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ENVIRONMENTAL-HUMAN HEALTH INTERCONNECTIONS: A WORKSHOP REPORT
Citation:
DiGiulio, R. T. AND W H. Benson. ENVIRONMENTAL-HUMAN HEALTH INTERCONNECTIONS: A WORKSHOP REPORT. Presented at 21st Annual Meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Nashville, TN, 12-16 November 2000.
Description:
A Pellston Workshop jointly sponsored by SETAC and SOT to discuss this topic of "Interconnections" was held in June, 2000 in Snowbird, Utah. This workshop was motivated by a deep concern shared by many human health, environmental, and social scientists for the interconnections, broadly considered, between the well being of natural ecosystems and human health. While these connections are considered by many to be intuitive and of great importance, current scientific research and regulator/policy outcomes do not substantively take them into account. The goal of this workshop was, with a small (25) group of natural and social scientists, to initiate substantive explorations of these interconnections, including creative, interdisciplinary approaches for solving environmental problems at this interface. Major themes addressed at the workshop included: (1) The biological bases of similarities and differences between human & ecosystem "health", such as mechanistic linkages underlying shared susceptibilities to environmental stressors. (2) How the environment shapes the human sense of well-being, and vice-versa, including considerations of environmental justice, psychological perceptions, and mental health. (3) Ecosystem buffering capacity/assimilative capacity versus human health, including linkages among land-use patterns, ecological degradation, and human health. (4) Implications of ecosystem - human health interconnections for policy-making, including the integration and harmonization of human and ecological risk assessments. This workshop and the report emanating from it provide a meaningful starting point for subsequent activities for developing mechanisms for continued collaboration and communication across the natural and social sciences and, ultimately, the integration of human health and ecosystem integrity protection.
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