Transcript Hazard - Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

Hazard, Risk, Benefit
Stairs are a HAZARD
RISK is likelihood of injury
Often expressed as a
fraction
(1 in a million)
Pesticides / Fungicides
• Hazard
– Measured in a lab
– How much substance is
needed to kill or
injure an experimental
animal
• Benefit
• More food
(less loss (growing, storing))
• Better looking food – not as many blemishes
– More acceptable to consumers – less loss
• Risk
• This is the real world – what is important
• Approximately 250 basic chemicals made by
more than 50 companies are registered for
use as pesticides in food and feed production
in the United States.
• More than a quarter of a million U.S. children
aged 1–5 ingest a combination of 20 different
pesticides every day.
• Overall, 20 million children aged 5 and under
eat an average of 8 pesticides every day.
• Pesticide use has increased 50-fold since 1950,
and 2.5 million tons of industrial pesticides are
now used each year.
• Some 610,000 children aged 1–5 consume a
dose of neurotoxic organophosphate
insecticides that the government deems
unsafe.
• More than half of these unsafe exposures are
from one pesticide—methyl parathion.
• methyl parathion - use is legally prohibited.
• Pesticide highly toxic to humans and birds
(EPA, 1997). Methyl parathion is only allowed
to be used on certain open agricultural fields
• it is legally prohibited to use methyl parathion
inside buildings (EPA, 1997).
• Based on a report by the Texas Department of
Health however, researchers indicated that
25% of the residents in their study region
were illegally using methyl parathion
Mississippi 1996
• More than 1500 homes and businesses in
Mississippi were sprayed with methyl parathion
by unlicensed pest control operators over a twoyear period ending in November 1996.
• The spraying resulted in the temporary relocation
of more than 1100 people.
• Local veterinarians reported deaths of household
animals due to methyl parathion exposure.
• Eight day-care centres, one restaurant and two
hotels that were sprayed were closed, and
extensive clean-up operations had to be
undertaken.
•
2,4-D is the most commonly used herbicide in
Canada. It was a major component of Agent
Orange, and is still used in over 1,500 lawncare products (including Killex and Weed ‘n
Feed). Cancer in dogs has been linked to their
owners’ use of 2,4-D
• Sierra Club, 2008
21,000 Canadians died in 2008
with links to air pollution
Canadian Medical Association 2008
• Combination of short – and long- term exposure
• Cumulative deaths by 2031 will hit 800,000
• Vast majority will be people over 65
– Heart and lung conditions (pressure from
contaminants
• Pollution this year
– Economy and Health-care systems – about $8
BILLION this year (medical costs and lost
productivity)
– Total loss by 2031 - > 250 billion
• Based on a conservative assumption that air
pollution will not increase in the future
– Canada one of first nations to track these
associated deaths
• Everything that we do exposes us to hazards
• It is HOW we do things that determines the
risk
• So Risk and Benefit are more difficult to define
(and measure)
– Personal viewpoints should be important
– Who benefits?
Ethics
• What should we do about - climate change?
– Not all ‘should do’ questions are ethical
• But the question of doing something about
climate change is ethical because it involves
choices
– People have conflicting interests
• The better-off among us (nations) –
Canadians will have to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases
• This will save future generations from the
chance of a hotter world
• BUT – how do we evaluate the well-being of
future generations versus our well-being
(especially as they are more likely to have
more material goods than we do)
• Do we spend now to prevent?
• Do we spend in the future to correct?
–If there is a problem
Do we spend or not?
If so ‘How Much’
• Spending involves sacrifice
– Jobs, taxes, slowing of development
• Most of this is common sense
• Elementary principle that you should not do
something for your own benefit if it harms
another person
• If rainfall changes its pattern (amount, timing,
location)
– Local food supplies will be affected
– Supplies of safe drinking water will change
– Large scale migration of people could be a response
– Large heat wave in Europe (2003) – est 350,000
deaths
– WHO – average no. deaths per year from climate
change – 150,000
Hoover Dam/Lake Mead
2008
• All of us contribute
– Driving a car or taking public transit
– Using electrical power
– Buying anything that has been manufactured and/or
transported
– Drinking bottled water
•
These all contribute to the generation of
greenhouse gases (contribute to climate change)
• Not a simple matter of weighing benefits and
costs
• Can we even get the benefits and costs?
ATTITUDE