Environmental Health

Ua Mau ke Ea o ka 'Āina i ka Pono"

The life of the land is perpetuated in

righteousness.
• Air Quality
• Water and Land Pollution
• Biological Hazards
• Toxic Chemicals
air pollution killed 4,000 24 smog-related deaths per day

London 1966 NY City

air pollution killed 50

(10% of pop)

1948 Donora, Pa (noon) Beijing Olympics, 2008

Smog Deaths Led To Clean Air Laws

The atmosphere’s four layers
 The EPA sets standards
• States monitor air quality and develop, implement, and
enforce regulations.
– If a state’s plans are not adequate, the EPA can take over
enforcement.

3 Criteria pollutants judged to pose great threats to human health

NO2
Air pollution has decreased
since 1970
Air pollution has decreased since
1970
Reasons for the decline in U.S. pollution

• Cleaner
burning
fuels
• Scrubbers
• Phase out
lead gas
How would you rate these products?
Toxicity Rating

Highly Toxic

Moderately Toxic

Slightly Toxic

Not Toxic
 Toxicity Rating

Highly Toxic

Moderately Toxic

Slightly Toxic

Not Toxic

10
 Common Hazardous Waste Products
• Bug spray
• Floor care products
• Furniture polish
• Metal polish with solvent
• Swimming pool acid
• Glue (solvent based)
• Paint, oil based
• Paint, auto
• Paint, model
• Paint thinner
• Fertilizer
• Fungicide
• Herbicide (weed killer)
• Insecticide
• Rat poison
• Artists’ paints, mediums
• Ammunition
• Dry cleaning solvents
• Lighter fluid
• Mercury batteries
• Moth-balls
• Old fire alarms
• Photographic chemicals (unmixed)
• Antifreeze
• Automatic transmission fluid
• Battery acid (or batteries)
• Brake fluid
• Car wax with solvent
• Diesel fuel
• Gasoline
• Kerosene
• Motor oil
Kapaa Quarry
 Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative
Must supply 70% clean energy by 2030.
• 40% from renewable
• 30% from efficiency

Landfill gas
(Kapaa) Waste to energy
 Harmful Natural Chemicals

ciguatera
HAB
 Harmful Natural Chemicals

metals (Al, Mg, Na, K, Cu, Zn, Cd, HG, Pb)

gases: H2O, H2S, HCl, HBr, SO4, NO2, CO2

VOG
 Cultural environmental hazards
• Cultural (lifestyle) hazards: result from the place
we live, our socioeconomic status, our occupation,
our behavioral choices
– Smoking, drug use, diet and nutrition, crime, mode of
transportation
Tobacco

• There are over 4,000 chemicals found in

tobacco smoke and over 400 toxins.
• There are over 60 carcinogens proven to
cause cancer in humans.
• Causes 1 in 5 deaths in U.S.
• Leading cause of cancer deaths
Hawaii Smoking Stats

2015
Hawaii Obesity Stats

Obesity (2016)
• 23.8%
(4th lowest)

Rank among States

• 48/51
 Hawaii Diabetes Stats
• Current adult diabetes rate (2016)
10.5%
• Rank among states (2016)
25/51
• Diabetes cases in 2010
105,063
• Projected cases of diabetes in 2030 at
current pace
151,655
Infectious diseases kill millions
• Infectious diseases kill
15 million people per
year.
– Half of all deaths in
developing countries
– Developed countries have
better hygiene, access to
medicine, and money.
• Vector: an organism that
transfers pathogens to a
host
 Biological hazards

• Result from ecological interactions

– Viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens
– Infectious (communicable, or transmissible)
disease

HIV E. coli TB Malaria

Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes

Dengue fever
2015-2016 Leptospirosis
264 confirmed cases 50-100 case/yr
 Environmental health hazards
exist indoors
• Radon: a highly toxic, colorless, Not a problem in Hawaii
undetectable radioactive gas
– Builds up in basements
– Can cause lung cancer
• Lead poisoning: from lead pipes, paint
– Damages organs, learning problems,
problem in Hawaii
behavior abnormalities, death (<1978)
• Asbestos: insulates against heat, cold,
sounds, and fire
– Asbestosis: scarred lungs don’t function
– Also causes a type of lung cancer
Asbestos removal can
Renovation issues also be dangerous
 Endocrine Disruptors
Lake Apopka alligators
• In 1985, alligators had bizarre reproductive problems
– Non-viable eggs, depressed or elevated hormone levels
• The lake had high levels of agricultural chemicals and
fertilizers that were disrupting the endocrine systems of
alligators during development in the egg.
Evidence for hormone disruption
• Frogs also have gonadal abnormalities.
– Male frogs exposed to very low levels of atrazine
became feminized.
– Levels were below EPA standards for human health.

Tyrone Hayes
U.C. Berkley
 Point and non-point source water pollution

6/13/06 Alawai Turtle Bay

48 million gallons raw sewage

Ala wai Maui

 Pesticides, Herbicides & other
organochlorines

• PCBs
• DDT

Bioaccumulation biomagnification
Common pesticides
Toxicants can accumulate and biomagnify

Biomagnification
 Toxic Metals

Heavy metals resist biodegredation

Natural occurrence- volcanoes

• Mercury (Hg)
• Copper (Cu)
• Lead (Pb)
• Cadmium (Cd)
 Heavy Metals
Minamata Disease (1953-1960)– Japan
• Industrial pollution from plastic plant; dumped
mercuric chloride into bay

• Ingestion of Hg tainted shellfish  43 dead and

700 permanently disabled
 Toxic chemicals
Copper (Cu):
• Tributyl tin (antifouling paint for boats)
• Banned in U.S. 1980s
• Acts as an immunosuppressor
• Accumulations unusually high in small whales
• May be associated with strandings
 Toxic
chemicals

Lead (Pb):
• Leaded gasoline invented 1920’s
• Enters water from automobile exhaust,
runoff and atmospheric fallout of industrial
waste and landfills, mines, dumps
• Leaded gas banned in US in 1980’s has
reduced pollution in ocean

Bioaccumulation  biomagnification
 Inquiry

1. What is an endocrine disruptor?

2. What effect does lead have on the body?
3. What is bioaccumulation and biomagnification?
4. What is an HAB and what is it caused by?
5. Distinguish between point source and nonpoint
source pollution?
6. How is leptospirosis transmitted?
7. What heavy metal was involved with the
Minamata disease?