This course covers chemicals in our environment and in our bodies and how they impact our health. It addresses policies and practices related to chemicals, particularly related to how they get into our bodies (exposures), what they do when they get there (toxicology), how we measure them (biomonitoring) and their impact on our health.
Lecture 0: Chemicals and Health: Course Overview - Megan Latshaw
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From the course by Johns Hopkins University
Chemicals and Health
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From the lesson
Week 1: Welcome & Introduction
Start off this week with the peer assessment (we know, we know. . .how can we have an assessment before the course even starts, right?). We simply hope to gauge your initial understanding of the topics that we’ll cover (so grade easy).
Then we get into a quick overview of the course, a discussion of chemicals & how we are exposed (in three parts) and an introduction to chemical production & regulation. The module ends with a fun homework assignment: watch an eight-minute video and discuss amongst yourselves (and with us too).
Meet the Instructors
Dr. Megan Weil Latshaw, PhDCo-Director of the Masters Programs in Environmental Health
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Beth A. Resnick, MPHAssociate Scientist
Health Policy and Management
[MUSIC]
Hello, everyone, and welcome to our course, Chemicals and Health.
Chemicals make up every part of us.
Some of them are vital to our health, while others may be harmful.
In this course, we will focus on the effects of some of the many chemicals,
that we encounter every day.
My name is Meghan Latchall, and my colleague, Beth Restinick, and
I created this course.
I'd like to begin, by telling you a bit about ourselves.
And I'd like to start with Beth.
She is an associate scientist at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
in the department of Health Policy and Management.
Beth serves as the director of the office of public health practice and training.
And the MSPH program in health policy.
Her research and practice interests include assessing and improving the public
health infrastructure, enhancing knowledge about potential environment and
health connections, and developing effective public health policies.
On a personal note Beth has three sons.
And she and her husband live outside Washington DC.
Moving on to me.
As my five year old daughter will tell you I'm not a real doctor.
Instead I have a PhD in environmental and
occupational health from John's Hopkins, where I also have a faculty appointment.
Which is my title in the previous slide.
For my day job, I serve as the director of
environmental health programs at the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
There, I work every day to strengthen environmental and
public health laboratories, focusing on creating a national bio-monitoring system
in the United States, and on ensuring our state and
local labs are prepared for emergencies related to chemical.
Or radiological emergencies.
I live in Baltimore with my husband and feisty preschooler.
Beth and I have brought together an amazing group of scientists, and
public health practitioners from across the US.
These are the leaders in their field, and they experts.
You'll hear more about them in a bit.
But, first, I'd like to tell you why we chose to do this course.
Well, for
starters, have you ever thought about what life was like before the chemical age?
Glass bottles meant more visits to the doctor, or
hospital for stitches or infections.
Speaking of infections, unchlorinated water meant increased illness and
death, from cholera and typhoid fever among others.
Fewer pharmaceuticals also led to higher rates of morbidity and mortality.
And cleaning involved a lot more tired arms.
And when children's metal toys broke, you couldn't just glue or
tape them back together.
Despite better living through better chemistry,
many people fear exposure to chemicals.
We know some chemicals at certain levels are not good for us.
For example, most everyone knows not to drink cleaning supplies, or
to inhale gasoline fumes at the station.
We're also starting to learn that some chemicals.
Even at very low levels may impact our health.
For example, endocrine disruptors may cause imbalances in
our delicate hormone systems.
Having effects that may be passed down from generation to generation.
Also the more we study lead.
The more effects we find at lower and to lower levels of exposure.
It's often the unknown that scares people the most.
The questions that science has yet to answer, or the public has yet
to hear about or the sheer overwhelming feeling some people get.
When they think about all the chemicals that we come into contact with every day.
This course hopes to help everyday people better understand.
Chemicals, how they are made and how they get into the environment.
Exposure, how chemicals get into our body.
And how we measure them.
Toxicology, what chemicals do in our bodies, and what our bodies do to them.
Public health impacts, how chemicals impact the health of a population and
policy implications what laws, regulations and policies.
Govern chemicals.
This course will be taught at the college level.
It assumes basic knowledge of biology and
chemistry, it's broken up into 15 lectures.
About 20 minutes each across six modules.
We hope to engage students with videos, a discussion board.
Two quizzes and two writing assignments.
Before I even begin to describe the modules,
I will ask that you complete a short, peer reviewed writing assignment,
describing your understanding of chemicals and how they impact our health.
This assignment only counts for 5% of your grade.
And serves as an introduction to peer reviewed writing.
We also hope it will serve as an interesting comparison to
the last writing assignment,
which will ask a similar question the end of the course to measure how
your understanding of this complex issue has improved over the span of the course.
Getting to the actual course material.
The first module provides an introduction to chemicals in our environment, and
attempts to answer the question what is a chemical and how are we exposed?
You're listening to the first speaker now,
my goal is to cover an introduction to the course.
And an overview of the syllabus.
One of my heroes, Professor Burke, will define the word chemical, explain how
populations are exposed to chemicals, through pollutant source pathways, and
describe how chemicals get into our bodies.
Mainly through air, water and food.
Dr. Symons will describe the general working conditions for
large scale industrial chemical production.
And introduce the field of the occupational epidemiology and it's
approach to understanding exposure, and health among synthetic chemical workers.
Then, you'll have your second homework assignment.
We'll ask you to watch an eight minute video on chemicals in
personal care products.
Then, we want you to think critically about the video which
has many good factual points.
But which also tries to tap into our fear of the unknown.
Finally.
We hope that you will post your thoughts on the first module,
including the video on the discussion board.
Module two introduces you to the field of toxicology, and
tries to answer the question what do chemicals do in our bodies?
Professor Trush will explain the concept of does response.
Describe the continuum from environmental hazard to exposure,
to internal dose, to health effects.
Explain the concepts of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
And highlight the connection between toxicology and pharmacology.
Basically the difference between the effective toxic chemicals on our health.
First the beneficial effects of other chemicals.
Then you'll have your first quiz.
It will be multiple choice.
And we'll focus on the first two modules.
And comprised 20% of your grade.
Module three focuses on biomonitoring,
which is a fancy way of describing the measurement of chemicals in our bodies.
We start off with a homework assignment that includes two videos.
A two minute one on public health laboratories, and a five minute audio clip
on a Kentucky community concerned about chemical exposures in their neighborhood.
Then we want you to post your thoughts on the discussion board.
Doctor Mortensen will then do the first lecture for module three.
Providing a definition of bio-monitoring, and
how it differs from diagnostic testing, what a physician might do.
Then, she will describe how bio monitoring is used and interpreted, including its
limitations, and explain the role of CDC in addressing chemical exposures.
And finally provide an overview of the national exposure report.
Dr. King will discuss how CDC's data can or
cannot be used at the state and local level.
She will also introduce public health laboratories, and
the system within which they work.
She will describe the role of public health laboratories in bio monitoring.
In study design.
And finally, she will explain the difference between public and
commercial laboratories.
The fourth module addresses the health effects of chemicals.
Dr. Mitchell will explain the difference between association and causation.
He will discuss different types of health effects.
And we'll describe various health end points.
Finally, he will introduce CDC's environmental public health
tracking network.
Dr. Nachman will discuss hazard identification, and
the broader risk assessment process.
Then there will be another multiple-choice quiz.
This one will focus on modules three and four, and also comprise 20% of your grade.
Module five covers chemical's policy, specifically asking
the question what do we do as a society about chemicals and health?
Dr. Denison will describe some of the approaches.
To addressing chemicals at the population level.
Including legislation and regulation.
He will also discuss the United States approach to
chemical regulation compared to Europe.
Dr. Samet will talk about air pollution as it relates to chemicals policy.
Specifically he will touch upon.
Historical air pollution, how air pollution relates to health, how
the US EPA regulates air pollution, and how air quality has improved over time.
You will have one final assignment,
a peer reviewed writing assignment that will comprise 35% of your grade.
The assignment will be given at the end of module five, and
will be due at the very end of the course.
Our final module demonstrates how all these concepts come together,
to help address real world problems and questions.
Dr. Ken Aldous from the New York State Department of Health will talk about
nonsmokers, who are exposed to smoke just by being in the same room as a smoker,
and how New York State measured their exposure both before.
And after a ban of smoking in restaurants.
Doctor Joanna Cohen, from the John's Hopkins Bloomberg school of public health,
will talk about tobacco companies newest products and
how they try to stay viable given new restrictions on smoking.
Then doctor Irvashi Rangin of consumers union.
We'll discuss chemicals in food and other consumer products.
Finally, Professor Patrick Bicey from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health will address nanotechnology and workers health.
We have one last module that doesn't get its own slide,
since it will simply be a way to pool everything together.
And provide some ideas for next steps.
There are some big questions we will cover in this course.
And we've tried to do it in a fun, engaging way.
Your participation and feedback will be key to making this a useful course.
So we hope to hear from you along the way.
Enjoy.
[MUSIC]
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