Concepts

What is Risk?
• Risk is a situation involving exposure to danger and the possibility that
something unpleasant will happen.

Hazard:
Is a biological, chemical or physical agent in, or condition of, food with the
potential to cause an adverse health effect (Codex Alimentarius Commission). A
condition or physical situation with a potential for an undesirable consequence
(Society for Risk Analysis).

Risk vs Hazard:
Hazard: something with the potential to cause harm.

Risk: the likelihood of occurrence and the magnitude of consequences of a

specified hazard being realized.

Risk Analysis is the analytical process to provide information regarding

undesirable events where process of estimating probabilities and expected
consequences for identified risks. The detailed examination including risk
assessment, risk evaluation and risk management alternatives, performed to
understand the nature of unwanted outcome.

Risk Analysis process also undertaken to deal with matters which pose a potential
danger, managed according to certain standard procedure and that involves:
– Hazard Identification
– Risk Assessment
– Risk Management
– Risk Communication

Hazard Identification:
Risk Assessment Resources

Natural Hazards

 Multi-hazard Mapping Information Platform - Federal Emergency Management Agency

(FEMA)
 Flood Map Service Center - FEMA
 Earthquake Hazards information - United States Geological Survey (USGS)
 Hurricane - FEMA
 Landslide Hazards Program - USGS
 Volcano Hazards Program - USGS
 Protecting Workers from Heat Illness - Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA)

Human-Caused Hazards

 Survey Your Workplace for Additional Hazards - OSHA Compliance Assistance Quick
Start for General Industry
 Methodology for Preparing Threat Assessments for Commercial Buildings - FEMA
 Workplace Violence—Issues in Response - Federal Bureau of Investigation

Technological Hazards

 Risk Assessment Portal, EPA tools, guidance and guidelines - U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency
 Computer Security Resource Center, Special Publications, National Institute of
Standards and Technology, Computer Security Division
 IT Security Essential Body of Knowledge, United States Computer Emergency
Readiness Team


Evaluation of risk and risk management
The complex process of determining the significance or value of the identified hazards and
estimated risks to those concerned, or affected, is examined. The evaluation of risk is concerned
with issues relating to how those affected by risks perceive them, the value issues underlying the
perceived problem and the trade-off between the perceived risks and benefits. The controversy
surrounding BSE is used as an example of where risk evaluation has proved hugely important in
the implementation of decisions arising from risk assessment. The chapter looks at the factors
involved in risk perception and risk acceptance.

The chapter also examines the advantages and disadvantages of the major approaches used in
making risk management decisions - bootstrapping, formalised methods such as cost-risk-benefit
analysis, and professional judgement. Examples of the use of these approaches in environmental
management are discussed.

8.1 The importance of risk evaluation and perception

Risk evaluation attempts to define what the estimated risk actually means to people concerned
with or affected by the risk. A large part of this evaluation will be the consideration of how
people perceive risks. This section of the book provides an overview of the psychometric and
cultural approaches underpinning risk perception, offering an insight into the reasons why risks
are perceived in different ways.

8.2 How safe is safe enough?

A question that is fundamental when talking about risk issues is "How safe is safe enough?". An
ERA will characterise the risk posed by a situation and then the process of risk management will
eventually lead to a choice of action that will achieve the desired level of "safety". The
determination of this "acceptable" or "tolerable" level of risk may have been prescribed before
the risk assessment process begins - through societally determined acceptable levels of risk in the
form of legislative environmental quality standards for instance, or industry derived "norms". In
this case, risk management attempts to analyse which options for action based on the results of
the risk assessment will produce these pre-determined risk levels. Where no acceptable risk
standards exist, the risk management process will attempt to derive "acceptable" or tolerable risk
on a case-by-case basis. This will always raise the question of "Acceptable to whom?". When
risk assessment and management procedures are carried out by regulators or government, the aim
is to produce societally acceptable risk levels. When an individual company carries out a risk
assessment, in the absence of societally determined standards, risk levels will be determined
which are acceptable to the company. These may have reference to societally acceptable levels
or may be based on a formal risk-cost-benefit approach as advocated by some software packages
on risk reduction.

Decision making to determine "acceptable" or "tolerable" risk uses a number of approaches. The
three major approaches to acceptable risk decisions are professional judgement where technical
experts devise solutions, bootstrapping where historical precedent guides decision making, and
formal analyses where theory-based procedures for modelling problems and calculating the best
decision are used. These approaches are explained in detail in the text.

8.3 Risk management action

As was discussed in Chapter 1 of the book, environmental risk can be transferred to another body
such as an insurance company, retained by a company or nation, eliminated by removal of the
risk agent, or reduced. In most environmental risk management conducted by nations on behalf
of society, risk reduction will be the risk management option chosen. For individuals or
companies, risk transfer is a common approach. This may be required by legislation, especially
for infrequent catastrophic events. Risk elimination is often very difficult because of all the
social and economic effects the removal of an agent can create. For instance the elimination of a
pesticide may have implications on the socio-economic conditions in a region.

Risk reduction for environmental risks can involve many techniques. For chemicals they are
discussed in the draft European technical guidance document (CEC/ECB, 1997). Generally there
are a range of approaches to risk reduction. These include:

 Substitution:. Can the agent be substituted by another, less risky agent? For instance, can
a chemical pesticide be substituted by a biological method? What are the risks of the new
agent being introduced into the scenario? Is the new agent as effective?

 Information:. Providing information about the safe use and disposal of agents will try to
ensure that the risks assessed are the same as what actually occur in practice.

 Education and information may also allow the public and users to choose lower risk
options and force the manufacturers into the production of less risky agents.

 Limit the availability of the agent by marketing bans or limits on the production or
importation of the agent. Such a risk reduction technique has severe implications
politically and economically and can often be controversial. Such decisions are taken at a
national or regional level and at an international level such agreements are difficult to
obtain.
8.4 Some concluding remarks
ERA is a process by which environmental risks can be examined and a qualitative or quantitative
measure of risk derived. The process can never be wholly scientific, but uses scientific data to
arrive at a measure of the risk that has been chosen to be examined. Many social factors, such as
those discussed in this chapter, will heavily influence how environmental problems are
formulated and therefore exactly what the ERA will examine. The result of the ERA may be a
quantitative scientific estimate. It is important to recognise, however, that social factors will
affect this risk estimate and are fundamental in the decisions that are made as a result of the
ERA. ERA takes time, resources and energy. The answers provided by ERA will be crucial in
decision-making. It may be wise for those who wish to use ERA to take heed of the handling of
BSE and the Brent Spar, and recognise that often the social issues involved in environmental risk
decisions will be just as important as the scientific assessments.

Most of the book focuses on the techniques used in ERA. The approaches to risk management
discussed in this chapter are as important, in terms of the influence they have on the decision-
making outcome, as the ERA itself. Risk management techniques are less transparent than those
developed for ERA and the influence of different criteria on decision making is often difficult to
unravel. Formal analysis can be more easily "opened up" to scrutiny by others but exactly the
same criticisms used against ERA can be levelled at it (availability of data, the interpretation and
uncertainty). The focus of attention in ERA in recent years has been moved to "tighten up" and
increase formality within ERA. Environmental risk management needs to undergo the same
process.

Evaluation of a Risk Management Plan

A risk management plan can never be perfect. However, the degree of its success depends upon
risk analysis, management policies, planning and activities. A well-defined management plan can
be successful only if risks are properly accessed. And if not, the main objective of risk
management plan itself is defeated. Critical evaluation of a risk management plan at every stage
is very necessary especially at an early stage. It will allow companies to discover the flaws
before it gets into the action. Once you’re through the process, you can address the issues and
then introduce it.

The below mentioned steps can help in analyzing and evaluating a risk management plan:

 Problem Analysis: Keep a note of all the events and activities of a risk management
plan. Check out the problems arising from their implementation and assess if they have a
serious impact on the whole process. Make a note of those that have serious implications.
  Match the Outcomes of a Risk Management Plans with its Objectives: Ends justify
means. Check if the possible outcomes of a risk management plan are in tandem with its
pre-defined objectives. It plays a vital role in analyzing if the plan in action is perfect. If
it produces desired results, it does not need to be changed. But if it fails to produce what
is required can be a really serious issue. After all, an organization deploys its resources
including time, money and human capital and above all, the main aim of the organization
is also defeated.

 Evaluate If All the Activities in the Plan are Effective: It requires a thorough
investigation of each activity of a risk management plan. Checking out the efficiency of
all the activities and discovering the flaws in their implementation allow you to analyze
the whole plan systematically.

 Evaluate the Business Environment: A thorough study and critical evaluation of

business environment where a risk management plan is to be implemented is essential.
Take time to assess, analyze and decide what exactly is required.

 Make Possible Changes in Faulty Activities: After evaluating the effectiveness and
efficiency of all the activities, try to make possible changes in the action plan to get
desired results. It may be very time consuming but is necessary for successful
implementation of your risk management plan.

 Review the Changed Activities: After making changes in already existing activities and
events of a risk management plan, go for a final review. Try to note down the possible
outcomes of the changed activity and match them with the main objectives of the risk
management plan. Go ahead in case they are in line with them.

Evaluating a risk management plan sometimes can be very frustrating. It is definitely a time
consuming process and also requires more of human efforts. Therefore, it is always better to
analyze and evaluate a plan at every stage otherwise it will result in wastage of time, finances
and efforts. In order to keep a check on it, specialized teams of risk managers can be appointed.
The whole event can be outsourced to a risk management firm. The professionals at the firm can
help you design, develop, implement and evaluate a risk management plan for your company.

Exposure Assessments
Introduction to Basic Concepts

Introduction
From the water we drink, swim or bathe in, the air we breathe, to the consumer products we
apply in/on our bodies and our surrounding environments, to the soil we use to grow our food,
we are exposed to environmental agents in every aspect of human life and activity. Exposure
assessment is a branch of environmental science that attempts to characterize how these
contaminants behave in the environment and subsequently result in human exposure. The goal
of an exposure assessment applied in the traditional environmental health context is to
quantitatively measure how much of an agent can be absorbed by an exposed population, in
what form are they exposed, at what rate is exposure occurring, and how much of the absorbed
amount is actually available to produce a biological effect

This module is intended to provide an introductory overview to exposure assessments. This

module offers a basic understanding of the steps and key considerations involved in designing
and conducting an exposure assessment, mainly in the context of epidemiological studies.

Learning Objectives
After completing this module, users will be able to:

 Describe the basic concepts and role of exposure assessment in

several different contexts
 Discuss a conceptual model for the relationship between source,
receptor, and health outcome
 Explain the importance of designing an exposure assessment strategy
according to specific well-defined objectives
 Summarize the different types of exposure indices and describe the
strengths and limitations of each
 Identify the issues that should be considered when designing a study,
and explain why each is important
 Compare and contrast systematic and random error and describe the
potential effects of each type
 Describe some of the methods involved in air, dermal, noise, and
biological monitoring

Overview
According to the EPA, an exposure assessment is the "process of measuring or estimating the
magnitude, frequency, and duration of human exposure to an agent in the environment, or
estimating future exposures for an agent that has not yet been released." Exposure
assessments attempt to address some of the following questions.

 Who or what is exposed?

 Does the exposure occur through breathing air, drinking water, skin
contact, or any other route?
 How much exposure occurs?
 How often and for how long does exposure occur?
Exposure assessments are generally used to characterize occupational exposures in the
workplace and environmental exposures to the general population, such as emissions from
industrial processes, contaminated food or water, consumer products containing hazardous
chemicals, etc. The table below highlights the different applications for an exposure
assessment.

Applications for an Exposure Assessment

Epidemiological In an epidemiological study, investigators are assessing whether exposure to an
study environmental contaminant or agent is associated with a given health outcome. The goal is
ultimately to determine if a causal relationship takes place between exposure and disease.
Occupational Occupational health studies often attempt to characterize exposure and risk of exposure in
health the context of work-related activities. The goal is to both identify and control risks that result
from physical, chemical, and other workplace hazards.
Risk With the goal of a risk assessment being to characterize the nature and magnitude of
assessment health risks from chemical contaminants and other stressors, the exposure assessment is
the component that attempts to characterize who is exposed and how much are they
exposed to.
Routine Routine surveillance may be required by various types of industry to determine whether
surveillance they meet regulatory standards put forth by agencies such as the EPA and OSHA. For
example, the EPA's Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program collects fish
from the Great Lakes annually and analyzes them for contaminants.
Other Other applications for exposure assessments include evaluating the effectiveness of an
intervention strategy.

What is exposure?
Exposure is referring to when individuals come into contact with a substance or factor affecting
human health, either adversely or beneficially. According to IUPAC glossary, exposure is
defined as the "concentration, amount or intensity of a particular physical or chemical agent or
environmental agent that reaches the target population, organism, organ, tissue or cell, usually
expressed in numerical terms of concentration, duration, and frequency (for chemical agents and
micro-organisms) or intensity (for physical agents)." Although this definition mentions contact
with internal components of the body, exposure takes place externally on the body and does not
automatically lead to an internal dose. There is a distinction between the external dose one is
exposed to and the internal dose that is absorbed since they are not always the same. The units
used to express exposure are concentration times time.

Causal Agent

In order for exposure to occur, an individual has to be exposed to an agent. Identifying and
understanding the behavior of the causal agent is paramount to understanding how an individual
became exposed and any subsequent health effects. The physical and chemical properties of an
agent will influence how it behaves in the environment (fate and transport) as well as in tissues
(absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion).

Components of an Exposure Assessment

While the methods involved in any given exposure assessment will vary depending on the
specific objective(s) of the study, the principles and basic components of an exposure assessment
remain the same. The activity below highlights some important factors involved in conducting an
exposure assessment. While these considerations will be explained in greater detail throughout
the module, you may scroll over each item below for a brief overview.

Conceptual Model
The steps involved in being exposed to a contaminant of concern to a resulting adverse health
outcome must be explored and established when conducting an exposure assessment. This
involves identifying sources of exposure, how the contaminant behaves in the environment, and
the context in which people come into contact with the contaminant that results in an adverse
health effect. Below is a conceptual model for exposure-related disease that can be helpful in
understanding the pathway from exposure to disease.

Exposure Pathway
The exposure pathway is the physical course an environmental agent takes from its source to the
receptor. To characterize the exposure pathway, one must consider the fate and transport of a
given agent, meaning how will it behave in the environment or media and how or if it will come
into contact with humans. If an agent is produced and emitted from a stack into the air, it will be
available to the surrounding community in the ambient air, probably in the direction of the
prevailing winds. If the agent is discharged into a river, then it will be available to the water and
the biota in the river. The biota may be able to chemically change the agent so that when a
person eats the biota, the agent may be more or less toxic than when it was originally discharged
into the river.

Another factor that must be considered regarding a chemical's fate and transport is its potential
for degradation in the environment and its half-life in specific environmental media. Some
chemicals are broken down rapidly by sunlight, water, or bacteria into less toxic forms, while
others may remain in the same form for a long time. Alternatively, some chemicals may form
even more toxic by-products when they decay. The term used to describe a chemical that is
resistant to degradation is "persistent." Persistent organic pollutants, such as. In addition, many
chemicals bioaccumulate in the environment. For example, PCBs concentrate in fish and birds
that eat fish.

Exposure Route
The routes of exposure are the pathways by which humans are exposed to agents. Agents of
concern may have different toxicities depending on the routes of exposure. Inhalation, ingestion,
and dermal contact are typically the exposure routes for environment contaminants.

For example, one might be exposed to intact lead paint on a windowsill by touching it. In this
manner, the lead is not harmful. However, should the windowsill be sanded, you are now
exposed to the lead by inhaling it, making it toxic as a function of the route of exposure.

Often times the agent of concern can be directly measured or modeled at the point of contact, for
example, in the breathing zone, on the skin, or via dietary assessments.

Understanding the media in which an agent is found will allow you to understand the ways in
which humans may be impacted. Some common media are:

 Water (drinking or recreational; groundwater or surface)

 Soils/sediments
 Air (indoor or ambient)
 Biota (plants, animals, microorganisms)

Hazard Assessment

A hazard assessment can be a checklist, or simply an investigation of the working area. Hazard
assessments should be done daily, even if the work area is the same. The purpose of completing
hazard assessments daily is to avoid becoming complacent, or simply not noticing the
environment around you. Hazard assessments allow the workers to assess the work area each
day, and determine which safety measures to put in place according to the current risk. Daily
assessments allow workers to view safety measures as situational, and change the measures as
the environment and hazards change. They are also known as field level hazard assessments
(FLHA), or, simply, risk assessments.

Hazard assessment is the basic step in risk assessment in Disaster Management. Hazard
assessment helps us to identify the threats and understand their nature and behavior so that we
can plan and prepare for the upcoming disasters.

"The process of studying the nature of hazards determining its essential features (degree of
severity, duration, extent, impact on the area) and their relationship".
The hazard assessment should begin with the identification of what natural hazards can be
expected and how they might change in the short and medium term as a result of climate change.
First of all, all of the potential hazards are identified. Then the areas that could be affected by the
hazard are marked, this is called Hazard Mapping. The magnitude, intensity and frequency of
the hazards are determined and the causes of the hazards are investigated. Hazards could include
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, drought, cyclones and epidemics.

To evaluate the degree of risk and the characteristics and scale of the possible loss from extreme
natural events, it is necessary not only to estimate the probability of occurrence but also to
investigate the force and duration of the event. It can be made possible using historical data
available in written form as well as in the memories of the people of the community. Moreover,
scientific data such as meteorological, geological, hydrological, agricultural, environmental and
epidemiological data can also be collected from relevant sources and departments for detailed
analysis. However, before this detailed study it is necessary to establish how susceptible
population groups are to the event and how vulnerable they are to this hazard. If there are no
vulnerable populations or elements at the site of the hazard, no hazard analysis is required. This
is because in this case the extreme natural event does not pose a threat to human life. These are
the first steps in vulnerability analysis, and they are needed before any detailed hazard analysis.

Steps in Hazard Assessment - Natural Hazards

Following are the steps in hazard assessment:

1. Identification of the Type of Hazard:

The first stage in hazard analysis is to identify the types of hazards. Depending on the types of
hazards identified, the process may need to be continued on a separate basis for each type of
hazard or group of hazard types. Earthquakes, for example, require different instruments and
specializations for analysis than e.g. landslides or floods.

There are many ways to classify hazard types, e.g. natural events occurring suddenly or
gradually, of an atmospheric, seismic, geological, volcanic, biological and hydrological nature
while others summarize mass movements under the heading of “geomorphological hazards”.

2. Frequency:

This investigation aims at finding the seasonality of the occurrence of hazards like how frequent
and in which seasons which kind of hazards are expected. For instance Monsoon Rainfall
3. Risk and Coverage:

Afterwards the identification and characterization of hazard prone locations is undertaken and
then identification and determination of the probabilities of occurrence on an ordinal scale (high
– medium – low) is completed.

4. Magnitude:

The next step is to estimate or calculate the scale (strength, magnitude) of the hazardous event,
also on an ordinal scale.

5. Causes of the Hazards:

Then identify the factors influencing the hazards, e.g. climatic change, environmental destruction
and resource degradation, major infrastructural facilities such as dams etc.

6. Likelihood of new hazards emerging

The study should also investigate possible reasons for new hazards due to the following factors:

 Natural factors - changes in the pattern of weather leading to new hazards like drought,
frequent and extreme flood events.
 Economic - Fluctuations in the value of currency affecting livelihoods, trade related policy
changes, loss of raw materials, industrial damages and destruction.
 Social and political trends - Changes in policies, Re-locations of people, Conflicts.
 Industrial hazards - chemical accidents, poisoning.
 New forms of epidemics and diseases - Bird Flu, AIDS, Hepatitis B & C, Ebola
Risk characterization

Risk characterization is the final phase of an ERA and is the culmination of the planning,
problem formulation, and analysis of predicted or observed adverse ecological effects related to
the assessment endpointsassessment endpointsAn explicit expression of the environmental value
to be protected, operationally defined as an ecological entity and its attributes.. During the risk
characterization phase, risk assessors:

 Estimate ecological risks through integration of exposure and stressor-response

profilesstressor-response profilesThe product of characterization of ecological effects in
the analysis phase of ecological risk assessment. The stressor-response profile
summarizes the data on the effects of a stressor and the relationship of the data to the
assessment endpoint..
 Describe risk estimates in the context of the significance of any adverse effects and lines
of evidence supporting their likelihood. Appendix E to the 1998 Guidelines for
Ecological Risk Assessment (U.S. EPA, 1998) provides criteria for determining
ecological adversity.
 Indicate the overall degree of confidence in the risk estimates. Summarize assumptions,
scientific uncertainties, and strengths and limitations of the analyses.

Adverse ecological effects represent changes that are undesirable because they alter valued
structural or functional attributes of the ecological entities under consideration. Criteria for
evaluating adverse changes in assessment endpoints include nature of effects and intensity of
effects, spatial and temporal scale, and potential for recovery.

Risk managers use risk assessment results, along with other factors (e.g., economic or legal
concerns), in making risk management decisions and as a basis for communicating risks to
interested parties and the general public. The Guidelines for Ecological Risk Assessment (U.S.
EPA 1998) note that the interface among risk assessors, risk managers, and interested parties
during planning at the beginning and communication of risk at the end of the risk assessment is
critical to ensure that the results of the assessment can be used to support a management
decision.

After completion of the risk assessment, risk managers may consider whether follow-up
activities are required. They may decide on risk mitigation measures, and then develop a
monitoring plan to determine whether the procedures reduced risk or whether ecological
recovery is occurring. Managers may also elect to conduct another planned tier or iteration of the
risk assessment if necessary to support a management decision.

Ecosystem Services in ERA

Ecosystem goods and services include benefits human receive from nature. For example,
ecological functions and processes that directly or indirectly contribute to human well-being such
as clean air and water, flood control, and fertile soil. Incorporating ecosystem service endpoints
into ERAs may improve risk communication and risk management decisions. EPA is currently
expanding the Generic Ecological Assessment Endpoints (GEAEs) to include ecosystem services
and address linkages between the original GEAEs and services (U.S. EPA 2012).

Goal

Integrate exposure and stressor response profiles to evaluate the likelihood of adverse ecological
effects associated with exposure to stressor(s) that includes discussion of lines of evidence and
adversity of effects.

Who is involved?

Risk assessor(s), risk manager(s), and interested parties

Approach

 Estimate risks through integration of exposure and effects data and evaluation of any
associated uncertainties. Use exposure and stressor-response profiles developed
according to the analysis plan.
 Describe risks: Interpret risks based on assessment endpoints; evaluate lines of evidence
to support or refute risk estimates in terms of adequacy and quality of data, degrees and
types of uncertainty, and relationship of evidence to risk assessment questions. Evaluate
degrees of adversity given the nature of effects, intensity of effects, spatial and temporal
scale, and potential for recovery.
 Describe uncertainties, assumptions, and strengths and limitations of the analyses.
  Synthesize overall conclusion about risk that will be used by risk managers in making
risk management decisions.

Products

 Risk characterization report that:

o describes risk assessor/risk manager planning results;
o reviews the conceptual model and the ;discusses major data sources and analytical
procedures used;
o reviews stressor-response and exposure profiles;
o summarizes risks to the assessment endpoints, including risk estimates and adversity
evaluations; and
o reviews and summarizes major areas of uncertainty and approaches to address them.

The risk characterization phase within the overall ecological risk assessment process is illustrated
below (adapted from U.S. EPA, 1998).
 Man-made Environmental degradation

A disaster is said to be manmade when the event caused directly and principally by one or more
identifiable deliberate or negligent human actions. Human made disaster may be caused either
by intentional or unintentional human actions. Unlike natural disasters, preventive and regulatory
measures assume greater importance in the case of man-made disasters. Of course, rescue and
relief measures are common to both natural and man-made disasters. On account of the human
element involved in triggering the man-made disasters, the victims can have recourse to civil and
public law remedies and those responsible for culpable negligence may also be liable for
criminal action under the provisions of Indian Penal Code or various special laws to which
reference is made hereinafter. Specific remedies for claiming relief or compensation is available
in certain statutes. Further, under the law of torts, compensation can be claimed in a Civil Court
for the damage/injury caused on account of tortuous acts of negligence. Relief can also be sought
against the public authorities by taking resort to Constitutional remedies under Article 32 and
226 of the Constitution.

You may hear about natural disasters often, but some of the deadliest disasters in world history
have been anthropogenic hazards (environmental disasters caused by human activity).

Humans impact the physical environment in many ways: overpopulation, pollution, burning
fossil fuels, and deforestation. Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion,
poor air quality, and undrinkable water. These negative impacts can affect human behavior and
can prompt mass migrations or battles over clean water.

Humans have had a huge impact on our environment. Some of the deadliest disasters in world
history were caused by human activity. For example Chernobyl was considered the world's worst
nuclear power accident and the Union Carbide Cyanide gas leak caused a death toll in the
thousands etc., which are discuss below:

The Dust Bowl

The market-driven agricultural practices of U.S. farmers — plowing the virgin topsoil of the
Great Plains and monoculture farming — led to one of the most disastrous ecological events in
the nation’s history. Between 1930 and 1940, drought conditions and depleted farmland caused
severe dust storms, some reaching 10,000 feet in the sky and called “Black Blizzards.” An
estimated 2.5 million people were displaced and the catastrophe compounded the Great
Depression, creating what some have called the country’s “most hard time.”

Dust bowl of 1935 in Stratford, Texas. (NOAA Photo Library, Historic NWS collection)

Poison in Minamata Bay

From 1932 to 1968, the Chisso Corporation of Japan released industrial wastewater with high
levels of mercury into the sea around the city of Minamata. The mercury poisoned the marine
food chain and in turn thousands of residents became ill, leading to the discovery of a new
neurological condition called Chisso-Minamata Disease. To date, more than 1,700 people have
died from the disease, which can cause convulsions, loss of sight and hearing, paralysis, coma
and death.

Ecocide in Vietnam

The Rainbow Herbicides showered over the jungles of Southeast Asia included Agent Blue,
Purple and Pink, but Orange accounted for more than half of the nearly 20 million gallons
of deadly chemicals used by the U.S. military between 1961 and 1971. The cost to human life
was horrifying and the large-scale destruction of the region’s environment led to the coinage of
the word “ecocide
 .”

Nguyen Thi Thanh, 53 and her daughter, Tran Thi Le Huyen, 26, who has spina bifida. (Geoffrey
Cain/GlobalPost)

Death in Bhopal

In what is considered the world’s worst industrial catastrophe, 32 tons of deadly chemical gases
leaked into the city of Bhopal, India, on Dec. 3, 1984, and an estimated 9,000 people died
immediately from the invisible, air-born poison. The final death toll over the ensuing weeks has
been estimated at 20,000 and hundreds of thousands of residents suffered permanent injuries.
Today, the Union Carbide plant, the site of the disaster, remains a toxic waste site contaminating
the groundwater in Bhopal.

Mahmuda Bee, a survivor of the Bhopal disaster. (Raj Patidar/Reuters)

Catastrophe at Chernobyl
First there was Windscale in 1957, then Three Mile Island in 1979, but when a nuclear reactor at
the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in Ukraine had a meltdown in 1986, it became the worst nuclear
power plant disaster in history. The United Nation’s Chernobyl Forum Report estimated the total
number of deaths from cancer caused by the radiation exposure to be 4,000.

A kindergarten in the abandoned town of Pripyat, Ukraine. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Keep reading to learn about five more environmental disasters.

The oil crisis

Although it is the most infamous oil spill in history, the Exxon Valdez catastrophe that dumped
11 million gallons of oil into the Prince William Sound of Alaska in 1989 is actually far from the
largest on record. The Gulf War oil spill in 1991, for example, resulted in at least 160 million
gallons of oil entering the Persian Gulf. Nonetheless, Exxon Valdez heightened public awareness
of the great environmental costs of oil spills and led Congress to pass the Oil Pollution Act in
1990. Tragically, clean-up efforts such as high-pressure washing of shorelines that followed
Exxon Valdez also had detrimental effects on the once pristine ecosystem of the sound.

A bird stained with oil after a 2007 spill near Russia. (Alexander Natruskin/Reuters)
Dying oceans

When the cod population crashed in the historically abundant waters off of Newfoundland in
1992, 40,000 people lost their jobs and the effect on the region’s marine ecosystem was
devastating. Today, fishing stocks from Iceland to Chile are overfished and suffering. The
writing on the wall couldn’t be clearer: The world’s oceans are being pushed to their ecological
limits. And, diminishing populations of fish don’t just affect the great predators of the seas, they
bring the economies and livelihoods of their human predators down with them.

Wholesale market in Bangladesh. (Andrew Biraj/Reuters)

Perfect storm over Lake Victoria

Today, the largest lake in Africa is the center of a perfect storm of environmental crises:
chemical and raw sewage pollution; overfishing; a plague of water hyacinth plants; exploding
algae blooms that suffocate flora and fauna. Additionally, the lake’s border is shrinking by as
much as 150 feet in some places. Forty million Africans in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are
dependent on Lake Victoria for their livelihoods and sustenance making this one of the worst
unfolding environmental disasters.
A highly endangered shoebill. (Reuters)

Rape of the Amazon

Twenty percent of the Amazon rainforest has been lost to logging, soy-farming, cattle ranches
and roads in recent decades. The damage to the forest’s biodiversity is inestimable and the
release of large amounts of carbon held in the forest’s flora could be accelerating global
warming. Some experts now believe the way to mitigate deforestation of the Amazon could be to
create better jobs through sustainable development. "It's no good people saying the Amazon has
to be the sanctuary of humanity and forget that there are 20 million people living there," said
Brazil's President Luiz Lula da Silva.

The Amazon near Mandaquiri, Brazil. (Paulo Whitaker/Reuters)

Our warming planet

Jellyfish swarms. Melting glaciers. Lakes turned to desert. Spreading disease. The effects of
global warming caused by increased greenhouse gases read like descriptions of the Great
Tribulation in The Bible. The first climate change conference was held in 1963 and with
increasing urgency, scientists have been raising red flags ever since, warning us that because of
unchecked consumption of fossil fuels, the human species is approaching a critical threshold
where we will no longer be able to influence the warming climate.
 Jellyfish near Majorca, Spain. (Inaki Relanzon/Oceana)

Problems related to toxic wastes and chemicals and

radioactive substance disposal
If you live in a developed nation, chances are companies in your country dispose of quite
literally tons of hazardous waste products every day.
Sadly, much of this waste is not dealt with properly, and can come back to haunt us. Anything
from a wadded-up bubble gum wrapper to radioactive waste, if left unchecked, can leave a huge
and damaging footprint on our ecosystems.
In order to understand exactly the impact hazardous waste disposal has on our environment, let’s
take a look at some types of hazardous waste, the effects they have in both the short and long
term, and what your options are for safe disposal.
There are several types of hazardous waste that industries, medical facilities and even schools
can produce. The thing to keep in mind is that not all waste is hazardous, but that doesn’t
necessarily mean non-hazardous waste can do no harm.

However, Hazardous wastes are classified on the basis of their biological, chemical, and physical
properties. These properties generate materials that are either toxic, reactive, ignitable,
corrosive, infectious, or radioactive.

Toxic wastes are poisons, even in very small or trace amounts. They may have acute effects,
causing death or violent illness, or they may have chronic effects, slowly causing irreparable
harm. Some are carcinogenic, causing cancer after many years of exposure. Others
are mutagenic, causing major biological changes in the offspring of exposed humans and
wildlife.

Reactive wastes are chemically unstable and react violently with air or water. They cause
explosions or form toxic vapours. Ignitable wastes burn at relatively low temperatures and may
cause an immediate fire hazard. Corrosive wastes include strong acidic or alkaline substances.
They destroy solid material and living tissue upon contact, by chemical reaction.

Infectious wastes include used bandages, hypodermic needles, and other materials from hospitals
or biological research facilities.

Radioactive wastes emit ionizing energy that can harm living organisms. Because
some radioactive materials can persist in the environment for many thousands of years before
fully decaying, there is much concern over the control of these wastes. However, the handling
and disposal of radioactive material is not a responsibility of local municipal government.
Because of the scope and complexity of the problem, the management of radioactive waste—
particularly nuclear fission waste—is usually considered an engineering task separate from other
forms of hazardous-waste management and is discussed in the article nuclear reactor.

How Does Hazardous Waste Impact The Environment?

Hazardous waste has enormous impacts on the environment. Air, soil, water and wildlife
health are all affected by the amounts of hazardous waste generated every day by business and
industry.
Regulations exist to help us dispose of it properly, but contamination still occurs all the time. In
fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recorded voluntary disclosure and
certified corrections of violations at more than 1,900 facilities in 2019. This was a 20% increase
over the number of cases recorded in 2018.
There were more than $471 million in combined federal administrative and judicial civil
penalties and criminal fines levied that year as well, with 170 criminal cases opened, according
to the EPA.

Short-Term Effects
The main danger in the short term is water pollution. The chemicals that are disposed of into our
waterways make streams, rivers, lakes and aquifers unsafe to use for drinking or agricultural
purposes.
Animals and plants sicken and die when they drink from these waters, and human health in areas
downstream may be affected.

Long-Term Effects
Long-term effects include signs of mutation in animals, cancer and other diseases in humans,
trash in our waterways and green spaces, and the destruction of many natural resources.
Populations of insects such as bees, which are crucial to preserving the fertility of plant life, are
dying off faster than they can repopulate due to human pollution.
Even if spills are quickly contained, the chemicals can seep into soil, interrupting plants’ normal
growth processes.
Another long-term impact of hazardous waste is the danger it poses to our water table. Chemicals
can soak through soil and enter underground aquifers. What may have been a spill that occurred
in a small area can quickly grow to impact an extremely large area. Even more frightening, the
true impact of this can go undetected for a long period of time.
Because bodily fluids are another kind of hazardous waste that often gets disposed of
improperly, we now have to worry about the spread of human disease as well. Other forms of
chemical contamination, such as mercury and lead, pose major human health risks – especially to
developing children. They accumulate in tissue, build up over time, and can lead to cancer,
seizures, poisoning and death.