Hazards disease prevention

Reduced risk of harm through famine avoidance Reduced risk of harm through disease prevention Reduction in other proposed climate change hazards Reduced risk of harm through avoided economic impacts of climate change NONE NONE NONE NONE... 

NIOSH, 2005. NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards Other Databases CD-ROM. Department of Health Human Services, Centers for Disease Prevention Control. National Institute for Occupational Safety Health. DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2005-151. 

In most situations, adequate, usuaHy forced, ventilation is necessary to prevent excessive exposure. Persons who drink alcohol excessively or have Hver, kidney, or heart diseases should be excluded from any exposure to carbon tetrachloride. AH individuals regularly exposed to carbon tetrachloride should receive periodic examinations by a physician acquainted with the occupational hazard involved. These examinations should include special attention to the kidneys and the Hver. There is no known specific antidote for carbon tetrachloride poisoning. Treatment is symptomatic and supportive. Alcohol, oHs, fats, and epinephrine should not be given to any person who has been exposed to carbon tetrachloride. FoHowing exposure, the individual should be kept under observation long enough to permit the physician to determine whether Hver or kidney injury has occurred. Artificial dialysis may be necessary in cases of severe renal faHure. 

As a last example we turn to the world of medicine. Osteo-arthritis is an illness that affects many people as they get older. The disease affects the joints between different bones in the body and makes it hard - and painful - to move them. The problem is caused by small lumps of bone which grow on the rubbing surfaces of the joints and which prevent them sliding properly. The problem can only be cured by removing the bad joints and putting artificial joints in their place. The first recorded hip-joint replacement was done as far back as 1897 - when it must have been a pretty hazardous business - but the operation is now a routine piece of orthopaedic surgery. In fact 30,000 hip joints are replaced in the UK every year world-wide the number must approach half a million. 

Thus, there is a clear need to establish the relationship between the health effects of hazardous chemical agents in the environment and the level of occupational exposure to the body by means of an occupational exposure limit, in which a reference figure for the concentration of a chemical agent is set. In fact, occupational exposure limits (OELs) have been a feature of the industrialized world since the early 1950s. They were introduced, primarily in the United States, at a time when measures to prevent occupational diseases were considered more beneficial than compensating victims, and in this sense OELs have played an important part in the control of occupational illnesses. 

Stock, M., and W. Geiger. 1984. Assessment of vapor cloud explosion hazards based on recent research results. 9th Int. Symp. on the Prevention of Occupational Accidents and Diseases in the Chemical Industry, Luzern, Switzerland. 

NIOSH. 1978. Special occupational hazard review of trichloroethylene. Cincinnati, OH U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. 

Donham KJ, Berry C, Burmeister L, et al. 1982a. Respiratory disease hazards of swine confinement workers. Report to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH, by the University of Iowa, Department of Preventative Medicine and Environmental Health. PB84-241512. 

Education, simple rules of personal hygiene and safe food preparation can prevent many diarrheal diseases. Hand washing with soap is an effective step in preventing spread of illness. Human feces must always be considered potentially hazardous. Immunocompromised persons, alcoholics, persons with chronic liver disease and pregnant women may require additional attention, and health care providers can play an important role in providing information about food safety. These populations should avoid undercooked meat, raw shellfish, raw dairy products, French-style cheeses and unheated deli meats [114]. 

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