Environmental Health

1. Environmental Health

2. “Congestion Charging Program” in London 1952- air pollution killed 4,000 Green Bld.

3. Reduced traffic • Traffic delays cut by 25% • Travel speed increased by 30% • Bus use increase by 40%

4. The atmosphere • Atmosphere: the thin layer of gases that surrounds Earth • Provides us with oxygen • Absorbs solar radiation and moderates climate • Burns up incoming meteors • Transports and recycles water and nutrients • 78% nitrogen gas, 21% oxygen gas, 1% other gases • Human activity is changing the amounts of some gases. • Carbon dioxide, methane, ozone • The atmosphere has several layers.

5. The first two layers of the atmosphere • Troposphere: bottommost layer; 11 km (7 mi) high • Air for breathing, weather • Temperature declines with altitude • Stratosphere: 11-50 km (7-31 mi) above sea level • Drier and less dense, with little vertical mixing • Temperature warms with altitude • Contains UV radiation-blocking ozone, 17-30 km (10-19 mi) above sea level

6. The atmosphere’s four layers

7. The EPA sets standards • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets nationwide standards for pollutant emissions. • States monitor air quality and develop, implement, and enforce regulations. • If a state’s plans are not adequate, the EPA can take over enforcement. • The EPA and states focus on six criteria pollutants. • Criteria pollutants: pollutants judged to pose great threats to human health

8. Three criteria pollutants • Carbon monoxide(CO) • Sulfur dioxide (SO2 ) • Nitrogen dioxide (NO2 )

9. Criteria pollutants: tropospheric ozone • Tropospheric ozone (O3): a colorless gas with a strong odor • A secondary pollutant created from interactions of sunlight, heat, nitrogen oxides, and volatile carbons • A major component of smog • Poses a health risk as a result of its instability • Most frequently exceeds the EPA standard

10. Criteria pollutants: particulate matter and lead Mexico City 1986 Mexico City 2009

11. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs): Carbon-containing chemicals emitted by vehicle engines and industrial processes that can react to produce ozone

12. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs):

13. Air pollution has decreased since 1970

14. Air pollution has decreased since 1970

15. Reasons for the decline in U.S. pollution • Cleaner burning fuels • Scrubbers • Phase out lead gas

16. Burning fossil fuels produces industrial smog Coal factories in China

17. Chemical and biological environmental hazards • Chemical hazards:synthetic chemicals such as pesticides, disinfectants, pharmaceuticals • Harmful natural chemicalsalso exist.

18. 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

19. Kapaa Quarry

20. Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative • Must supply 70% clean energy by 2030. • 40% from renewable • 30% from efficiency Landfill gas (Kapaa) Waste to energy

21. Harmful Natural Chemicals ciguatera HAB botulism

22. Medical Waste Waimanalo Gulch Landfill overflowed into Ko’olina Jan 2011

23. Harmful Natural Chemicals metals (Al, Mg, Na, K, Cu, Zn, Cd, HG, Pb) gases: H2O, H2S, HCl, HBr, SO4, NO2, CO2 VOG

24. Cultural environmental hazards • Biological hazards: result from ecological interactions • Viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens • Infectious (communicable, or transmissible) disease: other species parasitize humans, fulfilling their ecological roles E. coli HIV

25. Dengue fever Apr 2011 4 confirmed cases Leptospirosis Avian flu (2013) WCC

26. Point and non-point source water pollution Turtle Bay 6/13/06 Alawai 48 million gallons raw sewage Maui Ala wai

27. 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

28. 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

29. Hawaii Stats % of Adults who smoke by race/ethnicity 2010 • Smoking • Obesity (2010) • - 22.7% HI (5th lowest) • Diabetes • - 28.5 million U.S. (8.7%) • - 100,000 in HI (8.3%)

30. Disease is a major focus of environmental health • Despite our technology, disease kills most of us. • Disease has a genetic and environmental basis. • Cancer, heart disease, respiratory disorders • Malnutrition, poverty, and poor hygiene can foster illnesses.

31. 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

32. Many diseases are increasing • Tuberculosis, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and the West Nile virus are increasing. • Our mobility spreads diseases. • Some diseases are evolving resistance to antibiotics. • Climate change will expand the range of diseases. • Habitat alteration affects the abundance, distribution, and movement of disease vectors.

33. Environmental health hazards exist indoors Not a problem in Hawaii problem in Hawaii (<1978) Asbestos removal can also be dangerous • Radon: a highly toxic, colorless, undetectable radioactive gas • Builds up in basements • Can cause lung cancer • Lead poisoning: from lead pipes, paint • Damages organs, learning problems, behavior abnormalities, death • Asbestos: insulates against heat, cold, sounds, and fire • Asbestosis: scarred lungs don’t function • Also causes a type of lung cancer Renovation issues

34. A recently recognized hazard • Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs): has fire-retardant properties • Used in computers, televisions, plastics, and furniture • Persist and accumulate in living tissue • Affect thyroid hormones, may cause cancer, and affect brain and nervous system development • The European Union banned them in 2003. • The U.S. has not addressed this issue.

35. Types of toxicants based on health effects • Carcinogens: cause cancer • Mutagens: cause DNA mutations • Can lead to severe problems, including cancer • Teratogens: cause birth defects • Neurotoxins: assault the nervous system • Heavy metals, pesticides, chemical weapons • Allergens: overactivate the immune system • Endocrine disruptors:interfere with the endocrine (hormone) system

36. Central Case: Lake Apopka alligators • In 1985, alligators in Lake Apopka, Florida, 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. • Endocrine disruptors: compounds that mimic hormones and interfere with the functioning of animals’ endocrine (hormone) systems

37. Endocrine disruption may be widespread • Theo Colburn wrote Our Stolen Future in 1996. • Synthetic chemicals may be altering hormones

38. 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. • The shocking drop in men’s sperm counts may be due to endocrine disruptors.

39. Endocrine disruption research is controversial • Scientific uncertainty is inherent in any young field. • Negative findings pose economic threats to chemical manufacturers. • Bisphenol-A, used in plastics, causes birth defects, but the plastics industry protests that the chemical is safe. • Pthalates affect male fetuses but are still used in toys and makeup in the U.S.

40. Routes of chemical transport

41. Routes of chemical transport: Air & Ocean

42. Toxic chemicals Pesticides & Herbicides • Designed to kill a variety of pests, such as mosquitoes, agricultural pests and weeds. • Toxin enters food chain and effects non targeted species • Pesticide toxicity often effects human health Bioaccumulation  biomagnification

43. Toxic chemicals Pesticides Halogenated hydrocarbons or organochlorines: Include DDT and PCBs, which are slow to biodegrade • Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane (DDT): • used as a pesticidefrom 1939-late 1960s • fatsoluble compound • the world’s production has substantially decreased since it was banned in the West • detected in mud of deep sea and snow & ice of Antarctica

44. Common pesticides

45. Toxic chemicals • Polychloronated biphenyls (PCBs) • produced since 1944 • banned in U.S. by 1979 • used in production of electrical equipment, paints, plastics, adhesives, and coating compounds… • found everywhere in the ocean • released in env. by unregulated incineration of discarded products • DDT & PCBs affects: • copepod and oyster development • death of shrimp and a variety of fish

46. Toxic chemicals Polychloronated biphenyls (PCBs) Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) in killer whales and humans.

47. Toxicants can accumulate and biomagnify Biomagnification

48. Toxic chemicals Toxic Metals Hg, Pb, Cd, Cu, Ar Heavy metals resist biodegredation Natural occurrence- volcanoes • Mercury (Hg)- toxic when attached to short carbon-chain alkyl group, strongly neurotoxic, birthdefects • Lead (Pb)- from batteries, sewage, fuel additives, neurotoxic effects, mental development in children • Cadmium (Cd)- from batteries, sewage, electroplating factories, effects on human kidney function, bone deformities

49. 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 • Symptoms: kidney damage, neuromuscular deterioration, birth defects,insanity,   death • Bay is still unusable for fishing and shell fishing • Surviving victims received $24,200 as settlement

50. Toxic chemicals • 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