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environmental health
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What is environmental health?
Environmental health is a public health field focused on how humans impact the environment and vice versa. It examines how industrialization and other developments lead to increased consumption of natural resources, which consequently has adverse effects on both the environment and humankind. Environmental health specialists study how to control air and noise pollution, ensure food and water safety, manage waste, and prepare for disasters. Environmental pollution, a major concern, can contaminate air and water, causing disease. Exposure to synthetic chemicals and environmental ionizing radiation can cause infertility and induce genetic mutations in germ cells. Controlling pollution through air pollution control, wastewater treatment, solid-waste management, hazardous-waste management, and recycling are components of environmental health.
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How does the environment affect human health?
The environment significantly affects human health through various pathways. Environmental health studies the impact of the environment on humans and vice versa.
Exposure to environmental pollution, such as air pollution, noise pollution, and particulate matter, can lead to a range of health issues, including respiratory diseases, hearing loss, and cardiovascular problems. Contaminated water supplies can spread diseases rapidly, affecting many people. Similarly, global warming can exacerbate health issues by increasing the spread of infectious diseases and causing malnutrition due to disruptions in food production. Exposure to PFAS is associated with various health conditions, including cancer, hormone disruption, and immune dysfunction.
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What are some common environmental pollutants?
Environmental pollutants include a wide array of substances and energies that, when introduced, can harm the environment and human health. These pollutants are generally classified by the medium they contaminate, such as air, water, and land, but also include more specific types like noise, light, and plastic.
Common water pollutants range from pathogenic microorganisms and toxic chemicals to pesticides and solid waste. Soil pollutants include metals, industrial wastes, and pesticides. Noise pollution can also have detrimental effects on both humans and wildlife, leading to hearing loss, increased stress, and interference with communication and navigation.
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How can pollution impact people's health?
Pollution significantly impacts human health, with effects varying from respiratory and cardiovascular issues to cancer. Inhalable particles can trigger inflammation in the lungs, heart, and blood vessels, potentially leading to asthma, bronchitis, and increased risk of heart attack or stroke. Certain pollutants, like asbestos, are known carcinogens, while others, such as benzene, are suspected to cause cancer. Noise pollution can cause hearing loss, raise blood pressure, and interfere with sleep and cognitive functions, especially in children. Water contaminants, including chemicals and radioactive substances, also pose risks to human health.
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What are ways communities can protect environmental health?
Communities can protect environmental health through environmental policies that prevent or reduce the harmful effects of human activities on ecosystems. Municipal solid waste can be treated to reduce the volume of material requiring disposal, and recycling recovers materials and heat energy for reuse. Recycling involves collecting waste, processing it into new products, and purchasing these products.
Citizens can participate through source separation, also called curbside separation, by collecting recyclables separately. Materials recycling facilities (MRFs) process commingled recyclables, using methods such as electromagnetic separators, vibrating screens, and manual sorting.
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What do people who work in environmental health do?
Environmental health professionals focus on how humans impact their environment and vice versa. They work to ensure safe food and water, control pollution, and prepare for disasters. Their work includes environmental monitoring, setting safe exposure levels, and suggesting ways to limit exposure. They may work in public health agencies, environmental organizations, or private companies. They may also be involved in designing equipment and factories. Environmental health crosses boundaries with other fields in the area of public health, including epidemiology and toxicology.
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environmental health, area of study in the field of public health that is concerned with assessing and controlling the impacts of humans on their environment and the impacts of the environment on humans. The environment, including its vegetation, other animals, and natural and historic landmarks, is a vital tool that has been used as a source of food, shelter, and energy by people for thousands of years. Relatively recent developments such as industrialization, however, have led to increased consumption of natural resources, which has had adverse affects on both the environment and humankind.
Researchers and specialists in the field of environmental health explore many different aspects of human health and natural and human-made environments. Areas of focus range from food safety and the safety of drinking water to the control of air and noise pollution to disaster emergency preparedness and waste management. Physicians may specialize in environmental health as it applies to humans, while other specialists work to ensure safe food and water supplies or carry out any of a variety of activities related to securing environmental and human health. Environmental health crosses boundaries with other fields in the area of public health, including epidemiology and toxicology.
Environmental pollution, which can result in the contamination of air and water with foreign material and thereby cause disease in people who have been exposed, is a major area of concern in environmental health. Synthetic chemicals in the environment can enter the human body through inhalation or ingestion and can have chronic affects on the individual exposed to them. Certain chemical and physical environmental pollutants may also have hereditary consequences, causing infertility in the exposed individual or in his or her progeny. Environmental ionizing radiation is an example of a type of environmental pollutant that can affect the health of one’s offspring because of its ability to induce genetic mutations in germ cells (i.e., sperm and egg).
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Many herbicides have caused significant damage to the environment and humans. An example is the defoliant herbicide mixture known as Agent Orange, which was used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Agent Orange was used to destroy the foliage under which the Viet Cong took cover to hide the movement of their troops and set up ambushes. But while Agent Orange successfully destroyed the plant life, it caused extensive and long-term environmental damage. Exposed Vietnamese developed cancers and a variety of other health disorders, and their children suffered an abnormally high incidence of birth defects. In addition, servicemen from the United States and other countries were later affected by cancers and other health conditions that were traced to their exposure to Agent Orange.
Maintaining clean water supplies is another major area of interest in environmental health. The contamination of a water supply is dangerous because the contamination often spreads rapidly and has the potential to affect all the people who rely on the affected water. Some examples of drinking water contaminants are microorganisms, such as E. coli and Vibrio cholerae (the bacterium that causes cholera); inorganic chemicals, such as arsenic, lead, and mercury; organic chemicals, such as acrylamide and toluene; and radionuclides, such as uranium.
Air pollution shares the same dilemma as water pollution, because once started, the pollution spreads quickly and is almost impossible to contain outdoors. It too is an important focus within environmental health. Common sources of outdoor air pollutants include vehicle exhaust and fossil fuel combustion from industrial sources (e.g., power stations). Specific pollutants that may be found in these sources include nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, lead, and particulate matter. Carbon monoxide, tobacco smoke, solid fuels combustion, radon, and biological particulates (e.g., mold particles) are responsible for many instances of indoor air pollution. Ozone is another important air pollutant.