Environmental geochemistry and health: an integrated future in medical andgeochemical studies - the example of iodine

This set of papers resulted from both oral and poster sessions on Geochemis try and Health at the Geoscience 98 conference held in Keele University, UK , 14-18 April 1998. The aim of the sessions, and indeed this thematic set i s to highlight some of rite current and developing interests within the sub ject, and in particular, to emphasize the need for cooperation between medi cal professionals and geochemists. Plant et al. set the scene for subsequent papers by providing an overview o f environmental geochemistry, and through a discussion of current geochemic al mapping triumphs and future possibilities. The paper on asbestos by Gibb ons illustrates the breadth of studies in environmental geochemistry, and h ighlights the multi-disciplinary, approach required including in this ease an understanding of political and social issues. Two papers (Ragnarsdottir and Worrall ct all. ideal with pesticides-a group of environmental pollutants that are currently the focus of much concern. Indeed Nicholas Ashford, a health adviser to the United Nations, said recen tly. 'I think pesticides are the most serious problem we have today in the industrial countries'. Ragnarsdottir examines the environmental fate and to xicology of an important, highly relic group of pesticides (organophosphate s), while Worrall et al. take an entirely different approach, discussing th e use of statistical methods which use pesticide chemical properties to pre dict environmental fate. Finally, Smith et at. illustrate a relatively new approach to environmental geochemistry, which is made possible through the effective collaboration between geochemists and medical professionals. Such collaborations will no doubt be an important feature of the development of environmental geochemistry into the twenty-first century.