermal insulation; particularly for the elderly and vulnerable; hits all the right buttons by improving health and acting on CO2 emissions from the domestic sector.

"Acting on this will keep people in their own homes and out of hospital."

The manifesto calls for ‘immediate action' to mitigate and adapt to climate change that poses a threat to public health. The UK, it says, must slash CO2 emissions by 40 per cent by 2020.

Mr Everett said the evidence on climate change was mounting and could not be safely ignored.

"Climate change is occurring. While there have been recent stories questioning the authenticity of some climate change models – the underlying evidence is clear.

"Further delays in tackling CO2 emissions will fundamentally affect the health and wellbeing of our population," he said.

The manifesto aims to influence the next government and the new intake of MPs. There will be a larger than usual intake of new MPs, because of the number of those standing down, many in the wake of the expenses scandal. Prime Minister Gordon Brown must hold a general election before 6 June.

Mr Everett said:

"We must ensure that preventative environmental health practice remains a key priority for government, both nationally and locally.

"The result of this election will define the next decade for all of us. Whoever wins, the debt mountain will have a considerable effect on the landscape in which environmental health operates."

Among other priorities, the manifesto requests:

•The next government to implement the six policy objectives set by the Marmot Review, including strengthening the role of ill health prevention. EHPs, it says, can play an important role in delivering improved public health and reduce health inequalities
•A new, national Public Health Forum of all stakeholders could, the manifesto states, lead and advise the next government to effectively implement the Marmot Review recommendations
•Firm action on children's health, by ensuring effective controls of sunbeds, along with teaching a better understanding on diet, nutrition and food safety from an early age
•A truly national scores on the doors scheme and a more understandable and consistent system of food labelling to help consumers look after their health
•The UK must comply with legal standards for fine particles and nitrogen dioxide and establish clear and enforceable standards for contaminated land

The CIEH wants to promote policies that would bring about a step change in environmental and public health provision. The manifesto makes the case for an enhanced role for environmental health professionals in tackling the environmental conditions in which ill-health and health inequalities thrive.

The manifesto builds on the CIEH policy themes for 2010-2012 which centre on equipping EHPs to deal with the public health implications of climate change; improving and protecting health and dealing with health inequalities; helping the economy through promoting and protecting good business and through smarter use of regulation; and supporting the goal of safe and decent homes for all.

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