Valuation of External Costs of Wet-Season Lowland Rice Production Systems in Northern Thailand

This study aims to assess the external costs of environmental impacts associated with the rice production systems using LCA approach and evaluated them into the economic value. The study compared the different chemical and energy use, as well as straw management of the three different rice production systems, included the mainstream conventional rice system, GAP rice system, and the organic rice system in Northern Thailand. The LCA analysis quantified the midpoint and endpoint of five environmental impacts, including climate change, terrestrial acidification, eutrophication, water depletion, and human health damage, from cradle-to-farm gate. The results of economic valuation revealed that the external costs of the conventional and GAP rice systems have significantly higher than that of the organic system. Most external costs came from the wastewater treatment cost due to the eutrophication mainly arising from the use of chemical fertilizer. Besides, about one-fourth of the total external costs came from the human health damage cost due to the open-air rice straw burning. To reduce the external costs of rice production, the amount of chemical fertilizer use causing eutrophication should be diminished and replaced by applying organic fertilizer from incorporating rice straw into the soil as well as growing a rotational crop after rice cultivation to stop the open-air rice straw burning and reduced the human health damage. The government should encourage rice farmers to the organic rice farming and manage the rice straw without burning because they may have the cost burden, whereas society gains more benefits from less pollution. Keywords: Economic valuation, Environmental impacts, Life Cycle Assessment, Rice production systems, Thai Good Agricultural Practice

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Assessing local impacts of water use on human health: evaluation of water footprint models in the Province Punjab, Pakistan

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment ◽

10.1007/s11367-021-01888-z ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Natalia Mikosch ◽

Markus Berger ◽

Elena Huber ◽

Matthias Finkbeiner

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Water Use ◽

Water Deprivation ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Local Scale ◽

Water Supply Systems ◽

Domestic Water ◽

Income Loss ◽

Human Health Damage ◽

Health Damage

Abstract Purpose The water footprint (WF) method is widely applied to quantify water use along the life cycle of products and organizations and to evaluate the resulting impacts on human health. This study analyzes the cause-effect chains for the human health damage related to the water use on a local scale in the Province Punjab of Pakistan, evaluates their consistency with existing WF models, and provides recommendations for future model development. Method Locally occurring cause-effect chains are analyzed based on site observations in Punjab and a literature review. Then, existing WF models are compared to the findings in the study area including their comprehensiveness (covered cause-effect chains), relevance (contribution of the modeled cause-effect chain to the total health damage), and representativeness (correspondence with the local cause-effect chain). Finally, recommendations for the development of new characterization models describing the local cause-effect chains are provided. Results and discussion The cause-effect chains for the agricultural water deprivation include malnutrition due to reduced food availability and income loss as well as diseases resulting from the use of wastewater for irrigation, out of which only the first one is addressed by existing WF models. The cause-effect chain for the infectious diseases due to domestic water deprivation is associated primarily with the absence of water supply systems, while the linkage to the water consumption of a product system was not identified. The cause-effect chains related to the water pollution include the exposure via agricultural products, fish, and drinking water, all of which are reflected in existing impact assessment models. Including the groundwater compartment may increase the relevance of the model for the study area. Conclusions Most cause-effect chains identified on the local scale are consistent with existing WF models. Modeling currently missing cause-effect chains for the impacts related to the income loss and wastewater usage for irrigation can enhance the assessment of the human health damage in water footprinting.

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Human health damage caused by particulate matter PM10 and ozone in urban environments: the case of Athens, Greece

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment ◽

10.1007/s10661-013-3076-8 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 185 (8) ◽

pp. 6933-6942 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

P. A. Kassomenos ◽

K. Dimitriou ◽

A. K. Paschalidou

Keyword(s):

Particulate Matter ◽

Human Health ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Human Health Damage ◽

Health Damage

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A Human Health Toxicity Assessment of Biogas Engines Regulated and Unregulated Emissions

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app10207048 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (20) ◽

pp. 7048

Author(s):

Alarico Macor ◽

Alberto Benato

Keyword(s):

Natural Gas ◽

Human Health ◽

Internal Combustion Engines ◽

Impact Analysis ◽

Health Impact ◽

Human Health Damage ◽

Dioxins And Furans ◽

Health Damage ◽

Unregulated Emissions ◽

Biogas Engines

The aim of the work is to evaluate the damage to human health arising from emissions of in-operation internal combustion engines fed by biogas. The need of including also unregulated emissions like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), aldehydes and dioxins and furans is twofold: (i) to cover the lack in biogas engine emissions measurements and (ii) to complete the picture on biogas harmfulness to human health by identifying the substances with the highest impact. To this purpose, an experimental campaign is conducted on six biogas engines and one fed by natural gas all characterised by an electric power of 999 kWel. Collected data are used to perform an impact analysis on human health combining the Health Impact Assessment and the Risk Assessment. Measurements show that PAHs, aldehydes and diossin and furans are almost always below the detection limit, in both biogas and natural gas exhausts. The carcinogenic risk analysis of PAHs for the two fuels established their substantial equivalence. The analysis of equivalent toxicity of dioxins and furans reveals that biogas is, on average, 10 times more toxic than natural gas. Among regulated emissions, NOx in the biogas engines exhausts are three times higher than those of natural gas. They are the main contributors to human health damage, with approximately 90% of the total. SOx ranks second and accounts for about 6% of the total damage. Therefore, (i) the contribution to human health damage of unregulated emissions is limited compared to the damage from unregulated emissions, (ii) the damage per unit of electricity of biogas engines exhausts is about three times higher than that of natural gas and it is directly linked to NOx, (iii) obtaining a good estimation of the human health damage from both biogas and natural gas engines emissions is enough of a reason to consider NOx and SOx.

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The influence of value choices in life cycle impact assessment of stressors causing human health damage

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment ◽

10.1007/s11367-012-0504-x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 698-706 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

An M. De Schryver ◽

Sebastien Humbert ◽

Mark A. J. Huijbregts

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Impact Assessment ◽

Human Health ◽

Life Cycle Impact Assessment ◽

Human Health Damage ◽

Value Choices ◽

Health Damage ◽

Life Cycle Impact

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Human Health Damage Modelling in Life Cycle Assessment: A Valuable Addition to the Evaluation of Medical Interventions?

Value in Health ◽

10.1016/j.jval.2015.09.2790 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 18 (7) ◽

pp. A731

Author(s):

S Debaveye ◽

W De Soete ◽

S De Meester ◽

D Vandijck ◽

B Heirman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Human Health ◽

Medical Interventions ◽

Valuable Addition ◽

Damage Modelling ◽

Human Health Damage ◽

Health Damage

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Chemical, Biological and Morphological Properties of Fine Particles during Local Rice Straw Burning Activities

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18158192 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (15) ◽

pp. 8192

Author(s):

Nur Amanina Ramli ◽

Noor Faizah Fitri Md Yusof ◽

Kamarul Zaman Zarkasi ◽

Azrin Suroto

Keyword(s):

Trace Elements ◽

Human Health ◽

Rice Straw ◽

Indoor Air ◽

Fine Particles ◽

Morphological Properties ◽

Morphological Observation ◽

Asian Countries ◽

To Come ◽

Rice Straw Burning

Rice straw is commonly burned openly after harvesting in Malaysia and many other Asian countries where rice is the main crop. This operation emits a significant amount of air pollution, which can have severe consequences for indoor air quality, public health, and climate change. Therefore, this study focuses on determining the compositions of trace elements and the morphological properties of fine particles. Furthermore, the species of bacteria found in bioaerosol from rice burning activities were discovered in this study. For morphological observation of fine particles, FESEM-EDX was used in this study. Two main categories of particles were found, which were natural particles and anthropogenic particles. The zinc element was found during the morphological observation and was assumed to come from the fertilizer used by the farmers. ICP-OES identifies the concentration of trace elements in the fine particle samples. A cultured method was used in this study by using nutrient agar. From this study, several bacteria were identified: Exiguobavterium indicum, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Desulfonema limicola str. Jadabusan, Exiguobacterium acetylicum, Lysinibacillus macrolides, and Bacillus proteolyticus. This study is important, especially for human health, and further research on the biological composition of aerosols should be conducted to understand the effect of microorganisms on human health.

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Versatile polymer-based strategies for antibacterial drug delivery systems and antibacterial coatings

Journal of Materials Chemistry B ◽

10.1039/d1tb02417e ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Kexin You ◽

Bin Gao ◽

Meiyu Wang ◽

Xiaoyu Wang ◽

Kingsley Chidiebere Okoro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Human Health ◽

Bacterial Infections ◽

Drug Delivery Systems ◽

Bacterial Resistance ◽

Economic Losses ◽

Antibacterial Drug ◽

Antibacterial Materials ◽

Human Health Damage ◽

Health Damage

Human health damage and economic losses due to bacterial infections are very serious worldwide. Excessive use of antibiotics has caused an increase in bacterial resistance. Fortunately, various non-antibiotic antibacterial materials...

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