ABSTRACT
Driven by the dynamics of economic growth and development, by rapid advances in science and technology, and by their own increasing requirements, modern societies have been introducing an ever greater number and quantity of substances and pollutants into the environment. The air people breathe, the water they drink, the food they eat, and, in general, their physical environment have thus come to contain constituents and properties harmful to their health. Often, the effects of these are insidious and hence are not directly perceived by those affected. They may take years or even generations to become manifest, as is the case with carcinogenic or mutagenic effects of low-level exposure to certain pollutants or radiation.
