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The health of people in developing countries is threatened by the importation of hazardous products, wastes and industrial processes from the developed world. Combating this menace is a facet of environmental protection and management of the planet's resources.
The introduction of a national standard on odour measurement presents a new challenge for Australian olfactometry laboratories to meet tough new instrumental performance and panellist performance criteria. It also raises issues for end users of olfactometry results. For examples regulatory authorities may need to review the current status of odour regulations and guidelines. The paper reviews major issues pertaining to four components in odour impact assessment: measurement of odour, sampling techniques, air dispersion modelling, and the development of assessment criteria. The paper identifies and discusses the resolution of issues that could have a significant effect on the outcomes of odour impact assessment. It is hoped that the paper will provide a useful guide for industry and environmental protection authorities in the further development of an odour impact assessment procedure.
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In an urban environment, carbon monoxide is produced by incomplete combustion, particularly in motor vehicles. Air pollution caused by CO produced by motor vehicles is controlled by legislation. Legal regulations have considerably lowered emission levels authorized for new vehicles and total CO emission levels. CO levels in the environment (urban environment in general and zones close to motorways) have thus declined. CO remains a public health concern both as a pollutant and as an indicator of air quality. We recall here the more recent approaches used to assess CO-related hazards developed by the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States and pertinent conclusions backing up previously defined reference levels. We then report recent French data concerning CO emission, environmental levels and evaluation procedures for different situations of human exposure: geographical situations, mode of transportation, police force, air sentinels. The third part of this article is devoted to biological data (interaction between CO and hemo-proteins, CO neurotransmitter?) and epidemiological data (serial surveys). The discussion centers on the limitations of epidemiological data and on the difficulty in evaluating hazards solely on the basis of a carboxyhemoglobin threshold. This latter point is particularly important because carboxyhemoglobin is only one of many indicators of air quality. Finally recommendations are proposed concerning weather-related aspects, evaluation of human exposure, and ways of improving biological and epidemiological data.
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Studies conducted in Sweden in the early 1980s provided some of the first evidence that effluents from some pulp mills were capable of inducing toxic responses in fish at very low concentrations in the receiving environment. In response to these findings, studies were initated in Canada and impacts of primary treated bleached kraft mill effluent on reproductive function in fish were found. Reproductive impacts in fish were not limited to mills that used chlorine in the bleaching process and were also evident at some mills that employed secondary effluent treatment. In 1992, new federal regulations were passed under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to control releases of dioxins and furans, and a new Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulation under the Fisheries Act set stricter limits for biological oxygen demand and total suspended solids. Very importantly, the new regulations included requirements for environmental effects monitoring (EEM) at all mill sites. This allowed the effectiveness of the control limits in protecting fish, fish habitat, and human use of fisheries resources to be assessed. At the same time, the Minister of the Environment launched an intensive government, industry, and university research program. Results from this research program along with feedback from the EEM program would then be used to define what additional control actions might be necessary. This article reviews the field studies and mechanistic research conducted in Canada following the implementation of the new federal regulations. Great progress has been made in this area, first demonstrating reproductive effects at various locations, then determining the mechanisms responsible for the reproductive effects at specific sites, followed by the demonstration of partial recovery in reproductive function following process and treatment changes in response to the new regulations. However, it is clear from the results of the first two cycles of the EEM program that mill effluents still affect the local receiving environments at a number of locations across Canada, and that continued research combining field studies, bioassay application, and chemical identification is required.
This paper provides a comparison of ecosystem management (EM) to the traditional regulatory management approach and outlines the characteristics of EM from a policy perspective, defining the conditions under which this management tool can be successfully implemented. Ecosystem management is a collaborative and integrative tool focused on balancing societal needs, economic growth, and environmental protection to ensure the long-term ecological integrity of a particular ecosystem. The characteristics of this particular tool include: (1) its holistic approach to environmental problems; (2) its integration of values (economic, social, and environmental) through a collaborative, multi-partner, decision making structure; (3) its reliance on science to guide decisions and set boundaries; and (4) its ability to learn from the implementation of decisions (adaptive management). Examples are draw from Environment Canada's various regional ecosystem initiatives.
In 1987, the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S. NIST) initiated an international collaborative study of the mutagenicity of complex environmental mixtures in the Ames Salmonella typhimurium mutation assay. The objectives of this study were: (1) to estimate the inter- and intra-laboratory variability associated with the extraction of mixtures for bioassay, (2) to estimate the inter- and intra-laboratory variability associated with the Salmonella typhimurium bioassay when applied to complex mixtures, and (3) to determine whether standard reference complex mixtures would be useful in mutagenicity studies and to evaluate whether reference or certified mutagenicity values determined from this collaborative study should be reported. The complex mixtures used in this study were selected from standard reference materials (SRMs) which had previously been issued by the U.S. NIST as SRM 1597 (coal tar), SRM 1649 (diesel particulate matter) and SRM 1650 (urban air particulate matter) with certified values for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These SRM complex mixtures are available to scientists as reference standards for analytical chemistry research and are under consideration as SRMs for mutagenicity studies of complex environmental mixtures. This paper briefly describes the final study design, protocol, selection of the complex mixtures, and implementation of this international study.
The special committee for "Environmental Medicine" established by the Federal Association of Doctors in the German Public Health Service presents its paper entitled "Environmental Medicine in the Public Health Service--A Social Responsibility and its Consequences: Propositions with regard to the situation, aims, strategies, and opportunities for action". The paper includes core ideas and responsibilities in the public health service. It aims at providing a number of guidelines for implementing "Environment and Health" ("Umwelt und Gesundheit"), an action programme by the Federal Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Health, as well as "Health 21" ("Gesundheit 21"), the framework concept "Health for all" for the WHO's European Region. The paper also aims at initiating and facilitating steps for joint action by the Public Health Service. These theses were passed on to Mrs. Andrea Fischer, the Federal Minister of Health, during a meeting with the Board of the Association. In Germany, environment-related public health protection is well established in the Public Health Departments and state institutes/departments within the scope of public health provision and disease prevention. Typical responsibilities include environmental hygiene and environment-related medical services which have increased in importance. The range of responsibilities and its current political importance are a result of environment-related public health risks, the social situation of the population, also with regard to health issues, and the scope of responsibilities and competencies by doctors and staff in the public health departments. With the people's demands for health, quality of life and life expectancy, this need for action increases. In this paper, judicial, professional, and personal consequence are presented which arise as public health authorities assume these responsibilities.
BACKGROUND: Heavy industrial exposure to asbestos causes lung cancer and mesothelioma, but it remains unknown whether much lower environmental exposure to asbestos also causes these cancers. Nevertheless, regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have assessed the risk of lung cancer by extrapolating known risks from past industrial exposure to asbestos to today's much lower environmental asbestos levels (roughly 100,000 times lower). We also tested the EPA's model for predicting the risk of asbestos-induced lung cancer in a population of women with relatively high levels of nonoccupational exposure to asbestos. METHODS: Mortality among women in 2 chrysotile-asbestos-mining areas of the province of Quebec was compared with mortality among women in 60 control areas, and age-standardized mortality ratios were derived. With the help of an expert panel, we estimated past exposure to asbestos among women in the mining areas and used these data with the EPA's model to predict the relative risk of lung cancer. We then compared this prediction with the observed mortality ratios. RESULTS: On the basis of the estimated exposure in the asbestos-mining areas, a relative risk of death due to lung cancer of 2.1 was predicted by the EPA's model, amounting to about 75 excess deaths from lung cancer in this population. By contrast, we calculated a standardized mortality ratio of 1.0 and a standardized proportionate mortality ratio of 1.1 (P> 0.05), suggesting that there were between 0 and 6.5 excess deaths from lung cancer among the women with nonoccupational exposure to asbestos. Seven deaths from pleural cancer were observed (relative risk=7.63; P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We found no measurable excess risk of death due to lung cancer among women in two chrysotile-asbestos-mining regions. The EPA's model overestimated the risk of asbestos-induced lung cancer by at least a factor of 10.
The emergence of multiple sclerosis in island societies has been investigated only in a few Caucasian populations living in temperate regions. The effect of human migration on the risk of developing this disease is still an open question because of possible genetic selection. We conducted an epidemiological study of the multiple sclerosis population in the French West Indies (Martinique and Guadeloupe), a population which includes large numbers of West Indians who have returned after emigrating to metropolitan France. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for multiple sclerosis among migrants were calculated and their genetic characteristics were compared to those of non-migrants. The crude prevalence of multiple sclerosis was 14.8/10(5) on December 31, 1999 (95% CI: 11.9-17.7); and its crude mean annual incidence for the period July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2002 was 1.4/10(5) (95% CI: 1.0-1.8), confirming its emergence in the French West Indies. Recurrent neuromyelitis optica, which is virtually the only form of multiple sclerosis in black African populations in tropical regions, represented not >17.8% of these cases. During the 1,440,000 person-years of follow-up, 33 incidence cases were identified in migrants. Since the number of expected cases was 19.3, the overall SIR was 1.71 (95% CI: 1.19-2.38; P < 0.01) among migrants. The increase in the SIR was more marked if the stay was made before the age of 15 years (4.05, 95% CI: 2.17-6.83; P < 0.0001). European ancestry in the two migrating and non-migrating populations was similar. Martinique, which has a higher rate of return migration, has a higher prevalence of multiple sclerosis (21.0/10(5) versus 8.5/10(5)) and a higher incidence (2.0/10(5) versus 0.7/10(5)) than Guadeloupe. The emergence of the disease in the French West Indies is of environmental rather than genetic origin. It may be explained either through the introduction by migrants of precipitating environmental factors that operate in a critical way before the age of 15 years, and/or by the recent disappearance from the French West Indies of protective environmental factors acting before this age.
Sustainable solid waste management is a strategy for achieving environmental quality in both the developed and the developing world. Environmental quality is a necessary condition for an increase in per capita welfare over time. The paper suggests alternative instruments for solid waste reduction, re-use and recycling. But to be able to apply the suggested economic instruments, the quantities and composition of the waste must be known. Having identified the current instruments of Botswana's solid waste management (regulatory measures, environmental education, and economic instruments of property rates, service levy, and sanitation fees), the paper argues that these do not go far enough in enhancing environmental protection. Alternative instruments such as solid waste collection and disposal levies, deposit refund schemes, and product levies are suggested. It is also suggested that public environmental education and regulatory measures should be strengthened.
The UV doses of Americans were never measured, but are needed for assessing the risks of UV-related health effects. We calculated these doses using a novel approach. The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS) recorded the activity profiles of 9386 Americans over 24 months to assess their exposure to environmental pollutants, one of which is UV radiation. NHAPS used randomized telephone interviews to get their previous day's minute-by-minute activities. From NHAPS we extracted only the outdoor-daylight data of the northern and southern indoor workers (95%), stratifying by season, sex and age (0-21, 22-40, 41-59 and 60+ years) to find the average time Americans spend outdoors. Knowing the total daylight time and that while outdoors Americans are exposed to about 30% of the available solar UV (on a horizontal plane), we calculated their percent ambients. The average American's percent ambients are 2.6 and 2.5% for northern and southern females, respectively, and 3.5 and 3.6% for northern and southern males, respectively. Men over 40 years of age have the highest ambients (4%). From their ambients we calculated their annual doses using seasonal averages of UV measurements taken daily for over 2 years by EPA Brewer spectrophotometers located in four quadrants of the United States: Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Bozeman, MT and Riverside, CA. The average erythemal UV doses of Americans are about 25,000 J/m2/year, 22,000 for females and 28,000 for males, or 33,000 J/m2/year including a conservative continental U.S. vacation (7800 J/m2). Thus, we can now assess the risks of UV-related health effects for Americans.
Chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic compounds is responsible for the prevalance of various tumors, as well as of other diseases. A major problem is the exposure to inorganic arsenic (i-As) in drinking water that affects millions of people, primarily in Asia and South America. In these regions, the concentration of arsenic in drinking water amounts to several thousand microg/l and considerably exceeds the standard of 50 microg/l, recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency. It is interesting that not all populations are equally sensitive to i-As. Therefore, the existing standard should be verified and the environmentally safe i-As concentration should be established. Bearing this in mind, it would be helpful to know the mechanisms of toxicity of inorganic arsenic compounds. In vitro and in vivo studies and examination of people exposed to high concentrations of i-As in drinking water show its genotoxicity. Inorganic As increases the frequency of micronuclei, chromosome aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges both in humans and in animals, but it does not induce point mutations. If arsenic does not affect DNA directly, then what is the mechanism of its toxicity? The results of various studies suggest that it may intensify toxic effects of other physical and chemical agents, especially by DNA repair inhibition. Besides, it is believed that inorganic arsenic compounds may cause changes in the cell redox potential and alter DNA methylation and phosphorylation of cell-cycle control proteins. Some data also suggest that i-As increases celluar proliferation and apoptosis. The purpose of this work is to present some views on cytotoxic mechanisms of inorganic arsenic compounds.
The newest achievements in the application of miscellaneous liquid chromatographic techniques such as size-exclusion, ion-exchange and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, and thin-layer chromatography for the elucidation of the various aspects of the binding of ligands to proteins are compiled and briefly discussed. Examples of employment in pharmaceutical and clinical chemistry, drug design, enzyme kinetic studies and environmental protection are presented.
The natural and the man made environment influence the wellbeing and the health of the population. The management of the environments aims at the improvement of health and the disposal of health risks. The physical and psycho-social environment has to be taken into consideration, especially in connection with work, housing, energy consumption and spare time activities. Laws concerning environmental protection and energy supply could contribute to improvement of the environment.
The prevention of cancer by the elimination of, or decreased contact with, chemical carcinogens is dealt with under three headings. (a) Exposure of special groups: occupational cancer, iatronic cancer; (b) exposure of whole populations; (c) discovery of chemical carcinogens in the course of toxicity studies. It is most important that a major effort be made to interrelate findings in man with those in the laboratory. Combination and organization of the findings from many approaches: clinical and preventive medicine, public health, environmental protection, and laboratory research are required.
There is global environmental concern about the pollution from industries and other organizations that should not only be controlled but also prevented. Many alternatives are available to those in charge of environmental protection, but they should be able to draw on a systematic procedure to help implement prevention and control measures. At present, there are three immediate tasks: defining the objective of any environmental study, identifying the potential pollution sources, and selecting alternatives to these sources. However, it is necessary to evaluate these alternatives by using as large a number of criteria as possible and making them cumulative so as to enable the classification and selection of the best available techniques for each pollution source. The petroleum refining industry plays an important role in the developed economies and also has a potential for pollution generation that must be controlled. The best solution for all (i.e., petroleum companies, the public, and the environment) is pollution prevention, because this option will protect all of them and will also reduce costs in terms of lower raw materials consumption as well as reducing potential fines. The procedure we have presented in this article has been applied successfully.