Editorial

摘要

Hippocrates, the Greek physician known as the "Father of Medicine", once noted, "If you want to learn about the health of a population, look at the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the places where they live." While the overall significance of clean air, land and water on human health is well known as far back as 2,500 years (Hippocrates, 460 BC), the relationship between chemical elements and compounds on health could not be established until 4-5 decades ago. It was not until the advent of sophisticated analytical equipment aided by powerful computers that we began to gain a better understanding of how the geochemical environment of a place affects the health and well being of a population. This recognition in effect laid the foundation of a new specialty that came to be known as "Medical Geology" (Selinus et al. 2005).