Special issue of Health Affairs journal puts spotlight on the environmental factors at work in many health problems

Research and essays make the connections often overlooked by specialists, policy makers, and individual doctors and patients.Troy, Michigan, May 4, 2011 Environmental health factors including toxic chemicals, air pollution and aspects of industrial agriculture play a role in almost 85 percent of illnesses, according to health experts. Despite that, environmental factors are rarely discussed when people visit their doctors, and health concerns generally don't play a prominent role in public-policy debates about agriculture, energy, transportation or other activities that can influence