Arsenic to zoonoses/Contents

Arsenic to Zoonoses is a book about environmental health issues for the general public.

Perception of the risks around us

• Is it the final straw that breaks the camel’s back?
• Is expert jargon just a way to confuse the man in the street?
• What is the wisdom in “It’s the dose that determines that a thing is not a poison”?
• What is a “chemical” after all?
• Is it more dangerous for us than for our ancestors?
• Are the risks of the domestic and the workplace environments different?

Is man defiled by what goes to his mouth?

• What is safe to drink?
• Does water chlorination cause cancer?
• Are blue-green algae a risk to your life or at least to your liver?
• Does aluminium cause dementia?
• Arsenic in the drinking water – reminiscent of the movie “Lavender and old lace”?
• Are we starting to glow from the uranium in our environment?
• Fluoride – friend or foe?
• Blind drunk – or dead drunk?
• What is really dangerous in our diet?
• Should we be concerned about the amounts of additives in our diet?
• May even our cooking habits hurt us?
• Why not re-freeze thawed out frozen food?
• The dirty dozen – not just an old movie?
• Where do the dioxins come from?
• Are the dioxins the most dangerous chemicals in our environment?
• Are the PCB compounds really super-poisons?
• What on earth is PBDE?
• What are the hormonal disrupters?
• Tin poisoning – wasn’t even grandma’s copper kitchenware tin-plated?
• Are heavy metals still a problem today?
• Is mercury a quicksilver bullet or a slow poison?
• If this kills insects, what effect is it having on me?
• The whole field was brown-coloured; should you even go near it let alone eat anything growing there?
• Should we only eat “organic” products?
• Isn’t it safe to eat everything that grows naturally?
• Is it safe to eat wherever it’s convenient?
• What if alcohol were treated as a chemical contaminant in food?

A favourite of children – and some adults too

• Can even a child’s toy be dangerous?
• How does the environment affect the child in the womb?
• Is impregnated wood safe in my garden or children’s playground?
• Can you catch toxoplasmosis from cat litter?
• What are children’s waterproof clothes made of?
• Are people too clean for their own good?
• Are cosmetics chemicals?
• Should we have antibiotic chemicals present in everyday domestic items?
• How safe are detergents?
• Can noise cause true health problems?
• Is allergy more common today?
• A healthy suntan – or is it?
• Should solariums carry a health warning?

The air that we breathe

• What’s wrong with the air in our cities?
• People don’t die of carbon monoxide poisoning any more – do they?
• Can the air go up in flames?
• Ozone – I thought it was the hole in the ozone layer that we need to worry about?
• Should we go back to heating our homes with wood-burning stoves?
• Climate change – will it affect our health?
• Is formaldehyde another type of formalin?
• Benzene – isn’t it only found in chemistry sets?
• Can environmental cigarette smoke cause lung cancer?
• Is there radiation in my home?
• Do we need to monitor the quality of the air in our homes?
• How can a building become sick?
• Do our recreational pastimes require special ventilation systems?
• Is asbestos still a problem today?
• What happens when a building suffers moisture damage?
• Legionnaires’ disease – why should I worry, I’m not in the Foreign Legion?
• How do air fresheners really work?

How to protect our common environment?

• Why is it worth investing in environmental protection?
• Indigenous populations live in harmony with their environment, don’t they?
• Environmental equilibrium and chemicals – impossible or not?
• Down the drain – is it a case of out of sight, out of mind?
• Should we compost all our household waste?
• Does it make sense to burn our domestic waste in power stations?
• Is clean energy from biomass a myth?
• Which type of energy production is friendliest to human health?
• What was the impact of the Chernobyl disaster in Europe?
• Is it safe to live close to polluted land?
• Does environmental protection also mean improved health?
• If we care about our environment, should we all be vegetarians?
• Which environmental factors increase my blood pressure?

Here a risk, there a risk, everywhere risks, risks!

• Are there problems in the present risk assessment practices?
• What is risk management?
• What are the most common misconceptions about risks held by the man in the street?
• Why are experts usually so sceptical?
• Why do different people rate different risks so differently?
• Can you lessen your own personal chemical burden?
• Why are people afraid of dental amalgam?
• What do we mean by the term “life cycle analysis”?
• The precautionary principle – better safe than sorry?
• Are GM foods Frankenfoods?
• Mutagenesis, carcinogenesis and other scary words – what do they really mean?
• Which type of radiation poses the greatest threat to our health?
• Are most cancers caused by exposures to chemicals?
• Is cancer more common today than it was in the past?
• We breathe oxygen; it can’t be dangerous, can it?
• Why are animal experiments still needed?
• Are electric lines and transformers dangerous?
• How dangerous is it to use a mobile phone?
• We are surrounded by risks but which of them should we take seriously?
• Are inhabitants of different countries exposed to different risks?
• Before we go on holiday which environmental health precautions should we take?
• Should risk assessment be more transparent?
• Is environmental science just another religion?
• What happens if the human race presses the self-destruct button?

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