7.7 NIH & Environmental Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) works to prevent diseases and improve the health of humans, increasing the their longevity of life. Their missions is to “…seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.” The goals of the NIH include foster fundamental discoveries, research, and their applications to protect and improve health; develop, maintain, and renew the resources that ensure the national is capable of preventing diseases; expand the knowledge base in medicine to enhance the well-being of our nation; and the promote the highest level of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility of science. The NIH has a great impact on environmental quality. Its work comprises the health of humans and methods to increase the well-being and longevity of life. There are 27 institutes and centers that comprises the NIH, which all focus on particular diseases or body systems. A few that tackle environmental straight on include National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH).