The study of links between environment and health involves examination of those aspects of human health influenced by the physical, social, biological, psychosocial, chemical, economic, political, and cultural environments within which we live, work, and play. Examples abound: the disappearance of the Aral Sea, a fourfold increase in asthma since the mid‐1990s, babies dying of contaminated water in the developed world (e.g., in Walkerton, Canada, in 2000), a doubling of the prevalence of peanut allergy, such high demands for energy that we imperil human safety through the proliferation of nuclear power, which leads to the potential for the proliferation of nuclear weapons in unstable nation‐states. This situation is punctuated by the occurrence of major environmental disasters (Love Canal, Bhopal, Chernobyl). Ongoing concerns about creeping environmental disasters (e.g., the potential public health impacts of global climate change) keep environment and health issues on the front pages of newspapers and at the top of research agendas. The complexity of designing studies that answer targeted questions remains a challenge; and, yet, decisions must be made with respect to policy, regulations, and guidelines to be put in place to protect the health of the public.
