Table Of ContentEnvironmental Deterioration and Human Health
Abdul Malik • Elisabeth Grohmann • Rais Akhtar
Editors
Environmental Deterioration
and Human Health
Natural and Anthropogenic Determinants
1 3
Editors
Abdul Malik Rais Akhtar
Department of Agricultural Microbiology International Institute of Health
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences Management and Research (IIHMR)
Aligarh Muslim University New Delhi
Aligarh India
India
Elisabeth Grohmann
Department of Biology II Microbiology
Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau
Germany
ISBN 978-94-007-7889-4 ISBN 978-94-007-7890-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7890-0
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013955014
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Preface
Environmental deterioration has shown an increasing relationship with the rise and
spread of human diseases. The World Health Organization believes that almost one
third of global diseases can be directly related to environmental risk factors. In
fact, environmental deterioration plays a large role in the emergence of infectious
diseases. Particularly, in developing countries with poor access to sanitation, safe
and sufficient water supply as the human population continues to grow, the popu-
lation density increases; this leads to an abundance of vectors/parasites and other
infection-forming conditions. Extreme temperatures, climate-related disturbances,
air and water pollution have a direct influence on the spread of infection and disease.
Environmental exposures to chemicals and toxins are a major contributor to diseases.
The health effects of global change are often indirect and difficult to assess, and
the evidence of quality of the health-related outcomes varies widely. Furthermore,
the health science needs to understand that global environmental change is increas-
ingly interdisciplinary and requires collaboration among meteorologists, chemists,
biologists, agronomists, geographers, geologists and health scientists. Environ-
mental deterioration exaggerates the imbalance between population and resources
and worsens the severity of poverty. In other words, interactions between poverty,
population growth and environmental degradation impede sustainable economic
development and worsen population health. It is important for health scientists to
anticipate the potential consequence of environmental change and act accordingly.
It is irony that serious environmental problems are often unknown or unrecognized.
The increasing incidences of air pollution, water pollution, land and soil pollu-
tion, solid and hazardous waste pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, silting and
flooding are illustrations of environmental quality deterioration. Deteriorating qual-
ity of the environment slowly, but steadily poses a threat to human security. To
counter the threat caused by environmental quality deterioration that impinges on
human security, an environmental management system already exists. However,
the various efforts undertaken by the relevant government agencies do not seem
to be successful in stopping further environmental quality deterioration as the ac-
tions taken are not really coordinated and integrated especially when it comes to
v
vi Preface
implementation of laws and regulations and, thus, the threat to human security is
not really checked.
This book discusses the natural and anthropogenic determinants of the environ-
ment; climate change and other issues and their impact on human health. The book
covers ecology of antibiotic resistant microorganisms, pesticide and heavy metal
(arsenic) problems in natural environment; molecular advances in understanding
of microbial interactions; ecological studies of human and animal health and dis-
eases; food security, climate change and technological developments. This book
is not intended to serve as an encyclopaedic review of the subject. However, the
various chapters incorporate both theoretical and practical aspects and may serve
as baseline information for future research through which significant development
is possible.
The content of this book is divided into four main areas: Environmental Quality
Deterioration and Health; Pollution and Health; Climate Change and Health; and
Water Quality, Exposure and Health. The book has 18 chapters, with each focused
on a specific topic to cover diverse perspectives. Chapter 1 gives an overview on
Environmental Deterioration and Human Health. Other Chapters include Environ-
ment and Health in Italian Cities; Environmental Concerns of the Tanning Industry;
Environmental and Health Effects of Textile Industry Wastewater; Applications of
Bacillus thuringiensis for Prevention of Environmental Deterioration; Impact of In-
secticides on the Environment and Human Health; Spread of Antibiotic Resistance
in the Environment; Organic Chemicals of Emerging Environmental Concern–
Persistence and Bioavailability; Application of microorganisms in bioremediation
of environment from heavy metals; Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in Food-
stuffs, Fish, Wildlife and Human Tissues from India; Management of Municipal
Solid Waste Landfill Leachate: A Global Environmental Issue; Climate Change and
Migration: Food Insecurity as a Driver and Outcome of Climate Change related
Migration; Climate Change and Vector Borne Diseases in Latin America; Climate
Change and Geoenvironmental Problems in Indian Desert; Geo-ecology of Malaria
in India; Spring Water Quality and Human Health in Foothill Settlements of Pir
Panjal Range in Anantnag and Kulgam, Kashmir, India; Dietary Exposure to Ar-
senic as Main Anthropogenic Factor; and Land Use Changes and their Impact on
Water Resources in Himalayas.
With great pleasure, we extend our sincere thanks to all our well-qualified and
internationally renowned contributors from different countries for providing the im-
portant, authoritative and cutting edge scientific information/technology to make
this book a reality. All chapters are well illustrated with appropriately placed tables
and figures and enriched with up to date information. We are also thankful to the
reviewers who carefully and timely reviewed the manuscripts. Dr. Abdul Malik is
also thankful to the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, New Delhi for
DBT CREST award/fellowship during the preparation of the book.
We are extremely thankful to Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands for complet-
ing the review process expeditiously to grant acceptance for publication. We ap-
preciate the great efforts of the book publishing team, especially of Dr. Alexandrine
Preface vii
Cheronet, Senior Publishing Editor Environmental Sciences in responding to all
queries very promptly.
We express sincere thanks to our family members for all the support they provid-
ed and regret the neglect and loss they suffered during the preparation of this book.
Aligarh, India Abdul Malik
Freiburg, Germany Elisabeth Grohmann
New Delhi, India Rais Akhtar
Contents
Part I Environmental Quality Deterioration and Health
1 Environmental Deterioration and Human Health: An Overview ......... 3
Farhana Masood, Elisabeth Grohmann, Rais Akhtar and Abdul Malik
2 E nvironment and Health in Italian Cities: The Case of Taranto .......... 17
Tiziana Banini and Cosimo Palagiano
3 E nvironmental Concerns of the Tanning Industry ................................. 39
Farhana Masood and Abdul Malik
4 E nvironmental and Health Effects of Textile Industry Wastewater ..... 55
Sana Khan and Abdul Malik
5 Applications of Bacillus thuringiensis for Prevention of
Environmental Deterioration .................................................................... 73
Showkat Ahmad Lone, Abdul Malik and Jasdeep Chatrath Padaria
Part II Pollution and Health
6 I nsecticides: Impact on the Environment and Human Health ............. 99
M. Shafiq Ansari, Maher Ahmed Moraiet and Salman Ahmad
7 S pread of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment: Impact
on Human Health ...................................................................................... 125
Melanie Broszat and Elisabeth Grohmann
8 P ersistent Organic Chemicals of Emerging
Environmental Concern ........................................................................... 163
Luciana Pereira
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9 Application of Microorganisms in Bioremediation of
Environment from Heavy Metals ......................................................... 215
Katarzyna Hrynkiewicz and Christel Baum
10 Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in Foodstuffs, Fish,
Wildlife, and Human Tissues from India: Historical Trend
and Contamination Status ..................................................................... 229
V. Dhananjayan and B. Ravichandran
11 Management of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Leachate:
A Global Environmental Issue .............................................................. 263
Meththika Vithanage, S.S.R.M.D.H.R. Wijesekara, A. R. Siriwardana,
Soniya S. Mayakaduwa and Yong Sik Ok
Part III Climate Change and Health
12 Climate Change and Migration: Food Insecurity as a
Driver and Outcome of Climate Change-Related Migration............. 291
Celia McMichael
13 Climate Change and Vector Borne Diseases in Latin America .......... 315
Ulisses EC Confalonieri and Flávia RL Suassuna Dutra
14 Climate Change and Geoenvironmental
Problems in Indian Desert ..................................................................... 325
H. S. Sharma
15 Geoecology of Malaria in India: Historical Perspective and
a Case Study of Western Rajasthan ..................................................... 335
Rais Akhtar
Part IV Water Quality, Exposure and Health
16 Spring Water Quality and Human Health in Foothill
Settlements of Pir Panjal Range in Anantnag and Kulgam
Districts of Jammu and Kashmir State, India ..................................... 349
G. M. Rather, Rafiq A. Hajam, M. S. Bhat and T. A. Kanth
17 Dietary Exposure to Arsenic as an Anthropogenic Factor:
Beyond the Recommended Diet ............................................................ 371
Rebeca Monroy Torres
18 Land-Use Changes and Their Impact on Water Resources
in Himalaya............................................................................................. 389
Bhagwati Joshi and Prakash C. Tiwari
Index ................................................................................................................ 401
About the Editors
Dr. Abdul Malik is Associate Professor and Former Chairman (Head), Department
of Agricultural Microbiology. Dr. Malik has been awarded several International
fellowships, awards and honours including DBT CREST Award, DAAD fellowship
(Germany), BOYSCAST overseas fellowship, Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Fund
award etc. Dr. Malik spent one year as visiting professor/scientist at the University
of Freiburg, Germany working on a project focusing on GFP-based monitoring
of plasmid transfer in anthropogenic contaminated soils. He has collaborative
projects with TU Berlin, Germany and University of Minho, Braga, Portugal. He
has received research grants from several funding agencies of the Govt. of India
including DST, CSIR, UGC as Principal Investigator. Dr. Malik has edited five
books published by leading international Publishers. His major areas of research
are Environmental Microbiology, Ecotoxicology and Agricultural Microbiology.
Dr. Malik has published a number of research papers in leading scientific journals
of the world with high impact factor.
Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India
e-mail: [email protected]
Prof. Elisabeth Grohmann is group leader and Professor at the Institute of Biology
II, Microbiology at Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany. She received
her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Technical University,
Graz, Austria. In 2003, she completed her habilitation (Venia legendi) in Molecular
Biology at the Institute of Environmental Engineering, Technical University Berlin,
Germany. In 2011, she received an ikerbasque visiting scientist fellowship. She
spent 15 months as visiting professor at the University of the Basque Country,
Bilbao, Spain working on a project focusing on the biochemical and biophysical
characterization of conjugative transfer proteins. Elisabeth Grohmann has received
research grants from DFG, BMBF, EU, ESA, DLR, DAAD etc. She has collaborative
projects with European, North American, Mexican and Indian academic institutions
and industry partners. Her thrust areas of research are conjugative plasmids and
the elucidation of their transfer mechanism as well as molecular and microscopic
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