Environmental Hazards & Human Health

• Deformed Frogs/Salamander sp. – 60% in

certain area.
• More frogs are deformed, missing/extra
legs, abnormal eyes (external), non-
functioning digestive syst., grossly
distended bladders, abnormal reproductive
syst.
 Environmental Hazards & Human Health
• The cause? Widespread use of pesticides
(retinoid, substance like Vit-A in pesticides residue)
& herbicides in agriculture, toxins (arsenic,mercury,
selenium, cadmium) released into the air & water.
• Frogs spend most time in water-body
(ponds/wetlands) which receive most waste, toxic
could be easily absorb through their thin skin.
• UV – frog eggs & young sensitive to UV.
• No single,simple cause.
 Environmental Hazards & Human Health
• No good historic data to support the find.
• Ominous warning – Canary that early
miners took into the mines to warn of life-
threatening condition.
• Frog = indicator species (Why ?)
 Nature of environmental hazards &
concequences of exposures
• Exposure to hazards – what is it in the environment
that brings the risk of injury, diseases or death to
people.
• 4 classes of hazards –
cultural,biological,physical & chemical.
• Cultural Hazards – a matter of choice. Risky
behavior:eat too much,drive too fast,use addictive
drugs,consume alcohol
beverages,smoke,sunbathe,hang glide,risky sexual
practices,too little excercises,or choose hazardous
occupations
Vrrooommmm !!!
 Biological Hazards
• Pathogenic bacteria & viruses - One third of death-
biological hazards
• Epidemics-Black plague & typhus (Europe in the
middle ages),smallpox (New world).
• 19th century- first vaccination (bacteriology)
• 20th century-virology (great discovery of
antibiotics;immunizations to eradicate smallpox,polio
& whoopy cough.)
 Biological Hazards

• Acute respiratory infections

(pneumonia,diphtheria,tuberculosis,whooping
cough,influenza,strep throat) –among children at the
developing countries.
• Tuberculosis (largest cause of adult death)-AIDS
epidemic.
• Diarrheal (cholera,dysentery,salmonellosis,giardiasis) –
2.5 million deaths in 1997,most obvious link to the
environment. Cause = food/water contaminated by
Salmonella,Campylobacter, E.coli. From human waste.
• Malaria-infectious diseases in the tropics.
 Physical Hazards
• Natural disaster-
hurricanes,tornadoes,floods,earthquakes,l
andslides & volcanic eruptions.
• A great tendency of human to assume that
accident only happen to others.
 Chemical Hazards
• Industrialization-cleaning
agent,pesticides,fuels,paints,medicines etc…
• Exposure through ingestion,breathing or absorption
through skin.
• Toxicity (the capability of being harmful) depends not
only on exposure but on the actual dose.
• Different people has different threshold level to detect
toxicity.
• Children are at greater risk-growing rapidly,incorporating
more of their food into new tissue.
• Greater sensitivity occurs during embryonic
development.
Zika virus & Microcephaly
 Chemical Hazards
• Chemical especially heavy metals,organic solvents &
pesticides are harmful even at small dose.
• Some chemical = known carcinogenic (cancer-
causing)
• Cancer develops over 10 to 40 years, hard to connect
the cause of effects.
• 74 chemicals known to be carcinogens
• Potential effects = impairment of immune system, brain
impairment, infertility and birth defects.
• 13 of the 15 cities with worst air pollution are found in
Asia.
• http://ptcl.chem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/carcinogens.html
 Radioactive Hazard-Radon (Rn 86)
• Radioactive gaseous element.
• Invisible, tasteless, odorless.
• When breathed into lungs, some Radon undergoes
radioactive decay –> solid chemical that lodged in the lung –
> cancer over time.
• From breakdown of URANIUM in rock,soil & water.
• Ways that radon enters a house is through the foundation by
a variety of paths:
– cracks in basement floors
– drains
– sump pumps
– exposed soil
– construction joints (mortar, floor-wall)
– loose fitting pipes

• Underground Miners develops lung cancer at higher rates.

Radioactive Hazard-Radon (Rn 86)
• US EPA – 4 picocuries per liter of Radon inhaled over a
lifetime capable of causing lung cancer in > 1 /1000
person.
• 15,000 to 23,000 death/year in US.
• Smokers at higher risk of radon-induced cancer due to
the synergistic effects of radon and smoking .
• Exposure to radon is the second leading cause of lung
cancer after smoking (www.epa.gov/radon).
• Remedies – seal cracked foundation, install ventilation
for basement.
• www.epa.gov/radon
 Pathway to Risk

• Poverty..is the biggest killer (WHO)

• Education-woman/mother may improve
hygience, immunized children etc..
• Nutrition
• Relative gap of the wealthy & poor.(SriLangka
vs.America)
• Cultural risk of smoking (risk of harm) = personal
pollutants.
• 2nd.hand smoking
• Occupation-black lung disease associate with
coal mine workers who are also smokers.
 Risk & Infectious Diseases
• Epidemiology=study of disease in human
populations.
• Trace disease as it occurs in geographic locations, mode
of transmission & consequences of disease.
• Major pathway of risk is contamination of food & water
due to lack of adequate sewage treatment & hygience.
• Drinking water = best mode of transport of feces related
human pathogens.
• Cholera & typhoid disease can be deadly. Small children
-> mulnutrition & dehydration
• http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/collections/epidem/epid.1.sht
ml.
Ebola outbreak in Africa 2014-
2015
• Fungal contamination on
peanut- Aflatoxins from the
Aspergillus flavus = a human
carcinogens that have been
found to cause liver cancer in
animals and humans
 Developed vs. Developing Countries
• Developing country-climate ideal for year-round
propagation of insect-borne disease. (Yellow
fever,dengue fever,elephantiasis, Japanese encephalitis
& malaria)
• Malaria by far most serious.
• Mosquitoes developed resistance to all of the pesticides
employed; Plasmodium protozoan developed resistance
to one treatment drug to another. Chloroquine was quite
effective against malaria in Africa, now it is ineffective.
• Use of mosquito net.
• WHO documented increases in malaria cases related
to land-use changes (deforestration, irrigation &
creation of dam)
Aswan Dam
 Toxic Risk Pathway
• Airborn pollutants most difficult to control.
• Indoor air pollutants pose higher risk
• Total exposure assessment (TEA)=concept to
evaluate more accurately the impact of air
pollutants on human health.
• TEA calculate pollutants in the air space &
exposure on the basis of the time spent in those
space.
• www.who.int/ech/risks/cehchemicals/en/index.ht
ml
 Risk pathway for Developed country
• 90% time spend indoor
• Increasing number & types of products and
equipment used in home & office -> give off
potentially hazardous fumes.
• Building is better insulated & sealed.
• Small children, pregnant women, the elderly &
chronically ill.
 Risk pathway for Developing country
• Biofuel-wood & animal dungs.
• Children-acute respiratory infections,chronic
lung diseases like asthma & bronchitis,lung
cancer & birth-related problems.
• Solution-well ventilated stove, conversion to
bottled gas or liquid fuels like kerosene.
 Indoor air pollutants
• Formaldehyde/synthetic compounds for
plywood, particle board, foam rubber,
plastic upholstery, non-iron sheets & pillow
case
Indoor air pollutants - Formaldehyde
 Indoor air pollutants
• Food burned on stove/oven
• Incomplete combustion from fuel-fired
heating system (gas or oil furnace,
kerosene heaters & wood stoves)
• Fumes from household cleaners
 Indoor air pollutants

• Fumes from glues and hobby materials

• Pesticides
• Air fresheners & disinfectants. Most air
fresheners work by dulling the sense of smell so
that u don’t notice noxious odors / introduce
‘high-intensity’ smells that cover up odors.
• Aerosol sprays of all sorts (oven
cleaners,pesticides,hair sprays,cooking oil)
• Radon.Radioactive gas,by-product of
disintegration of Uranium in rock,soil & water,can
accumulate in basement .
 Indoor air pollutants
• Asbestos-natural mineral has fiberlike crystals. For
heat insulation & fire retardation. Pipes in steam-
heating systems,ceiling,ironing-board cover,paints,
roofing materials.
• Inhalation of asbestos fiber is associated with unique
form of lung cancer developed 20-30 years after the
exposure.
• Smoking
Solution ?
 Risk Analysis
• Toxicology – Science to study the impacts of toxic
substances on human health (especially the link to
cancer).
• Risk analysis=important tool=an approach to the
problems of environmental health.
• =Major element in public policy (billions spent on
environment protection).
• Risk analysis = process of evaluating risk associated
with a particular hazard before taking some action in
which the hazard is present. (example: 82 million people
go swimming/year, 2600 drown -> the risk of drowning is
32 in a million. To reduce the risk, swim at beach with
lifeguard, calm lagoon etc.
• Not many people make choices base on such risk assessment.
• Risk analysis = an important process in public policy development.
 Risk Analysis in US (EPA)
• 4 steps – Hazards assessment, dose-
response assessment, exposure
assessment & risk characterization.
 Hazards assessment
• Hazards assessment: Which chemical cause cancer? =
process of examining evidence linking a potential hazard
to its harmful effects.
• Important 1st step in risk analysis.
• Accident – easier for finding the link. i.e. car usage and
road accident. Historical data (annual highway death toll)
is useful in calculating risk.
• Cancer – harder:linkage not obvious,time delay in first
exposure and final outcome.
• When linkage is less obvious, data may come from 2
sources – (1)Epidemiological Studies; (2) Animal Testing.
 (1) Epidemiological Study
• Study that tracks how a sickness spreads
through a community.
• Epidemiologist who study would examine
all the people exposed to the chemical &
determine whether this population has
more sickness (example: cancer).
(2) Animal Testing
• To find out NOW what might happen many
years in future.
• Example: Don’t want to wait 20 years to
find out a new food additive cause cancer
-> accept evidence from animal testing.
• Costly: Test involve several hundreds
animals, takes ~ 3 years & cost >
US$250,000.
 (2) Animal Testing
• If test=significant, the results indicate that a
substance is either a possible or probable
human carcinogen.
• 3 Objections-(a) Rodent & human have different
responses to a given chemical (b) The dose are
usually unrealistically high (c)Ethical grounds
• All chemical shown epidemiologically to be
human carcinogens are also carcinogenic to test
animals.
 Dose Response & Exposure Assessment
• How much for how long?
• When animal tests show a link ->
the next step is to analyze
relationship between the chemical in
the test (the dose) & both the
incidence & severity of the response
in the test animals.
• Then projections are made to
humans pop about the number of
cancers that may develop who are
exposed to different dose = Dose
response assessment.
• Exposure assessment = identify
human groups already exposed,
learning how that exposure came
about & calculating the doses &
length of exposure time.
 Risk Characterization
• How many will die?
• Combine info.gathered in the
1st 3 steps to determine the
risk & its accompanying
uncertainties.
• Risk is express as
probability.
• The Clean Air Act (1990), US
directs EPA to regulate
chemicals that have a cancer
risk > 1 / million.
• Risk may be express as
reduction in life expectancy.
i.e. smoking 1 cigeratte
reduces life expectancy by 5
minutes.
 Risk Management
• Risk management naturally follows
after risk analysis.
• Responsibility of lawmakers &
administrators.
• Risk management involves (1) A
thorough review of risk analysis
information (2) a decision on
whether the weight of evidence
justifies a regulatory action.
• Public opinion play a powerful role
in determining these decisions.
 Consideration on a regulatory decision
• Cost-benefit analysis = very clear-cut.
• Risk-benefit analysis = useful when cost-benefit
analysis cannot be easily expressed in $ value. i.e. X-
rays (cancer risk vs. bone fracture).
• Public preferences = People have greater tolerance
for risks that they feel are under their control /
voluntarily accepted.
 Risk Analysis & Public Policy
• Public concern (risk perception) rather than cost-benefit
analysis or risk analysis drives public policy.
• Some serious risk will get < attention than they deserve.
i.e. environment/ecological risk is perceived less
important than they are, because public’s pre-occupation
with human-health related risk.
• Extinction of species & loss of biodiversity – not in public
concern.
 For Next Lecture
• Define MORBIDITY & MORTALITY.