In
1980, the town of Love Canal, in the
United States, was declared a "disaster" area and more than 900
families were evacuated. This exercise is concerned with assessing
potential community exposures to multiple chemicals at a toxic dump
site and then determining if those exposures may have human biologic
effects. Many different environmental and epidemiologic studies were
performed at Love Canal over a five-year period by government agencies
and community groups. Precise and objective measures of human exposure
were difficult to develop. Many kinds of acute and chronic illness
received attention, especially reproductive abnormalities and cancer.
The exercise covers the development of a community exposure/health
effects survey, analysis of survey results, and use of methods
available for studying long-term, delayed health outcomes and for
assessing potential sub-clinical effects.
Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health (DOH) - Modules 3:
Occupational Medicine & Toxicology (Basic) by Profs Mohamed
Jeebhay and Rodney
Ehrlich,
Health
Sciences UCT is licensed under a
Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 South Africa License.
Major contributors: Mohamed Jeebhay, Rodney Ehrlich, Jonny Myers,
Leslie London, Sophie Kisting, Rajen Naidoo, Saloshni Naidoo. Source available
from here.
For any updates to the material, or more permissions beyond the scope
of this license, please email healthoer@uct.ac.za
or visit www.healthedu.uct.ac.za.
Last updated Jan 2007.
Disclaimer note: Some resources and descriptions may be out-dated. For
suggested updates and feedback, please contact healthoer@uct.ac.za.