Ch 7 - phys env.docx.pdf

Chapter 7 – Physical environment / occupational health Outline Airs o Fine particulates o Weather & climate Waters Places o One Health o The built environment ▪ Housing ▪ Neigh...

Chapter 7 – Physical environment / occupational health Outline Airs o Fine particulates o Weather & climate Waters Places o One Health o The built environment ▪ Housing ▪ Neighborhoods (and cities) ▪ Institutional settings ▪ The workplace Toxins Airs As we noted in earlier modules, Hippocrates (author of Airs, Waters & Places), Galen, and their followers conceived of miasma, foul exhalations, as a major threat to health. Although we have largely abandoned this as an explanation for most human illness, we still recognize certain disease threats reaching us through the air. In Chapter 4, on biological determinants, we encountered routes of transmission for infectious diseases, including air-borne. But microbial agents are not the only potential threats reaching us S Hodgins, SPH 562, 2023 1 by air. The section below on toxicology discusses toxic gasses, e.g., carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide (an important air pollutant, in areas burning coal), radon, hydrogen sulphide (an occupational hazard for some of those in the oil industry) and, below, we address particulates. Furthermore, environmental exposure to radiation, in the form of ultraviolet radiation, reaches us through the air; it is an important contributor to skin cancer (but also important for vitamin D production). Fine particulates Exposure to ambient (i.e., outdoor) fine particulate matter—especially particles