Smog boosts Russian travel bug...
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Dalai Lama sounds alarm over global warming amid floods...
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Did You Know?
The word “smog” was first used in England by Dr. H.A. Des Voeux. He coined the term about a century ago to refer to smoky air mixed with fog. England was also one of the first countries to combat the problem of smog. In 1952, four thousand people died in London because of major smog attacks.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Environnental and Occupational Health
Environmental Pollution and Breast Cancer
About 267,000 women in the U.S. will get a diagnosis of some kind of breast cancer this year. The rate at which new cancers are diagnosed has increased more than 40% since the early 1970s, and the number of cases continues to rise in the United States and internationally.
At the same time that these increases have occurred, the number of synthetic chemicals in our environment has skyrocketed. Because most women who get breast cancer have no family history or known genetic risk (70% have no known risk factors besides age), many are questioning whether environmental pollutants play a role in the rising rates of breast cancer.
An increasing amount of scientific research is yielding evidence that there are links between chemical exposures and breast cancer. To read the most recent research, see State of the Evidence: What is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer? (pdf) and “Environmental Pollutants and Breast Cancer” (pdf).
To view a .pdf file, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free by clicking here.
Last revised: March 2005 < Return to Environmental and Occupational Health Overview
About 267,000 women in the U.S. will get a diagnosis of some kind of breast cancer this year. The rate at which new cancers are diagnosed has increased more than 40% since the early 1970s, and the number of cases continues to rise in the United States and internationally.
At the same time that these increases have occurred, the number of synthetic chemicals in our environment has skyrocketed. Because most women who get breast cancer have no family history or known genetic risk (70% have no known risk factors besides age), many are questioning whether environmental pollutants play a role in the rising rates of breast cancer.
An increasing amount of scientific research is yielding evidence that there are links between chemical exposures and breast cancer. To read the most recent research, see State of the Evidence: What is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer? (pdf) and “Environmental Pollutants and Breast Cancer” (pdf).
To view a .pdf file, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free by clicking here.
Last revised: March 2005 < Return to Environmental and Occupational Health Overview
Monday, August 2, 2010
Royal Commission on Environmental pollution
The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) is an independent standing body established in 1970 to advise the Queen, Government, Parliament, the devolved administrations and the public on environmental issues. Although funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Royal Commission is independent of Government Departments. The Commission delivers its advice in the form of reports, which are submitted to the Queen and to Parliament.
Our Work and Current Studies
* The Environmental Impacts of Demographic Change in the UK - we are currently drafting this report and expect to publish in early 2011.
* Latest edition of Our News RCEP's newsletter published on 27 April 2010
22 July 2010: Defra announces changes to arm's length bodies
Today Defra annouced that RCEP, along with several other bodies, will be abolished. For further information see Defra's website. We expect to complete our current study 'The Environmental Impact of Demographic change' before this announcement takes effect and more details of the timing will be provided shortly.
Our Work and Current Studies
* The Environmental Impacts of Demographic Change in the UK - we are currently drafting this report and expect to publish in early 2011.
* Latest edition of Our News RCEP's newsletter published on 27 April 2010
22 July 2010: Defra announces changes to arm's length bodies
Today Defra annouced that RCEP, along with several other bodies, will be abolished. For further information see Defra's website. We expect to complete our current study 'The Environmental Impact of Demographic change' before this announcement takes effect and more details of the timing will be provided shortly.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Environmental pollution:conclusion
Environmental Pollution - Conclusion
Environmental pollution is causing a lot of distress not only to humans but also animals, driving many animal species to endangerment and even extinction.
Hollywood Pollution
Pollution is Not Glamorous
Photo: Caleb Coppola
The transboundary nature of environmental pollution makes it even more difficult to manage – you cannot build stone walls along the borders of your country or put customs cabins at every point of entry to regulate its flows into your country.
Everything on our planet is interconnected, and while the nature supplies us with valuable environmental services without which we cannot exist, we all depend on each other’s actions and the way we treat natural resources.
It’s widely recognised that we are hugely overspending our current budget of natural resources – at the existing rates of its exploitation, there is no way for the environment to recover in good time and continue “performing” well in the future.
Perhaps we should adopt a holistic view of nature – it is not an entity that exists separately from us; the nature is us, we are an inalienable part of it, and we should care for it in the most appropriate manner. Only then can we possibly solve the problem of environmental pollution.
Environmental pollution is causing a lot of distress not only to humans but also animals, driving many animal species to endangerment and even extinction.
Hollywood Pollution
Pollution is Not Glamorous
Photo: Caleb Coppola
The transboundary nature of environmental pollution makes it even more difficult to manage – you cannot build stone walls along the borders of your country or put customs cabins at every point of entry to regulate its flows into your country.
Everything on our planet is interconnected, and while the nature supplies us with valuable environmental services without which we cannot exist, we all depend on each other’s actions and the way we treat natural resources.
It’s widely recognised that we are hugely overspending our current budget of natural resources – at the existing rates of its exploitation, there is no way for the environment to recover in good time and continue “performing” well in the future.
Perhaps we should adopt a holistic view of nature – it is not an entity that exists separately from us; the nature is us, we are an inalienable part of it, and we should care for it in the most appropriate manner. Only then can we possibly solve the problem of environmental pollution.
Environmental Issues: pollution
Environmental Issues: Pollution
Pollution can take many forms. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the ground where we grow our food, and even the increasing noise we hear every day—all contribute to health problems and a lower quality of life. Find out about the environment issues of pollution, what’s being done on a global level, and what you can do in your community.
Ozone Depletion (6) Water Pollution (4) Smog FAQ (8)
Cross-Border Pollution: A Growing International Problem
Cross-border pollution is a serious environmental problem that often frustrates national solutions. As pollution from one nation contaminates the air and water of another, it creates a dilemma for both and leaves local communities with few real options.
Litter Trashes the Environment
Litter is more than an eyesore on city streets and alongside highways. Litter pollutes waterways and leaches toxic chemicals into soil and groundwater as it breaks down. Most litter begins with a careless or thoughtless act by a single person who tosses away a cigarette butt or an empty soda can, which means there is a lot you can do to prevent litter.
Light Pollution Raises Risk of Breast Cancer
Forget romantic songs about the beautiful city lights. Light pollution, defined as excess light at night, increases women's risk of breast cancer significantly, as well as wasting energy and disrupting the migration patterns and breeding cycles of many birds and animals.
Toxic at Any Speed: Indoor Air Pollution Inside Your Car
The EPA lists indoor air pollution as one of the top five environmental risks to public health, and the concentrations of some toxic chemicals that cause indoor air pollution are five times higher inside your car than at your home or office. Learn more about the risks of indoor air pollution inside your car and what you can do about it.
EPA May Abandon Health Standards for Lead Air Pollution
In a stunning display of convoluted logic, the EPA is contemplating dropping health standards that regulate lead air pollution and mandate lead-free gasoline and trying to rationalize the potential decision by citing its success in virtually eliminating the toxic heavy metal as an air pollutant over the past 30 years.
Americans Breathe Dangerous Levels of Smog
More than half of the residents of 10 U.S. states are living in areas with dangerous levels of smog that routinely exceed EPA air quality standards. Smog, or ground-level ozone, creates serious health risks for children and seniors, and causes or aggravates many respiratory illnesses.
The Top 10 Worst Polluted Places on Earth
More than 10 million people in eight different countries are at serious risk for cancer, respiratory diseases, and premature death because they live in the 10 most polluted places on Earth, according to a report by the Blacksmith Institute, a nonprofit organization that works to identify and solve specific environmental problems worldwide.
Autumn Leaves: Burning Fallen Leaves May Be Hazardous to Your Health
Autumn is here again, and the trees will soon be shedding their leaves in preparation for winter. Burning fallen leaves, which used to be as much a part of autumn as Halloween or Thanksgiving, pollutes the air and can cause serious health problems for many people. Learn how skipping the leaf fire this fall may actually give you a nicer lawn and garden next spring.
China to Invest $175 Billion in Environmental Protection
China has announced plans to invest $175 billion (1.4 trillion yuan) in environmental protection between 2006 and 2010. China will use the money--an amount that exceeds 1.5 percent of the nation's annual gross domestic product--to help address some of the horrendous environmental problems that have worsened during the country's rapid economic growth.
What are the Health Effects of Airport Noise and Airport Pollution?
Why airport noise and airport pollution increase risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and other illness among people who live near airports.
EPA Plan to Allow More Air Pollution Draws Friendly Fire
Learn about a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency to weaken air emission standards and reporting requirements for industrial operations that spew tons of toxins into the atmosphere each year. The agency’s regional administrators are angry, saying they were never consulted about the proposed change and predict that the new rule would be "detrimental to the environment."
America's Endangered Coasts
If you want to adopt a lifestyle that will improve the environment, maybe you should think about moving inland. More than half of the U.S. population now lives in coastal counties—even though coastal areas represent only 17 percent of the land in the lower 48 states—and the numbers are still growing.
Indoor Pollution from Cooking Fires Kill 1.5 Million People Annually
More than half the world’s population—about 3 billion people—cook their meals with wood, dung, coal and other solid fuels over open fires or on simple stoves inside their homes, and that simple act is killing 1.5 million people every year, according to a report by the World Health Organization. Modern stoves that burn cleaner fuels could be installed cheaply, but would create enormous health and economic benefits.
Mowing the Grass is Greener When You Don't Use a Gas-Powered Mower
Gasoline-powered lawn mowers may account for five percent of U.S. air pollution, according to the EPA. Mowing your lawn for an hour with a gas-powered mower pollutes the air as much as driving 100 miles in your car. Find out how you can make mowing your grass a little greener.
Katrina Leaves Behind a "Toxic Gumbo" in New Orleans
In a wide ranging Q&A with Newsweek, an environmental expert warns that the news media and government PR spinmeisters may be misleading the public about the risks of returning to New Orleans, where broken sewer lines and hazardous waste containers have left the area awash in a "toxic gumbo" that may continue to create severe environmental health risks for months or years.
Federal Court Rules in Favor of Clean Air
A federal appeals court on Friday ruled in favor of a coalition of states and environmental groups that were challenging a Bush administration regulation designed to permit factories, refineries and power plants nationwide to avoid installing new pollution controls to help offset increased emissions from equipment repairs and replacements.
More Than Half of U.S. Population Lives in Counties with Unsafe Air
According to the American Lung Association, more than half of all Americans live in counties with unsafe levels of smog and particle pollution, which leads to many lung and respiratory illnesses.
Sugar Produces Bitter Results for the Environment
Sugar is many products we consume every day, yet we rarely give a second thought to how and where it is produced and what toll it may take on the environment. Find out why sugar may be creating a bitter environmental legacy.
Check the Air Quality Where You Live
The EPA provides information that enables people in the United States to check the cleanliness of the air they breathe in their own regions, states and local communities, and offers tips to help them improve their local air quality.
Don't Get Stranded on Heat Island
For many urban and suburban dwellers, heat islands are a growing concern. Heat islands are areas in and around cities that are hotter than nearby rural areas. The elevated temperatures in heat islands can increase energy demands as well as air pollution levels and heat-related illnesses. Learn about the how communities can work together to cool things down and mitigate the effects of heat islands.
Study Finds the Safety of Drinking Water at Risk in U.S. Cities
A study of drinking water systems in 19 U.S. cities by the National Resources Defense Council found that pollution and out-of-date plumbing are delivering drinking water that may pose health risks to some residents.
FAQ: Ground Water and Drinking Water
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency answers common questions about ground water contamination and drinking water quality, and their potential effects on human health.
Noise Pollution and Hearing Loss
Noise pollution is not only annoying, it's also an environmental hazard that can cause severe hearing loss and other health problems. Get tips on hearling loss prevention from the Centers for Disease Control.
E
Pollution can take many forms. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the ground where we grow our food, and even the increasing noise we hear every day—all contribute to health problems and a lower quality of life. Find out about the environment issues of pollution, what’s being done on a global level, and what you can do in your community.
Ozone Depletion (6) Water Pollution (4) Smog FAQ (8)
Cross-Border Pollution: A Growing International Problem
Cross-border pollution is a serious environmental problem that often frustrates national solutions. As pollution from one nation contaminates the air and water of another, it creates a dilemma for both and leaves local communities with few real options.
Litter Trashes the Environment
Litter is more than an eyesore on city streets and alongside highways. Litter pollutes waterways and leaches toxic chemicals into soil and groundwater as it breaks down. Most litter begins with a careless or thoughtless act by a single person who tosses away a cigarette butt or an empty soda can, which means there is a lot you can do to prevent litter.
Light Pollution Raises Risk of Breast Cancer
Forget romantic songs about the beautiful city lights. Light pollution, defined as excess light at night, increases women's risk of breast cancer significantly, as well as wasting energy and disrupting the migration patterns and breeding cycles of many birds and animals.
Toxic at Any Speed: Indoor Air Pollution Inside Your Car
The EPA lists indoor air pollution as one of the top five environmental risks to public health, and the concentrations of some toxic chemicals that cause indoor air pollution are five times higher inside your car than at your home or office. Learn more about the risks of indoor air pollution inside your car and what you can do about it.
EPA May Abandon Health Standards for Lead Air Pollution
In a stunning display of convoluted logic, the EPA is contemplating dropping health standards that regulate lead air pollution and mandate lead-free gasoline and trying to rationalize the potential decision by citing its success in virtually eliminating the toxic heavy metal as an air pollutant over the past 30 years.
Americans Breathe Dangerous Levels of Smog
More than half of the residents of 10 U.S. states are living in areas with dangerous levels of smog that routinely exceed EPA air quality standards. Smog, or ground-level ozone, creates serious health risks for children and seniors, and causes or aggravates many respiratory illnesses.
The Top 10 Worst Polluted Places on Earth
More than 10 million people in eight different countries are at serious risk for cancer, respiratory diseases, and premature death because they live in the 10 most polluted places on Earth, according to a report by the Blacksmith Institute, a nonprofit organization that works to identify and solve specific environmental problems worldwide.
Autumn Leaves: Burning Fallen Leaves May Be Hazardous to Your Health
Autumn is here again, and the trees will soon be shedding their leaves in preparation for winter. Burning fallen leaves, which used to be as much a part of autumn as Halloween or Thanksgiving, pollutes the air and can cause serious health problems for many people. Learn how skipping the leaf fire this fall may actually give you a nicer lawn and garden next spring.
China to Invest $175 Billion in Environmental Protection
China has announced plans to invest $175 billion (1.4 trillion yuan) in environmental protection between 2006 and 2010. China will use the money--an amount that exceeds 1.5 percent of the nation's annual gross domestic product--to help address some of the horrendous environmental problems that have worsened during the country's rapid economic growth.
What are the Health Effects of Airport Noise and Airport Pollution?
Why airport noise and airport pollution increase risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and other illness among people who live near airports.
EPA Plan to Allow More Air Pollution Draws Friendly Fire
Learn about a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency to weaken air emission standards and reporting requirements for industrial operations that spew tons of toxins into the atmosphere each year. The agency’s regional administrators are angry, saying they were never consulted about the proposed change and predict that the new rule would be "detrimental to the environment."
America's Endangered Coasts
If you want to adopt a lifestyle that will improve the environment, maybe you should think about moving inland. More than half of the U.S. population now lives in coastal counties—even though coastal areas represent only 17 percent of the land in the lower 48 states—and the numbers are still growing.
Indoor Pollution from Cooking Fires Kill 1.5 Million People Annually
More than half the world’s population—about 3 billion people—cook their meals with wood, dung, coal and other solid fuels over open fires or on simple stoves inside their homes, and that simple act is killing 1.5 million people every year, according to a report by the World Health Organization. Modern stoves that burn cleaner fuels could be installed cheaply, but would create enormous health and economic benefits.
Mowing the Grass is Greener When You Don't Use a Gas-Powered Mower
Gasoline-powered lawn mowers may account for five percent of U.S. air pollution, according to the EPA. Mowing your lawn for an hour with a gas-powered mower pollutes the air as much as driving 100 miles in your car. Find out how you can make mowing your grass a little greener.
Katrina Leaves Behind a "Toxic Gumbo" in New Orleans
In a wide ranging Q&A with Newsweek, an environmental expert warns that the news media and government PR spinmeisters may be misleading the public about the risks of returning to New Orleans, where broken sewer lines and hazardous waste containers have left the area awash in a "toxic gumbo" that may continue to create severe environmental health risks for months or years.
Federal Court Rules in Favor of Clean Air
A federal appeals court on Friday ruled in favor of a coalition of states and environmental groups that were challenging a Bush administration regulation designed to permit factories, refineries and power plants nationwide to avoid installing new pollution controls to help offset increased emissions from equipment repairs and replacements.
More Than Half of U.S. Population Lives in Counties with Unsafe Air
According to the American Lung Association, more than half of all Americans live in counties with unsafe levels of smog and particle pollution, which leads to many lung and respiratory illnesses.
Sugar Produces Bitter Results for the Environment
Sugar is many products we consume every day, yet we rarely give a second thought to how and where it is produced and what toll it may take on the environment. Find out why sugar may be creating a bitter environmental legacy.
Check the Air Quality Where You Live
The EPA provides information that enables people in the United States to check the cleanliness of the air they breathe in their own regions, states and local communities, and offers tips to help them improve their local air quality.
Don't Get Stranded on Heat Island
For many urban and suburban dwellers, heat islands are a growing concern. Heat islands are areas in and around cities that are hotter than nearby rural areas. The elevated temperatures in heat islands can increase energy demands as well as air pollution levels and heat-related illnesses. Learn about the how communities can work together to cool things down and mitigate the effects of heat islands.
Study Finds the Safety of Drinking Water at Risk in U.S. Cities
A study of drinking water systems in 19 U.S. cities by the National Resources Defense Council found that pollution and out-of-date plumbing are delivering drinking water that may pose health risks to some residents.
FAQ: Ground Water and Drinking Water
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency answers common questions about ground water contamination and drinking water quality, and their potential effects on human health.
Noise Pollution and Hearing Loss
Noise pollution is not only annoying, it's also an environmental hazard that can cause severe hearing loss and other health problems. Get tips on hearling loss prevention from the Centers for Disease Control.
E
Public health and environment
Public health and environment
Health through a better environment
Proper environmental management is the key to avoiding the quarter of all preventable illnesses which are directly caused by environmental factors. The environment influences our health in many ways — through exposures to physical, chemical and biological risk factors, and through related changes in our behaviour in response to those factors.
Thirteen million deaths annually are due to preventable environmental causes. Preventing environmental risk could save as many as four million lives a year, in children alone, mostly in developing countries.
Health through a better environment
Proper environmental management is the key to avoiding the quarter of all preventable illnesses which are directly caused by environmental factors. The environment influences our health in many ways — through exposures to physical, chemical and biological risk factors, and through related changes in our behaviour in response to those factors.
Thirteen million deaths annually are due to preventable environmental causes. Preventing environmental risk could save as many as four million lives a year, in children alone, mostly in developing countries.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Global environmental change
Large-scale environmental hazards to human health
Occupational health
Evidence for policy, capacity building, information dissemination and networking
- More about environmental health
PUBLICATIONS
Preventing disease through healthy environments
Global estimates of the environmental burden of disease
Air quality guidelines - global update 2005
Guideline values for selected air pollutants
- More publications
Global environmental change
Large-scale environmental hazards to human health
Occupational health
Evidence for policy, capacity building, information dissemination and networking
- More about environmental health
PUBLICATIONS
Preventing disease through healthy environments
Global estimates of the environmental burden of disease
Air quality guidelines - global update 2005
Guideline values for selected air pollutants
- More publications
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