Although these criteria overlap and may not be exhaustive, they fonn a
useful basisfor judgement.
The consensus of the Commission's survey was that a fairly restricted
number of problems were found to recur time and again.The major critical
problem may be summarized as, "the adverse effects of a changed
environment on human health and well-being"; Le., the possibility that a
changing environment may lead to increased mortality, increased frequency
of diseases,lowered nutritional status via decreased agricultural productivity,
or lowered psychological value of the environment. Concern has been
widely expressed that these possible effects on man may be causedby direct
input of toxic substances into the environment or improper land use.
Climatic changes as a result of human activity may also adverselyaffect the
standard of living through, for example reduced crop productivity, and
increasedenergy consumption, etc.