• Toxicological Research
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• 제17권
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• pp.219-225
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• 2001

The basic structure for assessment of potential health risks from environmental chemicals is widely agreed upon, but many of the details of risk assessment procedures differ among practitioners. Government regulatory agencies typically have guidelines or standard procedures for their risk assessments, established to ensure consistency and comparability, to set standards for adequacy, and to embody underlying tenets. In setting and updating such guidelines, each agency takes into account not only the prevailing thinking about appropriate procedures, but also its own goals and responsibilities and the precedents it has set for itself in past analyses. This results in variations in methods, and consequently in characterization of risks, among regulatory assessments, even when they are based on the same data. As a result, adopting existing assessments from a variety of regulatory bodies needs to be done with caution. This paper examines some of the variants in risk assessment approaches among American federal regulatory agencies and relates them to the variations in regulatory responsibilities of those groups. Comparisons to international practices are also drawn. The impact on development of world-wide risk standards is discussed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제39권3호
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• pp.205-212
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• 2006

Objectives: In spite of the recent increased concern for Asian dust storms, there are few studies concerning how dangerous the general public recognizes these dust storms to be. This study examined the public's perceptions of the risk of the Asian dust storms and also the source of the information concerning the risk. Methods: A telephone interview survey using a standardized questionnaire was done for the adults living in Seoul and its metropolitan area from May 15th, 2003 to May 16th, 2003. The contents of the questionnaire were the sociodemographic characteristics, the perceptions of risk to the Asian dust storms, and the coping strategy of the study participants. Results: The study participants get their information on Asian dust storms mainly from TV newscasts and they have a good knowledge of them. They regard it as one of the most dangerous health risks, along with dioxin. They think that it is associated with allergic rhinitis, conjunctivitis and bronchial asthma, etc. Of the 500 study participants, 201 (40.2%) persons suffered bodily discomforts during the Asian dust storm period. Conclusions: Although there are uncertainties about the health risks of Asian dust storms, the public thinks these dust storms are very dangerous to health in many ways This negative perception will not disappear easily. To fill the gap of the public's perceptions of the risk and the objective evidence of its health effects, more studies about its health effects and the methods to reduce exposure are required.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.33-38
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• 1999

Since binge eating is known to be related to increased risk of body weight fluctuations, it may be associated with increased health risks. This study was conducted to investigate the risks of binge eating on the cardiovascular system of female university students in Korea. Sixty-five female university students who were interested in a weight control program were recruited from a university campus. After personal interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire, 36 individuals were classified as binge eaters and 29 as non-binge eaters according to modified criteria of the proposed DSM-IV by the American Psychiatric Association(APA). All subjects participate in anthropometric and clinical measurements to evaluate the level of obesity and cardiovascular risks. Binge eating subjects showed no significant differences in obesity index compared to non-binge eating subjects. However, they had a higher level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and a higher atherogenic index. They also showed close correlations with general obesity and cardiovascular risk factors. Body mass index(BMI) was the main explanatory index related to cardiovascular risk factors according to the stepwise regression analysis. Furthermore, obese binge subjects had higher levels than non-obese binge subjects or non-binge subjects for total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triacylglycerols, atherogenic index, and systolic blood pressure. The findings strongly suggest that obese young women having binge eating episodes might display a greater risk for cardiovascular disease tan that shown for obese non-binge eating women.

• 자원ㆍ환경경제연구
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.495-521
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• 2009

본고는 식품위험이 현실화되지 않은 상황에서 건강위해에 대한 심리적 불안과 우려로 인하여 발생할 수 있는 소비감소와 후생손실을 2008년 4월 미국산 쇠고기 수입재개 발표에 따른 BSE 위험을 사례로 분석하였다. 조건부가치측정법이나 실험시장접근법을 사용하여 식품안전에 대한 소비자들의 단위당 지불의사나 가격프리미엄을 도출했던 기존의 연구들과는 달리, 소비자들이 기록한 쇠고기 구입량, BSE 위험에 대한 주관적 심각성, 표본내 개인들이 직면한 가격지수 등을 산정하여 개인별 쇠고기 수요함수를 추정하고 소비자들이 주관적으로 체험하는 정확한 후생효과인 동등변화(EV)와 소비자잉여의 변화를 측정함으로써 소비자들이 식품안전성에 부여하는 가치를 측정하였다. 2008년 10월 말부터 11월 중순까지 쇠고기를 소비하는 360명의 주부들을 대상으로 실시한 설문조사 자료를 사용하여 쇠고기 수요함수를 추정한 결과, 수입재개 발표 전 후의 경우 모두 자체 가격, 대체재의 가격, 그리고 소득변수 등의 부호가 경제이론에 부합되었고 통계적으로 유의하였으며 발표 전 후 두 기간 동안에 큰 차이가 관찰되지 않았다. 반면에 수업재개 발표 이후 형성된 BSE 위험에 대한 심각성을 나타내는 변수는 발표 이후의 수요함수에서는 통계적으로 유의한 부의 부호를 가진 반면에, 발표 이전의 수요함수에서는 통계적으로 유의하지 않았다. 그리하여 수입재개 발표 후의 BSE 위험에 대한 우려증가로 인한 품질저하 인식에 따른 소비자들의 후생손실을 측정한 결과 가구당 30,000원 정도로 계산되었다. 또한 이 정도의 후생손실을 가져올 BSE 위험에 대한 우려수준은 수입재개 전에 비하여 35% 이상 증가한 것으로 나타났다.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.71-77
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• 2009

In Korea, asbestos related diseases (ARDs) associated with occupational and environmental asbestos exposures have been reported, and commercial products contaminated with asbestos have gathered huge public attentions recently. Review of previous studies was conducted. Whereas asbestos consumptions among developed countries have decreased, those of Asian countries have increased, which showed typical international transfer of hazardous industries. In Korea residents around former asbestos mines had ARDs, which were reported in many countries such as South Africa, Canada and Australia. ARDs among residents around asbestos factories were found in many countries such as United Kingdom, United States and Italia, and increased relative risks were reported among residents around asbestos textile factories in Korea. Increased air asbestos concentrations by environmental asbestos leakages from factories were correlated with higher malignant mesothelioma incidence rates. When air dispersion model applied, excess incidence rate as far as 2.5 km from a factory were observed. As mesothelioma incidence rate, a representative index of ARD, in Korea has not reported systemically, mandatory reporting system by health personnel who diagnose the disease needs to be introduced. It is hard to conclude that commercials with contaminated asbestos do not have adverse health effects, and further studies are needed to solve these public questions.

• 응용통계연구
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.379-393
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• 2020

사망과 같은 종말 사건은 중간 사건을 중도절단 시킬 수 있지만 재발과 같은 중간 사건은 종말 사건을 중도절단 시킬 수 없는 자료를 준경쟁위험 자료라고 하는데 의학 및 보건, 역학 분야에서는 이와 같은 자료를 자주 접하게 된다. 본 논문에서는 질병-사망 모형에 포함된 세 가지 전이 시간이 모두 구간중도절단된 준경쟁위험 자료를 분석하기 위해 정규 프레일티를 가진 와이블 회귀모형을 제안하였다. 각 개체는 중간 사건과 종말 사건의 발생 여부에 따라 다섯 가지 유형으로 구분되는데 유형별로 조건부 우도함수를 유도하였다. 조정중요표본추출법을 써서 주변 우도함수를 유도한 후 반복의사뉴톤 알고리즘을 써서 최적 추정량을 얻었다. 제안한 추정 방법의 소표본 성질을 살펴보기 위해 모의실험을 수행하였으며 또한 제안한 추정 방법을 Personnes Agées Quid (PAQUID) 자료에 적용하였다.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.414-422
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• 2001

Antibiotic resistance in human pathogens is a major public health issue. Some of the resistance problem can be attributed to the transfer of resistant bacteria from animals to people and the transfer of resistance genes from animal pathogens and commensal bacteria to human pathogens. Control measures include improvements in food hygiene to reduce the spread of zoonotic bacteria to people via the food chain. However, to specifically address the issue, the medical profession must control misuse and overuse of antibiotics in hospitals and community practice. In addition, the livestock industries and their advisors must reduce and refine the use of antibiotics in animal production and replace antibiotics with alternative disease control measures as much as possible.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.538-541
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• 2009

Humans have a long history of asbestos use. There are reports from the Roman era, of asbestos victims among the slaves who worked in asbestos mines. The fact that asbestos can induce lung cancer and mesothelioma was verified epidemiologically in the 1960s. Asbestos related diseases are predominantly occupational in nature but can be caused by environmental exposure. Environmental mesothelioma is mainly associated with tremolite asbestos and this information comes from many countries including Turkey, Greece, Corsica, New Caledonia and Cyprus. In 1993, the first case of mesothelioma in Korea was reported in an asbestos textile worker. Recently, some asbestos disease victims who lived near an asbestos factory have their cases before the courts. A series of recent asbestos-related events in Korea, for example, the shocking revelation of asbestos containing talc in baby powders have caused the general public to become aware of the health risks of asbestos exposure. Asbestos related diseases are characterized by a long latency period, especially, mesothelioma which has no threshold of safety. Hence the best strategy for preventing asbestos related diseases is to decrease asbestos exposure levels to as low as possible.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.150-158
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• 2019

Soil contaminated with heavy metals from artisanal gold mining in Anka Local Government Area in Northwestern Nigeria was investigated to evaluate the human health risk as a result of heavy metals. Measured concentration of heavy metals and exposure parameters were used to estimate human carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk. GIS-based Kriging method was utilized to create a prediction maps of human health risks and probability maps of heavy metals concentrations exceeding their threshold limits. Hazard index calculation showed that 21 out of 23 locations are posing non-cancer risk for children. Adults and children are at high cancer risk in all locations as the total cancer risk exceeded $1{\times}10^{-6}$ (the lower limit CTR value). Kriging model showed that only a very small area in Anka has a hazard index of less than unity and cumulative target risk of less than $1{\times}10^{-4}$, indicating a significant carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks for children. The probability of heavy metals to exceed their threshold concentrations around the study area was also found to be high.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.543-549
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• 2020

Background: The working conditions of bus drivers are difficult; they lead to occupational diseases and require careful study, particularly in Ukraine. The objective of the article is the description of occupational health risks of passenger bus drivers that lead to deteriorating health. Methods: The risk assessment was performed using a modified Risk Score method, which allowed determining the generalized level of danger to the driver's health. The hygienic hazards level was assessed as based on Stevenson's law, which was generalized later. Results: Based on the modification of the Risk Score method, it was possible to depart from expert assessments method of the risk level and calculate the general indicator based on the degree of dependence of the impact on the human body on its intensity, proposed by V. Minko. This allows objective determining of the impact of hygiene hazards on the health of the driver and to predict the occurrence of occupational diseases associated with the cardiovascular system, musculoskeletal system, and partial or complete disability due to the accumulation of emotional fatigue. The hazard assessment was carried out for three brands of passenger buses common in Ukraine, in which the driver is exposed to the dangers of fever, vibration, noise, harmful impurities in the bus cabin, and emotional load. Conclusion: The health of drivers in the cabins of passenger buses is most affected by hygiene hazards: fever, vibration, and emotional stress. The generalized level of risk is calculated by the modified method of Risk Score is 0.83; -0.99, -0.92 respectively.