Environmental epidemiology forward

Environmental epidemiology is the specialized aspect of public health scien ce that studies human health risk from environmental hazards. It is rises l argely upon a foundation of public health surveillance, and relies heavily upon analyses of data for small areas and sparse population groups. To a de gree, environmental epidemiology is assigned the role of discerning very su btle human health impacts, or discerning early evidence of a tragic sequenc e. In that context, environmental epidemiology has a substantial public edu cation and risk communication role. Environmental epidemiology will be grea tly advanced as effective biological markers of exposure and precursor heal th effects are developed. At this point in time, statistical methods are in place to monitor population-level disease rates in high-risk populations f or early risk identification and sentinel event recognition. Advances in ge ographic methods have provided a boon to the discipline by advantaging spat ial studies. These advances in the discipline still need further refinement and pilot experiences. The inclusion of environmental epidemiological cons iderations with instances of proposed industrial expansion, hazardous waste management, and contamination remediation is heartily recommended. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.