ENVIRONMENTAL AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
Monell’s program in Environmental and Occupational Health is a broad-based multidisciplinary initiative that investigates the interaction of human health with environmental and occupational exposure to airborne chemicals. Research, conducted both in the laboratory and in occupational and field settings, uses experimental, epidemiological, and modeling approaches.

Environmental odors can have both positive and negative effects. Odors often are relaxing, evocative, and give pleasure. However, in some conditions, odors stimulate feelings of fear and dislike. As our awareness of and control over many aspects of the environment increases, questions occur with increasing frequency about the more subtle aspects of environmental exposure. To help provide a response, Monell’s newest initiative was established in early 2000. The program’s integrated focus will lead to a more complete understanding of the role of the chemical senses in occupational and environmental settings, and provide the scientific data needed for making policy and public health recommendations. Experts in the fields of psychology, toxicology, industrial hygiene, medicine, physiology, bioengineering and analytical chemistry are working collaboratively to investigate such topics as:

  • The role of expectations, beliefs and other cognitive and emotional factors in human response to airborne chemical exposure
  • The impact of volatile chemicals on chemosensory function
  • Adverse and therapeutic effects of volatile chemicals on human health
  • The analysis and amelioration of environmental odors, including those encountered at the urban-rural interface such as agricultural odor problems near pig farms, mushroom operations, and industrial complexes
  • The long-term effects of odors while living in outer space (in collaboration with NASA)
  • The effects of odors on feelings of health, emotion, and well-being