Citation:

Rigas, M L. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH. Chapter 6, Nevada Environmental Issues. Kendall-Hunt Publishers, Dubuque, IA, (2002).

Impact/Purpose:

Research will be conducted to develop and apply integrated microenvironmental, and physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) exposure-dose models and methods (that account for all media, routes, pathways and endpoints). Specific efforts will focus on the following areas:

1) Develop the Exposure Related Dose Estimating Model (ERDEM) System.

Includes: Updating the subsystems and compartments of the ERDEM models with those features needed for modeling chemicals of interest to risk assessors;

Designing and implementing the graphical user interface for added features.

Refining the exposure interface to handle various sources of exposure information;

Providing tools for post processing as well as for uncertainty and variability analyses;

Research on numerical and symbolic mathematical/statistical solution methods and computational algorithms/software for deterministic and stochastic systems analysis.

2) Apply ERDEM and other quantitative models to understand pharmacokinetics (PK) and significantly reduce the uncertainty in the dosimetry of specific compounds of regulatory interest.

Examples of the applications are:

exposure of children to pesticides

study design

route-to-route extrapolation

species extrapolation

experimental data analysis

relationship between parametric uncertainty and the distribution of model results

validity of scaling methods within species

validity of scaling methods from one species to another species

reduction of uncertainty factors for risk assessment

Description:

Are you healthy? Is your environment healthy for you? What does it mean to be healthy? Does it mean you're not achy, or that you are not visibly sick? The World Health Organization defines health broadly as a state of physical, mental, and social well-being. This means that being healthy is more than just living a long life, but living a life that is productive and free from ailments that reduce your potential to live enjoyably.

In this chapter, we will focus on the aspects of our environment that affect our own health. These environmental influences can be classified into three categories: infectious agents, chemical agents, and physical agents. Infectious agents are living microorganisms that cause disease. Physical agents include things such as radiation and microwaves and other electromagnetic fields. Some of the effects of radiation on health are discussed elsewhere in this book. Chemical Agents is a broad category of metals and chemicals that contaminate our water, air, food supplies, and residential environments.

So how important are each of these in our lives? We are impacted by each of them every day, and we have been throughout the history of our evolution! Since before birth, our bodies have been assaulted by environmental invaders. We are bombarded by damaging rays from the sun, been selected as the perfect home by bacteria, and your body, a finely tuned biochemical machine, has been disturbed by foreign chemicals. Many of these environmental insults over time lead to what we know as aging, a natural process that we cannot avoid. Even if we could live in a bubble, cut off from as much of the environment as possible, the very oxygen we breathe causes damage to cells through a process called oxidation. Besides, what quality of life would living in such an environment provide? In the field of environmental health, we strive to reduce the influences of our environment on our quality and length of life to the extent possible, realizing that we cannot eliminate environmental impacts altogether. In the modem world, when we are producing new technologies and chemicals at a rapid pace, we are putting new things into our environment all the time. Some of these things exist in small amounts and may have subtle effects on our health. It is this subtlety that makes some of the problems in environmental health challenging and their scientific outcome often controversial. Here, we will begin to explore some of the concepts used in the study of environmental health and will examine in detail two case studies of environmental health issues that have arisen in Nevada. First, we will more clearly define the different types of environmental agents that affect our health.

The author is a scientist with the Office of Research and Development of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This paper has been reviewed in accordance with the Agency's peer and administrative review policies and has been approved for publication. The work represents the views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the agency.

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