During the COVID-19 pandemic the world has rightly focused on controlling spread of the virus. This includes the widespread use of personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE includes use of disposal plastic face masks and gloves (Scientific American, 2020). However, PPE use during the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an estimated global use of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves every month. Much of this PPE ends up as mismanaged waste, resulting in widespread environmental contamination posing risks to public and environmental health. Concerns over the survival of the virus on contaminated surfaces has also triggered the reversal of policies to reduce single-use plastics in some regions. Whilst plastics have undoubtably helped in the prevention of COVID-19 transmission, the sudden increase in plastic waste due to the COVID-19 pandemic underlines the crucial need for innovation for sustainable plastic alternatives and to reinforce single-use plastic reduction policies.
{"title":"COVID-19 Plastic Pollution Pandemic","authors":"T. Walker","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3739955","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3739955","url":null,"abstract":"During the COVID-19 pandemic the world has rightly focused on controlling spread of the virus. This includes the widespread use of personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE includes use of disposal plastic face masks and gloves (Scientific American, 2020). However, PPE use during the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an estimated global use of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves every month. Much of this PPE ends up as mismanaged waste, resulting in widespread environmental contamination posing risks to public and environmental health. Concerns over the survival of the virus on contaminated surfaces has also triggered the reversal of policies to reduce single-use plastics in some regions. Whilst plastics have undoubtably helped in the prevention of COVID-19 transmission, the sudden increase in plastic waste due to the COVID-19 pandemic underlines the crucial need for innovation for sustainable plastic alternatives and to reinforce single-use plastic reduction policies.","PeriodicalId":382416,"journal":{"name":"PublicHealthRN: Toxicology & Other Pollutants (Topic)","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133123026","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mariana Fernandes Fortes, F. Leite, J. Garzillo, C. Monteiro
The supply chains of animal-sourced foods, particularly beef, pose risks to human and planetary health, threatening food sovereignty. These chains have been related to deforestation and the breaching of agricultural barriers, eradicating native forests and taking away space used to grow foods traditionally consumed by the Brazilian population, such as rice and beans. The present study aimed to quantify the land use (m2) and the food demand (kg) for beef cattle; and assess the variety of plant species mobilized to produce 1 kg of beef in the national livestock panorama. Food demands were calculated based on the nutritional requirements at each stage of the animal’s life cycles and for each of the main rearing systems practiced in the country. These estimates were then compared with the total area required to produce plant species mobilized in the supply chain. Our results demonstrate that the production of 1 kg of boneless meat from one ‘Animal Brazil’ mobilizes 33.63 m² over 50 months and demands 52 kg of food from just six plant species. Therefore, this study shed light on the inefficiency of the beef supply chain together with the onerous use of soil, which triggers low biodiversity.
{"title":"Analysis of the impact of the meat supply chain on the Brazilian agri-food system","authors":"Mariana Fernandes Fortes, F. Leite, J. Garzillo, C. Monteiro","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3848965","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3848965","url":null,"abstract":"The supply chains of animal-sourced foods, particularly beef, pose risks to human and planetary health, threatening food sovereignty. These chains have been related to deforestation and the breaching of agricultural barriers, eradicating native forests and taking away space used to grow foods traditionally consumed by the Brazilian population, such as rice and beans. The present study aimed to quantify the land use (m2) and the food demand (kg) for beef cattle; and assess the variety of plant species mobilized to produce 1 kg of beef in the national livestock panorama. Food demands were calculated based on the nutritional requirements at each stage of the animal’s life cycles and for each of the main rearing systems practiced in the country. These estimates were then compared with the total area required to produce plant species mobilized in the supply chain. Our results demonstrate that the production of 1 kg of boneless meat from one ‘Animal Brazil’ mobilizes 33.63 m² over 50 months and demands 52 kg of food from just six plant species. Therefore, this study shed light on the inefficiency of the beef supply chain together with the onerous use of soil, which triggers low biodiversity.","PeriodicalId":382416,"journal":{"name":"PublicHealthRN: Toxicology & Other Pollutants (Topic)","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123040282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines the impact of fertilizer agrichemicals in water on infant and child health using data on water quality combined with data on the health outcomes of infants and children from the 1992-93, 1998-99, and 2005-06 Demographic and Health Surveys of India. Because fertilizers are applied at specific times in the growing season, the concentrations of agrichemicals in water vary seasonally and by cropped area as some Indian states plant predominantly summer crops while others plant winter crops. Our identification strategy exploits the differing timing of the planting seasons across regions and differing seasonal prenatal exposure to agrichemicals to identify the impact of agrichemical contamination on various measures of child health. The results indicate that children exposed to higher concentrations of agrichemicals during their first month experience worse health outcomes on a variety of measures (infant mortality, neo-natal mortality, height-for-age z scores and weight-for-age z-scores). Disaggregated runs reveal that effects are largest amongst the most vulnerable groups – children of uneducated poor women living in rural India.
{"title":"Seasonal Effects of Water Quality on Infant and Child Health in India","authors":"E. Brainerd, Nidhiya Menon","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2066982","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2066982","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the impact of fertilizer agrichemicals in water on infant and child health using data on water quality combined with data on the health outcomes of infants and children from the 1992-93, 1998-99, and 2005-06 Demographic and Health Surveys of India. Because fertilizers are applied at specific times in the growing season, the concentrations of agrichemicals in water vary seasonally and by cropped area as some Indian states plant predominantly summer crops while others plant winter crops. Our identification strategy exploits the differing timing of the planting seasons across regions and differing seasonal prenatal exposure to agrichemicals to identify the impact of agrichemical contamination on various measures of child health. The results indicate that children exposed to higher concentrations of agrichemicals during their first month experience worse health outcomes on a variety of measures (infant mortality, neo-natal mortality, height-for-age z scores and weight-for-age z-scores). Disaggregated runs reveal that effects are largest amongst the most vulnerable groups – children of uneducated poor women living in rural India.","PeriodicalId":382416,"journal":{"name":"PublicHealthRN: Toxicology & Other Pollutants (Topic)","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132696334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：