NSW Health investigating head of the sexual assault service
Sky News can reveal Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's Dr Jennifer Martinez's recent appointment to the senior position is now under review.
NSW Health is investigating Dr Martinez after she referred online to her peers as 'Zio doc flops', 'Zimbo', 'butthurt Zio doctors', 'Zionist extremists', 'Demons', and 'gronks'.
Dr Jeremy Goldin from the Alliance Against Antisemitism in Healthcare says Dr Martinez's language is concerning for someone in her role.
When contacted by Sky News, Dr Martinez said: 'No response, thank you.'
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The Age
18 minutes ago
- The Age
Blue Mountains residents could reduce PFAS by donating blood, GPs told
A NSW Health webinar on PFAS for general practitioners painted the forever chemicals as low risk for human health and discussed whether patients should reduce exposure by donating blood, while researchers have found 21 new PFAS types in Sydney tap water, on top of what was previously known. Ahead of its own expert panel reporting on the latest evidence on PFAS and public health, which is expected imminently, Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant hosted an hour-long webinar with six other experts in late July to guide GPs and health practitioners in the Blue Mountains in 'supporting patients with concerns about PFAS exposure'. Professor Nick Buckley, an expert in clinical pharmacology at the University of Sydney and one of six presenters besides Chant in the webinar, said the levels of PFAS exposure in humans were mostly 'tiny traces' and there was limited or no evidence for a strong link with human disease, including cancer and high cholesterol. 'People should not be getting terribly worried about PFAS – I know that's a really hard thing,' Buckley said. 'There's a lot of reasons to think that we're spending a lot of time on something that actually isn't very important for people's health.' The webinar presented a case study of a 60-year-old woman who wanted to know if her high cholesterol was due to her high PFAS levels, measured at 19 nanograms per millilitre of blood for PFOS, 2 ng/ml for PFOA , and 11 ng/ml for PFHxS. If she were in the US, her total PFAS levels of 32 would be above the threshold of 20 set by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) and she would be given further testing and screening. Professor Alison Jones, executive director at the Sunshine Coast Health Institute, told the webinar that she would focus on the patient's cholesterol and cardiovascular risk. 'I would not be doing anything about the PFOS, PFOA or any other thing that starts with P and has F to follow – because of relative risk,' Jones said. PFAS – or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a family of synthetic chemicals prized for their resistance to heat, grease and water, and used in a wide range of everyday products such as stain-resistant fabrics, cleaning products and firefighting foams. They are often dubbed 'forever chemicals' because they don't break down naturally, and can persist in the environment and human body for decades. NASEM has conducted a systematic review of the evidence and found that certain PFAS, specifically PFOA, are carcinogenic to humans. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified PFOA as carcinogenic to humans and PFOS as possibly carcinogenic. However, Buckley said the NASEM guidelines on sensible screening for an individual were 'pretty terrible' and amounted to a recommendation that patients should have cholesterol testing, which was already routine. He noted that the 'strongest conclusions' that PFAS was carcinogenic came from IARC, but said this was 'just some subgroup of the WHO', not WHO itself.
Sydney Morning Herald
18 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
PFAS: New forever chemicals found in Sydney Water
In 2018, Buckley chaired the expert health panel for PFAS for the Australian government. He told the webinar he had looked over the state of research since then, and 'not much' had changed. Loading Dr Nicholas Chartres, a senior research fellow in the school of pharmacy at the University of Sydney, told this masthead it would have been most appropriate for the NSW Health webinar to present the findings of the US Environmental Protection Agency and NASEM reviews alongside the IARC evaluations. 'Government advice should not rely on individual experts, but rather rigorous, transparent reviews that reflect the most current science, when available,' he said. NASEM took a similar approach to the Australian panel in 2018, Chartres said, but was more rigorous and up to date, taking in the 139 human studies that had been published since then. A NSW Health spokesperson said it had convened an expert panel to report to the chief health officer on a range of clinical matters relating to PFAS. The webinar was to support local clinicians to provide information and give them a chance to share case studies and ask questions, the spokesperson said. STOP PFAS convener Jon Dee in Leura. Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong Jon Dee, from Blue Mountains community group STOP PFAS, said: 'The PFAS in our drinking water was an Erin Brockovich-level contamination, yet NSW Health is downplaying this and ignoring a huge amount of international evidence about PFAS health risks.' Blood donations Buckley told the webinar about a third of PFAS in a human body would be in the blood stream, and if individuals were concerned about their PFAS levels and wanted to be proactive in lowering it, they could consider donating blood. 'You'd be getting rid of 3 per cent of your PFAS in your body every time you gave 500ml of blood,' Buckley said. Loading 'If you quietly said 'you're welcome to give blood and you will get rid of 3 per cent of the PFAS in your body every time you give blood', I actually think it's not a bad idea.' A randomised clinical trial of 285 Victorian firefighters in 2019 found donating blood lowered PFAS levels, while the PFAS Health Study at the Australian National University has identified menstruation as one of the reasons why PFAS levels are lower in Australian women than men at population level. Jones told the webinar she disagreed with blood donation to lower PFAS because it could cause persistent anaemia and there was 'no proven causality between PFASes and adverse health effects'. Buckley responded that it was 'a futile exercise in getting rid of PFAS at one level – you're not expecting health benefits', but as long as it was in the guidelines for blood donation, he did not see any huge problems with it. Sydney tap water Residents in the Blue Mountains have been exposed to high levels of PFAS, especially PFOS from firefighting foam, in drinking water for at least 17 years and possibly up to 32 years. Water with PFAS levels above safe limits had been supplying 78,000 residents from Mount Victoria to Glenbrook, according to Sydney Water, until the pipeline to a contaminated dam was disconnected last year. Last week, the NSW Environment Protection Authority put out a warning that people should limit their consumption of fish from Wentworth Falls Lake to one serve of redfin perch per week and all other fish species to two serves a week because of the results of testing of surface water and fish for PFAS. Peter Morse, a master fly casting instructor, was out at Wentworth Falls Lake on Monday honing his skills. He said he never catches fish in the lake mainly because of concerns about urban run-off from nearby houses, but noted the lake was stocked with trout annually and they were always fished out by the end of the season. 'It's a popular spot for kids in the mountains to go fishing, and I suspect if they catch a trout, they're going to take it home for mum to cook,' Morse said. On Tuesday, it emerged that University of NSW researchers have found a total of 31 PFAS types in Sydney tap water, including one never before found in tap water anywhere in the world, publishing their findings in the journal Chemosphere overnight. The samples were analysed per drinking water catchment and found to be highest around North Richmond, with potential contamination from the air base. The detected PFAS included 3:3 FTCA, thought to be only the second global detection in any drinking water supply, and 6:2 diPAP, previously found in bottled water and now detected in tap water for the first time. Lead researcher Professor William Alexander Donald said the health effects of 3:3 FTCA were unknown, but there was some evidence to suggest that 6:2 diPAP caused thyroid and reproductive issues. PFOS was found at 6 parts per trillion (ppt), which is 2 ppt below Australian drinking water guidelines of 8 ppt, but higher than the Trump-era US EPA's advisory limit of 4 ppt. Donald said one of the most interesting findings was that Sydney tap water had high levels of PFBA, a short-chain PFAS that is being used as a replacement for the banned substances, PFOS and PFOA. 'It's more mobile in the environment, so it shouldn't persist as long, but across all the samples it has the highest average concentration,' Donald said. 'It shows this idea that you can make tweaks to these chemicals to get around using the banned substances, but then … it ends up in our tap water.' The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines from the National Health and Medical Research Council covers five main types of PFAS: PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX chemicals. A Sydney Water spokesperson said drinking water from all nine of its water filtration plants was safe to drink and met the guidelines. Get to the heart of what's happening with climate change and the environment. Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- News.com.au
Girl, 6, dies after being discharged from Sydney Children's Hospital twice in one day
A six-year-old girl has died after she was discharged from Sydney Children's Hospital twice in one day. The girl was brought to the Randwick hospital on Monday, where she was assessed and discharged. She was brought back a short time later and was admitted again, and diagnosed with influenza. She was discharged with instructions for 'at-home guidance', a Sydney Children's Hospital Network (SCHN) spokesperson confirmed. The girl was then taken to Northern Beaches Hospital, where she later died. A Sydney Children's Hospital Network spokesperson confirmed the course of events. 'SCHN has learnt the patient later tragically died,' they said. 'The SCHN expresses our deepest condolences to the family for the loss of their child.' They said the network was progressing an initial review into the care of the patient. A Northern Beaches Hospital spokesman said they were 'deeply saddened' by the loss of the child. 'Our heartfelt condolences go out to the child's family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time,' the spokesman said. 'Alongside Sydney Children's Hospital Network, where the child received care earlier in the day, we will undertake the appropriate investigations in line with NSW Health policy, including a joint independent review. 'A coronial inquest has also been called into the child's passing. 'While we cannot comment on the specifics of the case during the review period, our thoughts are with the family, and we will continue to offer them our full support.' NSW Police said they were aware of the girl's death and a brief was being prepared for the coroner.
