Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Define the major sources and types of environmental agents.
• Discuss the transport and fate of these agents in the environment.
• Identify the carriers or vectors that promote the transfer of these agents from the environment to the human.
• Describe how these agents interact with biological systems and the mechanisms by which they exert adverse health effects.
• Explain and use models for prediction of the magnitude of adverse effects in biological systems.
• Identify and define the steps in the risk-assessment and risk-management processes.
• Describe the steps in the regulatory process�in terms of risk assessment and risk management�and identify current legislation and regulation regarding environmental issues.
• Identify significant gaps in the current knowledge base concerning the health effects of environmental agents and identify areas of uncertainty in the risk-assessment process.

Readings

There is no formal textbook for the course; for students interested in broad coverage, the following basic texts are recommended as additional resources: Blumenthal, D. S., and Ruttenber, A. J. (1995). Introduction to environmental health. Second Edition. New York: Springer. Lippmann, M. (Ed.). (1992). Environmental toxicants: human exposures and their health effects. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Moeller, D. W. (1997). Environmental health (Revised ed.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Moore, G. S. (1999). Living with the earth: Concepts in environmental health science. Boca Raton: Lewis Publishers. Nadakavukaren, A. (2000). Our global environment: A health perspective (5th ed.) Prospect Heights: Waveland Press, Inc. Philp, R. B. (1995). Environmental Hazards and human health. Boca Raton: Lewis Publishers. Yassi, A., Kjellstrom, T., de Kok, T., Guidotti, T. L. (2001). Basic environmental health. New York: Oxford University Press.

Course Topics

• Introduction to Environmental Health
• How Human Impact the Environment
• Principles of Exposure, Dose, and Response
• Occupational Health
• Risk Assessment and Management
• Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution
• Food- and Water-Borne Disease
• Municipal, Industrial, and Hazardous Waste
• Radiation, Radon, Nuclear Power, and Radiation Terror