Documents harmful physical agents 36 results

"Over the past four decades, the prevalence of autism, asthma, ADHD, obesity, diabetes, and birth defects have grown substantially among children around the world. Not coincidentally, more than 80,000 new chemicals have been developed and released into the global environment during this same period. Today the World Health Organization attributes 36% of all childhood deaths to environmental causes. Children's environmental health is a new and expanding discipline that studies the profound impact of chemical and environmental hazards on child health. Amid mounting evidence that children are exquisitely sensitive to their environment-and that exposure during their developmental "windows of susceptibility" can trigger cellular changes that lead to disease and disability in infancy, childhood, and across the life span-there is a compelling need for continued scientific study of the relationship between children's health and environment. The Textbook of Children's Environmental Health codifies the knowledge base and offers an authoritative and comprehensive guide to this important new field. Edited by two internationally recognized pioneers in the area, this volume presents up-to-date information on the chemical, biological, physical, and societal hazards that confront children in today's world: pesticides, indoor and outdoor air pollution, lead, arsenic, phthalates, bisphenol A, brominated flame retardants, ionizing radiation, electromagnetic fields, and the built environment. It presents carefully documented data on rising rates of disease in children, offers a critical summary of new research linking pediatric disease with environmental exposures, and explores the cellular, molecular, and epigenetic mechanisms underlying diseases of environmental origin. With this volume's emphasis upon integrating theory and practice, readers will find practical approaches to channeling scientific findings into evidence-based strategies for preventing and identifying the environmental hazards that cause disease in children. It is a landmark work that will serve as the field's benchmark for years to come."

"Les cancers représentent en France la première cause de mortalité chez les hommes et la deuxième cause chez les femmes et figurent parmi les pathologies pouvant être liées à l'environnement. À la demande de l'Afsset, l'Inserm a réuni un groupe d'experts afin d'établir un bilan des connaissances sur les liens entre l'exposition à des facteurs physiques, chimiques ou biologiques présents dans l'atmosphère, l'eau, les sols ou l'alimentation et neuf types de cancers en augmentation au cours des vingt-cinq dernières années : les cancers du poumon, les mésothéliomes, les hémopathies malignes, les tumeurs cérébrales, les cancers du sein, de l'ovaire, du testicule, de la prostate et de la thyroïde. Sont analysés dans cette expertise, les données épidémiologiques sur les différents cancers, les connaissances sur l'exposition aux facteurs environnementaux, les mécanismes de toxicité des polluants, les questions relatives à l'exposition aux faibles doses."

"Official United Kingdom figures record annually 1400 deaths and 145,000 sufferers from chronic effects of occupational injury and disease. Evidence indicates that occupational disease directly due to work is underestimated. With more understanding of the multiple causes of disease, the concept of work related disorders has broadened to include four categories: work as a direct cause, a contributory cause, or an aggravating factor, and work offering easy access to potential dangers (alcohol). As an example, work factors that increase the risk of coronary heart disease are discussed. Evidence for work stress as a causal factor and the role of leadership are considered. Prevention depends on identifying risks, preferably before anyone is exposed, but more commonly through recognition of adverse effects on workers. The need for occupational health services to have health promotion programmes that include screening for disease and its precursors, counselling and education, is considered. The positive effects of work itself as a protector and promoter of health are discussed. Responsibility for improving health has to be shared by government, management, trade unions, health professionals, and the individual worker."

"Modern work activities may necessitate the use of a wide variety of potentially hazardous physical, chemical, biological, or radiological agents. The risks associated with exposure to these agents may not be limited to the orker, and in some cases can extend to the offspring of exposed individuals. Potential exposures to such agents introduce a number of interesting health and safety considerations, including the possible establishment of exposure limits that address reproductive health concerns, and the determination of the extent to which an organization will go to accommodate occupationally exposed persons. The radiation safety profession has considered this issue in part through the promulgation of a specific, lowered occupational dose limit for the embryo/fetus in the workplace. Because ionizing radiation is certainly not the only known or suspected teratogenic agent that may be occupationally encountered, the approach used by the radiation protection profession may be used as a model upon which comprehensive occupational reproductive health programs can be developed. The essential elements of such programs include: the initial disclosure of potential reproductive hazards to all employees upon employment, a mechanism for formal voluntary declaration of reproductive status, a codified institutional decision process that establishes the extent to which accommodations will be made, and formal recognition of the rights of the employee regarding all final work-related decisions."