Unit 7 Seminar Environmental Health and Safety Prof Tynan Weed

Reminders: Due Today (Tuesday at 11:59pm): Comments to other students in the Unit 7 Discussion (initial post was posted on Saturday) In My Backyard (initial post was posted on Saturday, comments to other students posted by Sunday)

Final Project Announcement-Due Unit 9 Body of final project needs to be a minimum of 8 pages (8-10 pages) Discrepancy: there are a couple of documents within the course that say minimum of 5 pages, some say 8-10 pages, but all PU 120 sections are requiring a minimum of 8 pages. See Final Project Grading Rubric posted in Doc Sharing to see how your assignment will be graded, so that you can achieve maximum points.

Chapter 8 Environmental Health Key Terms Unaltered environment Altered environment Built environment Hazards Multiplicative interaction

What is environmental health? When you think of environmental health, what comes to mind? What are some examples of programs that support environmental health? “Green” movement: – What are some things you have been doing to go “green”?

Unaltered Environment Nature without intervention by mankind, but this doesn’t mean it is always healthy – Ex: skin cancer (although we did have a role in the ozone layer’s disappearance) – Ex: Radon

Altered Environment Impact of chemicals, radiation, and biological products that we (mankind) introduce into the environment – Industrial chemicals – Elements mined from the earth – Radiation from nuclear energy, medical wastes – Biological impacts, such as introduction of invasive species and management of biological waste

Built Environment New term Impacts of the physical environment as a result of human construction Includes: – Injuries and exposures at home – Transportation system – How we design and heat buildings – How we cook our food (microwave?) – Activity levels and how we socialize

How do exposures vary? Quantity of exposure Route of exposure Timing of exposure – Sunbathing: mid-day increases risk of burns, skin cancer

Hazards and Risk assessment Risk assessment is a formal process that aims to measure the potential impact of known hazards. Risk assessment takes the inherent danger into account along with quantity, route and timing of exposure. Public health assessment: deals with populations of people Hazard: the inherent danger of an exposure Sometimes we don’t know what will be a hazard until we see the effects later (ex: Lead)

Multiplicative Interaction Since there may be interactions between the exposures themselves, the presence of both exposures results in an overall impact much greater than expected. – Ex: radon and cigarette smoking

Example: Lead exposure Lead was found to improve the performance of cars and paints Children ingested peeling paint, home renovation increases amount of lead in the air, pipes in older water supplies and homes (can leach into warm water) Table 8-2 on page 117 describes how lead enters our bodies, where it comes from, and ways to reduce our exposure

Next Week-Unit 8 Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 (2 chapters!) Health Professionals, Health Welfare and Health Care Institutions Chapter 9 will focus on the healthcare professionals and their role in the delivery of health care. Chapter 10 will focus on the institutions of health care and how they interact to provide information for populations.

Questions? Feel free to me with questions at Have a great night!