A map of the relationship between work and health that is truly global, both geographically and in its coverage of the impact of work on the health of individuals, families, and societies, has not previously been drawn. Global Inequalities at Work is the first book to fill in the map. Drawing from studies done around the world, it critically examines the many ways in which work is affecting health around the world.

The first section covers the wide range of risks - physical, chemical, and social - to the health of employees in agricultural, industrial, and post-industrial workplaces. Part II provides a detailed analysis of how working conditions can dramatically influence the health and welfare of family members, including children, elderly parents, and the disabled, in both the developing and industrial world.

Part III examines the relationships between work and health at the societal level by focusing on two examples: the ways in which working conditions affect income inequalities and health, and the ways in which working conditions influence gender inequalities and health. Part IV investigates the new challenges to and opportunities for improving the relationship between work and health that are presented by a rapidly globalizing economy.

Global Inequalities at Work addresses these issues at a time when globalization is both markedly changing the impact of work on the health of individuals, families, and societies, and radically revising what can be done about it. Leaders from universities, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations bring to this edited volume expertise from six continents.

In this book, the authors present current research in the study of the sources, environmental concerns and control of dust. Topics discussed in this compilation include the characterisation of heavy metals content in attic dust from copper ore and ferronickel smelter processing plants in Macedonia; dust control in the mining industry of Australia; the health and environmental effects of dust storms in the Arabian Peninsula; dust fallout and its potential hazard on public health in Kuwait; photochemical and climate implications of airborne dust and assessing the quality of the urban environment by the elemental concentrations of foliage dust.

Book & DVD. Biomonitoring is the assessment of human exposure to chemicals by measuring the chemicals of their metabolites in such human specimens as blood and urine. Most chemicals or their metabolites were measured in blood, serum and urine samples from random subsamples of about 2500 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This book explores the ongoing assessment of the exposure of the U.S. population to environmental chemicals by the use of biomonitoring. It provides unique exposure information to scientists, physicians, and health officials to help prevent exposure to some environmental chemicals.

The papers contained in this volume use economic theory to analyze the key issues of health and environmental risk management, showing how the policy process can be improved through the application of sound principles from economics and the natural sciences.

Chemical contaminants and other forms of indoor pollution have recently raised serious concern among occupational and environmental health workers, architects and engineers, and the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Microbial pollutants in the home pose major health risks to adults, children, and particularly the immuno-suppressed, while "sick building syndrome" is a reality for many office workers. This timely book presents an interdisciplinary exploration of these problems by examining the effects of modern, energy-efficient architecture on levels of microbial contamination in air and water supplies. With the common goal of constructing a microbiologically safe environment, the contributors represent the disciplines upon whose combined efforts a solution depends: systems engineering, medicine, microbiology, environmental hygiene, and architecture. Among the topics considered are methods of contamination control in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems; the microbiologist's role --and the techniques used-- in evaluating the hygienic environment; and assessment of water systems used in health care facilities. Proposing methods for the elimination of the health problems discussed, the contributors stress the need for assessment of architectural design and subsequent preventive maintenance of buildings and their intricate heating and ventilating systems; and they show how poor building design and location affects it occupants. Architectural Design and Indoor Microbial Pollution provides public health professionals, microbiologists, and architects with an authoritative resource for assuring our comfort and safety in thehospitals, homes, and workplaces we inhabit.

The result of a rigorous two-year investigation that took Robin across three continents, Our Daily Poison documents the many ways in which we encounter a shocking array of chemicals in our everyday lives - from the pesticides that blanket our crops to the additives and plastics that contaminate our food - and their effects on our bodies over time. Gathering as evidence scientific studies, testimonies of international regulatory agencies and interviews with farm workers suffering from acute chronic poisoning, Robin makes a compelling case for outrage and action.

Take a random walk through your life and you'll find it is awash in industrial, often toxic, chemicals. Sip water from a plastic bottle and ingest bisphenol A. Prepare dinner in a non-stick frying pan or wear a layer of Gore-Tex only to be exposed to perfluorinated compounds. Hang curtains, clip your baby into a car seat, watch television-all are manufactured with brominated flame-retardants. Cosmetic ingredients, industrial chemicals, pesticides, and other compounds enter our bodies and remain briefly or permanently. Far too many suspected toxic hazards are unleashed every day that affect the development and function of our brain, immune system, reproductive organs, or hormones. But no public health law requires product testing of most chemical compounds before they enter the market. If products are deemed dangerous, toxicants must be forcibly reduced or removed-but only after harm has been done. In this scientifically rigorous legal analysis, Carl Cranor argues that just as pharmaceuticals and pesticides cannot be sold without pre-market testing, other chemical products should be subject to the same safety measures. Cranor shows, in terrifying detail, what risks we run, and that it is entirely possible to design a less dangerous commercial world.

Radiological Risk Assessment and Environmental Analysis comprehensively explains methods used for estimating risk to people exposed to radioactive materials released to the environment by nuclear facilities or in an emergency such as a nuclear terrorist event. This is the first book that merges the diverse disciplines necessary for estimating where radioactive materials go in the environment and the risk they present to people. It is not only essential to managers and scientists, but is also a teaching text. The chapters are arranged to guide the reader through the risk assessment process, beginning with the source term (where the radioactive material comes from) and ending with the conversion to risk. In addition to presenting mathematical models used in risk assessment, data is included so the reader can perform the calculations. Each chapter also provides example and working problems. The book will be a critical component of the rebirth of nuclear energy now taking place, as well as an essential resource to prepare for and respond to a nuclear emergency.

Insects are the most ecologically important multicellular heterotrophs in terrestrial systems. They play critical roles in ecological food webs, remain devastating agricultural and medical pests, and represent the most diverse group of eukaryotes in terms of species numbers. Their dominant role among terrestrial heterotrophs arises from a number of key physiological traits, and in particular by the developmental and evolutionary plasticity of these traits. Ecological and Environmental Physiology of Insects presents a current and comprehensive overview of how the key physiological traits of insects respond to environmental variation. It forges conceptual links from molecular biology through organismal function to population and community ecology. As with other books in the Series, the emphasis is on the unique physiological characteristics of the insects, but with applications to questions of broad relevance in physiological ecology. As an aid to new researchers on insects, it also includes introductory chapters on the basics and techniques of insect physiology ecology.

""Should We Risk It?" is a timely and unique book. Its 'hands-on' approach to diverse risk problem-solving and decision-making methods fills a long-existing void. Using real-world problems, it introduces basic and more advanced methods in a clear, evenhanded, and thought-provoking manner. The more people who read it--both those already active in risk policy and those with a general interest--the better we as a society will be ready to cope with increasingly complex risk decisions. This book will improve both risk-based decisions and the associated public discourse."--William Ruckelshaus, former Administrator of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency

"This is a splendid book. It should be of interest to a wide range of students and professionals across the environmental and health sciences."--John Harte, University of California, Berkeley; author of "Consider a Spherical Cow"

"Dan Kammen and David Hassenzahl have filled a long-standing need and have done it brilliantly. Their book provides the bridge between the technical tooks of risk analysis and the real world of health and environmental problems. Mastering the contents of this book should be a requirement for anyone--student or policy maker--who wants to understand risk analysis."--J. Clarence "Terry" Davis, Director, Resources for the Future Center for Risk Management

"The authors have done a remarkable job of showing the common structures underlying the variety of risks that we face in our personal and professional lives. Moreover, their approach allows integrating the diverse forms of knowledge needed to address these complex problems. Readers will think differently after reading this book."--Baruch Fischhoff, Professor of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

"This book will be very useful as a text in a risk-analysis class. It will also be a valuable reference for practitioners of risk assessment in industry, government, and consulting. . . . The organization of the book is logical and effective."--James K. Hammitt, Harvard University

The media constantly bombard us with news of health hazards lurking in our everyday lives. But many of these hazards turn out to have been greatly overblown. According to author and epidemiologist Geoffrey C. Kabat, this hyping of low-level environmental hazards leads to needless anxiety and confusion on the part of the public as to which exposures have important effects on health and which are likely to have minimal or no effect.

Kabat approaches health scares as "social facts" and shows that a variety of factors can contribute to the inflating of a hazard. These include skewed reporting by the media, but also, surprisingly, the actions of researchers who may emphasize certain findings while ignoring others, regulatory and health agencies eager to show their responsiveness to the health concerns of the public, politicians, and advocates with a stake in a particular outcome.

By means of four case studies, Kabat demonstrates how a powerful confluence of interests can lead to overstating or distorting the scientific evidence. He considers the health risks of pollutants such as DDT as a cause of breast cancer, electromagnetic fields from power lines, radon within residences, and secondhand tobacco smoke. Tracing the trajectory of each of these hazards from its initial emergence up to the present, Kabat shows how publication of more rigorous studies and critical assessments ultimately helped put the hazard in perspective.

Pressure on large fluvial lowlands has increased tremendously during the past twenty years because of flood control, urbanization, and increased dependence upon floodplains and deltas for food production. This book examines human impacts on lowland rivers, and discusses how these changes affect different types of riverine environments and flood processes. Surveying a global range of large rivers, it provides a primary focus on the lower Rhine River in the Netherlands and the Lower Mississippi River in Louisiana. A particular focus of the book is on geo-engineering, which is described in a straight-forward writing style that is accessible to a broad audience of advanced students, researchers, and practitioners in global environmental change, fluvial geomorphology and sedimentology, and flood and water management.

The polar regions are the 'canary in the coal mine' of climate change: they are likely to be hit the hardest and fastest. This comprehensive textbook provides an accessible introduction to the scientific study of polar environments against a backdrop of climate change and the wider global environment. The book assembles diverse information on polar environmental characteristics in terrestrial and oceanic domains, and describes the ongoing changes in climate, the oceans, and components of the cryosphere. Recent significant changes in the polar region caused by global warming are explored: shrinking Arctic sea ice, thawing permafrost, accelerating loss of mass from glaciers and ice sheets, and rising ocean temperatures. These rapidly changing conditions are discussed in the context of the paleoclimatic history of the polar regions from the Eocene to the Anthropocene. Future projections for these regions during the twenty-first century are discussed. The text is illustrated with many color figures and tables, and includes further reading lists, review questions for each chapter, and a glossary.

Ours is the Age of Food. Food is a central obsession in all cultures, nations, the media, and society. Our future supply of food is filled with risk, and history tells us that lack of food leads to war. But it also presents us with spectacular opportunities for fresh human creativity and technological prowess. Julian Cribb describes a new food system capable of meeting our global needs on this hot and overcrowded planet. This book is for anyone concerned about the health, safety, affordability, diversity, and sustainability of their food - and the peace of our planet. It is not just timely - its message is of the greatest urgency. Audiences include consumers, 'foodies', policymakers, researchers, cooks, chefs and farmers. Indeed, anyone who cares about their food, where it comes from and what it means for them, their children and grandchildren.

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a process which helps decision making by predicting the consequences for health of choosing different options in terms of policies, plans, and projects. There is growing interest among health professionals, planners and politicians in using HIA to help safeguard and improve the health of populations and reduce health inequalities. Health Impact Assessment: Past Achievement, Current Understanding, and Future Progress explores the past development of HIA, its current practice and possible future. Written in two parts, the first section by John Kemm provides an overview describing the various ways in which an HIA can be done. Highly practical in emphasis, it describes how HIA can be applied in different contexts to meet the needs of different decision makers and answer a variety of questions. It deals not only with the many good reasons for using HIA but also critically examines the weaknesses of current practice. The second part consists of chapters written by authors practising HIA from different countries throughout the world, demonstrating the various pressures and legislative frameworks that have shaped the evolution of HIA. Illustrating the range of views about the reasons for doing HIA and how it should be done, and revealing how the practice of HIA has been adapted to suit different cultures and help decision making in varying situations.

Birds have colonized almost every terrestrial habitat on the planet - from the poles to the tropics, and from deserts to high mountain tops. Ecological and Environmental Physiology of Birds focuses on our current understanding of the unique physiological characteristics of birds that are of particular interest to ornithologists, but also have a wider biological relevance. An introductory chapter covers the basic avian body plan and their still-enigmatic evolutionary history. The focus then shifts to a consideration of the essential components of that most fundamental of avian attributes: the ability to fly. The emphasis here is on feather evolution and development, flight energetics and aerodynamics, migration, and as a counterpoint, the curious secondary evolution of flightlessness that has occurred in several lineages. This sets the stage for subsequent chapters, which present specific physiological topics within a strongly ecological and environmental framework. These include gas exchange, thermal and osmotic balance, 'classical' life history parameters (male and female reproductive costs, parental care and investment in offspring, and fecundity versus longevity tradeoffs), feeding and digestive physiology, adaptations to challenging environments (high altitude, deserts, marine habitats, cold), and neural specializations (notably those important in foraging, long-distance navigation, and song production). Throughout the book classical studies are integrated with the latest research findings. Numerous important and intriguing questions await further work, and the book concludes with a discussion of methods (emphasizing cutting-edge technology), approaches, and future research directions.

Pertaining to homeland security, this title is a comprehensive guide to radiation protection caused by accidents or terrorism Provides essential strategies and guidance for protecting ports and examines the latest nuclear detection devices that can be deployed Explains the procedures in FEMA's "National Incident Management System" Gives specific details for first responders and emergency workers on how to prepare for and handle radiological incidents

Environmental epidemiology is the study of the environmental causes of disease in populations and how these risks vary in relation to intensity and duration of exposure and other factors like genetic susceptibility. As such, it is the basic science upon which governmental safety standards and compensation policies for environmental and occupational exposure are based. Profusely illustrated with examples from the epidemiologic literature on ionizing radiation and air ollution, this text provides a systematic treatment of the statistical challenges that arise in environmental health studies and the use of epidemiologic data in formulating public policy, at a level suitable for graduate students and epidemiologic researchers.
After a general overview of study design and statistical methods for epidemiology generally, the book goes on to address the problems that are unique to environmental health studies, special-purpose designs like two-phase case-control studies and countermatching, statistical methods for modeling exposure-time-response relationships, longitudinal and time-series studies, spatial and ecologic methods, exposure measurement error, interactions, and mechanistic models. It also discusses studies aimed at evaluating the public health benefits of interventions to improve the environment, the use of epidemiologic data to establish environmental safety standards and compensation policy, and concludes with emerging problems in reproductive epidemiology, natural and man-made disasters like global warming, and the global burden of environmentally caused disease. No other book provides such a broad perspective on the methodological challenges in this field at a level accessible to both epidemiologists and statisticians.

Air pollution, water contamination, persistent organic pollutants, pesticides, metals, and radiofrequencies are just some examples of environmental factors that have been linked to adverse health effects such as cancer, respiratory disease and reproductive problems. Environmental epidemiology studies the interaction of disease and these environmental determinants of disease at a population level. Whilst risks associated with environmental exposures are generally small, the exposed population, and hence the population burden of disease, may be large. To detect these small risks, it is therefore essential that related methods and their application are refined. In addition, there is increasing attention on environmental health issues from the public, government, and media, thus raising the profile of envrionmental epidemiology in preventive medicine.
This book describes the methods of environmental epidemiology, with emphasis on good practice. It outlines the basic principles of epidemiology and environmental health, and describes in more detail special environmental epidemiological designs that are rarely described in other textbooks. The principles of health risk assessment and forecasting, as well as the application of study data in these types of study, are explored. Several chapters cover practical issues in the conduct of studies, such as field work and data analyses and its requirements. Ethical issues and the role of environmental epidemiology in policy making are also covered.

This book provides geographic perspectives and approaches for use in assessing the distribution of environmental health hazards and disease outcomes among disadvantaged population groups. Estimates suggest that about forty per cent of the global burden of disease is attributable to exposures to biological and chemical pathogens in the physical environment. And with today's rapid rate of globalization, and these hazardous health effects are likely to increase, with low income and underrepresented communities facing even greater risks. In many places around the world, marginalized communities unwillingly serve as hosts of noxious facilities such as chemical industrial plants, extractive facilities (oil and mining) and other destructive land use activities. Others are being used as illegal dumping grounds for hazardous materials and electronic wastes resulting in air, soil and groundwater contamination. The book informs readers about the geography and emergent health risks that accompany the location of these hazards, with emphasis on vulnerable population groups. The approach is applications-oriented, illustrating the use of health data and geographic approaches to uncover the root causes, contextual factors and processes that produce contaminated environments. Case studies are drawn from the author's research in the United States and Africa, along with a literature review of related studies completed in Europe, Asia and South America. This comparative approach allows readers to better understand the manifestation of environmental hazards and inequities at different spatial scales with localized disparities evident in both developed and developing countries.

This book focuses on a range of geospatial applications for environmental health research, including environmental justice issues, environmental health disparities, air and water contamination, and infectious diseases. Environmental health research is at an exciting point in its use of geotechnologies, and many researchers are working on innovative approaches.This book isatimely scholarly contribution in updating the key concepts and applications of using GIS and other geospatial methods for environmental health research. Each chapter contains original research which utilizes a geotechnical tool (Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, GPS, etc.) to address an environmental health problem. The book is divided into three sections organized around the following themes: issues in GIS and environmental health research; using GIS to assess environmental health impacts; and geospatial methods for environmental health.Representing diverse case studies and geospatial methods, the book is likely to be of interest to researchers, practitioners and students across the geographic and environmental health sciences. The authors are leading researchers and practitioners in the field of GIS and environmental health."

Up-to-date coverage of vanadium research--in two accessible, self-contained volumes Vanadium in the Environment brings together the contributions of leading experts on the chemical and toxicological aspects of vanadium exposure and its effects on aquatic and terrestrial environments, human health, and wildlife. This second volume focuses on health effects and toxicology in living organisms, while Part One concentrates on chemistry and biochemistry. Topics in this second volume include:

• Health effects of environmental exposure to vanadium
• toxicology of vanadium in mammals
• Mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, and teratogenicity of vanadium
• Baseline vanadium levels and exposure tests in humans
• Vanadium and metabolic problems
• Vanadium and its significance in animal cell metabolism
• Hematological effects of vanadium in living organisms
• Genetic toxicology of vanadium compounds
• Vanadium and the cardiovascular system: regulatory effects and toxicity
• Oxidative stress and pro-oxidant biological effects of vanadium
• Endocrine control of vanadium accumulation
• Vanadium detoxification
• Vanadium as a new tool for cancer prevention

This volume evaluates carcinogenicity to humans of 19 chemicals that are carcinogenic to the thyroid follicular-cell epithelium in rodents. These included some so-called 'anti-thyroid' drugs (methimazole, methylthiouracil, propylthiou-racil and thiouracil); some sedatives (doxylamine succinate and phenobarbital); and some other drugs including the systemic antifungal antibiotic griseofulvin, the diuretic spironolactone, and the antibacterial sulfa drugs sulfamethazine and sulfamethoxazole. Other chemicals are or have been used in agriculture as pesticides (amitrole, chlordane/heptachlor, hexachlo-robenzene and toxaphene), in foods and cosmetics (kojic acid), in hair dyes (2,4-diaminoanisole) or as industrial chemicals (N,N'-diethylthiourea, ethylenethiourea and thiourea).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report is a comprehensive assessment of our understanding of global warming of 1.5 DegreesC, future climate change, potential impacts and associated risks, emission pathways, and system transitions consistent with 1.5 DegreesC global warming, and strengthening the global response to climate change in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Toxic waste, contaminated water, cancer clusters--these phrases suggest deception and irresponsibility. But more significantly, they are watchwords for a growing struggle between communities, corporations, and government. In No Safe Place, sociologists, public policy professionals, and activists will learn how residents of Woburn, Massachusetts discovered a childhood leukemia cluster and eventually sued two corporate giants. Their story gives rise to questions important to any concerned citizen: What kind of government regulatory action can control pollution? Just how effective can the recent upsurge of popular participation in science and technology be? Phil Brown, a medical sociologist, and Edwin Mikkelsen, psychiatric consultant to the plaintiffs, look at the Woburn experience in light of similar cases, such as Love Canal, in order to show that toxic waste contamination reveals fundamental flaws in the corporate, governmental, and scientific spheres. The authors strike a humane, constructive note amidst chilling odds, advocating extensive lay involvement based on the Woburn model of civic action. Finally, they propose a safe policy for toxic wastes and governmental/corporate responsibility. Woburn, the authors predict, will become a code word for environmental struggles.