Environmental Health Final

Environmental Justice

fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies

your health should not suffer because of the environment where you live, work, learn or play

The Goal of Environmental Justice will be achieved when everyone enjoys:

-the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards

-equal access to the decision making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn and work

Fair Treatment

-no group of people should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, governmental and commercial operations or policies

Environmental Justice Issues

inadequate access to healthy food. Certain communities,
particularly lower-income or minority communities,
often lack supermarkets or other sources of healthy and
affordable foods

Inadequate Transportation

While public
transportation may be available in urban areas, policies
must be monitored to avoid cuts in service and fare hikes
that make it difficult for community residents to pursue
employment or an adequate living standard.

Redlining

discriminatory practices which denied access to credit and insurance for borrowers in neighborhoods that were economically disadvantaged pr had high percentages of minorities

Social Determinants of Healyh

conditions in which
people are born, grow, work, live,
and age, and the wider set of
forces and systems shaping the
conditions of daily life

Economic Stability Goal

Help people earn steady incomes that allow them to meet their health needs

Poverty Increases your chance of getting ill because of

• Poor nutrition
  • Overcrowding
  • Lack of clean water
  • Harsh realities that may make putting your
  health at risk the only way to survive or
  keep your family safe

Poverty increases poor health by

• Reducing a family’s work productivity
• Leading families to sell assets to cover
the costs of treatment. This increases
poverty and their vulnerability to
shocks in the future.

Occupational Medicine

-Medical speciality

-Focuses on detection and prevention of diseases that arise from the work environment

Occupational Disease

health outcomes that are caused or influenced by exposure to general conditions or specific hazards encountered in the work environment

Mad Hatter’s Disease

-elemental mercury poisoning

-popularized by the 1865 Lewis Carroll Book Alice in Wonderland

-Neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by irritability, change in personality, lack of ability to concentrate, memory loss, etc

Phossy Jaw

-osteonecrosis of upper or lower jaw

-disfiguring

-typically, from in matchstick markers white phosphorous (but not red)

-contemporary cause is bisphosphonate therapy (rare)

The Costs of Occupational Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities

Estimated direct costs of
injuries and illnesses
during the 2002: $45.8
billion

Leading Causes of Disabling Conditions

-sprains and strains are the leading causes of occupational injuries

Agents of Occupational Disease

-noise

-dusts

-toxic heavy metals and their fumes

-carbon monoxide

-chemicals

-ionizing radiation

-microbial agents

-lifting heavy weights

-repetitive motion

-accidents

-work related stress

Ototoxic

agents that can produce hearing loss

include very loud sounds and several classes of drugs and chemicals used in the work environment

Carbon Monoxide

odorless, hazardous, toxic gas

causes death by depriving the body of oxygen

people with conditions such as lung disease, heart disease and anemia are at increased risks of the effects

Microbial Agents

-Sources of health risks for workers in many occupational categories

-healthcare workers

-workers exposed to sewage

-agricultural workers

Work-Related Stress

chronic stress has been implicated in a range of somatic conditions (e.g., coronary heart disease) and mental disorders including depression

Going Postal

employees who react to stressful conditions of their environment by committing violent acts

Allergic and Irritant Dermatitis

-Most common sites of contact with chemicals in the workplace:skin

High risk activities

-manufacturing

-construction

-food production

-activities such as metal engine service

Respiratory Diseases

-Often chronic conditions with long latency periods

Examples":

-asbestosis

-coal workers pneumoconiosis

-silicosis

-byssinosis

-mesothelioma

-lung cancer

Hearing Loss Caused by Noise

-Incidence (as many as 22 million workers in the US)

-Effects of prolonged exposure to noise

-Possible psychological reactions that adversely impact the immune system and physical well-being

Hertz (Hz)

denotes the number of cycles per second associated with the oscillation of a given sound wave

Sound Pressure Level (SPL)

-measure of the intensity of sound

-reported on a logarithmic scale that uses decibels (dBs)

dBs

increase of 10 dB=10 fold increase in sound intensity (20 dB-100 fold increase)

advantageous for characterizing the large range of sounds that the human ear can perceive

Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD)

-injury or disorder of the muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, cartilage, or spinal disks

Industries with the Largest Numbers of Deaths

-construction

-transportation and warehousing

-agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting

Job Stress

the harmful physical and emotional; responses that occur when the requirements of the job not match the capabilities. resources, or needs of the workers

Conditions Associated with Job Stress

-anxiety stress and neurotic disorders

-going postal

-critical incident stress

Critical Incident Stress

workers responding to emergency events and disasters will see and experience events that will strain their ability to function. These events which include having to witness or experience tragedy, death, serious injuries and threatening situations are called “Critical Incidents”

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

-Apparatuses “designed to protect employees from serious workplace injuries or illnesses resulting contact with chemical, radiological, physical, electrical, mechanical, or other workplace hazards

Public Health Surveillance

-collection of information about occupational injuries and illnesses

-maintenance of databases on exposures to occupational hazards

General Elements of Weather/Climate

temperature

humidity

precipitation

wind

cloudiness

atomospheric pressure

Weather

-short period of time (days/week)

-limited geographic area

-changes within days

WHAT IS HAPPENING AT THE MOMENT

Climate

long term (year)

broad geographical area

changes relate to seasons

THE AVERAGE OF YEARS OF WEATHER OBSERVATIONS

Climate Variability

how aspects of climate (such as temperature and precipitation) differ from an average

Climate Change

a significant and persistent change in an area’s average climate conditions or their extremes

persists for an extended period of time

The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC)

-A change in the state of the climate (that can be identified) by changes in the mean/variability of its properties that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer

The Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods

Climate Change

refers to long-term shifts in physical characteristics of climate

Why was it necessary to maintain the global temperature increase below 1.5C versus higher levels

• Adaptation will be less difficult

  
  • Our world will suffer less
  negative impacts on intensity
  and frequency of extreme
  events, on resources,
  ecosystems, biodiversity, food
  security, cities, tourism, and
  carbon removal
  
  https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68110310

Global Warming

refers to the risei n ambient global temperature

Climate Change

encompasses global warming and includes all other consequences due to global warming

-rising ambient temperature

-rising sea levels

-rising carbon dioxide concentrations

-increasing frequency and intensity in extreme weather events

-shrinking mountains glaciers, ice melts

-ocean acidification

-increasing droughts and floodings

-shifts in flower/plant blooming

Natural Causes of Climate Change

Internal processes or external forcings such as

-volcantic eruptions

-changes in the sun’s energy

-changes in the orbit’s rotation of the earth

-changes in the earth’s reflectivity

-changes in the naturally occurring carbon dioxide concentrations

These causes do not explain the global warming of the last century

Human Activity (anthropogenic) causes of Climate Change

-changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use

-emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs)

-reflectivity or absorption of the sun’s energy

-These activities have been the dominant cause of global warming

Green Houses Gases

gases that trap the sun’s heat (infra-red radiation) in our atomosphere

-carbon dioxide

-methan

-nitrous oxide

-fluorinated gases

-tropospheric ozone

-largely due to the burning of fossil fuels

-increased the greenhouse effect, leading to a rise in temperature

Greenhouse Gases and CO2

-the primary anthropogenic cause

-naturally present in the atmosphere

-human activity alters carbon cycle by adding more carbon into the atmosphere

CH4/Methane

-2nd highest emission of GHGs

Human activity

-leaks from natural gas systems

-emissions from petroleum systems and coal plants

-raising of livestock, especially cows

-Landfills” release when waste decomposes

Natural emissions: by wetlands

Shorter lifespan than, but traps more heat than CO2

N₂O

Naturally present in our atmosphere as part of the N2 cycle

-increase due to human activites

F-Gases

-the most potent and longest lasting anthropogenic GHG

-no natural sources

Human activites:

Substitutes for ozone-depleting substances (refrigerants, aerosol
propellants, foam blowing agents, solvents, and fire retardants)
• Industrial processes (e.g., aluminum production)
• Transmission and distribution of electricity; insulating gas

Built Environment

-man-made; physical infrastructure, buildings, etc. Absorbs and re-emits the heat of the sun more than the natural landscape

Climate change: Direct Health effects

Storms/floods/landslides

Urban Heat Island Effect

injuries and death

heat stress, cardiorespiratory failure

Climate change: Indirect Health Effects

Food security and safety

water resources and safety

vector-borne diseases

-air pollution and allergens

-mental health

Most vulnerable to extreme weather

people who lack access to evacuation routes and people who can’t use stairs when elevators are out of service, people in wheelchairs, older adults, the poor and people with disabilities, particularly if they are unable to access elevators and evacuation route

Injuries and Death

-extreme weather events such as hurricanes lead to

-death

-destruction

-displacement

Most Vulnerable to Spreading diseases (Insects, Ticks, Rodents)

Higher temperatures, changes in rain patterns and disrupted ecosystems help spread disease

People who spend more time in outdoors in paces where these insects and other disease carriers live

Malaria

Plasmodium parasite

Anopheles mosquito

non-human hosts of minor concern

Dengue

Distribution: tropical

flavivirus

-breeding in still standing usually clean water

Ades aegypti albopictus mosquitoes

nonhuman hosts of minor concern

Climate Factors Influencing Vector Borne Diseases

-temperature

-humidity

-precipitation

-wind

Outbreaks can occur

in areas where people might be immunologically naive and public health systems unprepared

Most Vulnerable to air pollution

-people with heart and respiratory conditions such as heart disease, asthma, or chronic lung disease

Climate Change and Air Pollution

increase in tropospheric ozone due to increased heat/photochemical reactions, increase in chemical needed for the formation of ozone

Most vulnerable to dehydration and heatstroke

outdoor workers, student athletes, people in cities, people without air conditioning, people with chronic diseases, pregnant women, older adults and young children

Theage of plant contributes to

variability

Climate and soil influence the

synthesis of some toxins

Different portions of the plant (root, stem, leaves, seeds)

often contain different concentrations of a toxic substance

Common skin reactions with many plants

contact dermatitis and photosensitivity

Gastrointestinal effects range from

local irriation to emesis (vomiting) and/or diarrhea

Skin

irritant Contact Dermatitis

ex: Stinging Nettle

Allergic Contact Dermatitis

Ex: Poison Ivy

Photosensitivity

ex: St. John’s Wort

What are the different areas of the body affect by plant toxins

-GI tract

-Antimitotic effects

Black Widow (Latrotoxins)

Massive exocytosis of
neurotransmitters
• Muscle fasciculations (twitching)
• Severe paroxysmal (cyclic) muscle
cramps
• sweating is common,
• hypertension

Scolopendra (Centipede)

• sharp pain,
• immediate bleeding,
• redness,
• swelling

Fire Ants (Solenopsis)

• painful burning sensation,
• after which a wheal (raised itchy red spot)
• localized erythema (flare) develops,
• forming a vesicle that turns into a pustle