Rado, By coincidence I was just digging around in the literature on this topic. Three references are below. To provide a snippet: Landigran and colleagues conclude that the percentage of illness among US children attributable to environmental toxic substances is as follows. "100% for lead poisoning, 30% for asthma (range, 10-35%), 5% for cancer (range, 2-10%), and 10% for neurobehavioral disorders (range, 5-20%). Total annual costs are estimated to be $54.9 billion (range $48.8-64.8 billion)."
- Paul Annette Prüss et al. (2002) Estimating the Burden of Disease from Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene at a Global Level, Environmental Health Perspectives 110 (5): 527-42. Mokdad et al. (2004) Actual Causes of Death in the United States 2000, JAMA. 291(10):1238-1245. Philip J. Landrigan et al. (2002) Environmental Pollutants and Disease in American Children: Estimates of Morbidity, Mortality, and Costs for Lead Poisoning, Asthma, Cancer, and Developmental Disabilities, Environmental Health Perspectives 110(7): 721–28. -- Paul F. Steinberg Associate Professor of Political Science & Environmental Policy http://www.hmc.edu/steinberg Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, & the Arts 301 East Platt Boulevard Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA 91711 tel. 909-607-3840 On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 12:11 PM, Radoslav Dimitrov <radoslav.dimit...@uwo.ca > wrote: > Any simple, straightforward reading on how (chemical) pollution affects > people? Something that will shock students into the realization that 'the > environment' is about people and not just about cute, furry animals. > > Rado > > Radoslav S. Dimitrov, Ph.D. > Associate Professor > Department of Political Science > University of Western Ontario > Social Science Centre > London, Ontario > Canada N6A 5C2 > Tel. +1(519) 661-2111 ext. 85023 > Fax +1(519) 661-3904 > Email: rdimi...@uwo.ca > >