CH 8 - Environmental Health & Toxicology In some parts of Eastern Europe and the former USSR, up to 90% of all children suffer from environmentally linked diseases.

What is Health? The World Health Organization defines health: state of complete physical, mental, & social well-being – not just absence of disease. Disease - a deleterious change in the body’s condition in response to an environmental factor (nutrition, chemicals, biological agents, etc) Morbidity – illness or disease Mortality – death rate

Eg: Tuberculosis Deforestation causes insect vectors to move to cities

Morbidity and Quality of Life Death rates do not tell everything about burden of disease. What is the total social burden of diseases? –Total economic and social consequences of diseases are difficult to obtain. Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) combines premature deaths and loss of healthy life resulting from illness or disability.

Disruption to quality of life & economic productivity caused by premature deaths & loss of healthy life caused by illness/disability. Problems occurring when people live in crowded conditions--eg, developing countries (90% DALY losses), poverty) New global mega- cities where managing human generated wastes is poor Morbidity and Quality of Life in Poor Households (Disability- Adjusted Life Years)

At any given time, about 2 billion people suffer from worms, protozoans, and other internal parasites. Elephantiasis – caused by parasitic worm

Emergent Diseases An emergent disease is one never known before, OR has been absent for at least 20 years. –An important factor in the spread of many diseases is speed and frequency of modern travel. Foot and Mouth Disease Ebola

Recent outbreaks of lethal infectious diseases At least 30 new infectious diseases have appeared in the past two decades while many well-known have reappeared in more virulent, drug- resistant forms.

Factors Contributing to the Spread of Contagious Diseases High population densities Settlers pushing into remote areas Human-caused environmental change (elimination of predators increasing rodents, use of fertilizers, pesticides etc) Speed and frequency of modern travel Contact with water or food contaminated with human waste

Emerging Ecological Diseases Domestic animals and wildlife also experience sudden and widespread epidemics. –Distemper (Seals) –Chronic Wasting Disease (Deer and Elk) Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies –Black Band Disease (Coral)

Antibiotic and Pesticide Resistance Indiscriminate use of antibiotics and pesticides - perfect recipe for natural selection –Protozoan that causes malaria now resistant to most antibiotics, and mosquitoes have developed resistance to many insecticides –Drug resistance: TB, Staph A, flesh-eating bacteria

Toxic Chemicals Hazardous chemicals – dangerous (eg, flammables, explosives, irritants, acids, etc) Toxins – poisonous, kills cells Allergens – activate the immune system Mutagens – chemicals or radiation that damage/alter genetic material (DNA) Teratogens - chemicals or other factors that cause abnormalities during embryonic growth & development Carcinogens – substances that cause cancer (out of control cell growth)

Toxins: Movement, Distribution, Fate Movement, fate of chemicals in the environment (processes that modify, remove or sequester compounds)

(Brennan & Withgott 2005) Many routes of synthetic chemicals traveling through the environment

Toxins: Movement, Distribution, Fate Routes by which chemicals enter body determine toxicity Movement via Solubility - water - oil

Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification Bioaccumulation – selective absorption & storage of molecules; dilute toxins in the environment can reach dangerous levels inside cells and tissue Biomagnification - the effects of toxins are magnified through food webs

“ DDT - Powerful Insecticide, Harmless to Humans” common statement in the 1950s ???????

Pesticides and Child Development in Mexico’s Yaqui Valley Elizabeth Guillette (anthropologist) – 1994 Valley farmers used pesticides but foothill farmers continued traditional farming Valley children were far behind foothill children developmentally in: Coordination Physical endurance Long-term memory Fine-motor skills (Brennan & Withgott 2005)

Peregrine falcons disappeared from the eastern US in 1960s due to excess pesticide use

Minimizing Toxic Effects Every material can be poisonous under some conditions Taken in small doses, most toxins can be broken down or excreted before they do much harm – belief in 1800s, arsenic (Napoleon) Liver - primary site of detoxification Tissues and organs - high cellular reproduction rates replace injured cells - down side: tumors, cancers possible

Measuring Toxicity Most commonly used and widely accepted Expensive - hundreds of thousands of dollars to test one toxin at low doses Time consuming Often very inhumane Difficult to compare toxicity of unlike chemicals or different species of organisms Animal Testing

A Typical Dose/Response Curve

LD50 - the dose of a toxin that is lethal to half the test population

It is useful to group materials according to their relative toxicity. mouse rat Acute Lethal Doses for Some Toxic Organic Chemicals

Acute Versus Chronic Doses and Effects Acute effect - immediate health effect caused by a single exposure to a toxin (can be reversible) Chronic effect - long lasting (or permanent) health effect caused by: – a single exposure to a very toxic substance, OR – continuous or repeated sublethal exposure to a toxin

Risk Assessment and Acceptance Risk probability of harm X probability of exposure A number of factors influence how we perceive relative risks associated with different situations (interests as industrialist vs environmentalist, understanding probability, personal experience, our abilities to control our fate, news media biases, fear of technology). Accepting risks - we go to great lengths to avoid some dangers, while gladly accepting others

McKinney & Schoch

Establishing Public Policy Combined effects of exposure to many different sources of damage (synergistic effects of different toxins, eg smoking & asbestos effects on lung cancer rates) Different sensitivities of members of the population Effects of chronic as well as acute exposures In setting standards for environmental toxins, we need to consider:

Regulatory Decisions – EPA framework The Science Specific to the Problem Other Factors Not Specific to the Problem

Summary: Environmental Health Hazards –Infectious Organisms –Emergent Diseases –Antibiotics and Pesticide Resistance –Toxic Chemicals Distribution and Fate of Toxins Minimizing Toxic Effects Measuring Toxicity Risk Assessment Public Policy