1 / 7

Human Health and Environmental Hazards

Human Health and Environmental Hazards. 1. Cultural Hazards. Matter of human choice Engagement in risky behaviour leading to harm / decreased health Smoking  Lung Cancer Drug Use  nervous system damage Sunbathing  Melanoma Overeating  Heart Disease / Diabetes

jaxon
Download Presentation

Human Health and Environmental Hazards

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Human Health and Environmental Hazards

  2. 1. Cultural Hazards • Matter of human choice • Engagement in risky behaviour leading to harm / decreased health • Smoking  Lung Cancer • Drug Use  nervous system damage • Sunbathing  Melanoma • Overeating  Heart Disease / Diabetes • Risky sexual practices – STDs HIV/AIDS • Living in inner cities  asthma • Others?

  3. 2. Physical Hazards • Natural disasters • 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami • 2010 Haiti earthquake • 2005 Hurricane Katrina (Louisiana) • 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami • Tornados, earthquakes, floods, forest fires, landslides, volcanic eruptions… • Difficult / impossible to predict • Choice of where to live? • How does poor preparation result in natural disaster potential?

  4. 3. Biological Hazards • Pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungi, worms, protozoans • Only in the 20th century – antibiotics and immunization • Despite advances, most diseases of 500 years ago are still present • 25%of global deaths are due to infectious and parasitic diseases

  5. Top 6 (mortality) • Acute Respiratory Infection (e.g. pneumonia) 4 million / year • Diarrheal diseases (e.g intestinal viruses) 2 million / year • HIV / AIDS – 2 million / year • Tuberculosis – 1.5 million / year • Malaria – 1 million / year • Measles – 0.5 million / year

  6. 4. Chemical Hazards • Result of industrialization (many cancers have increased since the Industrial Revolution) • Ex. Pesticides, cleaning agents, fuels, paints, medicines …. • Exposure is via ingestion, inhalation, or dermal absorption • Birth defects • Infertility • Brain impairment

  7. Toxicity – causing harm – depends on A) exposure – quantity of the toxin - length of time in contactB) dose – actual absorption of the chemical by the body • Sometimes there is a threshold level below which the body’s defenses can deal with the chemical. Sometimes there is no threshold (there is often debate on this point)

More Related