Medical students get four to five hours training in environmental medicine.

by Nick
(Montreal)

Scary.

I started reading this article at CNN.com because of it touches on an interesting topic – the long-term study of how phthalates can impact our health.

It’s a great interview between Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Philip Landrigan.

The interview is well worth reading from beginning to end.

But what really surprised me was the following:

“Landrigan: I think there's growing appreciation for this work. You know, historically, most medical students have had very little training in environmental medicine. The average is about four or five hours, in most medical schools across the country. And so most doctors know about lead poisoning; most doctors know about the environmental triggers of asthma, but beyond that their knowledge base is a little thin, and often they don't have much appreciation for environmental problems.”

Here we are, in a world awash with toxins, and when it comes to the training doctors receive, they spend only between four and five hours on environmental medicine.

Put another way, I know more about the health dangers of exposure to plastics than my family doctor does.

Scary indeed.

Read the full article here...