Environmental Health
Buy products to counteract environmental and geopathic stressors. See Environmental Health category.
Environmental health hazards include exposure to hazardous substances, and chemicals in the air, soil, food, technological disasters, climate change. Today’s great health challenge is electromagnetic pollution.
Clean air, safe drinking water, nutritious food and safe places to live.
Health effects related to the environment
Many aspects of the environment can affect our health. Environmental hazards can increase the risk of disease, including cancer, heart disease and asthma [2].
Table 1 gives examples of how different aspects of the environment can affect our health.
Table 1: Environmental exposures and related human health effects
Environmental Health Indicators of New Zealand
| Environmental exposure | Examples of health effects |
| Outdoor air pollution | Respiratory conditions, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer |
| Unsafe drinking water | Diarrhoeal (gastrointestinal) illnesses |
| Contaminated recreational water | Diarrhoeal (gastrointestinal) illnesses; eye, ear, nose and throat infections |
| Mosquitoes, ticks and other vectors | Malaria, dengue fever, Rickettsial disease |
| UV (ultraviolet light) exposure | Too much: melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer, eye cataracts
Too little: vitamin D deficiency, leading to rickets, osteoporosis and osteomalacia |
| Second-hand smoke exposure | In infants: low birthweight, sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI)
In children: asthma, lower respiratory infections, middle ear infections In adults: ischaemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer |
| Household crowding | Infectious diseases, including lower respiratory infections |
| Cold and damp housing | Excess mortality |
| Climate change | Infectious diseases, including giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis and salmonellosis; heat stroke |
| Hazardous substances | Poisoning, burns, dermatitis |
| Lead | In children: developmental delays, behavioural problems
In adults: increased blood pressure |
| Asbestos | Breathing difficulties, lung cancer, mesothelioma |
| Noise | Hearing loss, cardiovascular problems, insomnia, psychophysiological problems |
See American Public Health Association‘s definition of Environmental Health.
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