PubMed · 8481609
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M Szczepanski. 1993. Nurses for the environment: taking a stand on current issues.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8481609/
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Contemporary urban societies display in high relief the action of social stratification on human biology. Recent studies of biological responses to urban environments and of socioeconomically disadvantaged people indicate that culture allocates risks disproportionately to some individuals and groups within society through its constituent values and related patterns of behavior. Although risk allocation is present in all societies, it is very clear in urban environments within stratified societies where high exposure to harmful materials is many times more likely for some segments of society. In urban environments, culture may be seen as adding stressors to the environment by concentrating naturally occurring materials to levels that are toxic to humans and through the creation of new toxic materials. In stratified societies the risk of exposure to these new stressors is focused on the socioeconomically disadvantaged. This exposure has consequences that increase the likelihood of more exposure and more socioeconomic disadvantage, thereby increasing social stratification. This suggests that models of biocultural interaction include a feedback relationship in which biological factors influence the sociocultural system in addition to the usual action of the sociocultural system on biological features and responses. This model strongly reinforces the view that stressors can originate from cultural arrangements.
This is a general survey of soil quality degradation and its consequences on human health and environment quality. The first part deals with the large complexity and reactivity of soil and its specific position as an environmental interface. The origin and behaviour of the main pollutant accumulated in soils are treated in the second and third parts. A special attention is paid to the main pollutants i.e., anions, cations (trace elements), pesticides, persistent organic pollutants (POP), bacteria, DNA... As they are closely linked to the soil constituents (clays, humus...), their real toxicity or effectiveness is examined. In the last part, the risks of soil pollutants for the environment and human health are shortly considered. Direct risks for health are few and mainly concern the ingestion of polluted soil by children; as regards the ecotoxicological and toxicological risks, the Critical pollutant loads have to be defined. The main risks are indirect and involve pollution of either the food chain or of the water and sediments by vertical or lateral (erosion) transfers.
In France today, analysis of soil and waste after digestion by strong acids is a technique used for the estimation of environmental risks due to soil pollution and spreading of wastes on cultivated soils. The technique of digestion by strong acid accounts for total or 'near total' content of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se and Zn. Risk management based on these methods aims to minimize the risks, since the concentration limits are derived from the geochemical levels. However, this method of analysis gives no idea of the extent to which elements are really transferable or bioavailable. Analytical methods based on partial extraction are used to discern deficiencies in B, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn in soil. These extractions are carried out using boiling water and EDTA or DTPA solutions. The extraction methods have been standardized for use in agriculture, but have not been tested for assessing the risks due to the pollution by trace elements. One partial extraction method has been standardized for the analysis of wastes. It uses successive water extractions. Researchers have studied different partial extraction methods for estimating the bioavailability of mineral pollutants. Some of them gave results which correlated well with the amounts taken up by plants. However, at present, no general frame of reference has yet been established for the interpretation of results on a broad scale.