HealthWise: The Environment & Health
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While we know genetics plays a major role in understanding the cause of human disease, genes alone are not the whole story. Our genetic differences can influence our risk of developing various illnesses, but environmental factors can also play a large role. Many of us now wonder if there is something in the air, water or our diet that could me making us sick. Recently a major research study found that most types of cancer are not inherited genetic defects, but are explained mainly by environmental factors. These include, tobacco smoke, toxic chemicals and dietary habits. While overt poisoning from environmental toxins has long been recognized, scientists are still searching for answers about how our behavior, genes and environmental factors interact. According to a report sponsored by the Pew Environmental Health Commission, this gap in critical knowledge hinders national efforts to reduce or eliminate diseases that might be prevented by better managing environmental factors. This is especially true for chronic diseases and conditions such as birth defects, asthma and childhood cancers. The national cost of chronic disease is staggering: 4 of every 5 deaths annually, 100 million people suffering each year and $325 billion in annual healthcare and lost productivity.

As a nation, we have invested heavily in identifying and tracking pollutants in the environment, particularly for regulatory and ecological purposes, but only minimally in tracking exposures and the distribution of disease and its relationship to the environment.

Join host Christine Rogers for the UNC-TV special, HealthWise: The Environment & Health as a panel of experts from across North Carolina discuss the ways in which environment influences human biology and the risk of developing disease. This hour-long program also examines the many programs underway across the state to address the possible link between environmental factors and disease.

Panelists