Institute of Occupational Medicine pesticides from food and other sources. This work demonstrated that although it is likely that most people are exposed to low levels of a wide variety of pesticide compounds it is unlikely that such exposure would have measurable effects on the health of the population. In 1995 the Soufriere Hills volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat erupted, spewing volcanic ash containing large amounts of the crystalline silica mineral cristobalite over the surrounding area. IOM scientists investigated the health of people who lived on the island. In general the exposure of the residents was low, because most people lived well
Volcano meaningless when compared to the lifespans of humans or even civilizations. For example, many of Earth's volcanoes have erupted dozens of times in the past few thousand years but are not currently showing signs of eruption. Given the long lifespan of such volcanoes, they are very active. By human lifespans, however, they are not. Scientists usually consider a volcano to be "erupting" or "likely to erupt" if it is currently erupting, or showing signs of unrest such as unusual earthquake activity or significant new gas emissions. Most scientists consider a volcano "active" if it has erupted in the last 10,000