Human exposure, health hazards, and environmental regulations

United States environmental regulations, intended to protect human health, generally fail to address major sources of pollutants that endanger human health. These sources are surprisingly close to us and within our control, such as consumer products and building materials that we use within our homes, workplaces, schools, and other indoor environments. Even though these indoor sources account for nearly 90% of our pollutant exposure, they are virtually unregulated by existing laws. Even pollutant levels found in typical homes, if found outdoors, would often violate federal environmental standards. This article examines the importance of human exposure as a way to understand and reduce effects of pollutants on human health. Results from exposure studies challenge traditional thinking about pollutant hazards, and reveal deficiencies in our patchwork of laws. And results from epidemiological studies, showing increases in exposure-related diseases, underscore the need for new protections. Because we cannot rely solely on regulations to protect us, and because health effects from exposures can develop insidiously, greater efforts are needed to reduce and prevent significant exposures before they occur. Recommendations include the development and use of safer alternatives to common products, public education on ways to reduce exposure, systematic monitoring of human exposure to pollutants, and a precautionary approach in decision-making.     

室内甲醛污染及对人体健康的影响

通过对三种不同类型居室内甲醛监测表明,甲醛浓度与室内装饰、吸烟和燃料的不完全燃烧有关.兰州地区夏季室内甲醛超标率高,为41.0％～51.3％.室内主要污染物除TSP以外,甲醛居第2位,且一天中浓度最高值在中午.新建居室比普通居室甲醛浓度高,在所有情况下,室内浓度高于室外.     

Developing a National Indicator of Soil Quality on U.S Forestlands: Methods and Initial Results

The Montreal Process was formed in 1994 to develop an internationally agreed upon set of criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests. In response to this initiative, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) and Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) programs of the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service have implemented soil measurements as part of a national monitoring program to address specific questions related to the conservation of soil and water resources. Integration of soil assessments into the national FIA program provides for systematic monitoring of soil properties across all forested regions of the U.S. using standardized collection, laboratory, and statistical procedures that are compatible with existing forest inventory data. The resulting information will provide quantitative benchmarks for regional, national, and international reporting on sustainable forest management and enhance our understanding of management effects on soil quality. This paper presents an overview of the FIA soil monitoring program, outlines the field and laboratory protocols as currently implemented, and provides examples of how these data may be used to assess indicators of sustainable management as defined by the Montreal Process.     

A prospective health impact review of the redevelopment of Central Manchester Hospitals

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is increasingly being acknowledged as an important tool for considering the health implications of projects and programmes of activity at local, national and international levels. However, standard HIA tools can be difficult to apply when the policy of programme under consideration is particularly complex and intertwined or where significant time, resource and skill constraints are involved. This paper describes a Health Impact Review (HIR) of the plans for a major redevelopment of Central Manchester Hospitals (England). This approach to HIA drew not only from HIR but also from Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) in order to produce a summary of the most significant health impacts of a policy, programme or project in a more timely and cost-effective way. This example highlights the potential for involving Local Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committees in the HIA process as a way of ensuring that the recommendations of HIA are mainstreamed as part of the ongoing development of projects.     

Evaluating the impact of HIA on urban reconstruction decision-making. Who manages whose risks?

Practitioners and academic researchers increasingly look to evaluation of health impact assessment (HIA) to improve its practice, its efficiency and its legitimacy. Evaluation is also used to account to policy-makers, who express doubts that the benefits of HIA justify its costs. Until recently evaluation of HIA focused on instrument design and procedures but now the focus needs to shift to analysis of the interaction of HIA and decision-making. Multiple case studies have been applied to identify the conditions in which HIA produces the desired benefits. These studies used analytical concepts derived from the literature on evaluation, knowledge utilization, science of sociology and knowledge management.This paper describes a case study in which the strategic motives of the decision-makers affected the impact of an HIA. This HIA comprised of a quantitative environmental model ‘City & Environment’ that was used to assess environmental health impacts of an urban reconstruction plan in a Dutch city. The evaluation of the HIA shows that the decision to follow the recommendations of the HIA was part of a damage control strategy. The more HIA goals deviate from the policy problem and the less HIA is embedded in institutional procedures, then the more HIA impact will be subject to strategic decision-making behaviour. Appropriate cognitive and social strategies are needed to avoid ‘negative learning’ in those the HIA seeks to influence.     

Canadian insights: The challenges of an integrated environmental assessment framework

The paper draws results from a review of literature to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the integrated environmental assessment framework in Canada with respect to the inclusion of health impact assessment. Insights include the legislative nature, rigid structure and priority for the natural environment that may restrict progress and the pool of government agencies that need to be convinced of the benefits of health impact assessment that may provide a strong structure for compliance in the long term.     

Developing a framework to assess costs and benefits of Health Impact Assessment

This paper presents some early thinking as to how the costs and benefits of HIA might be assessed. After considering previous work it uses a comprehensive HIA in Dulwich, SE London as a case study to highlight the possibilities and difficulties of collecting necessary data on costs and benefits. It then sets a context for developing a cost–benefit framework for analysis. The framework is viewed alongside the major types of economic evaluation. The paper concludes with a review of outstanding issues and considers how evidence on cost and benefit might make a difference in the application of HIA.     

Prevalent fecal contamination in drinking water resources and potential health risks in Swat, Pakistan

Fecal bacteria contaminate water resources and result in associated waterborne diseases.This study assessed drinking water quality and evaluated their potential health risks in Swat, Pakistan. Ground and surface drinking water were randomly collected from upstream to downstream in the River Swat watershed and analyzed for fecal contamination using fecal indicator bacteria(Escherichia coli) and physiochemical parameters(potential of hydrogen, turbidity, temperature, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solid, color, odor and taste). The physiochemical parameters were within their safe limits except in a few locations, whereas, the fecal contaminations in drinking water resources exceeded the drinking water quality standards of Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency(Pak-EPA),2008 and World Health Organization(WHO), 2011. Multivariate and univariate analyses revealed that downstream urbanization trend, minimum distance between water sources and pit latrines/sewerage systems, raw sewage deep well injection and amplified urban,pastures and agricultural runoffs having human and animal excreta were the possible sources of contamination. The questionnaire survey revealed that majority of the local people using 10–20 years old drinking water supply schemes at the rate of 73% well supply,13% hand pump supply, 11% spring supply and 3% river/streams supply, which spreads high prevalence of water borne diseases including hepatitis, intestinal infections and diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, typhoid fever, jaundice and skin diseases in children followed by older and younger adults.     

我国生活垃圾分类发展历程、障碍及对策

推广生活垃圾分类收集与资源化利用有助于促进资源节约型、环境友好型社会建设.本文综述了我国生活垃圾分类发展历程;收集了国家和地方在推广生活垃圾分类过程中所做的工作;提炼出了生活垃圾分类过程中还存在的障碍和瓶颈;并给出了相应的对策.本文分析表明,我国生活垃圾分类经历了开始（20世纪90年代）、试点探索（2000~2015年）和快速发展（2016年至今）3个阶段.目前国家和地方正逐步采用可操作性强的垃圾分类方法、融合互联网+的宣传方式、实用性的法规章程、完善的分类收集-分类运输-分类处理循环链来推进生活垃圾分类,甚至生活垃圾分类工作还逐步向市场化方向发展.我国将走出一条切实可行、可复制、可推广的高效生活垃圾分类模式.后期加强全民参与及大众自觉回收的责任意识、出台更细化具体、操作性强的实施方案、重视学校儿童的垃圾分类教育、充分利用国内拾荒人员,对快速推进我国生活垃圾分类进程具有重要意义.     

论中国特色的高职环境教育--兼谈中国环境管理干部学院发展之路

本文在中国高等教育和环境保护的大背景下，分析了中国高职环境教育的迫切性与重要性，探讨了高职环境教育的中国特色及其内涵，并指出了中国环境管理干部学院如何走中国特色的高职环境教育发展之路。