Are inhabitants of different countries exposed to different risks?

This page is a nugget. The page identifier is Op_en4283
Moderator:Jouni (see all)
Citation of this page: Jouko Tuomisto: Arsenic to Zoonoses. Opasnet 2024. [1]. Accessed 22 Dec 2024. This page has also been published elsewhere: 100 kysymystä ympäristöstä ja terveydestä: arsenikista öljyyn. Kustannus Oy Duodecim, Helsinki 2005. ISBN 951-656-221-3.
Upload data {{#opasnet_base_link:Op_en4283}}	Unlike most other pages in Opasnet, the nuggets have predetermined authors, and you cannot freely edit the contents. Note! If you want to protect the nugget you've created from unauthorized editing click here Chapters in the book Arsenic to Zoonoses: Perception of the risks around us Is it the final straw that breaks the camel’s back? Is expert jargon just a way to confuse the man in the street? What is the wisdom in “It’s the dose that determines that a thing is not a poison”? What is a “chemical” after all? Is it more dangerous for us than for our ancestors? Are the risks of the domestic and the workplace environments different? Is man defiled by what goes to his mouth? What is safe to drink? Does water chlorination cause cancer? Are blue-green algae a risk to your life or at least to your liver? Does aluminium cause dementia? Arsenic in the drinking water – reminiscent of the movie “Lavender and old lace”? Are we starting to glow from the uranium in our environment? Fluoride – friend or foe? Blind drunk – or dead drunk? What is really dangerous in our diet? Should we be concerned about the amounts of additives in our diet? May even our cooking habits hurt us? Why not re-freeze thawed out frozen food? The dirty dozen – not just an old movie? Where do the dioxins come from? Are the dioxins the most dangerous chemicals in our environment? Are the PCB compounds really super-poisons? What on earth is PBDE? What are the hormonal disrupters? Tin poisoning – wasn’t even grandma’s copper kitchenware tin-plated? Are heavy metals still a problem today? Is mercury a quicksilver bullet or a slow poison? If this kills insects, what effect is it having on me? The whole field was brown-coloured; should you even go near it let alone eat anything growing there? Should we only eat “organic” products? Isn’t it safe to eat everything that grows naturally? Is it safe to eat wherever it’s convenient? What if alcohol were treated as a chemical contaminant in food? A favourite of children - and some adults too Can even a child’s toy be dangerous? How does the environment affect the child in the womb? Is impregnated wood safe in my garden or children’s playground? Can you catch toxoplasmosis from cat litter? What are children’s waterproof clothes made of? Are people too clean for their own good? Are cosmetics chemicals? Should we have antibiotic chemicals present in everyday domestic items? How safe are detergents? Can noise cause true health problems? Is allergy more common today? A healthy suntan – or is it? Should solariums carry a health warning? The air that we breathe What’s wrong with the air in our cities? People don’t die of carbon monoxide poisoning any more – do they? Can the air go up in flames? Ozone – I thought it was the hole in the ozone layer that we need to worry about? Should we go back to heating our homes with wood-burning stoves? Climate change – will it affect our health? Is formaldehyde another type of formalin? Benzene – isn’t it only found in chemistry sets? Can environmental cigarette smoke cause lung cancer? Is there radiation in my home? Do we need to monitor the quality of the air in our homes? How can a building become sick? Do our recreational pastimes require special ventilation systems? Is asbestos still a problem today? What happens when a building suffers moisture damage? Legionnaires’ disease – why should I worry, I’m not in the Foreign Legion? How do air fresheners really work? How to protect our common environment? Why is it worth investing in environmental protection? Indigenous populations live in harmony with their environment, don’t they? Environmental equilibrium and chemicals – impossible or not? Down the drain – is it a case of out of sight, out of mind? Should we compost all our household waste? Does it make sense to burn our domestic waste in power stations? Is clean energy from biomass a myth? Which type of energy production is friendliest to human health? What was the impact of the Chernobyl disaster in Europe? Is it safe to live close to polluted land? Does environmental protection also mean improved health? If we care about our environment, should we all be vegetarians? Which environmental factors increase my blood pressure? Here a risk, there a risk, everywhere risks, risks! Are there problems in the present risk assessment practices? What is risk management? What are the most common misconceptions about risks held by the man in the street? Why are experts usually so sceptical? Why do different people rate different risks so differently? Can you lessen your own personal chemical burden? Why are people afraid of dental amalgam? What do we mean by the term “life cycle analysis”? The precautionary principle – better safe than sorry? Are GM foods Frankenfoods? Mutagenesis, carcinogenesis and other scary words – what do they really mean? Which type of radiation poses the greatest threat to our health? Are most cancers caused by exposures to chemicals? Is cancer more common today than it was in the past? We breathe oxygen; it can’t be dangerous, can it? Why are animal experiments still needed? Are electric lines and transformers dangerous? How dangerous is it to use a mobile phone? We are surrounded by risks but which of them should we take seriously? Are inhabitants of different countries exposed to different risks? Before we go on holiday which environmental health precautions should we take? Should risk assessment be more transparent? Is environmental science just another religion? What happens if the human race presses the self-destruct button?

Different countries are very different with respect to the risks to which their populations are exposed. In the developing countries, the risks are very different from those in highly industrialised developed countries. In rapidly developing countries such as China, the risks are different both from those of the western world and from the developing countries.

Assessment of WHO

The health report of World Health Organisation, “World Health Report 2002” has made a list of the top ten global health risks: undernutrition, unsafe sex, blood pressure, tobacco, alcohol, unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, cholesterol, indoor smoke from solid fuels, iron deficiency, and overweight. These risk factors account for more than two thirds of deaths in the world. Especially in the developing world, a few risk factors explain most of the diseases and premature deaths.

That same report emphasises five important environmental risks: 1) unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, 2) urban air pollution, 3) indoor smoke from solid fuels, 4) lead exposure, and 5) climate change. Thus even with respect to environmental health risks, the largest risks are to be found in the developing countries, not the developed industrial countries. Of these, water/hygiene and indoor smoke were also among the top ten universal health risks.

The most important occupational risks are risk factors for accidental injuries, carcinogens, airborne particulates, ergonomic stressors, and noise. It is noteworthy that there are huge differences in these risks depending on the state of occupational health and workers’ protection in a country. This is not necessarily a well developed area even in all western countries.

Why so big differences between countries?

In western democratic industrial countries, the risks are decreased by strict chemical control and modern production methods, but also the impacts of a vigilant and vigorous media and vociferous public opinion are clear. Commercial enterprises simply cannot afford to make dangerous products or to use dangerous methods.

On the other hand, urbanisation and high population density lead to significant risks, high consumption levels, the need to communicate long distances leading to lots of traffic on the roads. Moreover a high consumption of energy leads to insatiable demands for energy production, high emissions, and huge amounts of waste. All this means that the risks to the individual citizen are relatively small, but the impact on the environment, in general, is quite severe (the so-called ecological footprint). We could take steps to decrease our footprint but imposing these restrictions would be unpopular (cutbacks in traffic, changes to the way we generate energy etc). Therefore air pollutants and greenhouse gases are a major problem and are likely to remain so in future.

In China (and earlier in all the socialist countries in Europe) the environmental impact was limited by the low standard of living and consumption, but on the other hand increased by denial of the risks, poor efficiency and wasteful practices, neglect in implementing rules and legislation (even existing laws were not followed) and large investments in the military as compared with the standard of living of the countries. These factors tend to create huge personal risks, and often simultaneously lead to enormous regional (e.g. sulphate emissions) and large global impacts (e.g. carbon dioxide emissions).

In most developing countries, the risks are decreased by very low consumption levels, in some places also relatively low population densities (there are many exceptions, of course), and the low degree of industrialization. On the other hand, risks are increased by almost non-existent legislation and control measures, corruption, poor training and lack of knowledge about risks, as well as the primary need to feed people at any cost; e.g. the risks of handling pesticides may not be considered as important. All this leads often to huge personal risks (e.g. pesticide poisoning is common in these countries), but their global impact is not significant. The megapolis-cities in the developing world are another issue; their air quality may be terrible because of local use of all sorts of solid fuels and with the roads clogged with gas-guzzling, fume-emitting, ancient cars and motor cycles.

Environmental health risks are very different in different countries. It is typical of the developed industrial countries that they have a major impact on the global environment, and typical of the developing countries that the risks are experienced by the individual and often are very high indeed.

One level up: Here a risk, there a risk, everywhere risks, risks!

Previous chapter: We are surrounded by risks but which of them should we take seriously?

Next chapter: Before we go on holiday which environmental health precautions should we take?