Chapter 10, Problem 1TYC

To determine

The four major types of health hazards that are examined by practitioners of environmental health.

Answer to Problem 1TYC

The four major types of health hazards are physical, chemical, biological, and cultural hazards that are examined by practitioner of environmental health.

Explanation of Solution

The environmental health hazards include chemical, biological, physical, and biochemical hazards that occurs in nature. It is caused by poor sanitation and shelter. It is also caused by using chemicals in agriculture and industries that contaminate air, land, food, and water.

There are four types of health hazards that are examined by practitioners which are as follows:

(a) Physical hazards: Physical hazards are caused by factors that are present in the environment and are harmful for life. Such factors cause serious health issues. These factors involve harmful ultraviolet radiation from sun whose long term exposure damages DNA and causes harmful diseases such as skin cancer, cataracts, and immune suppression.

(b) Chemical hazards: It includes several synthetic chemicals that are manufactured in industries such as pharmaceuticals, disinfectants, and pesticides. These chemicals may contaminate water, and food. It causes severe health problems. Some naturally occurring chemicals also accumulated into tissues of organisms and shows detrimental effects.

(c) Biological hazards: This type of health hazards occurs due to ecological interactions among organisms. There are several microorganisms such as virus, fungi, bacteria, and protists that live in the surrounding but are not visible by naked eyes. Such pathogens cause several types of infectious diseases such as malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, and chickenpox. Infectious diseases are the major health hazards especially in developing nations due to poverty and lack of healthcare as well as poor sanitation.

(d) Cultural hazards: Cultural hazards are spread from one place to another due to personal habits, occupation, socioeconomic status, and lifestyle. For example, if someone is smoking and other person is just standing behind him, so both the persons are affected by smoking but one is an active smoker who smokes and other is a passive smoker who does not smoke but affected by smoke from cigarettes that spread in air and is inhaled by that person.