Medical geology: a globally emerging discipline
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1344/105.000000299Keywords:
Medical geology, Environmental health, Public health, Human health.Abstract
Medical Geology, the study of the impacts of geologic materials and processes on animal and human health, is a dynamic emerging discipline bringing together the geoscience, biomedical, and public health communities to solve a wide range of environmental health problems. Among the Medical Geology described in this review are examples of both deficiency and toxicity of trace element exposure. Goiter is a widespread and potentially serious health problem caused by deficiency of iodine. In many locations the deficiency is attributable to low concentrations of iodine in the bedrock. Similarly, deficiency of selenium in the soil has been cited as the principal cause of juvenile cardiomyopathy and muscular abnormalities. Overexposure to arsenic is one of the most widespread Medical Geology problems affecting more than one hundred million people in Bangladesh, India, China, Europe, Africa and North and South America. The arsenic exposure is primarily due to naturally high levels in groundwater but combustion of mineralized coal has also caused arsenic poisoning. Dental and skeletal fluorosis also impacts the health of millions of people around the world and, like arsenic, is due to naturally high concentrations in drinking water and, to a lesser extent, coal combustion. Other Medical Geology issues described include geophagia, the deliberate ingestion of soil, exposure to radon, and ingestion of high concentrations of organic compounds in drinking water. Geoscience and biomedical/public health researchers are teaming to help mitigate these health problems as well as various non-traditional issues for geoscientists such as vector-borne diseases.Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright
The commercial rights of the printed and online versions of Geologica Acta are property of the UB, ICTJA, IDAEA and UAB, and Geologica Acta must be cited for any partial or full reproduction.
The opinions and conclusions stated in each article are the exclusive responsability of the authors and do not necessarily coincide with those of the above mentioned institutions UB, ICTJA, IDAEA and UAB.
Author Rights
Authors retain the copyright on their papers (accepted manuscript, uncorrected proof and published paper) and are authorized to post them on their own Web page or their institutional repositories. In all cases, the complete citation and a link to the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the article must be included.
The authors can use excerpts or reproduce illustrations of their papers in other works without prior permission of Geologica Acta provided the source of the paper including the complete citation is fully acknowledged.
Papers are distributed under the Attribution-Share Alike Creative Commons License. This license allows others to alter, remix or build upon a paper and the resulting work may be distributed under the same or similar license to this one.