Upload
derek-muller
View
217
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Chapter 4: Environmental Hazards
Derek Muller & Sean McEvoy
"The association between certain chronic diseases and environmental causes is devastatingly clear, yet knowledge about the scope of environmental health risks and their impact on the public's health is limited.“ US Institute of Medicine (2002)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiiVcm8vjDc
Pesticides and Human Development
Pesticide exposure can cause diseases, such as cancers, as well as mental or physical disabilitiesEven affects simplest mental development
Two groups of preschoolers differing mainly in pesticide exposure were asked to draw a person.
Those who were less exposed drew stick figuresThose who were more exposed drew meaningless circles and lines
Riskthe probability of harm, injury, disease, death, environmental damage occurring under certain circumstances.What are some risks you take every day?
Human Decision Making
Risk ManagementWe can’t always rely on intuition, habit, and experience to make a decision Other factors, including health and environmental factors, play a partRisk management- the process of identifying, assessing, and reducing risks
5 Steps of Risk Assessment
1. Hazard identification
Is exposure to this chemical substance harmful?2. Dose-response assessment
What is the relationship between exposure to the substance and its effects?3. Exposure assessment
How much, how long, and how often are people exposed to this substance? 4. Risk characterization
The conclusions are spelled out.5. Risk Management
ToxicityToxicants- chemicals with adverse effectsAcute toxicity- occur within short period after high-level exposure to toxicantChronic toxicity- occur after a long period of low-level exposure to toxicant
Symptoms tend to mimic other chronic diseases associated with risky lifestyle, poor nutrition, and aging
ToxicologyStudies effects of toxicants on living organismsStudies mechanisms that cause toxicityDevelops ways to prevent or minimize adverse effects
EpidemiologyStudying how toxicants, disease, and physical hazards affect the health of human populationsStudy large groups of people and investigate a range of possible causes and types of diseases and injuries
Disease-Causing Agents in the Environment
Infectious organismsBacteria, viruses, protozoa, and parasitic wormsTyphoid, cholera, bacterial dysentery, polio, infectious hepatitis transmittable through contaminated food and waterE. Coli is best indicator of sewage-contaminated water
Determined by fecal coliform test
Environmental Changes & Emerging Diseases
25% of disease and injury worldwide related to human-caused environmental changesCutting down forests, building dams, increasing agriculture brings humans into more contact with disease-causing agents
Increase in populationDistribution of disease-carrying organisms
Pandemic- reaches nearly entire globeExample: Swine flu
Movement of Toxicants- Through Organisms
Persistence- substance is stable and takes many years to break downBioaccumulation- buildup of persistent toxicantsBiological magnification- increase in toxicant concentrations as a toxicant passes through trophic levels of food chain
Movement of Toxicants-Through the Environment
AirWaterSoil3.5 million people in the Midwest US face slightly elevated cancer risk due to herbicides in drinking water Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants- protect human health and environment from persistent organic pollutants
Determining Toxicity and Health Effects
Lethal doses- depend on organism’s age, sex, health, metabolism
Human lethal doses are known through homicides and accidental poisonings
LD50- lethal to 50% of population of test animals
Smaller LD50, more toxicED50- amount to have an adverse effect
Dose-response curve- tests effects of high doses then work way down to threshold level
Maximum dose that has no measurable effect
Chemical MixturesAdditivity- exactly as expectedSynergistic- more than expectedAntagonistic- smaller than expected
The Precautionary Principle
We should not introduce new technology, practice, or material until it is demonstrated:
The risks are smallThe benefits outweigh the risksCriticisms: downplays role of science in decisions
Environmental Risks, not Natural Disasters
People need to become more aware of the environmental risks and stop building on poorly chosen landTechnologies must be updated to ensure safety
Example: nuclear plants using old technology are useless in cases of emergency
The Delaware River Issue
Industrial lands near Delaware River Fishtown, Bridesburg, Port Richmond, Kensington
Living close to the Delaware River makes you 7x more likely to live in an area with an environmental hazard than other places in the region (Mizes 2012)Also the Schuylkill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2ge0aJwJ-o