ABSTRACT
The potential of a computerised image analysis system for the study of interrelationships between environmental geochemistry and disease is shown by its ability to demonstrate a spatial association of copper deficiency in cattle with copper and molybdenum geochemistry and stream pH. A direct relationship between geochemistry and human health is plausible, potentially exciting, repeatedly tantalising and to date rarely proven. The data on human diseases were based on hospital discharge summaries which, since 1973 had been compiled and stored in the central computer of the Grampian Area Health Board. The geochemical data and geological information for the North East of Scotland were transferred to an International Imaging Systems (I2S) image analysis system. Several epidemiological studies have sought an association of geochemistry with the incidence or prevalence of carcinoma in the oesophagus and stomach. Additionally, studies of geochemistry and health would be more valuable if they included some indication of the body burdens of the elements under study.
