Environmental Disease & Health Flashcards
List the types of health hazards likely to be encountered in the environment and the workplace.
Environment: Toxic Chemicals (Organic & Inorganic), Ionizing Radiation, Air Pollution, Infectious Diseases
Workplace: Toxic Chemicals (Organic & Inorganic), Ionizing Radiation, Infectious Agents, Drugs
Compare and contrast the terms mutation, teratogen, cancer, and developmental disease
Mutation: A change in the nucleotide base sequence of DNA, thus changing the protein encoded by that gene (most harmful)
Teratogen: External factors which negatively impact the period of embryonic development and may result from inherited or cytogenetic defects in the genome.
Cancer: Genetic disease caused by multiple mutations in genes responsible for controlling cell division. Most develop from interaction of genetics with environment and perhaps less than 5% can be attributed to hereditary factors alone.
Developmental Disease: Includes teratologic defects, occurs when faults or mistakes occur within the genes or when stages in development of the fetus are disturbed.
In the “Global Environmental Health EHP” article, why is “environmental health” an increasing concern in developing countries?
1) Population growth
2) Hazardous Technologies still used
In the “Global Environmental Health EHP” article, what problem did tube wells (for clean water) create?
Caused and Arsenic problem in the water.
In the “Global Environmental Health EHP” article, indoor air pollution is connected to what important demographic rate?
Infant Mortality
Describe the basic steps in a Risk Assessment?
1) Hazard Identification
2) Exposure Estimation (EE) - difficult to measure
3) Risk Characterization:
Risk Quotient = EE/Toxicity Reference Value (TRV)
Compare and Contrast the types of environmental and occupational health problems addressed by government agency at the local, state and federal levels. (see links)
Local:Animal Control; Clinic Information; Communicable Diseases; Emergency Preparedness; Families with Special Needs; Food Safety Services; Health Education; Health; Promotion; Immunizations; Inspection Services & Permits; Lead Poisoning; Pregnancy & Parenting; Publications; Vision & Hearing Screening; Well & Septic Permits
State: Public Health Preparedness, Sports Concussion Law, Grate Lakes Health Initiatives, Toxic Substances, Injury & Violence Prevention, Crime Victim Services, Air Quality, Remediation, Water Resources, Drinking Water, Waste Management, Oil-Gas-Minerals,
Federal: Diseases & Conditions, Food Safety, Workplace Health & Safety, Air Pollution, Toxic Substances, Emergency Preparedness, Immunizations, Food Safety, Global Health
How do risk assessments and environmental epidemiology differ? How do they complement each other/
Differ: Epidemiology looks at the disease “after-the-fact” in ways such as distribution, determinites, frequency, etc. Risk Assessments seek to prevent disease “before-the-fact”
Complement: Epidemiological data can be used in risk assessments: 1) to provide real-work toxic effect levels 2) to provide measures of real-world exposures 3) Modeling vs. measurements in the real world
