MEDSCI 101G Environmental Threats to Human Health

Schedule
Schedule D: Life Sciences

Semester
Semester Two

Campus
City Campus

Our environment sustains our lives but at times threatens our health. These threats may occur naturally, or arise from damage we have inflicted on our environment.

This course starts with a consideration of how previous civilisations have flourished or withered depending on climatic factors. The course then considers potential health impacts of:

• Climate change
• Pollution
• Lifestyle choices
• Workplace hazards
• Infectious diseases
• Dangers affecting cancer risk

This course should be of interest to anyone whose body interacts with the environment. We consider ‘environment’ in the broadest sense of physical influences and biological agents, as well as lifestyle and cultural factors.

Often, the issues in the course are covered simultaneously in the media. Some topics are actively debated:

• Is immunisation harmful?
• Should we be concerned about materials that leach out of plastic bottles?
• Why are some diseases mysteriously increasing in frequency in wealthy countries?
• Can what we eat affect our chances of getting cancer?

This course should inform anyone concerned with understanding such topical issues.

It is anticipated that students whose careers will lead them to making decisions that affect the human habitat – economists, architects, engineers – will be more informed about the needs of the human organism.

Should students who take this course have prior knowledge in biology? The course is designed for all-comers, and should be accessible to everybody. Scientific concepts are introduced with consideration of students’ diverse educational backgrounds.

Students will be more aware of the ways in which human health — whether considered in terms of societies or individuals — is affected by the environment. This should enable them to make decisions that benefit their communities and themselves. Uninformed controversy often clouds issues of human health, and the material provided in MEDSCI 101G should enable more informed participation in the discussion.

The purpose of presenting this course is that students will:

• Have a deepened awareness of their place within a complex ecosphere.
• Gain an appreciation of the continuous and often subtle effects of the environment on their well-being.
• Recognize how the body responds to harmful agents.
• Be enabled to live proactively so to minimize direct and long-term health risks.
• Engage in informed and rational dialogue about the (often controversial) impacts of environmental agents on human well-being.

The big picture

• The vulnerability of civilizations
• Healthy ecosystems for healthy people
• Potential effects of climate change
• Threats from the sea: algal poisons
• Threats from drinking water: history’s worst mass poisoning

Lifestyle and work

• Diseases of poverty and wealth
• Alcohol and liver damage
• Threats from dirty air: heart attacks
• Pollutants that act like hormones
• Chlorine and fibres in the lungs

Infectious agents

• Immunisation: realities and myths
• Infections in children
• Influenza and emerging diseases
• Diseases of cleanliness?

Diet

• Childhood obesity
• Micronutrient deficiencies in a land of plenty

Cancer

• Dietary and occupational factors in cancer
• Ultraviolet light and cancers of the skin
• Colon cancer
• Infections and cancers
• Fungal poisons in food
• Smoking

The course is based on lectures (three 1-hour lectures per week). Informal (non-compulsory) tutorials are arranged as needed.

• The final exam is worth 50% of the total mark. It consists of both multi-choice questions and written short essay answers.
• Coursework is worth 25% of the total mark. It consists of four assignments. Three of these are based on readings selected from recent articles. The fourth is based on a visit to the museum in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (Grafton), at which we consider human diseases arising (at least partially) from environmental effects.
• A mid-term test is held just after mid-semester break, and is worth 25% of the mark. A student who works consistently through the course should thus be well on the way to accumulating the necessary overall 50% for a pass.

We provide a course book that has essential lecture information in it. We do not use any particular textbook. Instead we use the journals available to students on the University e-library system. This is such a magnificent resource on all matters pertaining to human health, we feel that students should be familiar with it, and gain the competence to use it extensively.