Land Use History and Public Health

Eckel, Rabinowitz, and Foster have done well in revealing the presence of heretofore unrecognized lead-smelting sites.1 They demonstrate that land use history can be an important tool in revealing public health hazards. Perhaps if other studies are performed in the future, additional important historical resources will be utilized. Such resources could include city street directories, real estate atlases, building permits and plans, title records, archived business records, and aerial photographs, among others. It is likely that other unrecognized lead-smelting sites exist in the United States. It is also likely that there are numerous unrecognized historical industrial sites that generated and disposed of hazardous substances and materials in urban, suburban, and rural environments. The skills of many disciplines will be required as additional unrecognized sites of concern are discovered, mapped, and remediated to protect human health and the environment

Environmental health · Geography · Pathology · Public health · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Medicine

• The Short-Term Impact of National Smoke-Free Workplace Legislation on Passive Smoking and Tobacco Use

  Antero Heloma, Maritta S Jaakkola et al.•American Journal of Public Health•2001

  Add to list