Toxicology

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According to the National Institutes of Health, “Epidemiology is the branch of medical science that investigates all the factors that determine the presence or absence of diseases and disorders. Epidemiological research helps us to understand how many people have a disease or disorder, if those numbers are changing, and how the disorder affects our society and our economy.” (NIH, 2010). Epidemiology is one type of study that is considered to be most useful in research, especially in the field of health related issues as it primarily identifies factors that pose one’s health at risk for certain diseases. This branch of public health ties in closely to environmental toxicology and risk assessment, as Epidemiological investigations can provide strong evidence linking exposure to the incidence of infection or disease in a population. They can provide estimates of the magnitude of risk related to a particular dose and so can be used in the evaluation of appropriate microbiological quality guideline levels or standards. Epidemiological methods can quantify the probability that observed relationships occurred by chance factors and they also have the potential to control for other risk factors of the outcome illness being studied. Epidemiology Branch investigators study a wide range of health effects with potential links to environmental exposures. Studies cover outcomes across the lifespan from pregnancy and child development to chronic diseases of aging, focusing on known and potential environmental hazards. These studies tremendously modify and improve the quality of life, especially for those living in developing countries as well as low-to-middle class individuals/families.

There are limitations faced by epidemiologists when studying the relationship between exposure and disease outcomes in relation to community environmental pollution. These limitations are both in detecting disease and measuring exposure. Limitations in detecting disease include: long and variable latency periods between exposure and disease diagnosis, etiologic non-specificity of disease clinical features, small population size coupled with low disease frequency, and observer bias in reporting illness occurrence. Limitations in measuring exposure include: Dependence on indirect, surrogate estimates of exposure and dose (distance from pollution site), uncertainty regarding pathways of exposure, probable low-dose levels in most settings, frequent inability to develop useful dose-response data (Heath, 1988). Awareness of these limitations is crucial to making the correct decisions about what to ask of epidemiologists, how to assist epidemiologists in deriving correct samples and data, and when and how to interpret findings.

Works Cited

Environmental Protection Agency (2010). Exposure Assessment Tools and Models. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/oppt/exposure/pubs/exposurep.htm. Accessed September 23, 2015.

Health Jr., CW (1988). Uses of epidemiologic information in pollution episode management. Arch Environmental Health. 1988; 43:76.

Lioy, PJ (1990). Assessing total human exposure to contaminants. A multidisciplinary approach. Environmental Science and Technology. 24 (7), pp 938–945

National Institutes of Health. What is Epidemiology? Retrieved from http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/Pages/epidemiology.aspx. Accessed September 23, 2015.

The Safety Emporium. The MSDS HyperGlossary: Acute Toxicity. Retrieved from http://www.ilpi.com/msds/ref/acutetoxicity.html. Accessed September 23, 2015.

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