Public health perspective

Spengler, J.D. and K. Sexton, Indoor Air Pollution A Public Health Perspective, Science, 221 9-17 (1983). 

Klasing, S.A. and S.M. Pilch. 1988. Agricultural Drainage Water Contamination in the San Joaquin Valley A Public Health Perspective for Selenium, Boron, and Molybdenum. Avail, from San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 98525. 135 pp. 

Raub JA et al Carbon monoxide poisoning—a public health perspective. Toxicology 2000 145 1. [PMID 10771127]... 

Typically, the pharmaceutical industry has been reluctant to try something new due to the fear that the new approach will not find favor with the FDA. An FDA rejection would result in costly delays and processing revisions that industry is unwilling to risk. The FDA now says that this hesitancy is undesirable from a public health perspective and it would like to see more innovation introduced. According to the FDA, pharmaceutical manufacturing should be based on ... 

H. R. Pohl et al., Public Health Perspectives on Dioxin Risks Two Decades of Evaluations, Human and Ecological Risk Assessment 8 (2002) 255-50. 

Pharmaceuticals, public health, and the law a public health perspective... 

Aylward, Bruce R. et al. 2003. Polio Eradication. In Global Public Goods for Health Health Economic and Public Health Perspectives, edited by Richard Smith et al., note at 33. New York University Press. 

J Mulinare. Public health perspectives on folic acid and neural tube defects. Cereal Foods World 40 58-61, 1995. 

Trichopoulou A, Naska A, Antoniou A, Friel S, Trygg K, Turrini A. 2003. Vegetable and fruit The evidence in their favour and the public health perspective. Int J Vitam Nutr Res 73 63-69. 

Monheit, B.M., Luke, B.G., 1990. Pesticides in breast milk - a public health perspective. Commun. Health Stud. 14(3), 269. 

This review generated responses from other authorities in the field. Some commented that the conclusions may be premature, given the age of the subjects, and drew attention to several studies that have shown subtle but consistent deficits in cognitive and attentional processes in 6-and 7-year-old children (302). These effects may become more prominent as development continues and may persist into adulthood. Others criticized the attempt to isolate cocaine exposure from all other associated risk factors from a public health perspective, prenatal cocaine exposure clusters with other risk factors, such as poor caregiving, child maltreatment, domestic violence, and prenatal exposure to other substances (303). Furthermore, the selection criteria narrowed the total articles reviewed to under half of the 74 articles found. Others suggested that the study had been misinterpreted (304). 

Pesticides are frequently used to control insects, rodents, weeds, microbes, or fungi. In addition, they help farmers provide an affordable and plentiful food supply. Pesticides are also used in other settings, such as homes and schools, to control pests as common as cockroaches, termites, and mice. Pesticides pose significant risks to human health and the environment, when people do not follow directions on product labels or use products irresponsibly. For example, people might use pesticides when they are not really needed, apply too much, or apply or dispose of them in a manner that could contaminate water or harm wildlife. Even alternative or organic pesticides can have these unintended consequences if not used correctly (EPA, 2003 c). There is abundant scientific evidence of the risks toxic pesticides pose to human health. More worrisome from a public health perspective are chronic health effects such as cancer, infertility, birth defects, miscarriage, and negative effects on the brain and nervous system. 

From a public health perspective, poorly supervised or incomplete treatment of TB is worse than no treatment at all. People may remain infectious if they fail to comply with treatment regimens or are given an inappropriate regimen. They also may develop resistance to medications and will pass on this same drug-resistant strain to those they infect. In general, drug-resistant TB is treatable but requires extensive chemotherapy (up to 2 years) that is often cost prohibitive and is more toxic (World Health Organization, 2005). 

Raub, J.A., Mathiev-Nolf, M., Hampson, N.B., Thom, S.R. (2006). Carbon monoxide poisoning - a public health perspective. Toxicology 145 1-14. 

Throughout the 1960s, the scientific information movement brought a public health perspective to environmental problems - human-centered, prevention-oriented, espousing population-scale interventions by the state (a ban on above-ground testing of nuclear weapons, e.g., to eliminate radioactive fallout), with no reluctance to consider the hazards of the workplace and urban environments. Here we find the beginnings of the modern environmental movement. 

Cases are frequently misdiagnosed and, in general, infrequently reported. Of these toxicities, the most serious from a public health perspective appears to be PSP. The extreme potency of the PSP toxins has, in the past, resulted in an unusually high mortality rate. 

Cogswell ME, Burke W, McDonnell SM, Franks AL. Screening for hemochromatosis a public health perspective. Am J Prev Med 1999 16 134-40. 

---