Fears of a looming environmental, health and humanitarian crisis in Iraq are, at the time of writing, growing ever stronger, as the second Gulf War moves into its sixth day. Reported oil well fires in southern Iraq around the al Rumeila oil field west of Basra, albeit not on the scale of those deliberately ignited by Iraqi troops in Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War, have triggered concern over the possible immediate and long-term dangers to health as a result of air pollution from the thick, black plumes of smoke.

While opinion appears to be divided, a number of epidemiologists are asserting that the potential health risk to both military personnel and civilians is minimal, based on studies following the last Gulf War.

However, it is the destruction of food supplies and agricultural and critical infrastructure by a sustained bombing campaign, and the disruption of fresh potable water and electricity supplies, that has prompted humanitarian agencies and health organisations to press the UK and US governments to disclose their arrangements for public health provision, both during and after the conflict.

This was a message clearly voiced by members of the public health movement at this year's UKPHA annual public health forum. Nearly 1,000 delegates listened to a raft of high-profile speakers talk about health protection in the 21st century, and discussed the crucial challenges facing the public health agenda today. EHJ was in attendance at the event and a full report can be found in the article "The public and health are equal partners".

On a different note, the issue of contaminated land is still high on the environmental health agenda. Roger Braithwaite gets animated on the lack of guidance and support available to local authorities charged with identifying contaminated land sites under the Part IIA regime. Believing that the Government has placed local authorities in an "intolerable position", he asks if it is time for a revolt.

Still on the subject of contaminated land and the Part IIA regime, Dr Jo Gilman takes a practical look at one of the software systems available to help take local authorities forward from the strategy stage to the practical implementation stage. Regardless of individual local authorities' available personnel or budget capacity, there is a system to suit out there somewhere!

Raising the profile of the environmental health profession to stakeholders and the public, through a variety of means, is an important step forward in achieving the CIEH's mission statement: "to maintain, enhance and promote improvements in public and environmental health". Late last year, a conference was held in Northern Ireland to engage elected members of local government in environmental health, and to illustrate the significant contribution that the service makes to improving the lives of local communities. Gary McFarlane reports on the success of the event, and offers some key considerations for other centres and branches wishing to embark on organising a similar conference.

Then David Walton looks at the importance of sustainable development awareness training to businesses and individuals and introduces a new course that aims to help participants think about the wider effects of their decision making in the workplace with regard to the sustainable development agenda.

Finally, a number of environmental health practitioners have been extremely active in working overseas, as reported in previous issues of EHJ. This month, we look at the experience of Vanessa Nourse from Ashford BC, as she "shadowed" EHOs in the Temeke district of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania late last year.