Glossary of Environmental Health Terms

Introduction

This glossary is intended to help people become familiar with the terms they may see in various government reports engineering studies, and health literature online and offline.

Main Digest

Environmental Health Glossary

Absorption

The process of taking in, as when a sponge takes up water. Chemicals can be absorbed into the bloodstream after breathing or swallowing. Chemicals can also be absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream and transported to other organs. Not all of the chemical breathed, swallowed, or touched is always absorbed.

Acute

Occurring over a short time, usually a few minutes or hours. Acute exposure can result in short-term or long-term health effects. An acute effect happens within a short time after exposure.

Ambient

Surrounding. Ambient air usually means outdoor air (as opposed to indoor air).

Analyte

A chemical for which a sample (such as water, air, blood, urine, or other substance) is tested. For example, if the analyte is mercury, the laboratory test will determine the amount of mercury in the sample.

Aquifer

An underground source of water. This water may be contained in a rock, sand, or gravel layer.

Background level

A typical level of a chemical in the environment. Background often refers to naturally occurring or uncontaminated levels. Background levels in one region of the state may be different than those in other areas.

Biological monitoring

Analyzing chemicals, hormone levels or other substances in biological materials (blood, urine, breath, etc.) as a measure of chemical exposure, health status, etc. in humans or animals. A blood test for lead is an example of biological monitoring.

Body burden

The total amount of a chemical in the body. Some chemicals build up in the body because they are stored in organs like fat or bone or eliminated very slowly.

Case control study

A study in which people with a disease (cases) are compared to people without the disease (controls) to see if their past exposures to chemicals or other risk factors were different.

Central nervous system (CNS)

The part of the nervous system that includes the brain and the spinal cord.

CERCLA

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

Chronic

Occurring over a long period, several weeks, months or years.

Cohort study

A study in which a group of people with past exposure to chemicals or other risk factors are followed over time, and their disease experience is compared to that of a group of people without the exposure.

Composite sample

A sample that is made by combining samples from two or more locations. The sample can be of water, soil, or another medium.

Concentration

The amount of one substance dissolved or contained in a given amount of another substance or medium. For example, seawater has a higher salt concentration than fresh water.

Contaminant

Any substance that enters a system (the environment, human body, food, etc.) where it is not normally found. Contaminants are usually referred to in a "negative" sense. They include substances that spoil food, pollute the environment, or cause other adverse effects.

Dermal

Referring to the skin. For example, dermal absorption means absorption through the skin.

Detection limit

The smallest amount of substance that a laboratory test can reliably measure in a sample of air, water, soil, or another medium.

Dose

The amount of substance to which a person is exposed.

Epidemiology

The study of the occurrence and causes of health effects in human populations. An epidemiological study often compares two groups of people who are alike except for one factor, such as chemical exposure or a health effect. The investigators try to determine if the factor is associated with the health effect.

Exposure

Contact with a chemical by swallowing, by breathing, or by direct contact (such as through the skin or eyes). Exposure may be either short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic).

Exposure assessment

A process that estimates the amount of a chemical that enters or comes into contact with people or animals. An exposure assessment also describes how often and for how long an exposure occurred and the nature and size of a population exposed to a chemical.

Feasibility Study (FS)

A study that compares different ways to clean up a contaminated site. The feasibility study recommends one or more actions to remediate the site. See "Remedial investigation."

Gradient

The change in a property over a certain distance. For example, lead can accumulate in surface soil near a road due to automobile exhaust. As you move away from the road, the amount of lead in the surface soil decreases. This change in the lead concentration with distance from the road is called a gradient.

Health assessment for contaminated sites

Determination of actual or possible health effects due to environmental contamination or exposure. It includes a health-based interpretation of all the information known about the situation. The information may come from site investigations (environmental sampling and studies), exposure assessments, risk assessments, biological monitoring, or health effects studies. The health assessment advises people on preventing or reducing their exposures, determining remedial actions, or needing additional studies.

Health effects studies related to contaminants

Studies of the health of people who may have been exposed to contaminants. They include but are not limited to epidemiological studies, reviews of the health status of people in exposure or disease registries, and medical tests.

Health registry

A record of people exposed to a specific substance (such as heavy metal) or have a specific health condition (such as cancer or infectious disease). New York State maintains several health registries.

Ingestion

Swallowing (such as eating or drinking). Chemicals can be ingested in or on food, drink, utensils, cigarettes, hands, etc. After ingestion, chemicals may be absorbed into the blood and distributed throughout the body.

Inhalation

Breathing. People can take in chemicals by breathing contaminated air.

Interim Remedial Measure (IRM)

An action taken at a contaminated site to reduce the chances of human or environmental exposure to site contaminants. Interim remedial measures are planned and carried out before comprehensive remedial studies. They can prevent additional damage during the study phase but don't interfere in any way with the need to develop a complete remedial program. An example of an interim remedial measure is removing drums of chemicals from a storage facility from a site with drums sitting in an empty field.

Latency period

The period between exposure to something that causes a disease and the onset of the health effect. Cancer caused by chemical exposure may have a 5 to 40 years latency period.

Leaching

As water moves through soils or landfills, chemicals in the soil may dissolve in the water, thereby contaminating the groundwater. This is called leaching.

Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL)

The highest (maximum) level of a contaminant allowed to go uncorrected by a public water system under federal or state regulations. Depending on the contaminant, allowable levels might be calculated as an average over time or based on individual test results. Corrective steps are implemented if the MCL is exceeded.

Media

Elements of a surrounding environment that can be sampled for contamination, usually soil, water, or air. Plants, humans (when sampling blood, urine, etc.), and animals (such as sampling fish to update fish consumption advisories) can also be considered media. The singular of "media" is "medium."

Metabolism

All the chemical reactions that enable the body to work. For example, food is metabolized (chemically changed) to supply the body with energy. Chemicals can be metabolized by the body and made either more or less harmful.

Morbidity

Illness or disease. A morbidity rate for a certain illness is the number of people with that illness divided by the number of people in the population from which the illnesses were counted.

National Priority List (NPL)

A list maintained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of certain inactive hazardous waste sites. The list is produced and updated periodically by the EPA. See "Superfund."

Odor threshold

The lowest concentration of a chemical that can be smelled. Different chemicals have different odor thresholds. Also, some people can smell a chemical at lower concentrations than others.

Organic

Generally considered as originating from plants or animals and made primarily of carbon and hydrogen. Scientists use the term organic to mean those chemical compounds based on carbon.

Permeability

The property of permitting liquids or gases to pass through. A highly porous soil, such as sand, allows a liquid to pass through quickly. Clay has a low permeability.

Persistence

The quality of remaining for a long period (such as in the environment or the body). Persistent chemicals (such as DDT and PCBs) are not easily broken down.

Preliminary Site Assessment (PSA)

A process followed by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to determine if a site contains hazardous waste and its potential for harming the public health or environment. This process includes inspecting the site, sampling if needed, and taking physical or hydrological measurements as appropriate.

Plume

An area of chemicals moving away from its source in a long band or column. A plume, for example, can be a column of smoke from a chimney or chemicals moving with groundwater.

Protocol

The detailed plan for conducting a scientific procedure. A protocol for measuring a chemical in soil, water, or air describes how samples should be collected and analyzed.

Quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC)

A system of procedures, checks, and audits to judge and control the quality of measurements and reduce the uncertainty of data. Some quality control procedures include having more than one person review the findings and analyzing a sample at different times or laboratories to see if the findings are similar.

Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) maintains a list of inactive hazardous waste disposal sites in New York State. When DEC finds that a site may contain hazardous waste, the site is listed in the registry, and a preliminary site assessment is planned. The site's status is updated in the registry as investigations and remediation occur.

Remedial Investigation (RI)

An in-depth study (including a sampling of air, soil, water, and waste) of a contaminated site needing remediation to determine the nature and extent of the contamination. The remedial investigation (RI) is usually combined with a feasibility study (FS).

Remediation

Correction or improvement of a problem, such as work that is done to clean up or stop the release of chemicals from a contaminated site. After investigation of a site, remedial work may include removing soil and drums, capping the site, or collecting and treating the contaminated fluids.

Risk

Risk is the possibility of injury, disease or death. For example, for a person with measles, the risk of death is one in one million.

Risk assessment

A process that estimates the likelihood that exposed people may have health effects. The four steps of a risk assessment are hazard identification (Can this substance damage health); dose-response assessment (What dose causes what effect); exposure assessment (How and how much do people contact it); and risk characterization (combining the other three steps to characterize risk and describe the limitations and uncertainties).

Risk management

The process of deciding how and to what extent to reduce or eliminate risk factors by considering the risk assessment, engineering factors (Can procedures or equipment do the job, for how long and how well), social, economic and political concerns.

Route of exposure

How a person may contact a chemical substance. For example, drinking (ingestion) and bathing (skin contact) are two different routes of exposure to contaminants that may be found in water. See "Exposure".

Safe

Strictly, free from harm or risk. Exposure to a chemical usually has some risk associated with it, although it may be minimal. However, many people use the word safe to mean something that has a shallow risk or one that is acceptable to them.

Site inspection

A Department of Health visit to a site to evaluate the likelihood of human exposure to toxic chemicals, and to do an exposure assessment. See "Exposure assessment."

Solubility

The largest amount of a substance that can be dissolved in a given amount of a liquid, usually water. A lot can dissolve in water for a highly water-soluble compound, such as table salt. Motor oil is only slightly soluble in water.

Superfund (federal and state)

The federal and state programs to investigate and clean up inactive hazardous waste sites.

Target organ

An organ (such as the liver or kidney) that is specifically affected by a toxic chemical.

Volatile

Evaporating readily at normal temperatures and pressures. The air concentration of a highly volatile chemical can increase quickly in a closed room.

Volatile organic compound (VOC)

An organic chemical that evaporates readily. Petroleum products such as kerosene, gasoline, and mineral spirits contain VOCs. Chlorinated solvents, such as those used by dry cleaners or contained in paint strippers, are also VOCs. See "organic" and "volatile."

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Cite This Page (APA): Langtree, I. C. (2009, February 17 - Last revised: 2023, February 25). Glossary of Environmental Health Terms. Disabled World. Retrieved September 7, 2024 from www.disabled-world.com/definitions/environmental-health-glossary.php

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