Environmental Health

Philip Smith, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

ã 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Health, as it pertains to humans, non-human organisms, populations, communities, or ecosystems, is somewhat of a nebulous
concept. It is a state of being to which many operational definitions may be applied. In general, the concept of “health” implies
some homeostatic condition which is devoid of, or resistant to extended periods of morbidity, or in the extreme - mortality.
Irrespective of the definition applied to “health,” there is no doubt that “it” is influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, as well as
the interactions of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Similarly, the field of environmental health seeks to understand interactions of
extrinsic factors with intrinsic characteristics of organismal, population, community, and/or ecosystem, and can therefore be
considered an amalgamation of science and medicine. Increasingly, the field of environmental health is focusing on the
inextricable links between environmental factors and innate biological system characteristics (e.g., gene-environment interactions).
Thus exploration of environmental health necessitates concerted multidisciplinary approaches to understanding and influencing
environmental health outcomes. For example, a major global challenge to human health is cancer. Cancers develop in response to
exposures to environmental agents ranging from viruses to radiation to carcinogenic chemical agents. Progress in understanding
the etiology, prevention, and treatments of cancers continues at an accelerating pace as a result of advances in exposure science,
epidemiology, medical geology, pharmacology, and the rapid evolution of biotechnology.
This module seeks to coalesce and present information resources pertaining broadly to environmental health issues.
Necessarily, it encompasses a wide variety and diversity of topics which have been deemed important contributions to the overall
theme of environmental health. The module itself is organized into broad topical areas, each of which is further subdivided into
more specific subject areas. Thus, the environmental health module presents information across the spectra of Environmental
Medicine, Environmental Toxicology, Global Environmental Issues, and Social, Economic, and Policy issues which influence
environmental health.
Articles within the environmental medicine subject area focus on the interactions of humans with physical, chemical, and
biological stressors and resultant health outcomes. Environmental medicine is a highly multidisciplinary specialty within the realm
of public health which capitalizes on methodologies and information derived, in part, from the more specialized fields of medical
anthropology, medical geology, human epidemiology, system-specific toxicology, and chemistry. The environmental medicine
subject area of this module contains a significant amount of information on the etiology and treatment of cancer and specific non-
cancer diseases.
Whereas the focus of environmental medicine is human health, in a broader sense, articles within the environmental toxicology
subject area address impacts of extrinsic (environmental) stressors on all living organisms and systems. As such, it is useful to
understand sources and fate and transport processes associated with stressors occurring in the environment. Likewise, it is critical to
have knowledge of the intrinsic characteristics of organisms or living systems which facilitate co-occurrence of stressors and reactive
receptors (exposure science) because without exposure, there can be no effect. Environmental stressors of varying types and from
different sources often result in a unique effect or an array of effects. Another challenging aspect of environmental toxicology is
differential sensitivity among the vast array of potential receptors (e.g., species-specific differences in toxic response). Responses to
stressors differs among species, but also within species. Age, gender, nutritional status, reproductive status, immunocompetence,
and a host of other intrinsic factors dictate sensitivity to stressors within a given species. Moreover, environmental stressors rarely
occur in the absence of other stressors but are often associated with multiple coexisting stressors. As an example, chemical stressors
often exist as complex mixtures in the environment that may combine to result in additive, antagonistic, or potentiated toxic effects.
Multidisciplinary approaches to the field of environmental toxicology are thus requisite. This module presents information
pertaining to environmental toxicology that reflects the broad scope and context of the field. It includes numerous useful articles
detailing stressor-specific (e.g., chemical-specific, pathogen-specific, etc.) information including sources, environmental fate and
transport, exposure pathways, and importantly, adverse effects. A general categorization of chemical, physical, and biological
stressor types is included in Table 1. Specific information on stressors is contained within the module itself.
This module also offers timely information about global environmental health concerns; those environmental issues that
extend far beyond local and regional boundaries and that are common throughout the global environment. Clearly, atmospheric,
hydrological, meteorological and geophysical processes connect living beings and systems across the globe, but modern transport
has accelerated the movement of biotic and abiotic materials around the globe. Industrialization often leads to increases in air
pollution, water pollution, and solid waste generation, each of which present challenges to human and ecological health.
Overpopulation strains availability and quality of natural resources which are often finite living systems in and of themselves.
These natural resources are themselves subject to negative impacts from exposure to environmental stressors. Climate change,
perhaps a manifestation of industrialization and overpopulation, may exacerbate exposure, transport, and toxicity/virulence of
many environmental stressors. Environmental disasters such as tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, and radiation leaks impart ever-
increasing levels of stress on ecosystems as the human population increases and expands its global footprint. Incidents of
bioterrorism and chemical warfare are unfortunate indicators of our realization of the power of biological and chemical stressors

Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.05919-4 1

2 Environmental Health

Table 1 Environmental stressors addressed in the Environmental Health reference module

Environmental Stressors

Chemical Physical Biological

Antibiotics Electromagnetic Fields Harmful Algal Blooms

Disinfection By-Products Noise Microorganisms
E-waste Particulate Matter Zoonoses
Gases Radiation
Halogenated Hydrocarbons Ultraviolet Light
Metals & Trace Elements
Nanoparticles
Persistent Organic Pollutants
Pesticides
Petrols
Pharmaceuticals & Personal Care Products
Solid Waste

in the context of the relative frailty of living organisms and systems. Conflicts over resources or ideals thus have potential to enter
the realm of environmental health issues we must understand and address.
Anthropogenic factors - social, political, and economic - are often major determinants of environmental health. In addition to
environmental stressors themselves, social, political, and economic constructs can mitigate or intensify ecosystem and/or human
health outcomes. Therefore, no environmental health information resource could be considered complete without inclusion of
relevant information on social determinants, law and policy, and resource distribution. This reference resource contains articles
addressing differential environmental health impacts associated with variable access to water and food resources, medical care,
jobs, shelter, and other resources which may offset or exacerbate responses to environmental stressors. Moreover, policy decisions
and regulations affecting resource partitioning are explored within this module. Environmental justice dilemmas including those
associated with women’s and children’s environmental health, which are so often dictated by social, political and economic drivers,
are also included. Many environmental health issues are products of unique local-scale environmental, social, political, and
economic factors. Thus this module contains numerous regional- or country-specific articles which address environmental health
concerns incumbent to localized regions.
Clearly, environmental health is a broad and complex subject area which is inextricably linked with medicine, toxicology,
ecology, and human studies. This module was assembled to focus on environmental health, but necessarily encompasses a vast
array of complimentary topics. Individually or collectively, it is hoped that this assemblage of up-to-date articles will facilitate
understanding and efforts aimed at improving environmental “health” such that it can, in the future, truly be defined as “devoid of,
or resistant to extended periods of morbidity or . . . mortality.”

Further Reading:
Bolte G, Pauli A, and Hornberg C (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Environmental Justice: Social Disparities in Environmental Exposures and Health: Overview. Encyclopedia of
Environmental Health, pp. 459–470. Burlington: Elsevier.
Cocheo C, Sacco P, and Zaratin L (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Assessment of Human Exposure to Air Pollution. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 230–237. Burlington:
Elsevier.
Dzubow RC, Sonawane B, Bullock MB, and Landrigan PJ (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Issues and Challenges for Determining Environmental Risk Factors and Causes of Disease
Among Children. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 304–307. Burlington: Elsevier.
Epstein PR (2004) In: Cutler JC (ed.) Climate Change and Public Health: Emerging Infectious Diseases. Encyclopedia of Energy, pp. 381–392. New York: Elsevier.
Grandjean AC and Bartram JK (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Essential Nature of Water for Health: Water as Part of the Dietary Intake for Nutrients and the Role of Water in Hygiene.
Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 594–604. Burlington: Elsevier.
Herr C and Eikmann T (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Environmental Health Practice: Environmental Medicine. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 419–423. Burlington: Elsevier.
Mitchell G (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Environmental Justice: An Overview. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 449–458. Burlington: Elsevier.
Naito W (2008) In: Sven Erik J and Brian F (eds.) Ecological Catastrophe. Encyclopedia of Ecology, pp. 983–991. Oxford: Academic Press.
Padilla MA, Irvin MR, and Tiwari HK (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Gene-Environment Interactions in Human Traits. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 855–862. Burlington:
Elsevier.
Radosavijevic V (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Environmental Health and Bioterrorism. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 392–399. Burlington: Elsevier.
Reddy VR (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Economic Analysis of Health Impacts in Developing Countries. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 197–206. Burlington: Elsevier.
Sanderson H (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Chemical Warfare Agents. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 587–596. Burlington: Elsevier.
Tchounwou PB and Ndebele K (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Biotechnology and Advances Environmental Health Research. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 403–413.
Burlington: Elsevier.
Tong S and McMichael AJ (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Climate Change and Health: Risks and Adaptive Strategies. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 690–698. Burlington:
Elsevier.
Zota AR and Morello-Frosch R (2011) In: Jerome ON (ed.) Maternal and Child Health Disparities: Environmental Contribution. Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, pp. 630–634.
Burlington: Elsevier.