Q: What is Environmental Health Perspectives?
A: Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) is the leading environmental health journal in the world. It is published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. EHP provides the most current and credible peer-reviewed original research and news articles on the effects of the environment on human health. It is an open access journal, meaning the contents of EHP are available online for free to anyone. The mission of EHP is to educate, inform, and enlighten by disseminating the best environmental health research and information throughout the world.

Q: What is the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences?
A:The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is one of 27 Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health, which is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. At NIEHS, scientists study how environmental factors, individual susceptibility and age inter-relate, and communicate their findings to the public to help reduce the burden of human illness from environmental causes. Scientists at NIEHS are actively involved in research programs, prevention and intervention efforts, and communication strategies that include training, education, and community outreach.

Q: Why is the NIEHS involved in science education?
A: Scientists at the NIEHS know that the public wants to understand the effects and risks to human health from environmental exposures. In addition, NIEHS scientists understand that the institute can play a vital role in encouraging and promoting the next generation of researchers, policy makers, community leaders and health care providers by interacting with students. For these reasons, NIEHS supports an array of science education activities from curriculum development to classroom visits as a way of getting students, from Kindergarten through college seniors, excited and involved in science, especially environmental health science.

Q: What is environmental health?
A: Environmental health, in its broadest sense, comprises those aspects of human health, disease, and injury that are determined or influenced by factors in the environment. This includes not only the study of the direct pathological effects of various chemical, physical, and biological agents, but also the effects on health of the broad physical and social environment, which includes housing, urban development, land-use and transportation, industry, and agriculture.

Q: How does environmental health connect with the different sciences?
A: Environmental health science is perhaps the ultimate interdisciplinary science. Although it is most strongly linked with the biological sciences, it also relates to physical science, chemistry, and earth science. Within the biological sciences environmental health incorporates health, genetics, microbiology, epidemiology, and botany. Below are some specific examples of how environmental health connects with the variety of sciences.

Health: The goal of environmental health science is to look how the environment affects human health. That can range from an individual’s environment, like how food choice can impact diabetes, to a population, like how a bad air pollution day can impact a city’s cardiac arrest rate.

Genetics: Environmental health scientists investigate if and how specific chemicals interact with DNA. Common questions include: Does that chemical cause mutations? If so what are the end-points of that mutation? Cancer?

Microbiology: Environmental health scientists use a variety of microbiological techniques to understand what is happening with a chemical at the molecular and cellular level. For example, proteomics is a powerful technique used to look at how a chemical can adversely proteins.

Epidemiology: Epidemiology is the study disease occurance within a population. It uses statistical analysis to determine whether the incidence of disease or adverse effects of a chemical exceeds the “normal” rate of occurrence of that disease. For example, scientists can look at dry cleaning workers who are frequently exposed to PCE (perchloroethylene) and determine if the rate of a certain type of disease (e.g. non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma) is higher for that population compared to a population not exposed to as much PCE.

Botany: Can herbal medicines help or hurt us? Environmental health scientists are investigating whether the health claims made for specific herbal medicines are true or whether they may have some unintended side-effects, such a kidney damage. Scientists are also actively looking for plants in the deserts and rainforests with certain types of active compounds that may help in treating or preventing cancer or fighting antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis strains.

Physical Science: Gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet radiation--these are all part of the electromagnetic spectrum which can adversely affect our health. They can also be used to improve health (e.g. the formation of Vitamin D from sun exposure) or diagnose health problems (X-rays to diagnose arthritis).

Chemistry: The physical and chemical properties of a substance can affect a person’s health in many ways. A corrosive chemical, such as chlorine, can “burn” the skin or esophagus and lungs when inhaled. That very same corrosive property in chlorine makes it an outstanding disinfectant. Chlorinating water contributed to one of the greatest improvements in public health in the U.S. by eliminating water-borne disease. A chemical’s properties can also affect its bio-availability. A chemical that readily evaporates increases the potential exposure through inhalation and a lipophilic chemical can become stored in fat tissue which may bio-accumulate and increase exposure over time.

Earth Science: Environmental health connects with earth science from the ground to the air. Many natural toxicants are elements that exist in the rocks and soil. The amount and location of those toxicants depends on the type of rock and the geologic processes that shaped the landscape. For example, arsenic occurs in relatively high concentrations in volcanic rock which can then enter the groundwater and be drunk. Another example is mercury, which naturally occurs in coal. When coal is burned for energy it releases mercury into the air. The mercury can then be carried by atmospheric winds, fall down with the rain, and enter rivers, lakes, and oceans. Once in major water sources, the mercury can accumulate in fish, which may be eaten by humans.

Q: How do these materials support meeting state and national science education standards?
A: The goal in developing lessons that accompany the EHP Student Edition is to address as many of the national science education standards as possible over the course of a year. This will allow teachers from a variety of science subjects to incorporate environmental health into their classes, as well as ensure that the standards are being met.
Being able to address state standards is also very important. Because this is a national resource, we are unable to align lessons to the science education standards from fifty different states. However, each lesson includes a description of the content and skills addressed so teachers can easily identify what state standards will be met by implementing the lesson.
See also Skills and Standards section of this website.

Q: How can I use this resource in my classroom?
A: The EHP Student Edition and the accompanying lessons can be used a variety of ways in the classroom. The magazine itself contains articles with a range of topics, and differing lengths and levels of difficulty. Each monthly magazine comes with at least three lessons addressing a variety of sciences, skills, and lesson lengths. Below are some ideas for classroom use:

• Have students read a short article or do an accompanying “warm-up” lesson at the beginning of the class.
• Look at current and past issues to find articles and/or lessons that connect with specific topics in your normal curriculum.
• Use a focus article for an in-depth, multidisciplinary research project.
• Team with teachers in other academic subjects (such as social studies) to help students make real-world connections with a particular topic or article.

Q: How can I connect my students to the original scientific journal articles that some of the magazine articles are based upon?
A: Science Selection articles are news articles based on research articles published in the corresponding professional issue of EHP.

Q: Can I access other EHP articles and materials that do not appear in the Student Edition?
A: Yes! EHP is an open access journal. This means that all of our complete issues, archives, and additional materials are available online, for free, to anyone who wants them. Materials also may be downloaded for free from our site. Visit the homepage at www.ehponline.org.