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Medical geology


Medical geology is an emerging interdisciplinary scientific field studying the relationship between natural geological factors and their effects on human and animal health. The Commission on Geological Sciences for Environmental Planning defines medical geology as, "The science dealing with the influence of ordinary environmental factors on the geographical distribution of health problems in man and animals."

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:

Recently a new concept of geomedical engineering has been introduced in medical geology through a paper titled "Geomedical Engineering: A new and captivating prospect". It provides the fundamentals of engineering applications to the medical geology issues.

It is widely known that the state of our environment affects us in many ways. Minerals and rocks are going to have some impact on human and animal populations because that is what the earth is composed of. Medical geology brings professionals from both the medicine field and the geology field to help us understand this relationship. There are two priorities that have been established within the medical geology field, "(1) the study of trace elements, especially their bioavailability and (2) a need to establish baseline, or background levels of contaminants/ xenobiotics/ potentially harmful but naturally occurring materials in water, soil, air, food, and animal tissue." The elements and minerals in the land effect people and animals immensely especially when there is a close relationship between the two. Those who depend heavily on the land are faced with one of two problems. First, those who live in places such as Maputaland, South Africa are exposed to heavily impoverished soils which result in a number of diseases caused by mineral imbalances. Secondly, those in areas such as India and Bangladesh are often exposed to an excess of elements in the land resulting in mineral toxicity. We do of course need some naturally occurring elements however most can be extremely detrimental to ourhealth. There is a direct link between health and the earth because we ingest and breath in all of these chemicals and for the most part we do it unknowingly.


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