Since the advent of civilization, when
that very first stick was poked into the ground to make a hole for a seed, and
the very first path was laid between multiple shelters, the ways that people
farm, live collectively and interact have evolved into how we eat and live,
guided by the policies of municipal services and their impact on our human
health. From the crude machinery that was being used to plant and harvest crops,
to the lack of adequate sanitation systems in communal living arrangements such
as towns, villages or cities, the risk of disease or injury was a daily and
constant threat. Since then, we’ve come
a long way. Our technology, our
understanding of the environment has allowed various laws and committees to
adopt measures to ensure the safety of our municipalities through proper
regulated and effective services.
Studies continue to be done and policies are constantly being improved
upon in an attempt to further protect us from dangers that we may not yet be
fully aware of.
One such study takes into question of how
the quality and safety of milk and other dairy products have been impacted by
the production systems in place today. Unlike
the simplistic caveat that Pasteur promoted where we simply pasteurize and all
is good, this study looks at the sustainability of organic farming as a
possible alternative to traditional methods within the safety limits and
guidelines established by governing bodies
According to the author, organic farming "typically requires more
resources and produces less food, which currently makes it less profitable and
a questionable solution to meeting the world's growing food supply needs
(Eramus, 2013)." Beyond that, there
appeared to be no concerns as to whether it was safer or more hazardous to the
end user or those directly affected by the farming method, perhaps organic
farming needs to be studied further to determine what technologies can be used
to improve the subsequent environmental impact on agriculture and to see if
there is a health benefit in eating organic over the more traditional chemical
laden methods.
This problem of increasing our food supply
has also given rise to a number of questionable practices. One company in particular, Monsanto, has come
under fire due to their practice of genetically modifying foods to make them
more viable, and drought, disease and insect resistant. On the positive side of things, these foods,
having been genetically modified to "select desirable characteristics in
plants and transfer genes from one organism to another", can withstand
conditions where natural foods could not.
There are also positive environmental benefits due to the reduction of
the use of pesticides on genetically modified crops (Sheldon, 2011).
On the other side of the debate is the
question as to the long term effects that these genetically modified foods will
have on the population. While a
"scientific consensus is emerging that genetically modified technology
itself poses no inherent risk for human health", this consensus has been
found to be subjective (Sheldon, 2011).
The tests that had been done on lab rats only covered the first ninety
days after usage of the genetically modified food. Later testing that was done on the same rats,
found that there were repercussions from the genetically modified food that did
not show up until many months or even years later.
In the 1800s, the practices (or
non-practices) of hygiene due to the inadequacies of the services available in
homes worldwide can be seen in the numerous outbreaks of Cholera among
people. This disease has been said to
have caused "22 million deaths, with decadal cholera mortality rising as
high as 1.5/1,000 in 1887–96, equivalent to 429,000 average annual cholera
deaths (Hamlin, 2008)". Since then,
the introduction of water filtration and the treatment of effluence have been
able to halt the spread of the disease in technologically advanced societies.
The creating of systems to keep water
clean has been a goal of humankind for centuries. Going back to the Roman era, they created
aqueducts to carry fresh water to holding ponds and the waste water out of
homes. This running water, indoor plumbing and sewer system which carried disease
away from the population was considered to be e one of the greatest
achievements in the ancient world (Heaton, 2003-2013).
The Roman emperors, Caligula and Nero, are
suspected to have had neurosis due to lead poisoning which was caused by the
lead pipes that carried the water. Back
then, technology was limited so pipes were made of lead or clay. These lead pipes were a vital part of
ancient Rome, being the basis for what we now call 'plumbing". Interestingly, the Latin word for lead -
plumbum, is where the word "plumbing" comes from.
To
further exasperate the problem, lead, or rather lead oxide having been made
from lead, was a main component in the facial make up that was popular amongst
the aristocrats of the day. Moving ahead
through history, due to the demise of the Roman Empire and the resultant loss
of knowledge, information and technology, lead, being readily available, was
used as an amalgam to make pewter which was then used to make regular household
products such as plates, bowls, cups, which were affordable to even the
poorest, and later by itself as ammunition of the new doomsday devices of the
era, rifles (Trousken, 2008). This
subsequently lead to a rising number of cases of lead poisoning, both slow
cumulative toxicity levels from persistent low level exposures to dramatic full
blown lead poisoning that killed in a most excruciating manner. Point of note, lead used as ammunition killed
by virtue of the kinetic energy imparted to it by the explosion, not by the
toxicity of the metal in the human body.
After the beginning of the twentieth
century, the infant mortality rate throughout the country and the world saw
major reductions due to two specific advancements. The advancement in water filtration
technology and the development of new sanitation techniques for treating wastes
rather than dumping them back into the water system thus providing for clean
water that could be used for drinking, cooking, washing and other purposes such
as the boiling of clean water for sterilization and the disinfecting of surfaces
and hands.
The boiling of water also reduces the
amount of lead and other metals in the water, and breaks down some organic
compounds which can be harmful to humans and usually is effective in destroying
parasites and other unwanted life forms naturally found in many waters. An example of a modern water purification
plant failure where a filtration system malfunctioned was the 1993 outbreak of
Cryptosporidium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin which affected almost a third
(403,000) of the population of the city
and resulted in at least 104 deaths being attributed to the outbreak (Hoxie,
1997). Due to technology, regulations
and routine testing, such incidences have become rare and newsworthy rather
than commonplace disasters that afflict cities annually.
Today, due to the advances in technology
and development of newer and better systems, the occurrence of death and
disease due to the perils of our environment are becoming less and less common. New and better policies and procedures have
been implemented that will make our world a much safer place to live.
References
Erasmus, L. J., & Webb, E. C. (2013). The effect
of production system and management practices on the environmental impact,
quality and safety of milk and dairy products. South African Journal Of Animal
Science, 43(3), 425-434. doi:10.4314/sajas.v43i3.12
Hamlin, C. (2009). Cholera : The Biography. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Huff Post. (2012).
Monsanto Corn Study In France Finds Tumors And Organ Damage In Rats.
Retrieved from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/19/monsanto-corn-study-france_n_1896115.html.
Heaton, C. & Posratching, C. (2003-2013). Roman
Aqueducts. UNRV History. Retrieved From: http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-aqueducts.php.
Hoxie, Neil J. et al. (December 1997),
"Cryptosporidiosis-Associated Mortality Following a Massive Waterbome
Outbreak in Milwaukee, Wisconsin", American Journal of Public Health
87 (12): 2032–2035,
Lewis, Jack. (1985).
EPA Journal. Lead Poisoning: A Historical Perspective. Retrieved From:
http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/lead-poisoning-historical-perspective.
Sheldon, I. M., Moschini, G., & Carter, C.
(2011). Genetically Modified Food and Global Welfare. Bingley: Emerald Group
Pub.
Troesken, W. (2008). Lead Water Pipes and Infant
Mortality at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. Journal Of Human Resources,
43(3), 553-575.
