Environmental Health

Regulation
(EHS 7O1)
Dr. OYEKU, O. T.
Dept. of Environmental Health Sciences,
Faculty of Public Health,
College of Medicine,
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Lecture Outline
* Main objectives of environmental health regulations
- to safeguard the better environment and environmental conditions
• Growth of Environmental Health Policies
• Regulatory Systems
• Several Significant Regulations
• Clean Air Act (CAA)
• Clean Water Act (CWA)
• Endangered Species Act (ESA)
• Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)/Hazardous and Solid Waste
Amendments (HSWA)
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(CERCLA)/Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act
 Preambles
• Environmental health laws are legal rules that are aimed at the protection of human
health from risks arising from the environment. This includes those ‘human –made’
risks resulting from interactions between human beings and the environment (e.g.
air, water pollution).
These norms can change over time.
• For example, most people in the 1940s and 1950s took smoking for granted,
including in public places.
• Now tobacco companies have settled billions of dollars worth of lawsuits against
their products, many jurisdictions ban smoking in public buildings, and smoking is
frowned upon socially in ways that would not have occurred to people fifty years
ago.
• In the last forty years in the industrialized nations, stronger environmental laws have
resulted in cleaner air, safer drinking water, and recovery of some rivers and lakes
that in 1970 had unacceptable levels of pollution for fishing and recreation.
Growth of Environmental Health
Policies
• Environmental law grew rapidly in scope and complexity between 1970 and 1990,
and it provides the foundation for many, though not all, environmental health
policies.
• Whilst, Statutory law refers to rules enacted by a legislative body, common law
grows out of court decisions that establish precedents, and regulations are rules
issued by executive branch agencies and based on statutory law.
• Regulations are mandatory requirements that can apply to individuals, businesses,
state or local governments, non-profit institutions, or others (epa.gov).
• In the environmental arena, statutes and regulations specifically adopted by
governments under a constitutional framework now hold a preeminent place in
our society. However, statutory law, common law, and regulations are all
influenced by cultural and institutional norms..
Regulatory Systems
• All regulatory systems under environmental statutes have common
elements
• Planning and priority setting
• Standard setting
• Permitting
• Monitoring and surveillance
• Enforcement
Who sets the standards?
• Typically minimum standards are set by the Federal government; States
may have standards that are stricter than Federal, they may not have
standards that are more lax than Federal (US EPA, the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
Cooperative Federalism =
Federal/State Partnership
• This entails
• Nationwide environmental planning
• Research and demonstration
• Standard setting at the federal level
• Delegation of legal authority to consenting states for
• Local environmental planning
• Set more stringent standards
• Administer permit systems
• Carry out monitoring, surveillance, and enforcement
 Example: Federal supplementary Gazette on
National Environmental Health Practice
Regulation Vol. 103 No.27, Commenced 15th Feb.
2016 (Part I— Purpose and Scope 1)
(1) These Regulations intend to—
(a) provide a guideline for the enforcement of the regulatory powers in the Act;
(b) prevent and abate nuisance, protect, preserve and promote the physical and social well-being of the
public;
(c) prevent and control the incidence of communicable diseases through environmental health
intervention;
(d) reduce environmental hazards to health, safeguard and maintain aesthetic value of the environment;
(e) promote the general welfare o f the public by regulating the sanitary construction and sanitation of
all premises; and
(f ) regulate private and public sector collaboration for purposes of maintaining adequate sanitation and
promotion of public health and safety.
.
Part IV –Food Sanitation
2. These Regulations shall apply uniformly in the abatement of nuisance,
renovation, maintenance, use or occupation of all premises nationwide
For instance: For Premise to be approved;
• Regulation 41: States that for every food cooked /uncooked including Bread and
other confectionaries shall not be exposed, served or sold to the public without
facility from where such food is produced being approved by the Environmental
Health Authority having Jurisdiction in that area in line with applicable standards.
What if the regulation is contravened?
• N0.39: A person, an establishment or Company that contravenes any of the
provisions of this part is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding #50,000 for
individuals and #250,000 for corporate bodies or 6 months imprisonment or MD
Several Significant Regulations
• Clean Air Act
• Clean Water Act
• Endangered Species Act
• Safe Drinking Water Act
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act/Hazardous and Solid Waste
Amendments
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act/Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act
 Clean Air Act (CAA)
• Congress established much of the basic structure of the Clean Air Act in 1970, and
made major revisions in 1977 and 1990.
• To protect public health and welfare nationwide, the Clean Air Act requires EPA to
establish national ambient air quality standards for certain common and widespread
pollutants based on the latest science.
• EPA has set air quality standards for six common “criteria pollutants":
1. particulate matter (also known as particle pollution),
2. ozone,
3. sulfur dioxide,
4. nitrogen dioxide,
5. carbon monoxide,
6. and lead

• The Observed maximum occurrence of ozone layer depletion is takes place at

the South Pole- Impact is more at the Antarctic region where countries like New
Zealand, Australia and South Africa are at the receiving end.


• Dense, visible smog in many of

L.A. Killer Smog the nation's cities and industrial
*1943 centers helped to prompt
*Visibility down to 3 blocks passage of the 1970 legislation
*Stinging eyes, throats at the height of the national
burning environmental movement.
• The subsequent revisions were
designed to improve its
effectiveness and to target
newly recognized air pollution
problems such as acid rain and
damage to the stratospheric
ozone layer.
 Clean Water Act (CWA)
• The 1972 amendments:
• Established the basic structure for regulating pollutant discharges into the
waters of the United States.
• Gave EPA the authority to implement pollution control programs such as setting
wastewater standards for industry.
• Maintained existing requirements to set water quality standards for all
contaminants in surface waters.
• Made it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a point source
into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained under its provisions.
• Funded the construction of sewage treatment plants under the construction
grants program.
• Recognized the need for planning to address the critical problems posed by
nonpoint source pollution.
 Clean Water Act

• The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 was the first major U.S. law to
address water pollution. Growing public awareness and concern for controlling
water pollution led to sweeping amendments in 1972. As amended in 1972,
the law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act (CWA).
• The Love Canal came from the last name of William T. Love, who in the early
1890s envisioned a canal connecting the Niagara River to Lake Ontario
• He hoped to serve the area's burgeoning industries with much needed hydro
electricity
• By the 1940s, Hooker Electrochemical Company began searching for a place to
dump the large quantity of chemical waste it was producing
 Clean Water Act

• Love Canal is a neighborhood within Niagara Falls, New York. The

neighborhood is infamously known as the host of a 70-acre landfill that
served as the epicenter of a massive environmental pollution disaster that
affected the health of hundreds of residents, culminating in an
extensive Superfund cleanup operation.
• Originally intended as a model planned community, Love Canal served as a
residential area before being purchased by Hooker Chemical Company. After
its sale to the local school district. Love Canal attracted national attention
for the public health problem originated from the massive dumping of toxic
waste on the grounds. This event displaced numerous families, leaving them
with long-standing health issues and symptoms of high white blood cell
counts and leukemia. Consequently, the federal government passed
the Superfund law. The resulting cleanup operation under the Superfund
law demolished the neighborhood, wrapping up in 2004.
Endangered Species Act (ESA)
• The Endangered Species Act provides a program for the conservation of
threatened and endangered plants and animals and the habitats in
which they are found.
• The law requires federal agencies, in consultation with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and/or the NOAA Fisheries Service, to ensure that
actions they authorize, fund, or carry out are not likely to jeopardize
the continued existence of any listed species or result in the destruction
or adverse modification of designated critical habitat of such species.
• The law also prohibits any action that causes a "taking" of any listed
species of endangered fish or wildlife.
• Likewise, import, export, interstate, and foreign commerce of listed
species are all generally prohibited.
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
• The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is the federal law that protects
public drinking water supplies throughout the nation.
• Under the SDWA, EPA sets standards for drinking water quality and
with its partners implements various technical and financial programs
to ensure drinking water safety.
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA)/Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments
(HSWA)
• RCRA gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from the "cradle-to-
grave." This includes the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and
disposal of hazardous waste.
• HSWA are the 1984 amendments to RCRA that focused on waste minimization
and phasing out land disposal of hazardous waste as well as corrective action for
releases. Some of the other mandates of this law include
• increased enforcement authority for EPA,
• more stringent hazardous waste management standards, and
• comprehensive underground storage tank program.
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)/Superfund
Amendments and Reauthorization Act
• -- otherwise known as Superfund -- provides a Federal "Superfund" to clean up
uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites as well as accidents, spills, and
other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment.
• Through CERCLA, EPA was given power to seek out those parties responsible for
any release and assure their cooperation in the cleanup.
• EPA cleans up orphan sites when potentially responsible parties cannot be
identified or located, or when they fail to act.
• Through various enforcement tools, EPA obtains private party cleanup through
orders, consent decrees, and other small party settlements.
• EPA also recovers costs from financially viable individuals and companies once a
response action has been completed.
Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act
• EPA is authorized to implement the Act in all 50 states and U.S.
territories. Superfund site identification, monitoring, and response
activities in states are coordinated through the state environmental
protection or waste management agencies.

• There are approximately 14 Superfund sites in Maine currently

 What are some current concerns?
• Pollution
• Global Climate Change
• Overpopulation
• Natural Resource Depletion
• Waste Disposal
• Loss of Biodiversity
• De-forestation
• Ocean Acidification
• Ozone Layer Depletion
• Acid Rain
• Water Pollution
• Urban Sprawl
• Public Health
Regulatory & Enforcement Body in Nigeria
• Environmental Health Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) now (EHCON)
also regulates environmental health in Nigeria.
• It registers Environmental Health Practitioners like Environmental Health Officer,
Environmental Health Technologist, Environmental Health Technicians and
Environmental Health Assistant. The Council also regulates the conduct of
Environmental Health Service Providers in Nigeria like the cleaners, refuse
contractors and those who carryout fumigation in premises.
EHORECON was established in ACT 11 of 2002. It has the following mandate:
• to register all Environmental Health Officers in Nigeria
• to register all Environmental Health Providers in Nigeria
• to determine the level and quality of education to be possessed by Environmental
Health Officers and Environmental Health Service Providers
• to enforce Environmental laws, rules and regulations.
• to sanction environmental offenders or defaulters.
Thank you for listening