Hazard, Risk, Benefit

Stairs are a HAZARD

RISK is likelihood of injury

Often expressed as a fraction

(1 in a million)

Pesticides / Fungicides• Hazard

– Measured in a lab– How much substance is

needed to kill or injure an experimental animal

• Benefit

• More food (less loss (growing, storing))• Better looking food – not as many blemishes–More acceptable to consumers – less loss

• Risk

• This is the real world – what is important

• Approximately 250 basic chemicals made by more than 50 companies are registered for use as pesticides in food and feed production in the United States.

• More than a quarter of a million U.S. children aged 1–5 ingest a combination of 20 different pesticides every day.

• Overall, 20 million children aged 5 and under eat an average of 8 pesticides every day.

• Pesticide use has increased 50-fold since 1950, and 2.5 million tons of industrial pesticides are now used each year.

• Some 610,000 children aged 1–5 consume a dose of neurotoxic organophosphate insecticides that the government deems unsafe.

• More than half of these unsafe exposures are from one pesticide—methyl parathion.

• methyl parathion - use is legally prohibited. • Pesticide highly toxic to humans and birds

(EPA, 1997). Methyl parathion is only allowed to be used on certain open agricultural fields

• it is legally prohibited to use methyl parathion inside buildings (EPA, 1997).

• Based on a report by the Texas Department of Health however, researchers indicated that 25% of the residents in their study region were illegally using methyl parathion

Mississippi 1996• More than 1500 homes and businesses in

Mississippi were sprayed with methyl parathion by unlicensed pest control operators over a two-year period ending in November 1996.

• The spraying resulted in the temporary relocation of more than 1100 people.

• Local veterinarians reported deaths of household animals due to methyl parathion exposure.

• Eight day-care centres, one restaurant and two hotels that were sprayed were closed, and extensive clean-up operations had to be undertaken.

•

2,4-D is the most commonly used herbicide in Canada. It was a major component of Agent Orange, and is still used in over 1,500 lawn-care products (including Killex and Weed ‘n Feed). Cancer in dogs has been linked to their owners’ use of 2,4-D

• Sierra Club, 2008

21,000 Canadians died in 2008 with links to air pollution

Canadian Medical Association 2008

• Combination of short – and long- term exposure• Cumulative deaths by 2031 will hit 800,000

• Vast majority will be people over 65– Heart and lung conditions (pressure from

contaminants

• Pollution this year– Economy and Health-care systems – about $8

BILLION this year (medical costs and lost productivity)

– Total loss by 2031 - > 250 billion

• Based on a conservative assumption that air pollution will not increase in the future– Canada one of first nations to track these

associated deaths

• Everything that we do exposes us to hazards

• It is HOW we do things that determines the risk

• So Risk and Benefit are more difficult to define (and measure)– Personal viewpoints should be important– Who benefits?

Ethics• What should we do about - climate change?– Not all ‘should do’ questions are ethical

• But the question of doing something about climate change is ethical because it involves choices– People have conflicting interests

• The better-off among us (nations) – Canadians will have to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases

• This will save future generations from the chance of a hotter world

• BUT – how do we evaluate the well-being of future generations versus our well-being (especially as they are more likely to have more material goods than we do)

• Do we spend now to prevent?

• Do we spend in the future to correct?

–If there is a problem

Do we spend or not?If so ‘How Much’

• Spending involves sacrifice– Jobs, taxes, slowing of development

• Most of this is common sense

• Elementary principle that you should not do something for your own benefit if it harms another person

• If rainfall changes its pattern (amount, timing, location)– Local food supplies will be affected– Supplies of safe drinking water will change– Large scale migration of people could be a response

– Large heat wave in Europe (2003) – est 350,000 deaths

– WHO – average no. deaths per year from climate change – 150,000

Hoover Dam/Lake Mead 2008

• All of us contribute– Driving a car or taking public transit– Using electrical power– Buying anything that has been manufactured and/or

transported– Drinking bottled water

•These all contribute to the generation of greenhouse gases (contribute to climate change)

• Not a simple matter of weighing benefits and costs

• Can we even get the benefits and costs?

ATTITUDE