Pollutants: ancient and

modern

Pleasure reading

Environment, biology and human

health: the macrobiological view

-For millenia complex interactions between the human being and

its environment
adaptative coevolution, through selective processes: there is room for
everybody
The history of the human species
shaped by:
-wars?
-infectious diseases?
-natural forces: volcanism,
earthquakes?
-famine?

Answer: diseases, like smallpox and bubonic plague have changed for
countless times the past history of human kind and will likely have the
same effect in the future
Why: bugs evolve faster than humans, an evolution amplified by the
environmental changes induced by the humans.

Today:
Noninfectious environmental agents exert a
stronger evolutionary pressure on the human
species due to global environmental alteration

Diseases of coevolution going wrong: emerging diseases

Definition: emerging diseases = new diseases, unknown in the past to
the human race ()

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/index.htm
Re-emerging diseases: diseases known to be extinct but resurfacing in the
context of global environmental change and technological progress
(tuberculosis, malaria, Lyme disease, other infectious diseases caused
by antibiotic resistance)
Causes of global pattern in disease emergence:

-environmental pollution anthropogenic pollution, leading

among others to global warming and a biological chain reaction/
vicious circle whose consequences are impossible to quantify;
-natural planetary cycles (glaciations) less important on the
microscale of human history, including geogenic pollution

Anthropogenic

environment:

pollutants released into the

Heavy metals Cd, Pb, Hg (Minamata disease)

PCBs polychlorinated biphenyls (widespread industrial pollution)
TCDD dioxins (Seveso, Italy; Agent Orange, Vietnam)
PAHs polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (oil spills, fossil fuels)

benzopyrene

The natural cycle of mercury in nature

Hg (inorganic)
(toxic)
China et al.
Anthropogenic
Input (agriculture)

Bacteria

Disease

MM-Hg
DM-Hg (organic,
very toxic)

Many such vicious cycles in nature:

PCBs, PAHs, dioxins, DDT

Usually result in unknown and unpredictable

long term effects (chronic diseases)

Operation Cat Drop

Planet Earth: 70% water

Suitable drinking water: a resource more scarce than fossil fuels?

MEDICAL GEOLOGY

Coal and fluorosis in China

Geogenic pollution:
-Independent or quasi-independent of human intervention
-most frequently caused by inorganic environmental agents mineral
or oligoelement deficiency (Kashin-Beck disease in China or Keshan
disease, also in China Se deficiency), or metal toxicity (As in SE
Asia)
-other examples of geogenic environmental effects volcanic
eruptions, dust storms

Arsenic problem in the Panonian Plain: Hungary, Western Romania,

NW Serbia: untreated groundwater contaminated with high levels of As,
leaching from the local bedrocks higher incidences of cancer in W Romania,
Hungary

Cofactors (usually, environmentally

induced diseases are multifactorial)
-increased incidence and mortality from various
cancers in Western Romania, compared to all other
regions of the country
-presence of extensive oil fields
-active oil extraction using relatively outdated
technologies (possibility of environmental
contamination)
Possible cofactors:
cofactors diet (rich in fat), pesticides, arsenic
in groundwater (described as geogenic contamination
across the Panonian Plain), organic substances from
groundwater, infectious agents (certain viruses, like
CMV, etc.)

Photo: Oil fields in agricultural areas, like this one in Romania,

could be responsible for increased incidence of certain cancers

Anthropogenic Arsenic: the chili peppers story

Dust in the wind: can carry bacteria, fungi, organic and

inorganic chemicals,even across oceans
-dust storms more frequent in recent years

Anthropogenic dust pollution

Fig. 2. Inhalation of particulates in air may cause injury to the lungs or other organs through inflammation, mechanical damage,
immune response (e.g. asthma), and sensitization. Dissolution of xenobiotics from particulates by lung fluid may also lead to direct
cell toxicity or carcinogenesis in the lungs, or be adsorbed into the body to cause toxic or cancer-causing in other organs. Dust from
the World Trade Center collapse in New York, following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (photo at left
From the Associated Press, used with permission) resulted in respiratory health effects, especially in rescue workers. Inhalation of
asbestos fibers (photo at right) can lead to damage to the lungs, including a rare type of cancer (mesothelioma).

Volcanic eruptions
-usually quantified by the number of people killed or property/settlings
destroyed
-long term climatic effects are equally or even more devastating,
resulting in many more unaccounted casualties

1991, June the second

largest eruption of the XXth
century
Mount Pinatubo, in
Phillipines

-up to 800 people killed

-100000 people became homeless
-milions of tons of sulphur dioxide discharged into the
atmosphere, resulting in a decrease in temperature worldwide
for the next few years
-also released into the surface environment: 2 million tons of
Zn, 1 million tons of copper, 5500 tons of Cd
-released ash probably contained all the elements in the
periodic system, in various amounts

Long term health effects of

the eruption:
difficult, if not impossible
to quantify

Is this the end of nature?

Thanks!