WEEK 4 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Question 1

What is environmental health?

Answer 1

• Relates to how air, water, food, and our physical environment can affect our health, for better or for worse

Question 2

What are the 4 key concepts of environmental health?

Answer 2

1. Exposure
2. Pathways of contaminants
3. Risk
4. Precautionary principle

Question 3

1 - What is exposure?

Answer 3

• Any condition which provides an opportunity for an external environmental agent to enter the body.

Question 4

What are some examples of exposure?

Answer 4

• Smog: CVD, resp disease
• Lead: neurotoxicity
• Pesticides: neurological disease
• Water quality: diarrheal disease

Question 5

2 - What are the pathways of contaminants? (5)

Answer 5

• Source
• Medium
• Point of contact
• Receptor of contaminant
• Route of exposure

Question 6

What are examples of pathways of contaminants?

Answer 6

• Source: pain, pipes, toys
• Medium: soil, manufactured goods, water
• Point of contact: community, home
• Receptor of contaminant: children
• Route of exposure: ingestion

Question 7

3 - What are risks?

Answer 7

• The probability of exposure of a susceptible individual to the hazard

Question 8

What is a hazard?

Answer 8

• Property that leads to adverse outcomes

Question 9

What is susceptibility?

Answer 9

• Property of the receptor (host) affected by the hazard

Question 10

What is exposure?

Answer 10

• Property of the environment

Question 11

4 - What is the precautionary principle?

Answer 11

• Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation

Question 12

Who is vulnerable to exposure?

Answer 12

• Very young and very old
• Underlying health conditions
• Socioeconomic status
• Housing and community infrastructure
• Geography and geopolitical location
• Access to supports and services and basic needs

Question 13

What is environmental injustice?

Answer 13

• Inequitable exposure of poor, minority and disenfranchised pop. to toxic chemicals, contaminated air and water, unsafe workplaces, and other forms of pollution

Question 14

What is the DPSEEA framework?

Answer 14

• Driving forces
• Pressure
• State
• Exposure
• Effects
• Action

Question 15

What is an example of driving forces?

Answer 15

• Population growth
• Economic development
• Technology

Question 16

What is an example of Pressure?

Answer 16

• Production
• Consumption
• Waste release

Question 17

What is an example of State?

Answer 17

• Natural hazards
• Resources available
• Pollution levels

Question 18

What is an example of Exposure?

Answer 18

• External exposure
• Absorbed dose
• Target organ dose

Question 19

What is an example of Effects?

Answer 19

• Wellbeing
• Morbidity
• Mortality

Question 20

What is Action?

Answer 20

• Preventative or remedial
• Targets different populations on the framework

Question 21

What is the Indigenous Wholistic Framework? (4)

Answer 21

• Respect
• Relevance
• Reciprocity
• Responsibility

Question 22

What is respect?

Answer 22

• Respect: Respecting all who live on the planet

Question 23

What is Relevance?

Answer 23

• Relevance: Developing a relationship with nature that has a personal meaning

Question 24

What is Reciprocity?

Answer 24

• Reciprocity: Replenishing what we take from Mother Earth

Question 25

What is Responsibility?

Answer 25

• Responsibility: Being a steward for the earth and the 7 generations to come