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New Books | Book Review
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Book Review
Pediatric Environmental Health, 2nd edition
by Ruth A. Etzel and Sophie J. Balk, eds.
Elk Grove Village, IL:American Academy of Pediatrics, 2003. 721 pp.
ISBN: 1-58110-111-2, $44.95 paper.
![Book cover](bookcover.jpg) | image credit: Arnold Greenwell/EHP |
In 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released its "Green Book" or Pediatric Environmental Health. This unique resource synthesized information on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of environmentally related illness in children. Just four years later, in November 2003, the second edition was released. Expanded by 75%, representing updated original chapters and 10 new chapters, this new "Green Book" reflects the rapid growth in scientific advances and general and medical community interest in these topics. This contribution continues to stand out, oriented to helping clinicians put environmental health into their routine practice of caring for children.
Most environmental illnesses are not pathognomonic, and most children affected by environmental exposures do not present to specialists. Coupled with the fact that most pediatricians and others who care for children receive limited preparation in environmental health in the current medical school and residency curriculum, the potential for lack of problem recognition and appropriate intervention is concerning. The AAP Committee on Environmental Health, under the editorial direction of Ruth Etzel and associate editor Sophie J. Balk, recognize the critical role children's health care providers play in a) discerning the potential environmental etiology of symptoms or disease, b) responding to patients' questions that arise from the increasing barrage of new messages in the media regarding environmental risks, and c) providing reliable, scientifically sound preventive messages regarding environmental exposures.
The editors' response is a concise yet increasingly comprehensive, practical guide that provides readily accessible information to the busy clinician. Background information clarifies the appropriate integration of environmental health into regular practice. For example, a toxicity review describes the scientific basis for the unique vulnerabilities of children at various stages of development, paralleling the typical developmental orientation to health assessment that is familiar to clinicians who evaluate children. "How to Take an Environmental History" provides a primer on the relevant questions that can guide appropriate anticipatory guidance during well child visits or raise the index of suspicion for environmental etiology during illness or symptom-related visits.
Twenty-two specific chemical and physical hazards--such as air pollutants, lead, mercury, pesticides, water pollutants, endocrine disruptors, and radon--are addressed in their own evidence-based review chapters. In addition, specific chapters are devoted to special environments (e.g., child care settings, schools, waste sites, workplaces) and complex situations (e.g., arts and crafts, asthma, multiple chemical sensitivities).
Each chapter includes frequently asked questions and responses, underscoring important points and providing models of patient risk communication. New chapters cover arsenic, gasoline and its additives, irradiation of food, nickel/manganese/chromium, preconceptional and prenatal exposures, chemical/biological terrorism, nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, environmental threats to children's health in developing countries, environmental health advocacy, and risk assessment and risk management.
Primarily geared toward physicians, the new chapters and well-organized framework also make the revised Pediatric Environmental Health potentially useful to nurses, public health advisors, teachers, parents, and advocates who desire ready access to specific topics. Its expansion has not diminished its strength as a portable, affordable, and uniquely clinically relevant reference.
Catherine Karr
Catherine Karr is a board-certified pediatrician with an MS in Environmental Health/Toxicology and nearing completion of a PhD in Epidemiology. She serves as primary consultant for the University of Washington Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit. Her current research focuses on ambient air pollution and infant respiratory health.
New Books
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A Small Dose of Toxicology: The Health Effects of Common Chemicals
Steven G. Gilbert
New York:Routledge, 2004. 280 pp. ISBN: 0-415-31168-3, $35.95
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Agricultural Development Policy: Concepts and Experiences
Roger D. Norton
Hoboken, NJ:Wiley, 2004. 540 pp. ISBN: 0-470-85778-1, 4155 cloth; ISBN: 0-470-85779-X, $65 paper
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Dermatotoxicology, 6th Edition
Hongbo Zhai, Howard I. Maibach
New York:Routledge, 2004. 1,232 pp. ISBN: 0-415-28862-2, $219.95
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Environmental and Resource Policy for Consumer Durables
Marco Runkel
Berlin:Springer-Verlag, 2004. 197 pp. ISBN: 3-540-20569-1, $61
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Environmental Contaminants: Assessment and Control
Daniel Vallero
New York:Academic Press, 2004. 512 pp. ISBN: 0-127-10057-1, $79.95
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Environmental Modelling: Finding Simplicity in Complexity
John Wainwright, Mark Mulligan, eds.
Hoboken, NJ:Wiley, 2004. 430 pp. ISBN: 0-471-49617-0, $125 cloth; ISBN: 0-471-49618-9, $55 paper
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Epidemiology, 3rd Edition
Leon Gordis
Philadelphia:W.B. Saunders, 2004. 352 pp. ISBN: 0-7216-0326-2, $39.95
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Food and Health in Europe: A New Basis for Action
WHO Regional Office for Europe
Geneva:World Health Organization, 2004. 401 pp. ISBN: 92-890-1363-X, $90
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Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet Under Pressure
W. Steffen, A. Sanderson, P.D. Tyson, J. Jäger, P.A. Matson, B. Moore III, F. Oldfield, K. Richardson, H-J. Schellnhuber, B.L. Turner II, R.J. Wasson
Berlin:Springer-Verlag, 2004. 336 pp. ISBN: 3-540-40800-2, $129
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Introduction to Weapons of Mass Destruction: Radiological, Chemical, and Biological
R. Everett Langford
Hoboken, NJ:Wiley, 2004. 394 pp. ISBN: 0-471-46560-7, $89.95
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Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror
David W. Orr
Washington, DC:Island Press, 2004. 160 pp. ISBN: 1-55963-528-2, $20
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New Consumers: The Influence of Affluence on the Environment
Norman Myers, Jennifer Kent
Washington, DC:Island Press, 2004. 192 pp. ISBN: 1-55963-997-0, $24
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Principles of Hormone/Behavior Relations
Donald Pfaff, Ian Phillips, Robert Rubin
New York:Academic Press, 2004. 450 pp. ISBN: 0-12-553149-4, $59.95
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Riot Control Agents: Issues in Toxicology, Safety, and Health
Eugene J. Olajos, Woodhall Stopford
New York:Routledge, 2004. 368 pp. ISBN: 0-415-29902-0, $149.95
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Statistical Techniques for Data Analysis, 2nd Edition
Helena A. Taylor, Cheryl Cihon
Boca Raton, FL:CRC Press, 2004. 296 pp. ISBN: 1-584-88385-5, 479.95
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Traffic and Environment
Dusan Gruden, ed.
Berlin:Springer-Verlag, 2003. 294 pp. ISBN: 3-5400-00050-X, $169
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Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities
Howard Frumkin, Lawrence Frank, Richard Jackson
Washington, DC:Island Press, 2004. 288 pp. ISBN: 1-55963-305-0, $30
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Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters
Robert Jerome Glennon
Washington, DC:Island Press, 2004. 304 pp. ISBN: 1-55963-400-6, $15
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World's Water 2004-2005: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources
Peter H Gleick, with Nicholas L. Cain, Dana Haasz, Christine Henges-Jeck, Michael Kiparsky, Marcus Moench, Meena Palaniappan, Veena Srinivasan, and Gary H. Wolff
Washington, DC:Island Press, 2004. 320 pp. ISBN: 1-55963-536-3, $35
[Table of Contents]
Last Updated: March 19, 2004 |
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