This comprehensive interdisciplinary text draws from the social sciences, the natural sciences and the health sciences to introduce students to the principles and methods applied in environmental health. It presents an overview of the basic sciences needed to understand environmental health hazards, including toxicology, microbiology, health physics, injury analysis and relevant psychosocial concepts. It also presents a basic approach to risk assessment and risk management. The first part of the book concentrates on broad issues, providing frameworks for the investigation and management of environmental health problems. The middle section deepens the discussion of routes of exposure (air quality, water and sanitation, food and agricultural issues). The final section addresses environmental health from sustainable development themes (settlements and urbanization, energy, industry, and global concerns). The final chapter focuses on ethical issues and action planning. Thus, the text aims to enhance knowledge, skills and attitudes in environmental health.

'Understanding how complex ecological and climatic change can influence human health is the new challenge before us. The book confronts these multidimensional risk assessments head-on and will catalyse the important interdisciplinary and integrated approach that is the new paradigm now required for environmental and public health research.' Dr JONATHAN PATZ Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health 'This book provides a sturdy foundation for thinking about how best to tackle a varied spectrum of population health hazards posed by different aspects and combinations of global change processes it alsogoes that extra mile by estimating the attributable population burdens of disease or mortality that are likely to result from these aspects of global change. It is heartening to see the results of this mathematical modeling being presented in policy-relevant terms.' From the Foreword by TONY McMICHAEL Health and Climate Change is the first major study of the potentially devastating health impacts of the global atmospheric changes which are under way. Using the best available data, the author presents models of the most plausible future courses of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and schistosomiasis; skin cancer caused by nozone depletion; and cardiovascular and respiratory disorders caused by higher temperatures. Current epidemiological research methods are not well adapted to analysing complex systems influenced by human intervention, or more simple processes calculated to take place within the distant future. Health and Climate Change proposes a new paradigm of integrated eco-epidemiological models for these areas of study. It will be essential reading for those concerned with public health and epidemiology, environmental studies, climate change and development studies. Originally published in 1998"

Highly commended in the Public Health category, BMA Medical Awards 2010 There are enormous health benefits from tackling climate change. This is the first book to set out what health practitioners can do to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, to make health services sustainable, and to design healthy, sustainable communities. The book: - provides an introduction for health practitioners and students to climate change and its current and future health impacts - describes the relationship between health and the environment - gives facts and figures on greenhouse gas emissions - sets out the huge benefits to health of acting on climate change - explains what health practitioners can do - at home, at work and in their organizations, and - shows how you can support action in communities, nationally and globally. Essential reading for: - health professionals, local government, built environment professionals - students across all sectors of health, medicine and public administration - community and voluntary sector, NGOs - the business community involved in private healthcare. The Health Practitioner's Guide to Climate Change is written by an authoritative group of authors from key organisations in the field, including the Met Office, the Faculty of Public Health, Natural England, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Climate and Health Council, the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, the Health Protection Agency, the University of the West of England, Sustrans and the National Social Marketing Centre. Sponsored by The National Heart Forum and the National Social Marketing Centre. Foreword by Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

In Complexity Economics for Environmental Governance, Jean-Francois Mercure reframes environmental policy and provides a rigorous methodology necessary to tackle the complexity of environmental policy and the transition to sustainability. The book offers a detailed account of the deficiencies of environmental economics and then develops a theory of innovation and macroeconomics based on complexity theory. It also develops a new foundation for evidence-based policy-making using a Risk-Opportunity Analysis applied to the sustainability transition. This multidisciplinary work was developed in partnership with prominent natural scientists and economists as well as active policy-makers with the aim to revolutionize thinking in the face of the full complexity of the sustainability transition, and to show how it can best be governed to minimize its distributional impacts. The book should be read by academics and policy-makers seeking new ways to think about environmental policy-making.

The volumes that comprise Chemical Sensitivity are the first major scientific books to be published on chemical sensitivity, a growing world-wide health problem. These volumes present clinical experiences in diagnosing and treating chemical sensitivity in over 20,000 patients under controlled conditions.

Flood hazards and the risks they present to human health are an increasing concern across the globe, in terms of lives, well-being and livelihoods, and the public resources needed to plan for, and deal with, the health impacts. This book is the first detailed assessment and discussion of the global health implications of flooding and future flood risk. It combines an analysis of the human health impacts of flooding with analysis of individual and societal response to those risks, and sets these findings in light of potential future increases in flood hazard as a result of climate change. Written and edited by leading researchers and practitioners on flood hazards and human health, the volume brings together findings from epidemiological, environmental, social and institutional studies, with analysis rooted in an approach that emphasizes the developmental as well as environmental causes of flood risk, and the socially differentiated nature of vulnerability and coping capacity. The first part of the book sets out the scope of the issues, and provides a detailed discussion of the global health impacts of floods and the nature of human response to the health risks posed. The second part presents new research evidence on specific health aspects of floods covering mental health, infectious diseases, local level responses and the responses of health systems - drawing on case study material from Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, including the impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The conclusion synthesizes insights from the previous chapters and discusses priorities for policy, practice and research. It draws out implications for present and future adaptation to flooding, and emphasizes the need to integrate action on health with the broader agenda of long-term risk reduction. This is indispensable reading for professionals and researchers working on hazard and disaster planning, risk reduction and public health in all countries and contexts.

This volume presents the recent developments in the field of arsenic in soil and groundwater. Arranged into nine sections, the text emphasizes the global occurrences of arsenic in the environment, particularly on its source, pathways, behavior, and effects it has on soils, plants, water, animals, and humans. It also covers the diverse issues of arsenic in the mining environment, arsenic emanating from hydrothermal springs, and the geochemical modeling of arsenic adsorption to oxide surfaces. Finally, the text includes different cost effective removal mechanisms of arsenic from drinking water using natural red earth, solar oxidation, and arsenic oxidation by ferrrate.
Written in simple English, and few technical terms, the book is designed to create interest within the countries with occurrences of arsenic in drinking water with
-an update the current status of knowledge on the dynamics of natural arsenic from the aquifers through groundwater to food chain and efficient techniques for arsenic removal.
-serve as a standard text book for graduate, postgraduate students and researchers in the field of Environmental Sciences and Hydrogeochemistry as well as researchers, environmental scientists and chemists, toxicologists, medical scientists and even for general public seeking an in-depth view of arsenic which had been classed as a carcinogen.
-bring awareness, among administrators, policy makers and company executives, on the problem and to improve the international cooperation

Flood hazards and the risks they present to human health are an increasing concern across the globe, in terms of lives, well-being and livelihoods, and the public resources needed to plan for, and deal with, the health impacts. This book is the first detailed assessment and discussion of the global health implications of flooding and future flood risk. It combines an analysis of the human health impacts of flooding with analysis of individual and societal response to those risks, and sets these findings in light of potential future increases in flood hazard as a result of climate change. Written and edited by leading researchers and practitioners on flood hazards and human health, the volume brings together findings from epidemiological, environmental, social and institutional studies, with analysis rooted in an approach that emphasizes the developmental as well as environmental causes of flood risk, and the socially differentiated nature of vulnerability and coping capacity. The first part of the book sets out the scope of the issues, and provides a detailed discussion of the global health impacts of floods and the nature of human response to the health risks posed. The second part presents new research evidence on specific health aspects of floods covering mental health, infectious diseases, local level responses and the responses of health systems - drawing on case study material from Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, including the impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The conclusion synthesizes insights from the previous chapters and discusses priorities for policy, practice and research. It draws out implications for present and future adaptation to flooding, and emphasizes the need to integrate action on health with the broader agenda of long-term risk reduction. This is indispensable reading for professionals and researchers working on hazard and disaster planning, risk reduction and public health in all countries and contexts.

There is widespread public concern about hazardous chemicals that are contained in air, soil, water and food. Policy has therefore adopted a series of laws and regulations concerning emissions into and concentration levels in different media including food. As policy makers do not only have to consider the protection of the environment but also need to ensure a well-functioning economy at the same time, these limit or target values need to be set in a balanced way. The main problem, however, is to compare the costs for achieving these targets with the benefits to society by having a smaller exposure to hazardous substances (cost-benefit analysis).

This book sets out to improve the reliability of cost-benefit analyses particularly of hazardous substances present in air, water, soil and food. It suggests that the human health risk assessment of chemicals is performed in a bottom-up analysis, i.e., following a spatially resolved multimedia modelling approach. In order to support cost-benefit analyses, the approach is accompanied by monetary valuation of human health impacts, yielding so-called external costs. Results for selected priority metals show that these external costs are small compared to those by the classical air pollutants and involve rather long time horizons touching on the aspect of intergenerational equity within sustainable development. When including further hazardous substances, the total external costs attributable to contaminants are expected to be more substantial.

There are thousands of substances manufactured in the United States to which the public is routinely exposed and for which toxicity data are limited or absent. Some insist that uncertainty about the severity of potential harm justifies implementing precautionary regulations, while others claim that uncertainty justifies the absence of regulations until sufficient evidence confirms a strong probability of severe harm. In this book, Levente Szentkiralyi overcomes this impasse in his defense of precautionary environmental risk regulation by shifting the focus from how to manage uncertainty to what it is we owe each other morally. He argues that actions that create uncertain threats wrongfully gamble with the welfare of those who are exposed and neglect the reciprocity that our equal moral standing demands. If we take the moral equality and rights of others seriously, we have a duty to exercise due care to strive to prevent putting them in possible harm's way. The Ethics of Precaution will be of great interest to researchers, educators, advanced students, and practitioners working in the fields of environmental political theory, ethics of risk, and environmental policy.

This volume throws light on the Sick Building Syndrome in Libraries and other public buildings, and the extent to which it is influenced by the internal environment of libraries. One of the signs of this disease is that the person suffers from a set of symptoms closely related to his/her presence in the building, without the identification of any clear causes, and his/her relief of these symptoms when he/she are out of the building. Hence, the book sheds on the extent to which the interior environment impacts upon the health of the people, and the extent to which this is reflected in their performance. The book can be used for teaching, research, and professional reference. It concludes with the recommendation that is essential to observe environmental dimensions when designing library and public buildings, taking into consideration the expected impact of SBS in library and public buildings on people. The significance of the book derives from the fact that it is the first of its kind to examine the issue of the interior environment and SBS of library and public building worldwide.

The new edition of this comprehensive study of national and international research and application into wood preservation is both well detailed and broad in coverage. The text covers the history of preservation: the anatomy of timbers and their breakdown, preservation principles, materials and methods.

This book is an an up-to-date survey and summary of present knowledge and future expectations regarding the environmental causes of congenital malformations in human beings, beginning with the earliest discoveries of the 20th century up to the latest ideas and problems at its end, presents views and comments on the progress made over the century in understanding human prenatal maldevelopment.

An inspirational and beautifully illustrated book that tells the stories of 80 plants from around the globe. In his follow-up to the bestselling Around the World in 80 Trees, Jonathan Drori takes another trip across the globe, bringing to life the science of plants by revealing how their worlds are intricately entwined with our own history, culture and folklore. From the seemingly familiar tomato and dandelion to the eerie mandrake and Spanish 'moss' of Louisiana, each of these stories is full of surprises. Some have a troubling past, while others have ignited human creativity or enabled whole civilizations to flourish. With a colourful cast of characters all brought to life by illustrator Lucille Clerc, this is a botanical journey of beauty and brilliance. 'A beautiful celebration of the plants and flowers that surround us and a quiet call to arms for change' The Herald 'This charming and beautifully illustrated book takes readers on a voyage of discovery, exploring the many ingenious and surprising uses for plants in modern science and throughout history' Kew Magazine 'With beautiful illustrations from Lucille Clerc, this captivating book traverses the globe via plants: nettles in England, mangoes in India and tulips in the Netherlands' Daily Mail

This reference explores the sources, characteristics, bioeffects, and health hazards of extremely low-frequency (ELF) fields and radio frequency radiation (RFR), analyzing current research as well as the latest epidemiological studies to assess potential risks associated with exposure and to develop effective safety guidelines. Compiles reports and investigations from four decades of study on the effect of nonionizing electromagnetic fields and radiation on human health Summarizing modern engineering approaches to control exposure, Electromagnetic Fields and Radiation discusses: -EM interaction mechanisms in biological systems -Explorations into the impact of EM fields on free radicals, cells, tissues, organs, whole organisms, and the population -Regulatory standards in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia Pacific -Evaluation of incident fields from various EM sources -Measurement surveys for various sites including power lines, substations, mobile systems, cellular base stations, broadcast antennas, traffic radar devices, heating equipment, and other sources -Dosimetry techniques for the determination of internal EM fields -Conclusions reached by the Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization, and other institutions

Contents:
Introduction 1. History and Evolution 2. Building-Associated Illness 3. Building Design and Air Quality 4. Volatile Organic Compounds 5. Microbial Contamination 6. Pyschosocial and Other Factors 7. Diagnosing IAQ Problems 8. Pro-active Ways of Reducing IAQ Problems

This book examines the need for information in support of decision-making in environmental health. It discusses indicators of environmental health, methods of data collection and the assessment of exposure to and the health impact of different environmental risk factors. It also discusses approaches to linkage analysis of grouped environmental and health data, including statistical and epidemiological issues and geographical infomation systems.
The book will be an invaluable source of information for researchers in public health, epidemiology and social science, as well as for environmental health data as part of local or national information systems.

This book, which has been prepared by an international group of experts, provides comprehensive guidance for the design, planning and implementation of assessments and monitoring programmes for water bodies used for recreation. It addresses the wide range of hazards which may be encountered and emphasizes the importance of linking monitoring programmes to effective and feasible management actions to protect human health. It also provides details of sampling and analytical methods.
This book will be an invaluable source of information for anyone concerned with monitoring and assessing recreational waters, including field staff. It will also be useful for national and regional government departments concerned with tourism and recreation, and for students and special interest groups.

This book, which has been prepared by an international group of experts, provides comprehensive guidance for the design, planning and implementation of assessments and monitoring programmes for water bodies used for recreation. It addresses the wide range of hazards which may be encountered and emphasizes the importance of linking monitoring programmes to effective and feasible management actions to protect human health. It also provides details of sampling and analytical methods.
This book will be an invaluable source of information for anyone concerned with monitoring and assessing recreational waters, including field staff. It will also be useful for national and regional government departments concerned with tourism and recreation, and for students and special interest groups.

This ground-breaking study offers new challenges to those teaching, studying or developing strategies and policies in health and the environment.Bringing together a variety of approaches from different perspectives and different locations, the contributors examine the various dimensions of health ecology in a human ecology framework, examining how local, regional and global factors impinge upon the health and environment of individuals, communities and the globe.

Concern about the impact of air pollution has led governments and local authorities across the world to regulate, among other things, the burning of fossil fuels, industrial effluence, cigarette smoke, and aerosols. This legislation has often followed dramatic findings about the impact of pollution on human health. At the same time there have been significant developments in our ability to detect and quantify pollutants and a proliferation of urban and rural air pollution networks to monitor levels of atmospheric contamination.
Air Pollution and Health is the first fully comprehensive and current account of air pollution science and it impact on human health. It ranges in scope from meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, and particle physics to the causes and scope of allergic reactions and respiratory, cardiovascular, and related disorders. The book has substantial international coverage and includes sections on cost implications, risk assessment, regulation, standards, and information networks. The multidisciplinary approach and the wide range of issues covered makes this an essential book for all concerned with monitoring and regulating air pollution as well as those concerned with its impact on human health.
Key Features
* Only comprehensive text covering all the important air pollutants and relating these to human health and regulatory bodies
* Brings together a wide range of issues concerning air pollution in an easily accessible format
* Contributions from government agencies in the US and UK provide information on public policy and resource networks in the areas of health promotion and environmental protection

Written by experts in the field, this textbook examines the principles and applications of techniques used in monitoring pesticide disposition following application and in the assessment of human exposure. It approaches pesticide exposure systematically, examining both occupational and bystander exposure. Some aspects of exposure which are addressed include: aerial transport with on- and off-target loss of material; transferable or dislodgeable residues from surfaces; biomonitoring of systemating absorbed residues; epidermal desposition and absorption through the skin; and the assessment of adverse health effects including neurological and neurobehavioural endpoints of toxicity. Gaining insight into exposure characterization/assessment, the reader will be able to design experiments that monitor biological effects of exposure, develop regulatory guidelines for application practices, or protect human health.

The impact of air pollution on human health is currently of international concern. A comprehensive review of the subject is given in this volume, which complements the previous title covering air quality management. Dealing with the common gaseous and particulate air pollutants, including chemical carcinogens, it reviews the epidemiological and exposure chamber study research as well as considering mechanistic studies in the case of particulate matter. Air Pollution and Health also addresses the practical issue of setting standards for human exposure to air pollution by including the philosophy of standard setting and a review of currently available standards, along with a description of the setting of USEPA revised standards for ozone and particulate matter. Current knowledge of indoor air pollution is also discussed. As with all other books in the series, this volume will be of interest to the general public as well as being an important reference source for all those involved in the field, be it as student, industrialist, government agent, or health professional.

Environmental illness: certain health professionals and clinical ecologists claim it impacts and inhibits 15 percent of the population. Its afflicted are led to believe environmental illness (EI) originates with food, chemicals, and other stimuli in their surroundings -as advocates call for drastic measures to remedy the situation. What if relief proves elusive-and the patient is sent on a course of ongoing, costly and ineffective "treatment"? Several hundred individuals who believed they were suffering from EI have been evaluated or treated by Herman Staudenmayer since the 1970s. Staudenmayer believed the symptoms harming his patients actually had psychophysiological origins-based more in fear of a hostile world than any suspected toxins contained in the environment. Staudenmayer's years of research, clinical work-and successful care-are now summarized in Environmental Illness: Myth & Reality. Dismissing much of the information that has attempted to defend EI and its culture of victimization, Staudenmayer details the alternative diagnoses and treatments that have helped patients recognize their true conditions-and finally overcome them, often after years of prolonged suffering.

Freshwater is a finite resource and is being deteriorated directly and indirectly by anthropogenic pressures. Preserving the quality and availability of freshwater resources is becoming one of the most pressing environmental challenges on the international horizon. To ensure the preservation as well as availability of freshwater resources, there is a need to understand the ecology of the freshwater systems, pollution problems, their impacts, restoration techniques to be opted and the conservation measures. In this backdrop the present book on 'Freshwater Pollution Dynamics and Remediation' has been compiled. The book provides an understanding about the present state of art, pollution impacts including the changes in the environmental quality as well as the shift in the aquatic biological communities of the fragile freshwater ecosystems. Besides, the impact of deteriorating quality of the freshwater ecosystems on the animal and human health is also discussed in detail. This book provides a comprehensive account of the techniques based on updated research in biotechnology, bio-remediation, phyto-remediation and nano-bioremediation. The role of biosorpers and biofilms as a remediation tool has also been detailed. The book is a ready reference for researchers, scientists and educators who are involved in the freshwater pollution, remediation and management studies. The book editors with an expertise in diverse research fields in freshwater ecosystems have congregated the most inclusive research accounts on the freshwater pollution and remediation and thus developed a repository of diverse knowledge on the subject