Amer El-Araf: Small World, Big Issues

Amer El-Araf, emeritus professor of health sciences, presented his paper, “Globalization of Environmental Health,” at the annual meeting of the California Environmental Health Association held in Anaheim, CA, May 8-12.

“My theme in environmental health is that it’s localized,” says the Egyptian-born El-Araf, who has taught in Nigeria and Germany, as well as his native country. “We currently import about 40 percent of our food from other countries, and 70 percent of that 40 percent comes from Mexico. Whatever environmental health issues there are in that country, become a local issue for us here.”

El-Araf cites the mad cow epidemic of the late 1990s in Britain as an example of how  health and agricultural issues become international concerns through commerce and its constant striving to find ways to produce food in more economical – although not always the safest – ways. Cattle that were fed bacteria-laden animal byproducts contracted a disease that caused brain and neuromuscular damage, making the meat unsafe for humans to eat.

“Many of these measures are done to save money, but they become a greater economic cost,” he says. “The U.S. would not buy beef from Britain and they lost a lot of cattle. There was an outbreak in Canada, and so Japan would not buy beef from them or the United States for a while.”

According to El-Araf, other shortcuts in agriculture and industry are wreaking havoc with the environment.

“With international trade, we see a number of operations moving from the United States to countries where production costs are more favorable, but the laws and regulations are not equal to those in the U.S.” he says. “Pollution is a problem, especially in agricultural areas,” he says. “As food production increases, people tend to use more pesticides and herbicides, with an emphasis on production rather than keeping the environment clean.”

In the wake of animal pandemics, such as the avian flu and West Nile virus, El-Araf calls for “international and intercultural environmental management. We have to take the interests of different countries, along with the environmental and public health concerns into consideration, to reach a global solution to the issues.

“This is in the hands of political decision makers in countries all over the world. They make other decisions based on economics, politics, cultural values and background. Decisions related to the environment and health are not separate from the entire society’s decision making process. Nothing remains local, so it becomes an issue to impact every country in the world.”

El-Araf served as vice president for University Advancement from 1990 to 1998. He is currently the president of the American European University Consortium at the Global University Forum in Hamburg, Germany, and is registered with the state of California as an environmental health specialist.

- Joanie Harmon