California law controls whether a local health officer declares or proclaims a public health emergency in order to exercise special protection powers.
An emergency is any situation where people need to act right away to prevent or lessen a bad thing from happening that puts people’s health, property, or the environment in danger.
Human Biomonitoring (HBM)
Human biomonitoring (HBM) is the only way to find and measure human exposure and risk, figure out how harmful effects happen, and find out if exposure reduction measures are needed.
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The local health officer or designee in California has the authority to declare a Local Public Health Emergency in response to imminent and close threats to human health and safety under Section 101080 of the California Health and Safety Code.
This rule was just changed to include the introduction of any disease that can be spread or is contagious, as well as any chemical agent, biological agent, toxin, or radioactive agent.
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In addition to his other jobs as medical director of Golden State MD Health & Wellness, researcher, and author, Dr. Sumchai is on the board of directors for the UCSF Medical Alumni Association.
