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Environmental health is the branch of public health concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment affecting human health. To effectively control factors that may affect health, the requirements that must be met to create a healthy environment must be determined. The major sub-disciplines of environmental health are environmental science, toxicology, environmental epidemiology, and environmental and occupational medicine.
Occupational hygiene or industrial hygiene (IH) is the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, control, and confirmation (ARECC) of protection from risks associated with exposures to hazards in, or arising from, the workplace that may result in injury, illness, impairment, or affect the well-being of workers and members of the community. These hazards or stressors are typically divided into the categories biological, chemical, physical, ergonomic and psychosocial. The risk of a health effect from a given stressor is a function of the hazard multiplied by the exposure to the individual or group. For chemicals, the hazard can be understood by the dose response profile most often based on toxicological studies or models. Occupational hygienists work closely with toxicologists (see Toxicology) for understanding chemical hazards, physicists (see Physics) for physical hazards, and physicians and microbiologists for biological hazards (see Microbiology, Tropical medicine, Infection). Environmental and occupational hygienists are considered experts in exposure science and exposure risk management. Depending on an individual's type of job, a hygienist will apply their exposure science expertise for the protection of workers, consumers and/or communities.
An environmental factor, ecological factor or eco factor is any factor, abiotic or biotic, that influences living organisms. Abiotic factors include ambient temperature, amount of sunlight, air, soil, water and pH of the water soil in which an organism lives. Biotic factors would include the availability of food organisms and the presence of biological specificity, competitors, predators, and parasites.
Exposure science is the study of the contact between humans and harmful agents within their environment – whether it be chemical, physical, biological, behavioural or mental stressors – with the aim of identifying the causes and preventions of the adverse health effects they result in. This can include exposure within the home, workplace, outdoors or any other environment an individual may encounter. The term 'exposure' is the umbrella term for many different types, ranging from ultraviolet exposure, exposure to the chemicals in the food we eat, to exposure to long working hours being the occupational factor most attributable to the burden of disease.
Exposure assessment is a branch of environmental science and occupational hygiene that focuses on the processes that take place at the interface between the environment containing the contaminant of interest and the organism being considered. These are the final steps in the path to release an environmental contaminant, through transport to its effect in a biological system. It tries to measure how much of a contaminant can be absorbed by an exposed target organism, in what form, at what rate and how much of the absorbed amount is actually available to produce a biological effect. Although the same general concepts apply to other organisms, the overwhelming majority of applications of exposure assessment are concerned with human health, making it an important tool in public health.
Environmental epidemiology is a branch of epidemiology concerned with determining how environmental exposures impact human health. This field seeks to understand how various external risk factors may predispose to or protect against disease, illness, injury, developmental abnormalities, or death. These factors may be naturally occurring or may be introduced into environments where people live, work, and play.
Disinfection by-products (DBPs) are organic and inorganic compounds resulting from chemical reactions between organic and inorganic substances such as contaminates and chemical treatment disinfection agents, respectively, in water during water disinfection processes.
Miquel Porta is a Catalan physician, epidemiologist and scholar. He has promoted the integration of biological, clinical and environmental knowledge and methods in health research and teaching, which he has conducted internationally; notably, in Spain, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Harvard, Imperial College London, and several other universities in Europe, North America, Kuwait, and Brazil. Appointed by the International Epidemiological Association (IEA), in 2008 he succeeded the Canadian epidemiologist John M. Last as Editor of "A Dictionary of Epidemiology". In the Preface to this book he argues for an inclusive and integrative practice of the science of epidemiology. In September 2023, Porta made public through several social networks a call to suggest changes to the new, 7th. edition of the dictionary. The deadline for such contributions is 30 November 2023.
Environmental social science is the broad, transdisciplinary study of interrelations between humans and the natural environment. Environmental social scientists work within and between the fields of anthropology, communication studies, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology; and also in the interdisciplinary fields of environmental studies, human ecology and political ecology, social epidemiology, among others.
Paolo Boffetta is an Italian epidemiologist. He is doing research on cancer and other chronic diseases, where he contributed to the understanding of the role of occupation, environment, alcohol, smoking and nutrition in disease development. In 2013, his candidacy for the position of Director of France's national center for research in epidemiology and public health was withdrawn as a result of his extensive consulting work for industry in lawsuits involving asbestos.
In analytical chemistry, biomonitoring is the measurement of the body burden of toxic chemical compounds, elements, or their metabolites, in biological substances. Often, these measurements are done in blood and urine. Biomonitoring is performed in both environmental health, and in occupational safety and health as a means of exposure assessment and workplace health surveillance.
Paul James Lioy was a United States environmental health scientist born in Passaic, New Jersey, working in the field of exposure science. He was one of the world's leading experts in personal exposure to toxins. He published in the areas of air pollution, airborne and deposited particles, Homeland Security, and Hazardous Wastes. Lioy was a professor and division director at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Rutgers University - School of Public Health. Until 30 June 2015 he was a professor and vice chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Rutgers University - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He was deputy director of government relations and director of exposure science at the Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Panos G. Georgopoulos is a Greek scientist working in the field of Environmental Health and specializing in Mathematical Modeling of Environmental and Biological Systems. He is the architect or the MOdeling ENvironment for Total Risk studies (MENTOR) the DOse Response Information and Analysis system (DORIAN), and Prioritization/Ranking of Toxic Exposures with GIS Extension (PRoTEGE), all under continuing development at the Computational Chemodynamics Laboratory of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI).
The exposome is a concept used to describe environmental exposures that an individual encounters throughout life, and how these exposures impact biology and health. It encompasses both external and internal factors, including chemical, physical, biological, and social factors that may influence human health.
Anthony John McMichael AO FTSE was an Australian epidemiologist who retired from the Australian National University in 2012.
Occupational epidemiology is a subdiscipline of epidemiology that focuses on investigations of workers and the workplace. Occupational epidemiologic studies examine health outcomes among workers, and their potential association with conditions in the workplace including noise, chemicals, heat, or radiation, or work organization such as schedules.
Elizabeth Anne (Lianne) Sheppard is an American statistician. She specializes in biostatistics and environmental statistics, and in particular in the effects of air quality on health. She is a Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and a Professor of Biostatistics in the University of Washington School of Public Health. In 2021, Dr. Sheppard was named to the Rohm & Haas Endowed Professorship of Public Health Sciences.
The International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) is a scientific society with membership drawn from more than 60 countries, dedicated to the study of environmental epidemiology and exposure assessment. It provides a forum for the discussion of problems unique to the study of health and the environment. The primary objective of ISEE is to promote research and disseminate scientific findings focused on the relationships between environmental exposures and human health. Each year, ISEE puts a spotlight on global discussion of environmental health and gathers scientists from all over the world to discuss measuring harmful factors in the environment including environmental health after disasters, e-waste, endocrine disrupting chemicals affecting pregnancy, and more. These include annual meetings, newsletters, workshops and liaisons with academic, governmental, inter-governmental, non-profit and business institutions.
The International Society of Exposure Science (ISES), is a non-profit organization established in 1990 by a group of scientists and engineers, including Paul Lioy. The formation of this society was at least partially in response to a National Research Committee (NRC) on Exposure Assessment that held a series of meetings and workshops beginning in 1987 that formed the foundation of exposure science and defined basic principles. The expertise of members in ISES is interdisciplinary and draws upon a broad array of disciplines, including: exposure assessment; biochemistry; risk assessment; bioinformatics; physiology; toxicology; epidemiology; ecology; environmental chemistry; and environmental engineering. The Society’s membership is professionally diverse and includes academic, governmental, and private sector scientists, as well as policy makers who have a common interest in exposure science. ISES has operated with a President, President-elect, Treasurer, and Secretary as well as Councilors. Councilors are elected from the membership and are allocated from the various professional categories that represent Society membership. The first set of Bylaws was approved by the membership in 1991.
Roel Vermeulen is a Dutch scientist and professor of Environmental epidemiology and Exposome Science at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University and the Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care at the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands. In 2024 Prof. Vermeulen was appointed as Distinguished University Professor of Utrecht University in which role he will focus on the theme of planetary and preventive health.
References
- ↑ "Mark Nieuwenhuijsen: Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative". ISGlobal.
- ↑ "John Goldsmith Award". International Society for Environmental Epidemiology.
- ↑ "Seven PRBB researchers amongst the most cited international scientists". El·lipse. 22 November 2019.
- ↑ "Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, PhD - Editorial Board - Environment International - Journal - Elsevier". www.journals.elsevier.com.
- ↑ "Messages from the Outgoing and Incoming ISEE Presidents". Iseepi.org.
- ↑ "The European Urban Burden of Disease Project". ISGlobal.
- ↑ Harrison, R. M. (1 May 2004). "Exposure assessment in occupational and environmental epidemiology". Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 61 (5): 476. ISSN 1351-0711.
- ↑ Muir, Kenneth; Blake, Holly (6 August 2004). "Exposure Assessment in Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology. Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen (Editor). Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-852861-2. Price £36.50". The Annals of Occupational Hygiene. doi: 10.1093/annhyg/meh053 . ISSN 0003-4878.
- ↑ Morris, George (May 2009). "Book Review: Environmental Epidemiology: Study Methods and Application By Dean Baker and Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen. Published by Oxford University Press, 2008. Paperback 368pp. Price £34.95. ISBN 978-0-19-852792-3". Perspectives in Public Health. 129 (3): 143. doi:10.1177/17579139091290030802. ISSN 1757-9139. S2CID 72000117.
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