Introduction

Abstract

This volume is a contribution to the new and rapidly expanding field of medical geology that links geologists and other earth scientists with plant and animal biologists and medical, dental, and veterinary specialists in efforts to resolve local and global health issues. The topics mentioned range from the health effects of arsenic, mercury, and fibrous minerals, natural hazards that contribute to the etiology of endemic diseases, to questions on the identification of such hazards. Medical geology aims to strengthen and integrate research that can reduce environmental threats to the health and well-being of humans and animals. It embraces disciplines as diverse as mineralogy and pathology (Geology and Health 2001, Geosciences and Human Health 2001). Health generally refers to people and other living creatures, whereas the focus of geology is on the inanimate and the distant past. Although these may be separate arenas or compartments for investigations, the direct links are hard to ignore. Life itself has evolved within a matrix of earth materials — rocks, minerals, soils, water, air — the availability of which has a profound control on what all living creatures ingest and how they develop, both biologically and culturally. The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the nutrients we consume depend on the geological environment that we can only partially control. As we struggle to cope in a world rushing toward 10 billion people, a better understanding of the ways in which the natural environment influences our health should permit more intelligent decisions for the future. The general consensus concerning global change recognizes that humans have had a powerful impact on their surroundings. The other side to that relationship — the sometimes harmful effects of geological materials and processes on us — is the subject of this volume. Combining knowledge and expertise from the earth sciences with that from the medical and life sciences has numerous applications to the resolution of health issues. Coordinating efforts can sharpen the definition of a problem, aid in strategies of reclamation, define and locate sources of potable water, and develop economical solutions based on geological principles that can help to ease, if not prevent, suffering and disease.