Human health and environment - Essay Example

Environmental Risks Exposed to Life styles: Behaviors and Actions a. The risk of contracting diseases such as typhoid that is associated with hygiene factors. These hygiene factors may be influenced by socio-economic factors such as access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities in ones residence. This is a voluntary risk. b. The risk of contracting diseases such as cancer from the eating habits. For instance in the state of Washington, the Swinomish tribal Indian community is faced with the risk of consuming chemicals and heavy metals that have been found in the water where shell fish is harvested.

This is an involuntary risk. c. The risk of contracting skin cancer that is associated with excessive exposure to harmful Ultra Violet Radiation from the sun during activities such as hiking or sun bathing at the beach. This is a voluntary risk. 2. Environmental Risks Where You Live: Your Home or Neighborhood. a. Environmental risks associated with the exposure and use of house hold chemicals such as cleaning detergents and pesticide inhalation. These factors pose a health risk for the users as they may cause serious neurological and reproductive disorders.

This is an involuntary risk. b. Environmental risks associated with the exposure to environmental tobacco smoke that can be inhaled involuntarily in a situation where a person is living with people who smoke. This poses the risk of contracting respiratory disorders. c. Environmental risks associated with the use of wood fuel that is used at home for cooking or heating homes in the cold season. This may pose the danger of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning that may cause headaches and even death.

This risk is involuntary. 3. Environmental Risks Related to What You Do for a Living: School or Work a. Building related risk factors that are caused by the presence of mold, dust and low rate of ventilation within buildings. Such risk factors in door environments cause symptoms such as mucus membrane irritation and other respiratory syndromes. This risk is risk is involuntary. b. The risk of noise pollution that may be found in industrial workplaces or in schools also poses an environmental risk.

Noise and vibrations may cause damage to a person’s ear drum as well as headaches. c. The risked posed by slippery surfaces in schools or work places can also cause falls that may lead to fractures or bruises. This is an involuntary risk. 4. Routes of Entry of Toxic Substances into the Body a. A child living in an old house where the paint is peeling off and is found to have high levels of lead in the blood, ingests the peeled paint orally. The lead is therefore absorbed into the blood stream and later on deposited into the body tissues.

The routes of exposure might be food or water (Cohrssen & Covello, 1998). b. For a worker in a dry-cleaning facility who is exposed to special solvents and later develops a liver ailment and is diagnosed to have been caused by chlorinated hydrocarbons, the route of entry into the body is through inhalation exposure to the solvent’s vapors. These vapors are then dissolved into the blood stream through the lungs and transported to the liver and may lead to distal renal tubular acidosis (eMedicine). c. In the case of a hiker who gets violently ill after suffering a rattle snake bite, the route of entry of the snake’s venom into the body is through the blood.

While the venom spreads through the body, it may lead to blood coagulation and poisoning of the nervous system. Because the hiker is engaged in a physical activity, there is a high blood pressure and circulation thus delivering the venom through the body at a faster rate. This leads to the violent illness suffered by the hiker (Barceloux, 2008). 5. Chlorine Poisoning from Chlorinated Water Chlorine is widely used to treat drinking water in order to kill pathogens that cause typhoid, dysentery, and cholera.

The amount that is applied to human drinking water may not kill viruses, cysts and worms. Thus chlorine should be used in addition with filtration processes in order to disinfect human drinking water. Another alternative is to undertake super chlorination which is followed by a dechlorination process to eliminate any chlorine residues. Countries which have access to chlorinated water have low death rates as compared to countries where water is unsafe for drinking as the water is not treated. According to the world health organization, chlorine concentration levels in drinking water should not be in excess of 250mg/liter in order to reduce health risks associated with unsafe drinking water (World Health Organization, 1996).

References Barceloux, D. (2008). Medical Toxicology of Natural Substances: Foods, Fungi, Medicinal Herbs, Plants and Venomous Animals. John Willey and Sons Publishing Cohrssen, J. & Covello, V. (1998). Risk Analysis: A Guide to Principles and Methods for Analyzing Health and Environmental Risks, Dane Publishing. Emedicine. (2009). Toxicity, Hydrocarbons. Retrieved 13 February 2011, from World Health Organization. (1996). Chlorine in Drinking Water. Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality, 2nd edition vol 2.

Retrieved 13 February 2011, from