Water pollution cancer

Possible negative environmental effects of fertilizer use are the subject of iatensive evaluation and much discussion. The foUowiag negative effects of fertilizer usage have been variously suggested (113) a deterioration of food quaUty the destmction of natural soil fertility the promotion of gastroiatestiaal cancer the pollution of ground and surface water and contributions toward the destmction of the ozone layer ia the stratosphere. 

Vartiainen T, Pukkala E, Rienoja T, et al. 1993. Population exposure to tri- and tetrachloroethylene and cancer risk Two cases of drinking water pollution. Chemosphere 27 1171-1181. 

Air pollution is one of the worst problems caused by industries, agriculture, power stations, aerosols and other chemicals, and coal and other fires. As a result we suffer from headaches, respiratory tract infections and ailments, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, eye problems, and eventually a profound breakdown in health manifested by various cancers. Other environmental hazards include lead from gasoline — which causes hyperactivity and birth defects — acid rain, carbon monoxide poisoning, water pollution, and radiation. Clinical ecologists treat illnesses and disorders that they believe stem from an individual s reaction to these environmental factors. They practice what is known as environmental medicine, and they estimate that between 10 and 30% of the population suffers from some form of ecological disease (Thomas, 1997 and General References). 

Epstein, Samuel S. 1968. Testimony on cancer and mutation-producing chemicals in polluted urban air, U.S. Senate Subcommittee Hearings on Air and Water Pollution of the Committee of Public Works. July 29-31, Washington, D.C. 

Zhang XT, Bing Z, Xing Z. Research and control of well water pollution in high esophageal cancer areas. World J Gastroenterol 2003 9(6) 1187-90. 

Griffith J, Duncan RC, Riggan WB, Pellom AC. Cancer mortality in U.S. counties with hazardous waste sites and ground water pollution. Arch Environ Health 1989 44(2) 69-74. 

Water pollution due to discharge of toxic chemical wastes is closely regulated by both the EPA and FDA. Such substances are defined in the 1972 amendment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act as those which will cause death, disease, cancer, or genetic malfunctions in any organisms with which they come into contact. Substances added to water for purification purposes (chlorine, aluminum sulfate, etc.) are excluded from the category of pollutants. See Environmental Protection Agency air pollution water pollution. 

We need scientific literate and informed people to make decisions about such things as major government projects in space exploration and medical science health problems, environmental and population problems, such as air and water pollution diseases such as cancer or tuberculosis and epidemics or the possible effects of chemical pesticides upon us and our environment. 

Proctor, Cancer Wars, pp. 45—46 J. D. Dingell, letter to L. L. Terry, Aug. 29, 1961 (NCI) Breslow, History of Cancer Control. Dingell was a persistent critic of the PHS he also took the first initiative in 1959 to end its authority over water pollution control. Milazzo, Unlikely Environmentalists, p. 59. 

The biological effects of radiation, both positive and negative, have been important, and this is reflected by chapters on the effects of radiation on porphyrins, carbohydrates, nucleobases, proteins and DNA. These are followed by the use of radiation chemistry in the development of anti-cancer drugs, in the treatment of water pollution, polymers and in food pasteurization and sterilization. 

The 4,000 asthma deaths and 20,000 cancer cases estimated from home-related exposures are eightfold larger than the 3,000 cancer cases estimated for 20 toxic air pollutants and all Superfund sites. The 50,000,000 injuries/ yr in the U.S. from lead and allergic disease in the home can only be compared with the total health damage from ambient air and water pollution. However, it will be difficult to establish or change environmental and personal priorities on the basis of these opportunities for risk reduction if the public and our leaders are unaware of them. 

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