Environmental effects on health.
Patients with a cancer or respiratory disease and parents of children with a congenital abnormality often ask nurses: 'What caused this? Was it pollution or my job, or something I've done?' Often there is no clear answer. Media coverage--of such issues as Sellafield and childhood leukaemias, mobile phones and brain cancers, or waste sites and congenital abnormalities--may prompt a rash of questions from anxious patients. This article discusses environmental issues so that nurses are in a position to answer some of these questions.
Sinclair
J
J
Department of Public Health Medicine/Nursing, Eastern Health and Social Services Board, Belfast.
D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004782:Environmental Health; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D009017:Morbidity; D009026:Mortality