Medicina Ocupacional y Asuntos de Salud

Abstracto

Environmental Pollution, Public Health and Environmental Medicine-Oil Spills

Lange JH, Heymann WC and Cegolon L

How pollution interacts with public health, environmental medicine and the environment has undergone dramatic change. Recent oil spills in the Yellowstone River, Alaska tundra and Enbridge (Wisconsin) demonstrate how pollution can directly and indirectly impact man’s health. Events of this kind bring back memory of the Gulf of Mexico spill. These disasters are not only impacting environmental factors associated with nature, but human factors as well; including many that are not well recognized. There has been an increased awareness of how pollution is observed regarding its health impact and attitudes toward public health and environmental medicine. Damage from oil spills will not only influence public health but overall disease rates for years to come. As environmental pollution increases so will the importance of environmental medicine in managing its consequences.