Climate change has been identified as one of the greatest threats to humanity of all times. In addition to producing adverse environmental conditions such as rising sea level, drought, crop failure, vector-borne diseases, extreme events, degradation of water/air quality and heat waves, climate change is also considered a threat multiplier that leads to local and international conflicts and armed interventions. Urban areas may bear the brunt of climate change, as they are the centers of human habitation, anthropogenic stressors and environmental degradation, and the ensuing health impacts are of grave societal concern. The papers in this volume span a suite of climate change repercussions, paying particular attention to national security and human health aspects. It is an outcome of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop held during April 28-30, 2011 in Dubrovnik, Croatia, sponsored by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Program. The contributions cut across the elements of modeling, natural, political and social sciences, engineering, politics, military intervention, urban planning, industrial activities, epidemiology and healthcare.

The Handbook of Environmental Health is a must for the reference library of anyone with environmental concerns. Written by experts in the field and co-published by the National Environmental Health Association, this volume continues to be a valuable college textbook and major information resource on environmental issues.

The two-volume Handbook of Environmental Health has been a standard reference for over 23 years. Completely revised and expanded to reflect the latest developments and discoveries in this constantly changing and evolving field, the fourth edition continues to provide a basis for understanding the interactions between humans and the environment and how such interactions affect the health and welfare of individuals. Each volume includes a chapter on instrumentation, state-of-the-art graphics, a brand new comprehensive bibliography, and an index. They are an ideal text/reference for college and university students or professionals in the environmental, health, and occupational safety fields.

Focusing on factors that are generally associated with the internal environment, Volume I begins by providing a significant understanding of basic new environmental issues, energy, practical microbiology and chemistry, risk assessment, emerging infectious diseases, recent laws, emerging microorganisms, toxicology, epidemiology, human physiology, and the effects of the environment on humans. The remainder of the chapters discuss a variety of indoor environmental issues, including food safety, food technology, insect and rodent control, indoor air quality, hospital environment, home environment, injury control, pesticides, industrial hygiene, and instrumentation.

With the recent tightening of air quality standards as mandated by the U.S. EPA, has come great pressure on regulatory bodies at all levels of government, along with the industries and groups affected by these standards, to better assess the hazards and risks that result from air pollutants. Risk Assessment and Indoor Air Quality carefully ties together the tools and methodologies of Risk Assessment to the study of indoor air quality. This informative text takes a look at the problem of long-term exposure to low-level concentrations of toxins. In addition to commonly found toxins, such as chemical fumes from furnishings and carpeting, and indoor use of pesticides, this unique volume discusses risks associated with exposure to indoor allergens and infectious disease pathogens such as Legionnaires Disease. Because few scientific models exist for understanding the dynamics of indoor air quality, Risk Assessment and Indoor Air Quality is an essential resource for all students and professionals involved evaluating, testing and monitoring indoor air quality.

With our highly connected and interdependent world, the growing threat of infectious diseases and public health crisis has shed light on the requirement for global efforts to manage and combat highly pathogenic infectious diseases and other public health crisis on an unprecedented level. Such disease threats transcend borders. Reducing global threats posed by infectious disease outbreaks - whether naturally caused or resulting from a deliberate or accidental release - requires efforts that cross the disaster management pillars: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. This book addresses the issues of global health security along 4 themes: Emerging Threats; Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery; Exploring the Technology Landscape for Solutions; Leadership and Partnership. The authors of this volume highlight many of the challenges that confront our global security environment today. These range from politically induced disasters, to food insecurity, to zoonosis and terrorism. More optimistically, the authors also present some advances in technology that can help us combat these threats. Understanding the challenges that confront us and the tools we have to overcome them will allow us to face our future with confidence.

Following the successful first edition of this book on drinking water quality and health, this new edition puts more focus on the importance of minerals in drinking water. It includes new scientific material and presents additional studies on the negative health effects of reverse osmosis water. The various safety organizations working on drinking water all warn about unhealthy constituents, as well as elements that can cause corrosion or scaling on pipes and installations. However, drinking water may also provide a substantial portion of the daily mineral intake, especially for the elderly and children, or those at risk of deficiencies due to unhealthy eating habits or starvation. Thus, a holistic approach to drinking water is presented in this book and the scope is extended from standards for undesirable substances to the basic mineral composition of water, examining 22 nutrient elements and ions and 21 toxic substances. The function of the nutrients in the body, symptoms of deficiency and overload, and advantages of the minerals from drinking water are presented, as well as symptoms of toxic elements from drinking water. The authors also suggest healthy ranges of minerals and mineral ratios for drinking water. The book offers a valuable resource for the health evaluation of drinking waters, for private well owners, public water producers and safety organizations alike.

This volume takes a multidisciplinary approach to study and evaluate the global human vulnerability to the exposure of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in the natural environment. It provides a comprehensive resource on structurally diverse groups of chemical compounds that have adverse effects on the aquatic environment. It explores the global strength, environmental status, chemical risk assessment and management strategies of CECs with relevant modern techniques. The principle focus is on concurrent emerging water quality issues. It defines the impacts of the environmental exposure of trace concentrations of CECs and/or their metabolites and discusses possible technological advances to combat the emerging pollutants. It will be useful to researchers, multi-stakeholder expert groups, policymakers, and graduate students.

This book focuses on the prospects of fresh market waste management in developing countries. It characterizes fresh market wastewater and solid wastes, and highlights the human health impact of corresponding waste management practices. With regard to treatment technologies, the book discusses the anaerobic digestion of fresh solid wastes; the application of natural coagulants for wastewater treatment; the remediation of xenobiotics in wastewater using nanotechnology; and biofilter aquaponic systems for nutrient removal. All of these technologies are recent innovations, offer several concrete advantages, and can be applied in developing countries as non-central treatment systems. In addition, the book covers electricity production from fresh solid wastes using microbial fuel cells, demonstrating the potential held by recycling fresh market wastewater and solid wastes.

This handbook describes the broad aspects of risk management involving scientific policy judgment, uncertainty analysis, perception considerations, statistical insights, and strategic thinking. This book presents all the important concepts to enable the reader to "see the big picture." This ability is extremely important - it allows the decision maker or strategic environmental planner to understand and cope with a wide variety of complex and interlinked pieces of information and data.
The text presents environmental problems and, whenever applicable, the methodology required to reach a successful solution. Decisions and policies are examined. The book covers numerous objective and subjective components of environmental risk decision making. It details quantitative and comparative risk, and investigates the cost and feasibility of different decisions. Social pressures, safety, and political, religious, ethical, and psychological issues are addressed. How to evaluate the potential impact on the quality of life also is discussed.
Any company doing risk assessment, risk management, or risk communication, as well as those doing environmental decision making will find this reference to be invaluable. It is also suitable as a text for courses in environmental management, environmental science, and risk assessment in the areas of risk management and strategic environmental planning.

Lead Poisoning discusses one of the most critical and preventable environmentally induced illnesses. The actual toll lead poisoning takes on society cannot be measured fully due to the "silent" nature of health effects, such as subtle intellectual deficits and neurological damage, caused by chronic low-level exposures. This book covers every major topic on the subject, including lead poisoning in children, sources of contamination, state-of-the-art sampling and analytical measurement methods, the newest studies on low-cost abatement methods, and much more. This reference is the most comprehensive presentation of issues currently available under one cover.
The text is divided into three major parts. Part I provides insights from studies assessing lead exposures from paint, dust, soil, and lead battery recycling operations. The second part is a unique collection of strategic federal policy statements from the U.S. EPA, HUD, and HEW-CDC. It details the National Implementation Plan as well as a local government's efforts to provide low-cost effective risk communication and public outreach to the community. The next part offers seven chapters on analytical issues in the measurement of lead in blood, paint, dust, and soils. Part IV, Sampling Methods and Statistical Issues, rounds out the technical portion of the volume. The relationships among lead levels in biological and environmental media are investigated and the interpretive problems discussed. The use of multi-element analysis of environmental samples as an approach to investigate sources is described.
The book finishes with its most unique feature-OPPT's Check Our Kids for Lead Program, one organization's effort to empower its employees to make a personal difference in confronting the problem of lead poisoning in children. The Program serves as a model for other government organizations (federal, state, and local), university and community organizations, and corporations to educate them and take personal and corporate responsibility for addressing this important and environmental health problem.

Disasters and Public Health: Planning and Response, Second Edition, examines the critical intersection between emergency management and public health. It provides a succinct overview of the actions that may be taken before, during, and after a major public health emergency or disaster to reduce morbidity and mortality. Five all-new chapters at the beginning of the book describe how policy and law drive program structures and strategies leading to the establishment and maintenance of preparedness capabilities. New topics covered in this edition include disaster behavioral health, which is often the most expensive and longest-term recovery challenge in a public health emergency, and community resilience, a valuable resource upon which most emergency programs and responses depend. The balance of the book provides an in-depth review of preparedness, response, and recovery challenges for 15 public health threats. These chapters also provide lessons learned from responses to each threat, giving users a well-rounded introduction to public health preparedness and response that is rooted in experience and practice.

Scientific output in low- and middle-income countries is greatly challenged by numerous factors. This is particularly pronounced in sub-Saharan African countries, despite the continent being the world's second largest and second most-populous continent, currently undergoing rapid economic growth. Financial constraints and unclear areas of focus when funding is available, are among the limiting factors, with the consequence being the development of inadequate policies, especially those relating to environmental protection and conservation. This 13-chapter book is a unique piece in the field of microbiology, designed to stimulate some research areas in Africa by illustrating interesting and informative examples of the current applied research agenda in environmental microbiology in selected countries within the continent. With authors from the North, South, East and West of Africa, the book touches diverse applied methods and approaches to meet the pragmatic needs faced by environmental microbiologists in Africa. Also included are topics on viruses, bacteria (including cyanobacteria), and protozoa, and their importance in disease. Sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, and eco-friendly oil and hydrocarbon bioremediation and degradation approaches are highlighted. Microbial involvement in different common indoor (e.g., household kitchens, latrines, and hospitals) and outdoor settings including air, soil, and water habitats, and their resistance to commonly used antibiotics, are described. Hopefully, the work presented here will stimulate the need for increasing modern training and funding initiatives to prepare African microbiologists to meet the challenges they face in African universities and research laboratories.

What agents should be measured?

How should measurement be performed and what averaging time should be used for the measurement?

What sampling strategy should be employed to characterize exposures across individuals, locations, and time?

What durations of exposure should be characterized?

What statistical descriptors should be used to relate exposure to effect?

Exposure Assessment for Epidemiology and Hazard Control examines various approaches to answering these and other important questions. Other topics discussed include the measurement of current exposures (e.g., vapors, gases, aerosols, and complex mixtures); the application of toxicological relationships, including biological markers and sample models; an epidemiological evaluation of exposure-effect relationships, including new methods for effect evaluation and models for population exposure estimates; and strategies for exposure assessment, such as biological sampling interpretation through toxicokinetic processes. This important new volume contains essential information for industrial hygienists, epidemiologists, occupational health physicians, toxicologists, and immunologists.

Dramatic changes in the field of environmental health since the Third Edition was published in 2004 demand a new, radically updated version of this essential textbook. Based on the recommendations of advisory bodies and federal agency regulations, as well as a thorough review of the scientific literature, Moeller's Fourth Edition is the only fully current text in this burgeoning field. It features new tables and figures, and revisions of those retained from previous editions. Environmental Health is also enriched with the knowledge and insights of professionals who are deeply involved in "real world" aspects of each subject covered. In eighteen chapters, students receive a complete but manageable introduction to the complex nature of the environment, how humans interact with it, and the mutual impact between people and the environments where they work or live. This new edition emphasizes the challenges students will face in the field: the local and global implications of environmental health initiatives, their short- and long-range effects, their importance to both developing and developed nations, and the roles individuals can play in helping to resolve these problems. Whether discussing toxicology, injury prevention, risk assessment, and ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, or more traditional subjects like the management and control of air, water, and food, Dade Moeller emphasizes the need for a systems approach to analyzing new projects prior to their construction and operation. Environmental Health is indispensable reading for practitioners, students, and anyone considering a career in public health.

The proceedings of the Medical and Global Health Research Symposium (MoRes) provides a selection of papers resulting from the conference, either research results or literature review, on advanced medical technology and environmental health in the era of industrial revolution 4.0. Nine major subject areas were presented in the this proceedings volume, comprising halal medicine: challenges and opportunities; infectious and non-infectious diseases; drug discoveries and development; community and occupational health; health policy and health insurance; hospital and nursing management; disaster relief and management; environment health and climate change; and digital and health technology. It is expected that the proceedings will give new insights into knowledge and practice of medicine and global health. Therefore, parties involved in medicine and global health such as academics, practitioners, business leaders, and others will benefit from the contents of the proceedings.

Research Ethics for Environmental Health explores the ethical basis of environmental health research and related aspects of risk assessment and control. Environmental health encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect human health, such as radiation, toxic chemicals and other hazardous agents. It is often assumed that the assessment part is just a matter of scientific research, and that control is a matter of implementing standards that unambiguously follow from that research. But it is less commonly understood that environmental health also requires addressing questions of an ethical nature. Coming from multiple disciplines and nine different countries, the contributors to this book critically examine a diverse range of ethical concerns in modern environmental health research. This book will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners of environmental health, as well as researchers in applied ethics, environmental ethics, medical ethics, bioethics and those concerned with chemical and radiation protection.

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

This guide brings together the varied and multiple skills and activities required of pest control practitioners, including biology, chemistry, architecture, engineering, sales, logistics, legal and accounting, presented with a primary emphasis on pest organisms at its core. This book provides information and tips on all of these aspects and: explores the business of controlling pests (including trends in the industry, pest control tools, and sustainable pest control); covers biological information on each pest in addition to information on control and management, monitoring and follow-up; focusses particularly on globally significant pests with internationally-applicable use and guidance; and provides practical and hands-on experience, drawing on original case studies This is a key resource for pest control practitioners, as well as in-house staff of companies or buildings involved in household or urban pest control. It is also a valuable reference for researchers, and sanitation and building managers.

Human health depends on the health of the planet. Earth's natural systems, the air, the water, the biodiversity, the climate, are our life support systems. Yet climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of land and freshwater, pollution and other threats are degrading these systems. The emerging field of planetary health aims to understand how these changes threaten our health and how to protect ourselves and the rest of the biosphere. Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves provides a readable introduction to this new paradigm. With an interdisciplinary approach, the book addresses a wide range of health impacts felt in the Anthropocene, including food and nutrition, infectious disease, non-communicable disease, dislocation and conflict, and mental health. It also presents strategies to combat environmental changes and its ill-effects, such as controlling toxic exposures, investing in clean energy, improving urban design, and more. Chapters are authored by widely recognised experts. The result is a comprehensive and optimistic overview of a growing field that is being adopted by researchers and universities around the world. Students of public health will gain a solid grounding in the new challenges their profession must confront, while those in the environmental sciences, agriculture, the design professions, and other fields will become familiar with the human consequences of planetary changes. Understanding how our changing environment affects our health is increasingly critical to a variety of disciplines and professions. Planetary Health is the definitive guide to this vital field.

Food--how we produce, prepare, share and consume it--is fundamental to our wellbeing. It also connects the human body to the complex and dynamic systems of our environment. This is more significant than ever before in human history, as climate change and increasing population impact on global ecosystems. This fourth edition of Food and Nutrition has been completely rewritten to reflect an ecosystems approach to human health. It is shaped around four dimensions of human nutrition: biology, society, environment and economy. Food and Nutrition provides a comprehensive overview of food components and the biochemistry of foods and digestion. It outlines nutrition needs at different life stages, dietary disorders, and social and cultural influences on food selection and consumption. It also explores the increasing influence of technology on agriculture and food preparation, and recent research into intergenerational nutrition and nutrigenomics. At every stage it points to how you can impact your own health and the health of others as a global citizen and as a health or other food-system-related professional. Extensively illustrated with informative graphs, diagrams and data, and with examples, glossaries and reflective exercises, Food and Nutrition is the ideal introduction to the field of nutrition and dietetics for the 21st century, and a valuable professional reference for early career dietitians.

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) established by the General Assembly in 1955 assesses the levels and effects of exposure to ionizing radiation on human health and the environment. This is the first of four volumes of scientific annexes that presents the supporting scientific deliberations for the UNSCEAR 2020/2021 report to the United Nations General Assembly. Annex A "Medical exposure to ionizing radiation" presents a comprehensive global estimate of the frequencies and doses from medical exposure, their distribution and trends in medical categories in the 2009-2018 period. The annex considers four general categories of medical practice using ionizing radiation: (a) diagnostic radiology, including dental radiology and computed tomography, (b) interventional radiology (image-guided interventional procedures), (c) nuclear medicine and (d) radiation therapy.

This book presents a systems thinking approach in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals for sustainable national development in vulnerable countries. Systems thinking is a process for understanding the interrelationships among the key components of a system; this book illustrates sustainable development as a system. Key environmental issues are discussed showing their relationship to socioeconomic aspects of development, in the light of increased climate threats and environmental disasters.

Leading architects, designers, materials scientists, and health officials reflect on the influence of COVID-19 on buildings and cities-and propose solutions to safeguard the built environment from future pandemics. COVID-19 caused a significant global disruption of human activities with striking consequences for the built environment, causing an abrupt fear as it relates to architecture and building design. Buildings became magnifiers of contagion instead of shelters for protection. Immunizing the built environment against contagion is a monumental task requiring a variety of approaches and disciplinary expertise at multiple scales of inquiry. In this book, 60 of the world's leading architects, designers, engineers, materials scientists, and public health experts contribute to an expansive overview of inoculation strategies for today's world. These approaches are organized according to the primary sites of exposure, generally arranged by scale: surface (materials and tactile interfaces), system (mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and lighting assemblies), space (interior and exterior environments), and society (cities, regions, and the general public). This broad collection of perspectives elucidates the transformations underway in the built environment- and offers design strategies to limit the severity of subsequent pandemics. In this way, the book aims to serve both as a multidisciplinary snapshot of COVID-19's effects and a guidebook for future-proofing architecture against widespread disease.

This SpringerBrief focuses on Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) in the three basins in the Witwatersrand, South Africa. It provides a background to AMD and its impactsfrom a social science perspective.The South African government and non-governmental organizations' response to AMD is assessed, as well the socio-economic and developmental effects of AMD. This volume, which is based on the author's Master's dissertation at UNISA, involves interviews with a range of experts in the field from government departments, environmental organisations (activists), the private sector (mining), tourism sector and the agricultural sector. The book discusses existing policy documents on AMD and provides recommendations in response to the many socio-economic impacts which have not been fully addressed. A literature review on the global context of AMD is provided. South Africa's water systems are already severely harmed by climate change, different forms of pollution, and poorly managed sanitation systems. For these reasons, the country is becoming increasingly water-stressed and therefore, water will continue to become much scarcer in the future. As a result of AMD's continued impact on South Africa's water systems, as a technical or scientific matter as well as the policy implications for the mining sector, water security and socio-economic sustainability has become a highly contested issue.

This volume offers an overview of the occurrence and distribution of personal care products in continental and marine waters, presents analytical methods and degradation technologies and discusses their impact on human health. Experts from different disciplines highlight major issues for each family of compounds related to their occurrence in the water column as well as in solid and biota samples, methodological strategies for their analysis, non-conventional degradation technologies, (eco)toxicity data and their human and environmental risk assessment. The book also includes a general introduction to personal care products, covering their properties, use, behaviour and regulatory framework, and a final chapter identifying knowledge gaps and future research trends. It will appeal to experts from various fields of research, including analytical and environmental chemistry, toxicology and environmental engineering.

Environmental Epidemiology and Risk Assessment Tim Aldrich and Jack Griffith Environmental Epidemiology and Risk Assessment addresses the historical development of environmental epidemiology, touching on recent sensationalized environmental tragedies such as Love Canal and Chernobyl. Understanding the importance that public opinion plays in the success or failure of any important regulatory decision involving human studies, the authors elaborate the issue of communicating scientific findings to the public. The authors have employed the material in this book while teaching graduate courses in epidemiology and in the application of field studies for environmentally related risk assessment. Environmental Epidemiology and Risk Assessment is convenient for students to use in independent study, while instructors can use it as a reference and background source for classroom lectures. Each chapter contains a list of specific learning objectives, a detailed narrative including illustrations and case histories, and instructive assignments. The authors have also provided a list of recommended reading which complements the extensive bibliography and selected glossaries. This comprehensive text provides state-of-the-art instruction in the methodologic considerations with the design and conduct of environmental epidemiologic studies. The authors discuss disease mechanisms, the study of disease clusters, and surveillance techniques as these topics relate to environmental epidemiology. Environmental Epidemiology and Risk Assessment is a compilation of over thirty years of practical experience, university and public agency instruction, federal agency experiences, and community investigations, bringing together disparate scientific disciplines and offering the most comprehensive compendium of information to be found on the subject. Although this book serves as a reference text for trained epidemiologists, it places considerably more emphasis than is commonly found in epidemiologic texts on exposure monitoring, the use of biomarkers in epidemiologic studies, laboratory practices for environmental sampling, risk assessment, risk management, and environmental law. This "how to" book is an invaluable source for public health professionals with limited didactic training in epidemiology, but with interests and professional responsibilities that require a working understanding of the discipline.