Public Health History

The article “Air Pollution Still Harming Europeans health” discussed the impact of urban outdoor air quality the human population. The article addressed the substantial number of low birth weight babies due to the effects of air pollution. Low birth weight is a complex problem because it is not only the cause of adverse health effects but also complex living condition. Children born with low birth weight tend to have decrease lung function and higher incidence of asthma. As the article suggests pollution is a preventable problem and through proper regulation adverse health effects can be minimized.
Awareness of environmental health impacts is not a new concept humans have been concerned with it since ancient times often siting the cause of disease as miasma. In miasma theory, diseases were caused by the presence in the air of a miasma, a poisonous vapor in which were suspended particles of decaying matter that was characterized by its foul smell. The theory originated in The Middle Ages and endured for several centuries. In 19th-century England the miasma theory made sense to the sanitary reformers. Rapid industrialization and urbanization had created many poor, filthy and foul-smelling city neighborhoods that tended to be the focal points of disease and epidemics. By improving the housing, sanitation and general cleanliness of these exist The seventeenth century brought about environmental revolutions due to the rapid evolution of science and technology. In the book “The Burdens of Disease” the author Hays points to changes in perception between disease and environment that occurred during the Enlightenment. From the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution the growth of urban populations affected the environment and the environment affected the health of the human populations.
Sixty years ago, an environmental disaster in southwestern Pennsylvania shocked the country. Forever changed the way Americans think about industrial pollution and their health