History
Many have deemed medical geology as a new field when in actuality it is re-emerging. Hippocrates and Aristotle first recognized the relationship between human diseases and the earth's elements. Only now are people becoming aware of the effects the environment has on our health. This field ultimately depends on a number of different fields coming and working together to solve some of the earth's mysteries. The scientific term for this field is "hydrobiogeochemoepidemiopathoecology" however it is more commonly known as medical geology. It was established in 1990 by the International Union of Geological Sciences. Paracelsus, the father of pharmacology (1493-1541) stated that, "All substances are poisons, there is none which is not a poison. The right dosage differentiates a poison and a remedy." This passage sums up the idea of medical geology perfectly. The goal of this field is to find the right balance and intake of elements/ minerals in order to improve and maintain health.
Examples of research in medical geology include:
- Studies on the impact of contaminant mobility as a result of extreme weather events such as flooding.
- Lead and other heavy metal exposure resulting from dust and other particulates
- Asbestos exposure such as amphibole asbestos dusts in Libby, Montana
- Fungal infection resulting from airborne dust, such as Valley Fever or coccidioidomycosis
Read more about this topic: Medical Geology
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The greatest horrors in the history of mankind are not due to the ambition of the Napoleons or the vengeance of the Agamemnons, but to the doctrinaire philosophers. The theories of the sentimentalist Rousseau inspired the integrity of the passionless Robespierre. The cold-blooded calculations of Karl Marx led to the judicial and business-like operations of the Cheka.”
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)
“The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“What you don’t understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.”
—Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)