Incineration has been used widely for waste disposal, including household, hazardous, and medical wasteâ€"but there is increasing public concern over the benefits of combusting the waste versus the health risk from pollutants emitted during combustion. Waste Incineration and Public Health informs the emerging debate with the most up-to-date information available on incineration, pollution, and human healthâ€"along with expert conclusions and recommendations for further research and improvement of such areas as risk communication. The committee provides details on: Processes involved in incineration and how contaminants are released. Environmental dynamics of contaminants and routes of human exposure. Tools and approaches for assessing possible human health effects. Scientific concerns pertinent to future regulatory actions. The book also examines some of the social, psychological, and economic factors that affect the communities where incineration takes place and addresses the problem of uncertainty and variation in predicting the health effects of incineration processes.

Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented a comprehensive review of the scientific literature in its 2003 draft reassessment of the risks of dioxin, the agency did not sufficiently quantify the uncertainties and variabilities associated with the risks, nor did it adequately justify the assumptions used to estimate them, according to this new report from the National Academies' National Research Council. The committee that wrote the report recommended that EPA re-estimate the risks using several different assumptions and better communicate the uncertainties in those estimates. The agency also should explain more clearly how it selects both the data upon which the reassessment is based and the methods used to analyze them.

Some dioxins, which are chemical compounds that share certain structural and biological characteristics, have been linked to adverse human health effects, including cancer. 1 Often the byproducts of combustion and industrial processes, complex mixtures of dioxins enter the food chain and human diet through emissions into the air that settle on soil, plants, and water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other entities, such as the World Health Organization, began assessing the potential human health risks of dioxins in the 1970s, when animal studies on one of them 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, or TCDD showed it to be the most potent cancer-causing chemical studied to date. EPAs initial assessment of dioxins was published in 1985. Since that time, there have been major advances in the scientific understanding of dioxin toxicity and significant new studies on dioxins potential adverse health effects. As a result, in 1991 EPA decided to conduct a reassessment of the health risks of exposure to dioxins. A draft of this reassessment was reviewed by a scientific peer review panel in 1995, and three panels reviewed key segments of later drafts in 1997 and 2000.

People are increasingly concerned about potential environmental health hazards and often ask their physicians questions such as: "Is the tap water safe to drink?" "Is it safe to live near power lines?" Unfortunately, physicians often lack the information and training related to environmental health risks needed to answer such questions. This book discusses six competency based learning objectives for all medical school students, discusses the relevance of environmental health to specific courses and clerkships, and demonstrates how to integrate environmental health into the curriculum through published case studies, some of which are included in one of the book's three appendices. Also included is a guide on where to obtain additional information for treatment, referral, and follow-up for diseases with possible environmental and/or occupational origins.

Have U.S. military personnel experienced health problems from being exposed to Agent Orange, its dioxin contaminants, and other herbicides used in Vietnam? This definitive volume summarizes the strength of the evidence associating exposure during Vietnam service with cancer and other health effects and presents conclusions from an expert panel. Veterans and Agent Orange provides a historical review of the issue, examines studies of populations, in addition to Vietnam veterans, environmentally and occupationally exposed to herbicides and dioxin, and discusses problems in study methodology. The core of the book presents What is known about the toxicology of the herbicides used in greatest quantities in Vietnam. What is known about assessing exposure to herbicides and dioxin. What can be determined from the wide range of epidemiological studies conducted by different authorities. What is known about the relationship between exposure to herbicides and dioxin, and cancer, reproductive effects, neurobehavioral disorders, and other health effects. The book describes research areas of continuing concern and offers recommendations for further research on the health effects of Agent Orange exposure among Vietnam veterans. This volume will be critically important to both policymakers and physicians in the federal government, Vietnam veterans and their families, veterans organizations, researchers, and health professionals.

Health Risk Assessment is a comprehensive reference focusing on dermal absorption, cholinesterase inhibition, adverse reproductive effects, and carcinogenicity. The book features contributions from over 40 top scientists and covers topics such as PBPK modeling, cytochrome P-450 metabolism in skin, percutaneous absorption, adverse effects, new skin models, and the role of epidemiology in assessing the hazards of toxicants. Health Risk Assessment is essential for toxicologists, environmental chemists, pharmacologists, risk assessors, and managers working in industrial, pesticide, and pharmaceutical development. The book will also benefit individuals in environmental, regulatory, and registration affairs, as well as academicians and students.