Environmental contamination from industrialization and modern agriculture is believed to be widespread. In many heavily industrialized countries, the public is partially informed and quite fearful of the biological effects of this contamination (Anderson, 1985). Scientific knowledge of the effects of new substances on health and adaptation has not kept pace with the speed of environmental change. Scientific interest is warranted not only because of public concern, but also because there are questions of biological adaptation to resolve. Environmental contamination is regrettable; however, it presents an opportunity to examine human biological adaptation to a rapidly changing environment. This may help to clarify the relationship between adaptation and community health.

The subject of study, environmental contamination, is an ill-defined phenomenon. Although it can be defined as the effect of pollution, pollution is an equally ambiguous concept. It is recognizable, but has no specific empirical referent. Its definition is, therefore, somewhat arbitrary. Pollution may be defined by source – that is, the product of human vs. non-human activity – but many naturally occurring environmental components (such as volcanic ash or methane) would be excluded by this definition despite their similarity to human products in terms of chemical composition and health effects.