Definition of Environmental medicine

Environmental medicine: The interactions between risk factors in the environment and human health. Environmental medicine focuses on the causes of disease in an environmental context. The environment creates exposures to many different physical, biological and chemical agents. Environmental exposures may be general such as to UV-irradiation from the sun or specific such as to toxic mushrooms and dioxin.

Current concerns in environmental medicine include but are by no means limited to the environmental contributions to cancer, ozone depletion and its effects on health, global warming, air pollution, airborne allergens, water pollution, contaminated sites, nuclear accidents, radon, mercury and cadmium toxicity to the kidney, and food poisoning.