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2 Overview of Environmental Health Hazards
Pages 23-38

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From page 23... ... 105~. Nevertheless, it is impossible to accurately quantify the burden of morbidity and mortality related to environmental exposures for several reasons: poor compliance with reporting requirements for occupational illness, long latency periods between initial exposure and resulting disease, the inability of health care providers to recognize environmental etiologies of diseases, and the absence of national reporting systems for environmentally related illnesses. Read the entire page →
From page 24... ... . Nevertheless, the link between adverse health effects and exposure to environmental hazards has been well established, and much can be done to prevent or minimize environmentally related illnesses. Read the entire page →
From page 25... ... Those people who live near Superfund sites may be at risk for exposure to hazardous substances in contaminated drinking water, contaminated soil in such areas as playgrounds and gardens, or through the siting of homes on contaminated property with the possibility of exposure to toxic substances via numerous routes and pathways. Safe drinking water is a significant environmental health concern: currently 25 percent of community water systems provide drinking water that does not meet EPA safety standards for biological and chemical contaminants (DHHS, 1990~. Read the entire page →
From page 26... ... or on laboratory studies using animals. A large degree of uncertainty exists when extrapolating from safe levels of exposure for workers based on an 8 hour period within a work site to ambient levels of residential exposure that may occur 24 hours a day outside the worksite (and away from safety systems such as exhaust ventilation) Read the entire page →
From page 27... ... OVERVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HAZARDS TABLE 2.2 Examples of Environmental Health Hazards 27 Area Problems Living problems � Environmental tobacco smoke � Noise exposure � Urban crowding � Residential lead-based paint Work hazards � Toxic substances � Machine-operating hazards � Repetitive motion injuries � Carcinogenic work exposures Atmospheric quality � Greenhouse gases and global warming � Depletion of the ozone layer � Aerial spraying of herbicides and pesticides � Acid rain Water quality � Contamination by human waste � Oil and chemical spills in waterways � Pesticide/herbicide contamination of groundwater and runoff to local waterways � Aquifer contamination by industrial pollutants � Toxic contamination of fish and seafood Housing � Rodent and insect infestations � Particulates from woodburning stoves � Houses and buildings with poor ventilation systems sick building syndrome � Off-gases from carpets and plastics used in home construction Food quality Bacterial contaminants Pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables � Disruption of food chain by pollutants � Chemical food additives � Hormone supplements and antibiotic residues in animal food products Waste control � Use of nonbiodegradable products � Contamination of air, soil, and waters due to poorly designed solid waste dumps and inadequate sewage systems � Transport and storage of hazardous waste � Illegal dumping of industrial waste � Abandoned hazardous waste sites (including Superfund sites) continued on next page Read the entire page →
From page 28... ... the incidence has doubled or tripled (Yunginger, 1992~. In addition, adverse health effects associated with indoor and outdoor air pollution disproportionately affect some populations; asthma mortality rates among African Americans are 3-5 times greater than among Caucasians (IOM, 1993~. Read the entire page →
From page 29... ... A total of 6,271 fatal work injuries were reported to the BLS in 1993highway traffic incidents were the most common cause of death (20 per 2An "absence" is defined as one or more work days lost due to a single episode of occupational injury or illness. Thus, five lost work days due to a sprained ankle equals one absence. Read the entire page →
From page 30... ... Nurses are by far the largest group of health professionals providing care in occupational settings (DHHS, 1988~. This proximity to the workplace can enable nurses to identify and initiate measures to remediate workplace health hazards if they are adequately educated to do so. Read the entire page →
From page 31... ... Personal characteristics such as age, gender, weight, genetic composition, nutritional status, physiologic status (including pregnancy) , preexisting disease states, behavior and lifestyle factors, and concomitant or past exposures may all affect human responses to environmental conditions. Read the entire page →
From page 33... ... A decline in the metabolic clearance of certain drugs that require oxidative mechanisms for biotransformation has been noted in aged populations that may also result in a decreased ability to detoxify environmental toxins. Declines in blood flow to both liver and kidney, in part due to declining cardiac output estimated at 1 percent annually after the age of 30, may result in a decreased ability to detoxify and eliminate toxic substances from the body among aged populations. Read the entire page →
From page 34... ... ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PRIORITIES Priority environmental hazards and environmentally related illnesses have been established by various public and private-sector organizations, including EPA, NIOSH, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Read the entire page →
From page 35... ... . 35 ; their priority health ATSDR uses their priority health conditions to guide the use of resources in the evaluation of community health risks, in establishing health education programs, and in preventing or mitigating adverse health effects resulting from exposure to hazardous environmental agents. Read the entire page →
From page 36... ... 36 NURSING, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT TABLE 2.4 Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 1993 Priority List of Rank Ordered Top 10 Hazardous Substances Hazardous Exposure Systems Agents Sources Pathways Affected Lead Storage batteries; manufacture of paint, enamel, ink, glass, rubber, ceramics, chemicals Arsenic Manufacture of pigments, glass, pharmaceuticals, insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides; tanning Metallic Electronics, paints, mercury metal and textile production, chemical manufacturing, pharmaceutical production Benzene Manufacture of organic chemicals, detergents, pesticides, solvents, paint removers Vinyl chloride Production of polyvinyl chloride and other plastics; chlorinated compounds; used as a refrigerant Cadmium Electroplating, solder Polychlorinated Formerly used in biphenyls electrical equipment Benzo(a) pyrene Emissions from refuse burning and autos, used as laboratory reagent, found on charcoal-grilled meats and in cigarette smoke Ingestion, inhalation Hematologic, renal, neuromuscular, GI, CNS Ingestion, Neuromuscular, inhalation skin, GI Inhalation, Pulmonary, CNS, percutaneous renal and GI absorption Inhalation, CNS, hematopoietic percutaneous absorption Inhalation, ingestion Inhalation Inhalation, ingestion Inhalation, ingestion, and percutaneous absorption Hepatic, neurologic, pulmonary Pulmonary, renal Skin, eyes, hepatic Pulmonary, skin, eyes (BaP is a probable human carcinogen) Read the entire page →
From page 37... ... OVERVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HAZARDS TABLE 2.4 Continued 37 Hazardous Exposure Systems Agents Sources Pathways Affected Chloroform Aerosol propellants, Inhalation, CNS, renal, hepatic, fluorinated resins, produced during chlorination of water, ingestion cardiac used as a refrigerant percutaneous mucous absorption, membrane, Benzo(b) - Cigarette smoke fluoranthene Inhalation Pulmonary NOTE: CNS = central nervous system; GI = gastrointestinal. Read the entire page →
From page 38... ... Colored lithograph (1856~. Property of Dale University Medical Center Library, History of Medicine Collections, Durham, NC. Read the entire page →

From page 23...

... 105~. Nevertheless, it is impossible to accurately quantify the burden of morbidity and mortality related to environmental exposures for several reasons: poor compliance with reporting requirements for occupational illness, long latency periods between initial exposure and resulting disease, the inability of health care providers to recognize environmental etiologies of diseases, and the absence of national reporting systems for environmentally related illnesses.

2 Overview of Environmental Health Hazards Pages 23-38

2 Overview of Environmental Health Hazards
Pages 23-38