Epidemiology and Hazardous Wastes

Evaluation of the possible causal relations between disposal of industrial and municipal wastes on the land and in the water, and the public health has become a national priority. Such evaluations often use epidemiologic methodology, in which cause-effect relations for human illnesses are studied in human populations. This paper presents an overview of epidemiology for the nonepidemiologist Interested in solving hazardous wastes problems. In addition, the paper discusses some of the solutions to reducing proposed limitations of the epidemiologic approach, and identifies potential contributions of engineers and chemical/biomedical specialists.