The association of overweight/obesity, and central obesity with thiocyanate (SCN), perchlorate (CIO), and nitrate (NO) in childhood and adolescence is unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to explore this association in 4447 participants comprising children and adolescents (aged 6-19 years) using data from the United States National Health and…

The International Labour Organization (1982) standards on occupational safety and health constitution introduced the standard that workers should be protected from sickness and injury emanating from their employment. The United States, Britain, and Botswana adopted the principle and designed rules for risk reduction at work. The British education…

The mass media has an important role in informing the general public about emerging health risks. Content-based studies of risk communication in the media have revealed a tendency to exaggerate risks or simplify science, but linguistic studies in this area are still scarce. This paper outlines a corpus based investigation of media reporting on the…

People around the world are concerned about affordable energy. It is needed to power the global economy. Petroleum-based transportation and coal-fired power plants are economic prime movers fueling the global economy, but coal and gasoline are also the leading sources of air pollution. Both of these sources produce greenhouse gases and toxins.…

There is a considerable body of literature on research on environmental knowledge, attitude and action. A lot of research has occurred on the primary and secondary school populations and the general population. However, much less emphasis has been placed on studies that concern post-compulsory education students in the range from 16 to 18 years…

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic chemicals that were manufactured in the United States between about 1930 and 1977 for use in various industrial and commercial applications because of their nonflammability, chemical stability, high boiling point, and electrical insulation properties (ATSDR, 2000). PCBs were used in numerous products…

Unprecedented uses of information and communication technology (ICT) and particularly social media (e.g., Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter) are occurring in times of crisis. This dissertation investigates the socio-technical practices emerging from the use of social media and how these practices help to "sustain the living heritage" of…

Background: Recent studies have suggested that child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and its symptom domains are related to blood lead level, even at background exposure levels typical in western countries. However, recent studies disagreed as to whether lead was related to inattention or hyperactivity-impulsivity within the ADHD…

To use Lisbeth Schorr's term, children who are at risk for "rotten outcomes" are not randomly scattered throughout the society but are, rather, concentrated in impoverished neighborhoods. In recent decades, government policy and public opinion in the U.S. has reflected the belief that children who experience rotten outcomes are, at least…

In the spring of 1977, members of the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), along with the Coalition for Navajo Liberation, barraged the Secretary of the Interior and the chairman of the Navajo Nation with petitions calling for a halt to the proposed construction of several coal gasification plants on the Navajo Reservation in northwestern New…

Military munitions are the silent giant of hazardous waste management and cleanup in the United States. Toward the end of the first Clinton administration, the Navy and Air Force prevailed upon the Army--the armed service with the biggest ordnance problem--to consider co-sponsoring a formal dialogue on military munitions facilitated by the…

Children and adolescents, up to approximately age 20, are more susceptible than adults to potential health risks from chemicals and environmental hazards. Hazardous chemicals can interrupt or alter the normal development of a child's body, leading to lasting damage. Since children are smaller than adults, similar levels of exposure to toxic…

Product take-back (also called extended producer responsibility) has become a trend for dealing with the garbage resulting from categories of problematic products. Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is one such category with computer equipment being of particular significance. This article provides a description of the European…

Biomonitoring is a public health tool that has been used by scientists and researchers for decades to test blood, bone, urine, hair, human milk, adipose tissue, and other body substances for the presence of toxic chemicals, in order to assess what is called the "chemical body burden." Biomonitoring helps to: (1) identify which chemicals…

"Biological invasions" are now recognized as the cause of significant ecological and economic damage. They also raise a series of less visible social issues. Management of invasive species is often a political process raising questions such as who decides which organisms are to be managed, and who benefits or is affected by different…