title: Environmental pollution: the experimental and the human approach.
abstract: Thirty years have elapsed since laws preventing large scale pollution have begun to be made and enforced in industrial countries. Due partly to economic considerations, the actual methodology for the evaluation of health risks is now beginning to be considered. If the routine experimental and epidemiological investigations are complementary, their use, which needs respective delays of 4-5 and 20-30 years, is not adopted to determine the health effects of new chemicals or novel energies. To make up for these deficiencies, especially concerning the screening of carcinogenic and mutagenic potentials of chemicals, short in vitro tests have been developed, but they have not yet proved to be reliable. Among several investigational needs, the psychophysiological aspects of environmental pollution and the long-term effects of several kinds of nonionizing radiations, which more and more invade our environment, ought to be considered.
mesh_terms: D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000191:economics* / Q000517:prevention & control; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D007878:Legislation as Topic; D012306:Risk; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants