HEALTHandFITNESS.com Environmental Health Articles: Environmental Health

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What is Environmental Health?

We are hearing a great deal in the news about the environment and global warming. Just to make sure the basics of the environment and health are understood, the following information should be helpful. After all, it doesn't do a great deal of good to try to be healthy and fit when the air, water and soil have been contaminated and can make you ill over years of being exposed to it. And because it does take years of exposure to be affected, the problems are not immediately noticed.

Pew Environmental Health Commission Definition:

"Environmental health comprises those aspects of human health, including quality of life, that are determined by interactions with physical, chemical, biological and social factors in the environment. It also refers to the theory and practice of assessing, correcting, controlling and preventing those factors in the environment that may adversely affect the health of present and future generations".

That is a broad definition, but basically the air, water and soil are the areas of concern, and each is unique in its presence, but each directly affects the others as well. Long-term studies of laboratory animals have repeatedly shown that exposure to thousands of man-made chemicals has negative impacts including compromised immune systems, cancers, reproductive harm, birth defects, and more. Now that these chemicals have been manufactured, and especially since the 1970's chemical revolution, the results are in --increased cancer for all industrialized, modern nations. These chemicals have worked their way into the air, water and soil that comprise our environment.

The Air:

Volatile chemicals and particulates (air-born physical matters), which may be in any form from vapors to dust, originate either from paints, lubricants, petroleum or other home & manufacturing (also building) based products. The manufacturing and use of these products create substances that are lighter than air or light enough that they hang in the air for long periods of time. Before traveling high into the atmosphere because they are so light, vapors can affect those using them and end up affecting the ozone layer which protects the earth from overexposure to ultra-violet rays.

Those particulate matters that are heavier than air may be inhaled by humans, build-up on the soil, or enter into the water after making their descent. Those that land on soil can end up back in the air or can be transported by rain and may end up in the water where they travel into municipal systems or build up as silt in rivers, lakes and oceans.

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By: BioD