ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

Environmental Issues and Human Health

Introduction

Environment has a profound effect on human life. Man and environment are interrelated. They impact each other in both useful and destructive ways.

Environment influence man's health directly and can initiate, promote and sustain many ailments and diseases. In this way, it affects every aspect of human life and should not be avoided (Moeller 2009, p.01).

Man and Environment share a mutual relationship. According to the International Epidemiological Association, Environment refers to a set of physical, chemical, social and biological factors that have a direct and indirect influence on man's living (www.who.int).

For man, Health should be the greatest priority and crucial issue. The environment and surroundings have a very strong impact on health related issues. With the growth and development of man in the field of technology and science, It is very sad to see that the environment is suffering badly due to the deadly impact of various technologies. Different innovations and technological developments have affected environment immensely and give rise to many health concerns (www.nerc.ac.uk).

The importance of the environment should never be avoided. The life style, culture, poverty, industries, and different modern technologies are polluting environment which is a point of concern for man. There are certain environmental factors which affect human health and favours propagation of diseases. The wars and race of weapons for attaining superiority has also put a very detrimental effect to the environment. New diseases are discovering, and old diseases are increasing as a result of polluted environment. Natural disasters also have a massive influence on human health. The condition of pollution also plays very significant impact on human health.

Discussion

Physical Environmental issues and health

Physical hazards of Environment are those factors which affect human health by non-materialistic means. It means that a human can hear and feel these factors, but they are not elements, organism or any chemical. Noise pollution, Global warming and Radiation hazards and vibrations fall in this category.

Noise Pollution

Noise is all around us every day. Noise may refer to any unpleasant sound in our surrounding that has bad impact on our selves. Ranging from simple sources like man, transportation and usual electrical appliances, the source of noise could be the industries, pubs and Aero planes (Lane n.d, p.01).

Auditory Defects

Aero planes, Trains, Automobiles, Church bells, jackhammers, pubs, car stereo, barking dogs etc are the source of noise pollution in every society. The Noise pollution can induce hearing disorder, irritation, stress and other non-hearing complications.

Noise pollution can be hazardous for human health in two ways. It can effect directly on hearing mechanism and create auditory problems. It can affect the person psychologically and can impair the physical activities by inducing non-auditory disorders. In the auditory disorders, the hearing loss can be of two types which are Conductive and Sensorineural. Conductive deafness is a result of rapture eardrum. It can be cured by the use of hearing aids. Sensorineural hearing defect is a concerning disease and required longer treatment. It is rapidly growing in developed ...