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Man is not only a social being, but primarily a biological one, therefore, all natural conditions and environmental factors in one way or another affect his health. Active human activity for thousands of years was aimed not at a harmonious existence in the biosphere, but at creating comfortable living and working conditions exclusively for themselves.

People built cities in swampy areas, dug tunnels in the mountains, cut down forests, drained reservoirs, released and released into the air carbon, immured in the bowels of the earth in the form of coal and oil for many millions of years, built nuclear power plants, neglecting the living conditions of other inhabitants of the Earth ( animals, plants, microorganisms). This greatly complicated the relationship between man and nature. Over time, people realized that, trying to ensure a comfortable existence for themselves, they violate the natural balance of the biosphere. But, since the destructive mechanism was launched a very long time ago, it will take many years to restore the balance.

What is an environmental factor? Classification of environmental factors Realizing that an instant return to life in close contact with nature is impossible, to study the problems of relationships between humans, other living organisms and the conditions of their existence, people came up with a special science - ecology (from the Greek. oikos - dwelling, house). According to the terminology used in this scientific field, any environmental condition that has a direct or indirect effect on a living organism at any phase of its life and to which it produces adaptive reactions is an environmental factor.

Environmental factors can be conditionally divided into three large groups:

1. biotic - the influence of wildlife;
2. abiotic (climatic, edaphic, etc.) - the influence of inanimate nature;
3. anthropogenic - the influence of reasonable or unreasonable human activity.

Currently, the adaptive mechanisms of the human body work more slowly than the environment changes, and therefore health problems arise. This is especially true for residents of modern megacities. Why is air pollution dangerous? Living in a big city has many positive aspects. These include comfort, availability of utilities, developed infrastructure and the possibility of self-realization. But at the same time, megacities are fraught with a huge danger to human health, which is associated with adverse environmental factors. In addition to the fact that the air of large cities is regularly poisoned by the gasoline exhausts of millions of cars, accidents at industrial enterprises periodically occur, as a result of which emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere occur.

As a result of unreasonable human activity, tens of billions of tons of carbon dioxide, hundreds of millions of tons of carbon monoxide and dust, tens of millions of tons of nitrogen oxide, as well as a huge amount of freons, toxic chemicals and dangerous carcinogens, which include asbestos, beryllium, and nickel, enter the environment. , chromium, etc. Chemical substances contained in waste products pass from one chain to another along ecological links: from air to soil, from soil to water, from water to atmosphere, etc. As a result, they enter the human body. Toxins that modern industrial enterprises emit into the atmosphere have even been found in the ice of Antarctica! Pollution of the environment is expressed in the fallout of acid rain, the formation of smoky smog and toxic effects.

Freon in the atmosphere helps to reduce the thickness of the ozone layer, which protects the Earth from the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays. All of the above chemicals, depending on the concentration and time of exposure, cause various symptoms: sore throat, cough, nausea, dizziness, loss of consciousness, as well as acute or chronic poisoning. Regular poisoning of the body with chemicals, even in small doses, is very dangerous! It manifests itself in the form of fatigue, apathy, weakening of attention, forgetfulness, drowsiness, insomnia, severe mood swings and other neuropsychic abnormalities. Harmful toxins adversely affect the kidneys, liver, spleen, and bone marrow, which is the main hematopoietic organ.

Highly active chemical compounds tend to accumulate in the body and cause a long-term effect. Thus, unfavorable environmental factors cause genetic changes in living organisms, adversely affect the intrauterine development of the fetus, provoke severe diseases and increase mortality. In this regard, radioactive emissions are especially dangerous. Reactions to environmental pollution depend on gender, age, characteristics of the human body and immunity. The most vulnerable are children, pensioners and people suffering from certain chronic ailments. Doctors have established a direct relationship between the deterioration of the environmental situation and the growth of allergic and oncological diseases in specific regions.

Also, one should not forget that smoking is a great danger to human health. In addition to the fact that the smoker himself inhales harmful substances, he also poisons the atmosphere, endangering those who are close to him. Experts say that the so-called passive smokers receive more toxic substances than the person smoking a cigarette directly. Ways to solve the problem To solve the problem associated with an unfavorable environmental situation, it is necessary to mobilize the entire society, develop and implement state and non-state programs and their clear, phased implementation.

To be specific, you need to do the following:

• switch to the use of energy and material-saving technologies, and in the future - to the use of closed, hopeless production cycles;
• rational use of natural resources, taking into account regional characteristics;
• expand nature reserves; introduce environmental education everywhere;
• promote a healthy lifestyle.

In conclusion, it should be noted that in our country, as in a number of other highly developed countries, a citizen is granted a constitutional right to environmental security, which is interconnected with the right to life and health care. But what is written on paper is just words! In order to avoid man-made disasters on Earth, accidents at nuclear power plants (Chernobyl, Fukushima), the consequences of which will adversely affect the health of several generations, humanity must be very careful about nature.

The most important biotic factors affecting human health are those that determine the sanitary and epidemiological situation. The causative agents of many diseases persist in the environment by developing in host animals. For example, the causative agent of tularemia (an acute infectious disease) can be transmitted indefinitely from generation to generation in mink populations and, under favorable conditions, infect humans. Natural foci of infections are associated with certain biogeocenoses in which pathogens, vectors and host animals evolve together, adapting to each other. In this case, the pathogen usually does not destroy the host. This is the nature of natural foci of plague, tularemia, yellow fever, malaria, viral hepatitis, tick-borne encephalitis. Carriers of many such diseases are bloodsucking insects - mosquitoes, mosquitoes, fleas, ticks. The causative agents of some infectious diseases (for example, rabies, cholera, leptospirosis, brucellosis) do not have vectors.

In nature, pathogens play a very important role in limiting the overdevelopment of populations. As soon as a certain population begins to grow explosively, it is immediately affected by numerous pathogenic viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi. Man was no exception: in ancient and medieval cities, epidemics occurred very often. For example, in the VI century. n. e. North Africa, Syria, Europe and Asia Minor were swept by the so-called "black death" - an epidemic of plague that claimed the lives of about 100 million people (more than a third of the then population of the planet). The second major plague epidemic occurred in Europe in the 14th century. and destroyed about 25 million people, that is, almost half of the population of Europe, and not a single living person remained on the island of Cyprus.

The main factors contributing to the emergence of epidemics were the high population density (primarily in cities), as well as the catastrophic sanitary condition. The plague, the natural carriers of which are rodents, and the carriers are fleas, was transmitted to humans for "domestic" rats. Among people, the disease was spread not only by fleas, but also by airborne droplets or by direct contact. In those days, the plague almost 100% led to death. When the density of the human population decreased, the epidemic subsided, and a relative balance was restored.

In the XVII-XIX centuries. thanks to the development of hygiene and medicine, the likelihood of epidemics has decreased. However, the density of human populations, especially in large cities, not only did not decrease, but rather increased. Because of this, outbreaks of tularemia, cholera, and hepatitis still occur from time to time; foci of malaria and encephalitis have not been completely eliminated, venereal diseases are spreading, and new diseases, such as AIDS, are emerging. Another aspect of the indirect impact of biotic factors on humans is related to food, as already mentioned above.

The influence of anthropogenic factors on humans

Paradoxically, the negative impact a person has on their own health is enormous. The variety of means by which a person destroys his health and gene pool is striking - these are pesticides and household chemicals, heavy metals and plastics, drugs and tobacco, noise and electromagnetic fields, radiation and acid rain, biological and chemical weapons, industrial waste, oil and much more. The influence of only a few groups of man-made factors has been studied, and only a few of their categories, which are considered leading, have been conventionally identified. These include chemical factors - pesticides, mineral fertilizers, heavy metals, highly toxic industrial substances, smoke (including tobacco), building materials and household chemicals; physical factors - noise, electromagnetic radiation and radiation; biological factors - the introduction of new species of animals and plants.

Many of these chemicals do not decompose for a long time and can accumulate in food chains. Some substances are not excreted from the body for a long time, accumulating in tissues and organs, so their negative impact on the human body is constantly growing (the so-called cumulative effect). According to some reports, the industry now produces more than 11 thousand types of chemicals, of which about 3 thousand constitute a serious threat not only to human health, but also to life itself.

The main method for monitoring the degree of purity of the environment is the assessment of the content of certain harmful substances in it relative to the maximum allowable concentrations (MPC) and doses (MPD) of these substances both in the biotope and at certain levels of trophic chains. The development of these MPCs and traffic regulations is carried out by specialized research organizations. Usually MPCs reflect the critical range of which factor, beyond which a person from the optimum zone falls into the pessimum zone. Exceeding MPC and SDA is always accompanied by a deterioration in population health.

As already noted, pesticides represent a large group of various substances for the control of pests and diseases of agricultural plants. Many of them have a combined effect, for example, the insecticide DDT destroys insects, nematodes, and rodents. The main characteristics of these pesticides is volatility, the ability to penetrate the skin, accumulate, decompose and be excreted from the body. The industry mainly produces seven groups of pesticides: organochlorine, organophosphorus, organomercury compounds, carbamates, nitrophenols, specific herbicides and midemic fungicides.

Organochlorine compounds (MOS). The best known pesticide in this group is the insecticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloromethylmethane). The insecticidal properties of DDT were discovered by the Swiss chemist P. Müller, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize. In 1943, mass production of DDT began, one millionth of a gram of which instantly paralyzed an insect. By the mid-60s, about 1,500,000 tons of this product had already been produced and sprayed on the fields in the world. The use of DDT has dramatically increased agricultural production and allowed for a "green revolution" in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

However, already in the 1950s, new evidence appeared that some insects had lost their susceptibility to DDT. Information began to come in about the death of some species of insectivorous birds, bees and shrimps, about a decrease in the efficiency of pollination of flowering plants. Elevated concentrations of DDT began to appear in the tissues of commercial fish, in particular mackerel, the consumption of which led to severe poisoning of people. An increased content of the drug was found in the liver of penguins and even in human milk. It turned out that DDT is a chemically stable compound with a natural half-life of 49 years, has the ability to accumulate in soil and water, from where it enters the food chain. At each next trophic level, the concentration of DDT increased by tens, hundreds and even thousands of times. Getting in such doses to the last consumer of the trophic chain - man, DDT accumulated in tissues and caused diseases of the nervous system, heart, liver. So, DDT turned out to be a toxic pesticide with a long period of existence and a pronounced cumulative effect. Due to the danger to human health, this pesticide has been banned in almost all countries of the world, but even now its content in human tissues is on average twice the MAC.

Close in their action to DDT is hexachlorocyclohexane, heptachlor, chlorobenzene, as a result of which these MOCs are banned almost everywhere or their use is very limited.

Organophosphorus compounds (OPCs), in contrast to MOCs, are today quite intensively produced and used in agriculture. Among them are poisonous substances (metafos, mercaptophos) and highly toxic substances (phosphamide), the use of which is completely prohibited; there are compounds of medium toxicity (chlorophos, karbofos), which are still used to a limited extent; is a low-toxic drugs (methylacetophos, avenin), which are widely used. Most OPs, even those of low toxicity, have a cumulative effect and therefore can pose a risk to human health. The poisonous effect of FOS is the inhibition of an enzyme that is involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. In this case, the functions of all internal organs are violated. Poisoning is accompanied by headache, dizziness, weakness. In severe cases, loss of consciousness occurs, the kidneys, liver, heart are affected, and death is possible.

Compared to MOCs, organophosphorus compounds are much stronger, but their half-life is usually shorter - from several weeks to several months.

Organomercury compounds (ROCs) are powerful fungicides and bactericides. They are highly toxic, easily penetrate the brain, and are characterized by a cumulative effect. ROS, first of all, granosan and Mercury in some farms are used for presowing dressing of seeds. Therefore, poisonings are most often associated with the accidental use of such disinfected raw materials. Mercury is the main active ingredient. Getting into the blood, it accumulates in various organs, binds to enzymes and disrupts their work. In case of poisoning, a metallic taste in the mouth, weakness, and headache appear. High doses of mercury lead to severe impairment of consciousness or death from acute cardiovascular failure. First aid for mercury poisoning is the use of an antidote - unitiol.

Poisoning can be caused by any mercury-missing compounds. Mercury by itself is NOT deactivated either in the body or in biotopes. It accumulates in soils or water bodies and migrates further in trophic chains, gradually concentrating, like DDT. Mercury is withdrawn from the biological cycle only as a result of their removal to the World Ocean and burial in bottom sediments. For example, in Baltic cod, the mercury content sometimes reaches 800 mg per 1 kg of weight. That is, after eating five or six of these fish, a person receives as much mercury as is contained in a medical thermometer. Numerous cases of mercury poisoning are known, even at concentrations in the environment below the MPC.

Carbamates. Pesticides of this group are synthesized on the basis of carbamic acid and its derivatives. The most common domestic drugs are Sevim, thiuram, tsiram, cineb, and foreign ones are MANEB, zaneb, propoxur, methomyl. Carbamates have a wide spectrum of activity and therefore can be used as insecticides, fungicides, bactericides, and herbicides. Their common feature is the absence of a cumulative effect, rapid decay (within one to several weeks), low toxicity to humans and low volatility. Due to these properties, carbamates are the main group of commercial pesticides used in developed countries. So far, the only negative property of these drugs is their non-selective toxicity to insects, in particular to bees. Recently, data have appeared on the danger of carbamates for humans as well - it has been proven that Sevim and some other drugs cause mutagenic effects.

Nitrophenols are phenolic compounds extracted from coal and used as insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. Nitrophenols affect any cells of the body, that is, they have a nonspecific effect, disrupting the regulation of oxidative phosphorization processes. As a result, the work of mitochondria is enhanced, the processes of oxidation and respiration are significantly activated. Nitrophenols are toxic to humans and have carcinogenic properties; therefore, their production and use is prohibited in developed countries.

specific herbicides. These include the so-called contact herbicides (atrazine, simazine, paraquat) and systemic (2,4-D, diuron). These drugs disrupt photosynthesis in plants and are therefore used to control weeds. Specific herbicides are unstable, do not show a cumulative effect, but some of them are highly toxic. On the basis of such herbicides, the defoliant "orange" was developed. It was used by the US Army during the Vietnam War to unmask partisans, which led to numerous diseases and mutations not only in the Vietnamese who fell under the "orange" dust, but also in American soldiers. The effects of this chemical warfare are still being felt in both Vietnam and the United States. The active substance "orange" is a specific herbicide from the group of dioxins.

Dioxins are the most dangerous of the environmental pollutants produced by man. they are combined into two groups of chlorine-containing compounds based on dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans. Dioxins are very stable substances. They actively accumulate in the environment, are transported by air currents over long distances, and pose a threat to the water bodies of the planet and all of humanity. For example, in the Baltic States (in water, bottom sediments, fish) there are about 10 g of dioxins, but now this is the maximum norm for the population of Sweden for 50 years. Detection of dioxins requires the use of sensitive analytical techniques.

Midevmisni fungicides. The most famous pesticides of this group are Bordeaux mixture and blue vitriol with the active ingredient - copper sulfate. Midevmisni preparations, like mercury, do not lose their toxicity over time, they accumulate in the soil, partly in grapes and can enter the human body. Copper causes general poisoning, in which case there is a metallic taste in the mouth, salivation, vomiting. At high concentrations, the breakdown of red blood cells increases and symptoms of jaundice occur, and death is likely. First aid for copper poisoning is to immediately wash the stomach with a solution of potassium permanganate. Then the victim should be given milk, activated charcoal.

In general, poisoning by pesticides and products of their transformation in ecosystems are among the main manifestations of the reverse influence of anthropogenic factors on humans. Together, insecticides and herbicides are strong "drugs" for ecosystems, because they modify the functions of vital links in the food chain - consumers and producers. That is, the use of these substances can only take place under the guidance of qualified specialists who have official certificates, just as is customary with drugs used to treat people.

In addition to pesticides, mineral fertilizers are also among the main environmental pollutants. Today, the industry produces several hundred types of nitrogen, phosphate, potash and combined fertilizers. Every year, tens of millions of tons of fertilizers are applied to soils. Plants assimilate only about 40% of this mass, the rest enters water bodies and pollutes them. Drinking water contaminated with mineral fertilizers (primarily nitrogenous) has become commonplace in many regions of the world. In addition, due to the excessive concentration of fertilizers in the soil, they accumulate in excessive amounts in plants and end up on our table.

The active ingredients of many nitrogen fertilizers are nitrate and nitrite compounds, which pose a real threat to human health and life. Nitrates interact with hemoglobin, converting it into a form that is not able to bind oxygen. The lethal dose of nitrates for humans is about 2.5 g. Acute poisoning, accompanied by nausea, diarrhea, cyanosis of the skin, chest pain, occurs at a concentration of nitrates of about 1 g per 1 liter of drinking water or 1 kg of food. Slight poisoning, manifested in weakness and general depression, occurs at a concentration of 300 mg / l in adults and 100 mg / l in children.

The third place after poisoning by pesticides and nitrates is occupied by heavy metals - mercury, lead, zinc, manganese, chromium, nickel, which have been used by man since ancient times. For example, in 1953 more than 200 residents of the Japanese city of Minamata were poisoned with mercury, 52 of them died. As it turned out, the cause of mass poisoning was the use of crabs in the tissues of which contained a lot of mercury. In crabs, it accumulated as a result of the discharge of polluted effluents from a chemical plant into the bay, where mercury chloride was used as a catalyst. At the same time, the concentration of mercury in the kidneys of dead people was 6 times higher than in the organisms of crabs. Thus, the cumulative properties of heavy metals were discovered.

Also in the 20th century diseases caused by lead poisoning (the so-called Saturnism) were discovered. In patients with Saturnism, weakness, apathy appear, memory is disturbed, and progressive physical and mental degradation occurs. Indirect information about this disease dates back to the time when water pipes were made from lead. Such a water supply operated, for example, in Ancient Rome, when the life expectancy of Roman patricians did not exceed 25 years.

And although today there are almost no lead water pipes anywhere in the world, the number of cases of saturnism is growing, because lead is released into the atmosphere when gasoline is burned in car engines. In a hundred-meter strip around the highway, the lead content is 100-150 micrograms per 1 kg of soil, while its average content in the lithosphere is considered to be up to 10 micrograms / kg. Lead enters the environment during the extraction of lead ores. In Ukraine, for example, a large amount of lead contaminated soils and water bodies, and then entered the food chain during the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl IL. Modern pollution of the biosphere with lead confirms the following fact: the lead content in the bones of primitive man was only 2 mg, while in modern man it is 100-200 mg. It is lead, which enters the air in the form of an aerosol, that causes the emergence of protoplasmic poison, denatures proteins, and in turn causes a violation of enzymatic activity. It reduces the amount of hemoglobin and destroys red blood cells.

Other heavy metals, like mercury and lead, also have a general toxic effect and primarily affect the nervous system. All of them are able to accumulate in the human body, have a prolonged effect and are withdrawn from the circulation only after they are washed out into the World Ocean and buried in its bottom sediments.

Today, potent toxic industrial substances (SDYAV) and fumes have become constant companions of man. Many people are poisoned by these substances as a result of damage to storage facilities, fires, explosions, accidental emissions from enterprises, disasters in maritime and rail transport in various regions of the world. According to the World Center for the Treatment of Poisons, poisonings are most often observed with chlorine, ammonia, vapors of various acids, hydrogen sulfide, a mixture of hydrocarbons and mercaptans. As a result of chlorine poisoning, asthmatic bronchitis, toxic pulmonary edema develop, and at high concentrations, chemical burns of the lungs occur, spasm of the vocal cords, and death can occur. Ammonia poisoning causes laryngitis, tracheitis, tracheobronchitis; in the case of high concentrations, the consequences are the same as with severe chlorine poisoning. Light poisoning with vapors of acids (sulphuric, perchloric, nitric, acetic, etc.) lead to damage to the respiratory tract, cause skin burns and contribute to the development of its diseases; at high concentrations, death is possible.

Acid poisoning can cause smog. For example, NO3, which enters the atmosphere with dimogasic industrial emissions, interacting with water vapor, carbon dioxide and oxygen, forms nitric acid, aldehydes, specific nitrate compounds that settle on the ground in the form of smog. The world-famous London smog, which was formed in winter by burning coal with a high sulfur content. Sulfur dioxide, after interacting with water vapor, settled along with dust particles on the city, forming a gray fog. The result was numerous cases of chronic respiratory diseases. Now London has lost this characteristic feature. However, industrial smog can often be observed in the industrial centers of Ukraine - Dneprodzerzhinsk, Krivoy Rog, Mariupol, Donetsk, etc.

Another dangerous source of SDYAV are vehicle emissions. The set of toxic substances in them is very diverse: carbon monoxide, tetraethyl lead, nitrogen and sulfur oxides, aldehydes, benzopyrene, etc. - only about 200 items. The systematic impact of exhaust gases on a person increases the incidence of bronchitis, acute respiratory infections, pneumonia, and cancer. For example, in Japan, about 12% of all diseases are related to air pollution from cars.

Building materials and household chemicals are also a source of constant harmful effects on human health. Building materials, varnishes, paints, organic solvents, synthetic detergents, deodorants, air humidifiers, aerosols, numerous polymers - all this is reflected in the incidence of human populations. Among the substances emitted by building materials, formaldehyde and asbestos microparticles pose the greatest threat. Formaldehyde enters the air primarily from particle boards and fibreboards, which are widely used in furniture and interior design. MPC for formaldehyde in the air is OD-0.12 mg/m8. However, the concentration in the air of modern apartments averages about 0.5 mg / m3, and in some cases reaches 3 mg / m3. Formaldehyde causes conjunctivitis, skin inflammation, respiratory diseases, has certain carcinogenic properties. Asbestos is used as an insulating and fire-fighting material, which is part of asbestos-cement pipes. In the form of microparticles (about 5 microns in diameter), it enters the air, and then into the lungs, causing a number of diseases, including cancer.

Various organic solvents, varnishes and paints, deodorants and aerosols have weak and medium carcinogenic properties, can cause allergic reactions, irritation of the mucous membranes, respiratory tract, liver and kidney diseases, nervous disorders (this is especially true for some solvents and air humidifiers). Even from chlorinated hot water, the carcinogen chloroform is released in small quantities, and from plastic products and artificial carpets - toxic to the internal organs of washing. Therefore, building materials and household substances made from natural raw materials are becoming more and more popular.

Noise pollution. The harmful effects of noise on human health have long been known. Back in the 16th century. the German physician Paracelsus believed that it was noise that caused deafness and headaches in miners, millers and chasers. During the existence of wars, it has become known that massive battle cries or drumming overwhelm the enemy. The sirens of attack aircraft and dive bombers evoke fear. An explanation was found for this: loud sounds excite a person, contribute to the flow of a large amount of hormones into the blood, in particular adrenaline, resulting in a feeling of danger, fear. Today, the noise level in large cities has increased in comparison with the XIX century. Tens, hundreds and even thousands of times. Noise sources include all types of transport, industrial facilities, loudspeakers, elevators, televisions and radios, musical instruments, crowds, and the like.

Radiation, throughout its history, man, like the biosphere as a whole, was exposed to radioactive radiation, came from space and from radioactive isotopes scattered in the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. This radiation constituted a natural radiation background and contributed to the evolutionary process, because it provided a stable insignificant background of mutations, in turn increased the genetic diversity of populations and provided material for natural selection. However, since the middle of the XX century. man began to intensively master atomic energy. Atomic weapons, nuclear power plants, research and medical radioactive preparations and devices appeared. As a result of the testing and use of nuclear weapons, accidents at nuclear power plants (only at the time of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, more than 200 of them had already occurred in the world), violations of hygienic requirements for handling radioactive substances, etc. radiation doses on the planet and in its individual regions began to grow rapidly.

Strontium-90 (908 g), cesium-137 (1 * TSV), iodine-131 (181I) take an active part in metabolic processes among radioactive substances. It was they who became the main environmental pollutants after the Chernobyl accident. These elements enter the body with dust, water, to a certain extent they have cumulative properties and the ability to accumulate in trophic chains. In humans, radioactive iodine is concentrated in the thyroid gland, cesium - in the liver, strontium - in the bones. Iodine-131 causes strong, but short-term exposure (it has a short half-life and is eliminated from the body relatively quickly). Strontium and cesium, which have a half-life of thousands of years, cause exposure throughout a person's lifetime.

Ionizing radiation has a high biological activity. It negatively affects the living matter of the biosphere, including humans, and in the case of large doses leads to death. Ionizing radiation can act in two ways. First, it affects the carriers of heredity - DNA molecules, causing chromosomal and gene mutations, the consequences of which appear immediately or after several generations. Secondly, ionizing radiation can affect cells and tissues and cause somatic disorders, manifested in burns, cataracts, reduced immunity, abnormal pregnancy, and the development of malignant tumors of various organs.

It has now been proven that there are no harmless doses of radiation: the likelihood of disease increases in direct proportion to the absorbed radiation dose. Radiation is inherently harmful to life. Small doses of radiation can provoke still not fully established changes in the cells of a living organism that lead to cancer or genetic damage. At high doses, radiation can destroy cells, damage organ tissues and cause rapid death of the body.

Damage caused by high doses of radiation appears within hours or days. Cancer diseases caused by radiation appear many years after exposure, usually not earlier than one to two decades. And congenital malformations and other hereditary diseases caused by damage to the genetic apparatus are felt only in the next generation: these are children, grandchildren and more distant descendants of an individual who has been exposed to radiation. A person who has felt the influence of radiation does not necessarily have to get cancer or become a carrier of hereditary diseases; however, she is more likely or at risk of such consequences than a person who has not received radiation. And this risk is greater, the higher the radiation dose was. If the dose is too high, the person may die.

In some cases, very high doses of radiation - about 100 Gy (Gray) - cause such severe damage to the central nervous system (CNS) that death usually occurs within hours or days. At radiation doses of 10 to 50 Gy, when the radiation affects the entire CNS, the damage may not be so severe as to lead to death immediately, but the person is more likely to die in 1-2 weeks from hemorrhage in the gastrointestinal tract. At lower doses, there may not be serious damage to the gastrointestinal tract, as the body compensates for them, but death can occur 1-2 months after exposure and mainly due to the destruction of red bone marrow cells - the main component of the body's hematopoietic system. About half of all victims die from a dose of 3-5 Gy during whole-body irradiation. So, large doses of radiation differ from small doses in that death occurs earlier in the first case, and later in the second. Most often, a person dies as a result of the simultaneous manifestation of all these effects of exposure.

The most vulnerable to irradiation is the red bone marrow and other elements of the hematopoietic system, they lose the ability to function normally already at radiation doses of 0.5-1 Gy. The reproductive organs and eyes also have an increased sensitivity to radiation. A single irradiation for doses of only 0.1 December leads to temporary sterility of men, and doses above December 2 cause permanent sterility: only for many years the testes can again produce full-fledged sperm. The ovaries are less sensitive to the effects of radiation, at least in adult women.

Children are even more sensitive to the effects of radiation. Relatively small doses of irradiation of cartilage tissue can slow down or completely stop the growth of bones in them, which leads to anomalies in the development of the skeleton. The younger the child, the stronger the effect of radiation on the growth of her bones. A total dose of about 10 Gy, received over several weeks with daily irradiation, causes some anomalies in the development of the skeleton. It also turned out that irradiating a child's brain with radiation therapy can cause changes in her character, memory loss, and in very young children - dementia and idiocy. The bones and brain of an adult are able to withstand high doses.

Dangerous sources of radionuclides entering the human body are water, milk, vegetables, fruits, meat, and fish. The decrease in the danger of radiation is significantly affected by taking into account the half-life of radioactive substances. Almost all countries that use nuclear energy use radiation safety codes and regulations based on the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiation Protection. their purpose is to prevent the adverse effects of exposure of people in the process of application, storage and transportation of radioactive substances and sources of ionizing radiation.

Unpredictable consequences can also have unjustified introduction of new species. For example, in 1966, wild African bees, which are much more aggressive than European ones, were brought to Brazil in order to select new promising hybrids. By chance, several bee colonies fell into nature. African bees began to disperse rapidly, destroying local bees or interbreeding with them. From their attacks in Latin America, several hundred people died, bees destroyed tens of thousands of domestic animals. Today, African bees have already begun to "explore" the territory of North America.

So, human ecology as an interdisciplinary science that studies the mutual influence of nature and the human population in order to improve the state of health, increase the social and labor potential of a person, was formed almost simultaneously with classical biological ecology. However, a person's interest in what is happening in the outside world and how it affects health turned out to be much earlier - when it was formed as a thinking being. Over time, knowledge about the relationship in nature, the influence of external factors on the well-being, health and development of mankind were systematized, comprehended, enriched with the results of various experiments and synthesized into a scientific direction that combines the acquired natural (astronomy, geology, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, etc.), social, philosophical and economic branches of scientific activity.

Fundamentals of general ecology.

Ecology originally arose as a general science of the relationship of organisms with the environment. Modern human ecology is an interdisciplinary science that uses the knowledge of natural sciences, such as chemistry, biology, physics, and social sciences - sociology, economics, politics, etc. At the same time, all social, economic and natural conditions are considered in human ecology as equally important components environments that provide various aspects of his life. These sciences study, in fact, the same phenomena - the influence of environmental factors on a person in order to assess their role in shaping the health of the population.

Among the factors that shape the health of the population, environmental factors are the most significant.

An environmental problem is a threat to the very existence of mankind due to the depletion of natural resources and the pollution of the environment that is dangerous for human life. It is these contradictions in the relationship between society and nature that determine the essence of the environmental problem.

Tasks of environmental education:

· The ability to define the "space" resulting from the activities of people (society);

· Discovery and explanation of the rules and laws important for human adaptation in the "space";

Study of a person in "space";

· The study of man in the ecological system;

· Study of the mutual influence of man and the ecological system and the changes arising from this influence;

· Using the acquired knowledge to preserve the “habitat; society.

Environmental factors and public health

Ecological factors are essential properties of the environment that have a direct or indirect effect on living organisms, at least during one of the phases of their individual development. In turn, the body reacts to environmental factors with specific adaptive reactions. By their nature, environmental factors are divided into three groups:

Abiotic factors- influences of inanimate nature

Biotic factors - wildlife influences

Anthropogenic factors- influences caused by reasonable and unreasonable human activity (anthropos - man)

Abiotic factors are divided into:

1.Climatic (light, temperature, moisture, air movement, pressure, solar radiation, precipitation, wind, etc.

2. Edafogenic (edafos - soil): mechanical composition, moisture capacity, air permeability, density.

3. Orographic: relief, height above sea level

4.Chemical: chemical composition of the atmosphere, sea and fresh water, soil

Biotic factors on:

1.phytogenic: plant organisms

2.zoogenic: animals

3. Microbiogenic: viruses, protozoa, bacteria

Anthropogenic factors is a set of environmental factors caused by accidental or intentional human activities. Anthropogenic factors include radiation pollution of water, soil or atmosphere by chemicals as a result of society's activities.

By the nature of the impacts, periodic and non-periodic environmental factors are considered, the action of which is associated with the adaptive capabilities of organisms and natural ecosystems to changes in external influences. Periodic environmental factors include natural phenomena caused by the rotation of the Earth: change of seasons, daily change in illumination, daily, seasonal and secular changes in temperature and precipitation, dynamics of plant food (for animals), etc. Non-periodic factors include environmental factors that do not have a pronounced cyclicity, for example, the chemical composition and mechanical characteristics of the soil, atmospheric air or water.

Human health as a biosocial species is not only a biological category, but is the most important indicator of social progress. According to the definition of the World Health Organization, human health- this is a state of complete physical, mental, sexual, social well-being and the ability to adapt to constantly changing conditions of the external and internal environment and the natural aging process, as well as the absence of diseases and physical defects.

The quality of the environment significantly affects the health of the population. Practically all chemical and physical radiations, to one degree or another, have a harmful effect on human health, and the level of their presence in the environment is important here (concentration of a substance, dose of radiation received, etc.). In case of adverse effects, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects are of paramount importance. The impact of pollution on the childbearing function and health of children is dangerous. A large number of chemicals are characterized by an effect on the metabolic, immune and other systems that perform the protective functions of the body; their change contributes to the development of non-communicable diseases, a large proportion of which are cardiovascular and oncological diseases.

Environmental factors, even at a low level of exposure, can cause significant health problems for people. Environmental pollution, despite the relatively low concentrations of substances, due to the long duration of exposure (almost throughout a person's life) can lead to serious health problems, especially for such fragile groups as children, the elderly, patients with chronic diseases, pregnant women.

The colossal growth in industrial production and the many-fold increase in emissions of pollutants into the environment allow us to assume a significantly increased impact of environmental factors on human health.

Creation date: 2015/04/30

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the state of human health is 50-60% dependent on economic security and lifestyle, 18-20% on the state of the environment, and 20-30% on the level of medical care. In some sources of information, up to 95% of all human health pathology is directly or indirectly associated with the state of the environment.

Environmental factors affecting human health can be both natural and anthropogenic; beneficial to human health or harmful. The main natural factors are the meteorological conditions of the environment: temperature, air humidity, illumination, pressure, as well as natural geomagnetic fields. Anthropogenic factors are a set of conditions created by human activity.

The social factors of the environment also influence the state of health of the population. For the region, as well as for Russia as a whole, these include the consequences of socio-economic instability - the deterioration of the sanitary and epidemiological situation, social stress due to disruption of the usual lifestyle and poor nutrition, unemployment and a simultaneous decrease in control over working conditions; the economic crisis of health care, causing the curtailment of preventive work.

It should be noted that there is no clear boundary between environmentally dependent and socially caused diseases. For example, the incidence of scabies can be attributed both to diseases caused by social causes (non-observance of personal hygiene rules) and diseases caused by environmental factors (increased aggressiveness of the scabies mite due to its genetic changes).

The influence of the whole complex of unfavorable environmental factors leads to overstrain and disruption of the body's protective adaptive reserves and, as a result, deterioration in health.

The main medical and demographic indicators of the health of the population for assessing the ecological state of the territory include general morbidity, infant mortality, medical and hygienic violations; as additional consider the state of health of mothers and newborns, the physical and mental development of children, genetic disorders. Some of these indicators are analyzed below.

The incidence of the adult population of the region in the period 1991-1999. varied from 41,461 (1992) to 49,373 (1999) people per 100,000 population. It is lower than for Russia as a whole.

The Belgorod region ranks fourth among the regions of the Russian Federation in terms of average life expectancy, which is 67 years, which is two years more than the national average.

Infant mortality (children under 1 year old) in the region has been steadily declining since 1993 from 17.6 to 13.5 per 1000 births, which is lower than the average for Russia, where this indicator was not lower than 17.

In order for children to be healthy, it is necessary to protect their mothers from the negative effects of harmful environmental factors. However, the health of pregnant women in the Belgorod region, as well as in Russia as a whole, is characterized by a progressive deterioration: the frequency of complications of pregnancy with anemia from 1988 to 1997 increased 3.5 times, and late toxicosis - 2 times.

The question of the diverse biological impact of natural geomagnetic fields (GMF) has not yet been sufficiently studied. At the same time, there are large iron ore deposits on the territory of the Belgorod region, as a result of which the GMF level is 3 times higher than normal. An analysis of the incidence of the population of the Belgorod region, living in the conditions of a magnetic anomaly and in the neighborhood (under normal geomagnetic conditions), showed that the incidence in abnormal areas of neuropsychiatric and hypertensive diseases is 160%, and rheumatism of the heart, vascular disorders and eczema - 130% in compared with the incidence in neighboring areas with normal GMF. Therefore, areas with high GMF can be classified as ecological risk zones.

The surrounding ecology is formed directly by man himself, who over the past few millennia has been able to globally influence it in such a way that, greatly simplifying his long life, he has developed a special mechanism that continuously affects his health. Every year this influence becomes more and more negative. A person pollutes water, atmosphere, soil, which does not improve their quality, but only harms all living things. Simply put, every person lives in nature. We pollute it. This is dust, smog, . This is what we breathe. We dump toxins from the enterprises built on the banks of the rivers into the rivers. Then we drink it. And if only these actions spoiled the lives of us and our children ...

Sources of environmental pollution

Noise pollution. Any noise that irritates the ear is a source of noise pollution. Harsh and very loud sounds that make factories, trains, cars, machinery. Due to the high noise level, the level of cholesterol in the human body increases, the arteries narrow, the pulse quickens, the work of the nervous system is disturbed, which in particular is expressed in headaches. And, as you know, the percentage of sales of headache medicines is growing by 1-2% year by year. Of course, the headache is not always from the noise, but ... what we have is what we have.

Water pollution. Many types of activities - laundry, dry cleaning, dumping of hazardous waste - make a big contribution to the pollution of the aquatic environment. The special detergents and soaps that people use on a daily basis are also made from "bad" chemicals and synthetic materials that heavily pollute the water of the rivers into which these wastes end up. The water becomes harder, as a result, in America and Europe, cholelithiasis already exists in 1/4 of men and 1/3 of women!

atmospheric pollution. One of the main factors is the emission of car exhaust. With the active development of technology, the number of various vehicles on the roads has increased, which increases the level of negative impact on the atmosphere. Factors damage the protective ozone layer, which actively protects the entire earth from the effects of ultraviolet rays. Its continuous and rapid refinement inevitably entails an enormous and simply terrible threat to human life. This reciprocal influence of environmental factors on a person leads to skin cancer. So the atmospheric factor is not a myth. Over the past 40 years, skin cancer patients have increased 7 times!

radioactive contamination. It is quite rare, but still causes great harm. Pollution of this type is caused by dangerous accidents that have occurred at nuclear power plants, the disposal of nuclear waste, and work in hazardous uranium mines. Such influence causes cancer, congenital pathologies of babies and deviations, as well as other human health problems. More than 80 thousand people are already known to have suffered under Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Edmund Lengfelder, a professor at the University of Munich and a specialist in radiobiology, estimates the death toll from the Chernobyl plant this year at 50,000 to 100,000 people.

Soil pollution. Today, in modern agriculture, many artificial substances and synthetic pesticides are used, which create an imbalance in the earth, and also prevent the normal growth of all plants. Soil is polluted by sewers, hazardous waste, poor agricultural practices, the use of inorganic substances, deforestation, and open work in the mountains. On such lands grow vegetables and berries, fruits and herbs that people consume. So harmful elements enter the body, causing ailments dangerous to health. For example, Soil pollution by car exhausts is recorded even at a distance of 4.5 to 5 km from roads. And how many fields we have stretched along them! For example, manganese, the content of which in the soil should be within a few mg / kg, in reality, in some cases reaches a figure of 700 mg / kg of earth coma. Manganese is dangerous because it leads to diseases of the skeletal system, Parkinson's disease, manganese rickets and manganese insanity. In the soil, it appears due to an excess of fertilizer application, in the air - due to the work of industries. Of the 100 children whose mothers poisoned their bodies during pregnancy with this element of the periodic table, 96-98 were born "idiots."

More about the consequences of environmental pollution

What can't a person live without? For example, without air and water. It is becoming more and more difficult to find good places where there is exactly this water and air that is only clean and healthy for the body.

The atmosphere is becoming more and more polluted, and modern vehicles contribute to this, as well as any kind of industry. Every day, many hazardous substances enter the air: manganese, selenium, arsenic, asbestos, xylene, styrene and others. This long list can be continued for a very long time, almost indefinitely. When all these trace elements penetrate the human body, they can easily provoke the development of oncology diseases, as well as diseases of the nervous system. After all, many have noticed that people have become more aggressive and unbalanced.

Water is the source of full life. Now more than 2/3 of diseases on the planet occur due to the use of ordinary water, which can lead to such diseases:

oncological diseases;
changes in the genetic type, due to which children with various deviations are born;
decreased immunity;
decrease in the work of the reproductive organs in women and men;
diseases of the internal systems of the body - kidneys, liver, intestines and stomach.

This allows you to clearly see that the direct impact of environmental factors on a person is similar to the impact of a time bomb on the whole world - sooner or later the end will come.

The atmosphere and water also negatively affect any food that a person consumes daily. In ordinary products, which should only bring benefits, they bring more and more harmful toxins into the body, as well as other elements that can adversely affect human health. It is for this reason that many diseases appear that cannot be cured.

Trying to create the most comfortable conditions for existence, a person spoils everything that is provided to him by nature. Due to modern inventions, acid rains occur, harmful elements enter the atmosphere and clean water, and products lose their primary quality.