What is Environmental Health?

The environment is everything around us. It is the air we breathe, water we drink, and the food we consume. It is all of the physical, chemical, and biological factors we come into contact with.

This branch of Public Health is concerned with all aspects of the natural and man made environment that affects human health. It is targeted toward preventing disease. It encompasses the assessment and control of those factors that potentially affect health.

It deals with sanitation, air quality (including tobacco smoke), body art tattooing and body piercing, disaster preparedness, food safety, childhood lead poisoning prevention, recreational water illness prevention, safe drinking water, vector control (mosquitoes, rodents, flies, cockroaches, and animal bite investigations). We are responsible for those services that implement environmental health policies through monitoring and regulations for the prevention of disease.