The Ecological Risk Index and Environmental Health

Abstract

Background: The correlation between health and the environment has been acknowledged since ancient times. Values of environmental parameters situated beyond the ecological range produce vulnerabilities and latent pathological mechanisms or generate other reactions. This phenomenon can be called ecological pathogeny. Objective: The aims of this paper are to prove the existence of the abovementioned phenomenon logically and intuitively using a graphical approach and to define a method for calculating the potential pathological risk index for a given person in non-ecological environments. Methods: The method consists of a theoretical analysis followed by a synthesis, beginning with the history of medical concepts and mathematical statistics. Results and Conclusion: a) Given the relationship between environmental parameters situated beyond the ecological range and several pathological states there is a need to introduce the notions of ecological pathogeny and pathology; b) It is possible to find a graphical pattern that suggests the origin of ecological pathology; c) We can quantify the ecological risk index in non-ecological conditions; and d) The concept of ecological pathology involves the cooperation of every academic specialty as well as social and political courts concerned with the human-environment interactions, including nourishment.