An Analysis Of Environmental Toxicology Environmental Sciences Essay

An Analysis Of Environmental Toxicology Environmental Sciences Essay Environmental Toxicology is a rapidly developing field concerned with the research how natural and man-made pollutants impact the health of humans, wildlife, and whole ecosystems. It involves application of a variety of techniques to study the impact of toxic agents on living organisms and provides powerful tools for assessing the risks associated with the presence of these agents. It draws on a variety of scientific disciplines to describe, measure, explain and predict the severity and frequency of adverse effects on living organisms due to environmental toxicant exposure. Pollution, depletion of resources and disintegration of ecological functions are of global, regional and local concerns. Environmental toxicology presents many practical applications to these problems. The findings are used by government agencies to set new pollution control standards and to analyze the severity of damage in an ecosystem and develop the smartest ways to go about cleaning it up. Land development co mpanies may also work with environmental toxicologists to make sure that clearing and construction efforts are as environmentally-friendly as possible. It involves testing soil, water, and air samples to look for the source pollution, and use their findings to better understand health impacts on native species. Pakistan, as developing country, is facing challenges with a number of serious environmental issues such as degeneration of natural resources, industrial and vehicular pollution, pollution of coastal environment, deterioration of human health. Summarizing in financial terms, the annual cost of environmental derogation in the country is about 4.3 % of GDP (US $ 4.3 billion). This workshop is about the growing amount of pollution in Pakistan. Examines findings of different studies proving that health is being adversely affected by a variety of environmental contaminants. The above situation has arisen due to a number of factors including high population growth rate, prevailing poverty, unplanned urban and industrial expansion, insufficient emphasis on environmental protection in the government policies, lack of public awareness and education and lack of institutional capacity and resources for effective environmental management. To prevent continued environmental degradation and the decline of human environmental health, interactions between human, other living organisms and the environment have to be in harmony. This is achievable through an integrated, holistic approach encompassing education and research activities in natural sciences, socio-economic and political factors with technological, economic and socio-cultural interventions. Increasing awareness of environmental degradation is resulting in proliferation of environmental legislation throughout the world. This drive towards greater environmental protection has created a demand for scientists skilled in assessing environmental resources and more importantly the problems associated with their exp loitation. Environmental assessment may be required to evaluate the biological, physical or hydrological resources of any environment, and to place these resources within a wider geographical context. This workshop is an effort to provide a broad foundation of scientific based skills to evolve, equipping environmental professions, particularly in areas relating to environmental protection and management. Furthermore, the national and international requirements have been under concern for better environmental management understanding the inter-relationship between sustainable economic development and environmental protection. Opening remarks from Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ashraf, Chairman department of pharmacology and toxicology/the Director Research UVAS, were followed by that of Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nawaz, Vice chancellor UVAS, and Prof. Dr. Mrs. Kausar Jamal Cheema, Dean Faculty of Natural Sciences, Lahore College for Women University, all of whom emphasized the importance to utilize the collective wisdom in provision of improved methods for toxicity assessment and rational means for estimating health risk in order to promote public health and to provide a better and safer environment to prevent health problems before they occur. They added further it is our mission to train new environmental toxicologists and address pertinent environmental toxicology questions through education and research in areas such as chemical fate, bioavailability, biological effect, toxicokinetics, and mechanisms of action. A focus on interdisciplinary approaches and scientific skills is fundamental to our education and research acti vities. Dr. Sohail Ejaz (co-author of this report), PhD, University of Cambridge, UK co-ordinator and workshop organizer presented on the innovative assessment techniques for evaluating impact of Air Pollution upon Neuroinflammatory diseases of Central nervous system and how these studies could be implemented in our laboratories. New dimensions have been added to the array of outcome measures. Medical outcomes research now recognizes that patient well-being should be broadly conceptualized and measured rigorously, in addition to considering the biological process of the disease itself. As a result, health-related quality of life, the perception of well-being, is now considered a necessary component of outcomes research. Toxicologic studies have also gained in sophistication through incorporation of more sensitive indicators of effect and the careful tracing of the relationship between exposure and biologically relevant doses to target sites, which may now be considered at a molecular level. He also gave an overview of all his research activities conducted at Department of Clinical Neuroscience and how to work upon such techniques in our country with scarced resources and what targets to be achieved further to overcome environmental pollution issues in Pakistan. Dr. Sohail Ejaz bring to a close to develop and support research programs, outreach and other services that address critical issues in environmental health and toxicology. An international speaker Prof. Dr. Gerry Amor Camer, Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine from University of Eastern Philippines, broad casted through video conferencing facility. He shared his remarkable research work on tissue toxicology and presented a talk on Understanding the pathology of tissues exposed to various toxins and pollutants. Assessment of the environmental effects of chemicals is complicated as it depends on the organisms tested and involves not only the toxicity of individual chemicals, but also their interactive effects, genotoxicity, mutagenecity and immunotoxicity testing. He further elaborated that a number of stressors affect the environment and sometimes when showing synergistic effects they become difficult to quantify or predict their individual effects. Thus, there is a need to understand the toxicant effects at molecular levels to predict their effects and existing techniques to be constantly modified to provide better means of their quantification. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali, Department of wildlife and ecology, UVAS, presented on Sources and Health effects of different Air pollutants. The mechanisms for modeling and understanding the fate of air pollutants through atmospheric transport, deposition into water and soil, bioaccumulation, and ultimate uptake to receptor organs and systems in the human body are complex. These require more experimental and theoretical developments in order to produce approaches for characterization and appropriate strategies and assays for screening in order to detect the harmful agents and prevent them from reaching sensitive endpoints. This seminar and workshop provided researchers from all over Pakistan a comprehensive platform where all facets of environmental pollution as it exists in our country to be fully explored and a forum to these professionals and researchers to discuss and present latest research trends and results in the field of Toxicology. Such initiatives help to support the study, analysis, and solution of environmental problems which are ultimately affecting the health of human beings, animals, plants, soils and over all eco-system integrity. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ashraf highlighted different research activities rendered by the department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the recent years at his institution. He discussed the establishment of new laboratories at the department an effort to open doorways to many new dimensions thus promoting the advancement and application of scientific research related to the contaminants. This included the establishment of Angiogenesis Toxicology lab (ATRL) and a Ne uropharmacology lab in the faculty a progressive step for Applied Neuropharmacology Cancer research. He elaborated further that our research aims to determine how environmental pollutants interact with cellular functions and give rise to long-lasting adverse health effects in vertebrates including humans. We are particularly interested in toxic effects that target the hormone system, the reproductive system and the early brain development and other systems in vertebrates. Enzyme-catalysed activation in target cells and tissues and receptor-mediated responses are important areas of research. With an introduction of these laboratories, it is also an effort in attracting very high quality students across Pakistan and foreign qualified and relevant faculty members to take lead on viable research projects needed to address our country-specific problems. Speakers from various universities and Govt. departments presented their research projects and research papers. Mr. Khaleeq Anwar, PhD Scholar, presented his work on Impact of Automobile rickshaw on Public health. He presented evidence that Automobile rickshaws are among one of the major sources of air pollution in Pakistan, contaminants released from them include the major pollutants Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Hydrocarbons (HC) and Particulate Matter (PM) expressing their devastating effects in deteriorating public health. To have a control over contaminants realized by these two-or three stroke conventional rickshaws CNG rickshaws were introduced. Mr. Rizwan Ahmad, Assistant Director, Vehicular Pollution Control, Govt. of Punjab, further extended the talk by presenting on Advantages of CNG over other fuels. He presented his study on the nature of the toxicants effluent by burning natural gas as fuel and a comparative analysis was made between the nature of the con taminants released by both conventional automobile rickshaw and CNG rickshaw. Statistically significant data was evidenced that emphasized the use of CNG rickshaw to be preferred over the conventional two-or three stroke rickshaws. Lubna Shakir, PhD Scholar, discussed the public health problems aroused due to discharge of tannery effluent wastewater directly into the ground in the city of Kasur. The environment is under increasing pressure from solid and liquid wastes emanating from the leather industry. These are inevitable by-products of the leather manufacturing process and cause significant pollution unless treated in some way prior to discharge. The effect of excessive pollutant levels commonly found in tannery effluents can be severe. Water is so contaminated that potable water has high levels of chromium and other toxicants have been reported in appreciable amounts unfit to be used by public. She presented a comprehensive lecture entitled, Chemical, microbiological and toxicological screening of tannery effluent wastewater. In her work she quantified the various toxicants and studied their deleterious effects using laboratory animals by using various dilutions of this tannery waterwaste. She further elab orated her talk that assessment of the environmental effects of chemicals is complicated as it depends on the organisms tested and involves not only the toxicity of individual chemicals, but multiple factors are involved in relation to health behaviors, which may often result in adverse health outcomes. Zahida Umer, a young researcher, outlined the data showing the Measurement of pollution levels in different areas of Lahore by using carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide meters, and other available contaminant measurement meters and impacter for particulate matter in different areas of Lahore and provided a comparative analysis of these toxicants at different areas. She further lucubrated her talk by explaining different methodologies for air pollution measurement. Air pollution can be directly measured as it is emitted by a source in mass/volume of emission (e.g., grams/m3) or mass/process parameter (e.g., grams/Kg fuel consumed or grams/second). Air pollution can also be measured in the atmosphere as a concentration (e.g., micrograms/m3). Ambient air monitoring data is used to determine air quality, establish the extent of air pollution problems, assess whether established standards are being met, and characterize the potential human health risk in an area. Alternatively, air pollution concentrations can be simulated using computer models, and then validated using data collected from direct measurements at selected monitors or sources. Air pollution data and models are used together to examine the impacts of control strategies on the ambient air. Kanwal Zahra, Government College University, presented on Effects of industrial effluent on the thyroid glands of human population. The human body is immensely complex, and our knowledge and awareness of its complexity continues to grow. One of the most disquieting discoveries in recent years concerns the possible roles of environmental chemicals on endocrine systems. Among the hormones (chemical messengers) operating within the endocrine system are estrogen (a female sex hormone produced by the ovaries); thyroid hormone (influencing the function of virtually every cell in the body); and ACTH (produced by the pituitary gland to influence the release of adrenalin from the adrenal gland). Endocrine systems can be affected by these pollutants by interfering with the normal communication between the messenger and the cell receptors, the chemical message is misinterpreted, generating abnormal response(s) in the body. As thyroid glands releasing hormones influencing the total metabolic rat e of the body, in her study she evidenced the various pathological outcomes of thyroid intoxication by these industrial wastes and could be the possible damaging effects resulted. Prof. Dr. Sharif Mughal, Government College University, discussed the impact of various toxicants on marine environment. Petroleum hydrocarbons are found in sea surface film throughout the world. The oceans have served as a repository for a multitude of wastes and receive effluent from rivers, streams, and groundwater. Atmospheric deposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other hydrocarbons adds to the burden of pollutants in the marine environment. Industrial smokestacks, incinerators, outfall pipes, automobiles, lawn chemicals, agricultural chemicals, homes, businesses, commercial ships, and motorized pleasure craft are all sources of contaminants. Many of these chemicals are fat-soluble and come to reside in the fatty tissues of marine animals. Some of these chemicals have been characterized as endocrine disrupters; some are believed to reduce reproductive success, to interfere with developmental processes, and/or to suppress immune function. Other chemicals, such as PAHs, do not bioaccumulate in marine mammals but may have adverse impacts on the health of marine animals through repeated exposure and metabolic response. He evidenced the above scenario by presenting his study on the Serological and histological changes in the liver of Labeo Rohita dur due to fluoride intoxication. An effort to characterize the types of lesions produced by these chemical contaminants found in, the metabolic response to such contaminants, and the extent of tissue damage caused by exposure to these contaminants. He further elaborated his talk that animals are exposed to natural toxicants in their native environments as well as to synthetic chemicals and drugs. Factors that affect the toxicity include; those related to the toxicants , which influence how it  ­Ã‚ ­enter and ultimately influence the factors related to the host animals that change its ability to detoxify or adapt to the toxicant. The final Lecture of the workshop was presented on the topic, Characterization of Environmental pathologies by immunohistochemistry by Dr. Sohail Ejaz, PhD, University of Cambridge, England. He flesh out his talk that Environmental toxicity encompasses the study of the toxic properties of not only synthetic chemicals but natural also, including their effects on humans and animals as well as their movement and fate in the environment. It is a need to develop research techniques for the assessments of effects of these pollutants and monitoring their lethal effects not on human health only but affecting every living being and our eco-system. Thus putting our joint efforts to provide a better and safer environment to prevent health problems before they occur. Conclusion: This was a variegate workshop to support and promote the study, analysis, and solution of environmental problems which ultimately affecting the health of human beings, animals, plants, soils, damage buildings and other property and uplift of awareness level at National and International level through research and development. We can live a healthy life in a clean environment and it can only be achieved by realizing and understanding the importance of clean environment. Therefore to provide awareness about the effects of all possible environmental pollutants and the corresponding measures to be taken to decrease contaminants exposure. Also to encourage research techniques for the assessment of effects of these pollutants and monitoring their lethal effects on human health and conserving and protecting our environment. Disclosures and Supplementary Information: This workshop was organized at Department of Pharmacology Toxicology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore in collaboration with the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, UK This meeting was funded by Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Power in the Workplace Essay example -- Management

The ability to possess power over individuals is an intense trait that all individuals behold. The outcomes of situations are based on the use of this power. Power can be viewed as an art and a skill if used properly to promote productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness within an organization. However, contrary to that, it can be used in a deviant manner to prohibit success. The following analysis will analyze the most productive use of power and the impact of power in a specified organization. The organization chosen for this illustration will be the Directorate of Resource Management, which fall under the Department of the Army. Is the ability to possess power an art or a skill? In answering this question, one must be able to accurately define the definition of power is. While there are multiple definitions of power, The American Heritage Dictionary has multiple definitions of power. For the purpose of this examination, power will be defined as â€Å"the ability or official capacity to exercise control; authority† and â€Å"a person, group, or nation having great influence or control over others† (American Heritage Dictionary, n.d.). These are two of the most common interpretations of what power is in the workplace. Power is both, an art and a skill. One must have the intuition to understand the consequences of the use of power. In addition, the actual implementation of power is achieved by experience and knowledge of the subject. Career Coach, C.J. Liu wrote an article titled ‘Power in the Workplace’ that outlines some critical details about power and its existence within an organization. Liu wrote, â€Å"Generally, it’s not power, but what people do with the power they have, that gives power a bad rap† (Liu, 2009). Lui con... ...wer can also heal the sick, create wonderful products and services, and do great good in the world. Like electricity, which can help to cure or kill, power is a mutable force† (Baker, 2007). Works Cited American Heritage Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2010, from Yahoo! Education: http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/power Baker, C. (2007, July 26). The Englightened Manager Blog. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from The Enlightened Manager: http://blog.emergenceconsulting.net/2007/07/power-in-the- wo.html Liu, C. J. (2009, June 4). Power in the Workplace. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from Carrer Planning Blog: http://blogs.payscale.com/career-coach/2009/06/the-positive-and- negative-aspects-of-power-in-the-workplace.html Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2011). Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Internal Alignment Essay

Executive Summary We recommend a single internal structure that includes all job families, and uses the same job point evaluation plan to evaluate all positions. The single structure will allow us to evaluate employees on an equal level and it will be easier for the employees to follow. The job point evaluation consists of a grand total one thousand points with 25% weighted towards Education, 20% weighted towards Experience, Technical, and Creativity/Innovativeness, and lastly 15% weighted towards Skills & Abilities. Internal Strategy The recommended internal alignment for FastCat would be to have a single structure based on compensable factors relevant to their success. Each factor has different levels based on the requirements needed for the factor. For example, there are only three levels for creativity, while there are five levels for experience (Refer to Exhibit 1 in the Job Manual). This allows FastCat to cover the entire company with the factors chosen, yet still be specific enough for the individual jobs. This design will help FastCat direct employee goals towards company goals, and still be fair to the employees. It also will help FastCat be more cost-effective, in that the jobs will be thoroughly evaluated based on the levels they receive for each factor. There are five factors chosen to be the most important for FastCat they are: Education, Experience, Technical, Creative/Innovative, and Skills & Abilities. The first factor, Education, was chosen because of FastCat’s need for highly educated peop le. The software that FastCat designs calls for specific knowledge that a degree can provide. Experience was chosen because of its importance to FastCat. Almost every job at FastCat requires at least some experience in that certain area; therefore experience was deemed extremely important for FastCat. Technical ability refers to the amount of impact an error would make for FastCat. For example, an Administrative Assistant miss-spelling something will not have a huge impact on FastCat’s business, however, a Technical Marketing Consultant going after the wrong segment will have a profound impact on FastCat. The Creative/Innovative factor for FastCat is also extremely important. The mission statement for FastCat even states that â€Å"We must produce innovative, high-quality solutions.† Last, Skills & Abilities was chosen because of the  range that the factor could cover, as well as the fact that we can select the most important items relative to FastCat. This internal alignment will allow FastCat to strictly define some factors, while leaving other factors more loosely defined, in order to support employee development. This system will also be extremely simple for employees to follow, and to see the way that the system has been set up, in order to ensure fairness. The structure will also be similarly easy to administer, as well as to communicate to employees. It will be easy to administer because the jobs are already evaluated, and will not change anytime in the near future. Another reason why it will not be difficult to administer is because employees will be able to see the differences in pay, and why they are the way they are. The recommended way of communicating this plan to employees is by giving each employee a copy, and then holding several small meetings in which employees can ask questions about the new structure. Rationale for Recommendations The recommendations we proposed for FastCat will benefit the company for its future success, and will help the company regain its competitive edge, while also achieving its compensation objectives. The first recommendation is for FastCat to use a single internal structure. Since the company is currently undergoing some restructuring, this system will be easy to help reorganize those departments, and it provides for a much less bureaucratic working environment. Also, a single internal structure will allow for better management because rather than having the manager’s focus on trying to organize and understand two or more structures; they can simply focus on one. Second, we recommend that FastCat use a job point evaluation system. By using this point system the company can clearly state what they feel are important skills, and can place a numeric value to them. This way the most qualified employees are easily identified, and the employees can be correctly compensated for their w ork. This system will also help direct employees towards FastCat’s objectives. Lastly, we recommend that Fast Cat include five compensable factors that will help the company get back in all consumers’ evoked set. The five compensable factors we recommend would be Education, Experience, Technical (error), Creative/Innovative, and Skills & Abilities. To help Fast Cat in its future success they are going to need highly educated people who have the experience in the market, but make  little technical errors in doing their job. Also, they will need people who are creative/innovative to help create new products, but these people must also posses the skills and abilities necessary to complete their job. This system will also help direct employees towards FastCat’s objectives. By placing emphasis on creativity and technical ability, FastCat can direct employee behavior towards their objectives. Overall, these recommendations will help Fast Cat achieve their compensation objectives, because the single internal structure is easy to understand and organize , the job point evaluation and compensable factors will help to select the correct amount of compensation for each job. However, while there are many benefits to these recommendations there are some risks associated with them. Listed below you will find some of the risks, and potential solutions for the risks, associated with the proposal for FastCat. Risk 1: Since it is recommend that FastCat use a single internal structure some employees may feel they will not be recognized for achieving certain goals. Potential Solution 1: FastCat can have some other ways of recognizing employee’s when they achieve goals. For example, FastCat having Employee of the Month, Profit Sharing, Gain Sharing, or just recognition for employees by management or the President of FastCat. Risk 2: Managers and/or employees may feel that it is not fair to place them on the same level as non-managerial or managerial employee. Potential Solution 2: Explain to employees how the point system works, and why they are on the same level. Especially emphasize the Skills & Abilities Level 2 and above Ranks, where managerial skills are listed. This will show the employees that FastCat is paying more for managers. However, there may be another factor that places the employee and manager within the same point range. Risk 3: If an employee ranks high on the job point evaluation then he/she may feel as if they are indispensable. This could cause them to not be focused or to slack off on their responsibilities. Potential Solution 3: FastCat could occasionally remind employees that their compensation is based on the fact that they are doing their job. If an employee believes he/she is indispensable, and therefore either slacks off or becomes not focused; then maybe FastCat should remind them of employment at will. Risk 4: Since FastCat does value creativity and innovation, employees who are in positions where creativity and innovation are not needed could feel that any ideas they do have would not  be very important. Potential Solution 4: FastCat could have a suggestion box, or encourage all employees that have an idea to tell their superior. FastCat would need to tell employees something to the effect of: there are no bad ideas, just ones that are not yet developed. This would encourage employees to voice any ideas they have, and feel like their ideas are valued. Overall, our recommendations provide more benefits than risks to the company, benefits such as: helping FastCat to be successful in the future, helping the company regain its competitive edge, while also achieving its compensation objectives. However, as with all things, there are some risks, but as long as FastCat is aware of those risks and handles them promptly they should have no problem succeeding using our recommendations.

The Cause Of The Current Global Recession Economics Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3830 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Introduction This part of the dissertation seeks to understand and investigate the cause of the current global recession and how it has affected the housing market in the UK. Housing Market Trends After the housing markets spectacular collapse in the 1990s, the UK housing market staged a significant revival. According to the HBOS index, the average house price stood at about  £163,000 in 2005, approximately double the  £82,000 it would have been worth in 2000. Cameron (2005) suggests that house prices surpassed their 1989 peak, relative to average household incomes. The other traditional measure of affordability, the ratio of interest payments to income, is not so overstretched, but only if capital repayments and unsecured debt are ignored. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Cause Of The Current Global Recession Economics Essay" essay for you Create order In addition, the strength of the housing market reflects the exceptional economic performance of the economy in 2005, which in turn is partially due to the sensible independent monetary policies pursued by the Bank of England Cameron (2005). As a result, it is suggested that Britain dealt with the world economic slowdown of 2001-2003 a great deal better than the majority of chief economies, producing six per cent growth. This vigorous expansion cannot completely describe the strength of the house price boom. Consequently, numerous economists have argued that there is a bubble in the British housing market, in common with a number of other countries, such as Spain, Australia, Canada, Sweden, and parts of the USA. FIGURE 1 Figure 1 shows the ratio of average house prices to average earnings, a key measure of affordability, for Great Britain and three major regions up to 2004 which is before the economic recession struck. As is visible, there is a positive contrast of cyclical behaviour in each series, with a surprising rise since 1999. According to the HBOS index, prices rose by only 1.3% over the nine months from July 2004 to April 2005. One of the main causes of this poor rise was due to the fact that many households were affected by the increases of the Bank of England base rate. Moreover, the increasing lack of demand within first time buyers, together with decreased numbers of house sales and low request rates for mortgages, implies that house prices have become separated from their underpinnings. The Nature of the Housing Market Housing markets are unusual for a number of reasons Housing markets are peculiar for a number of reasons. First, houses take time to build, so when demand rises, supply can only respond with a considerable lag. Indeed, to all intents, the short-run supply of housing is fixed. Second, houses are an asset that pays an implicit income (that is, the amount of rent that the owner saves by owning a house), so the value of the house should reflect expectations about future rents. But more importantly, since house-ownership in the UK is so widespread, a house is most householdsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ most important asset and since prices can go down as well as up, households are thereby exposed to a considerable amount of risk (almost half a million households had their homes repossessed in the 1990s). Unfortunately, it is not really possible to offset this risk since nobody offers insurance against a fall in prices. The Global economic recession It seems to have been agreed that the financial crisis which formed the birth of the current global economic recession was formed in the millennia of 2000 as a result of several factors which influenced increased housing sales and increased mortgage lending. [Sakbani (2009), Turalay (2009), Sel (2009)] One of the main factors which influenced the financial crisis was the boom in the housing market which was the result of increased supply of housing which persuaded financial institutions to increase and extend mortgages at attractive rates which mortgages borrowers could not afford to pay back. At the time of increased mortgage lending, the mortgage lenders had liquid assets that where at a level never seen before and this encouraged them to invest their assets into higher earning assets. This boom gave mortgage lenders an opportunity to double their portfolio of mortgage lending in respect of the past 10 years and mortgages reached some 50 per cent of their total lending assets after 2001 (Sakbani, 2009). The second factor which influenced housing sales was the record low-interest rates which were put in place by major banks to attract would be house buyers into purchasing mortgages at very low interest rates and other influences was the deregulation of financial institutions, there was a attitude throughout the major central banks of self regulation and with the increased financial innovations, major banks tended to regulate themselves. The final major factor was the disappearance of inflation fear as banks began to grow and increase portfolios, their self confidence began also to grow and any fears which were previously held started to disappear and this therefore relaxed their customer vigilance (Sakbani, 2008). As the demand for housing rose in the last decade and a half, this reached a record high in all major countries including the UK and USA. In the USA in particular, housing units sold in 2005 reached a peak of 1,283,000 as compared to an average of 609,000 in 1995-2000. More than 6 million units were sold in the five years up to 2006 (US Economic Forecast, 2009). The affects of this, increased the wealth and amount of disposable income available to households which in turn, increased the growth of the US economy up to 2007. It is recognised however, that this increase in economies and housing sales would not have taken place if there was a reduction in the availability of cheap mortgages being made available in the USA and UK up to 2005 and the substantial increase of low interest rates (IMF, 2008). The major banks began to operate under reduced regulation and with the global financial markets know in full swing, this increased the housing boom in the UK as some mortgages contained grace periods of up to three years and minimal down payments where required and with the introduction of low-interest rates, only fuelled the housing boom. Furthermore, these mortgages that where being taken out by borrowers would have originally been considered as non-credit worthy or, at very least, borrowers who incurred debts beyond their capacity to pay back (Ronald, 2008). As the banks began to run these debts, they ensured that the higher the risk, the higher should be the lending rate which therefore gave rise to the subprime mortgage market; this is a market whose borrowers may have difficulty maintaining the repayment schedule. Proponents of subprime lending maintain that the practice extends credit to people who would otherwise not have access to the credit market. As Professor Rosen of Princeton University explained, The main thing that innovations in the mortgage market have done over the past 30 years is to let in the excluded: the young, the discriminated against, the people without a lot of money in the bank to use for a down payment.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? It has now been agreed that this would have only ended in one way, this being collapse of the housing market and financial institutions. As borrowers started to run out of finances to repay their mortgages and defaults began to increase, the rate of increase in housing prices started to fall and could not compete with the rate of debt which therefore meant that borrowers could not refinance their loans or sell their houses at large profits [(The) Economist (2008), Sakbani (2008), Elise (2008)]. One way this could have been prevented is that if banks had extended their mortgage loans under the old conditions of mortgage lending, they would have had to hold them on their books and eventually would have run out of funds. But starting in the late 1980s, financial innovations made it possible for mortgage lenders to unload their loans to pools, which can transform these personalised, non-negotiable obligations into derivative securities guaranteed by the mortgages (Sakbani, 2008). After the crisis erupted, the International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2008) estimated the size of these securities at more than $945 billion, while Goldman Sachs put them at more than $1.0 trillion. In September 2008, the IMF revised its estimate to $1.4 trillion ((The) Economist, 2008). On January 28, 2009 the IMF once more revised its estimate to $2.2 trillion. All these estimates therefore prove that, nobody had any idea of the amount of the non-performing assets. Sakbani (2008) tends to suggest that there were many culprits that where directly related to the financial crisis of 2008 which include: the greedy banks and other financial institutions with their irresponsible and uninformed behaviour, the equally greedy borrowers, the absence of regulations covering all the financial institutions involved and not just banks, the lacunae of vigilant supervision at both the states and federal levels, the non-regulated and non-transparent character of the financial innovations, the failure of the rating agencies to do their job and finally the loose monetary policy of the Greenspan era in the years 2001-2004. Mr Greenspan, testifying on October 23, 2008 before a Congressional Committee, admitted his error in believing that investment managers would exercise prudence in their operations and accepted that the regulatory system was loose and fundamentally obsolete. Since the beginning of the economic recession, there has been a high reduction in new housing starts after a reduced number of sales. Berkeley Homes for example, reported sales down by 50% in the summer of 2008, also with housebuildersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ shares falling to low levels, there is major financing problems which continue to suffer. Housing Developments Policy Turalay (2008) appears to suggest that at the beginning of the downturn, the position of the UK housing market did not appear to be that bad as it was expected that there would be a gradual slow down in housing sales and then a fairly rapid recovery process which would not adversely affect the economy, however, this did not prove to be the case and no-one could have predicted what actually happened. Although UK economist Andrew Oswald, famously declared in November 2002; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I think we are about to go through the great housing crash of 2003 to 2005. . . . I advise you to sell your house, and move into rented accommodation Panic will then set inà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?(Pickard, 2005, p. 9). When comparing the period of July-October 2007 with July-October 2008, evidence suggests that a fall in average sale prices of around 14 per cent (Land Registry, 2008). It has been noted by Pryce Sprigings (2008) that measuring price change is hampered by the fact that selling times have risen substantially and indices are therefore not comparing like with like à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" ideally one would like to compare, for example, the acerage price of houses that sold within a month on the market in 2007 with average prices of houses that sold within a month on the market in 2008. Evidence also suggests that transaction volumes have fallen dramatically from around 111,000 sales per month in England and Wales between July and October 2007 to 45,000 sales per month between July and October 2008, which is a fall of 60 per cent (Land Registry, 2008). Other data sources also reported this fall including Halifax, Nationwide, Land Registry and Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Some locations are showing even greater falls, with city centre flat and apartment markets appearing to be particularly vulnerable. During Oswaldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s prediction, real average house prices rose at one of the steepest rates recorded in modern times, by nearly a quarter in real terms, from  £140,593 in 2003 quarter 1, to  £173,412 in 2006 quarter 1, based on nationwide real mix adjusted house prices see Figure 1 below, and continued to rise for a further two years until quarter 4 of 2007. Figure 1 Real House Prices There appears to have been significant early interventions from the government and the Bank of England to keep both the housing market and the wider economy on course. Consecutive cuts to base rates, addition of  £50bn of liquidity into the finance markets by the Bank of England to alleviate the credit crunch, and  £2.7bn fiscal improvement to balance low-income households for the withdrawal of the 10p tax rate. It was expected that these would all combine to form an apparently positive reinforcement, however this would prove not to be the case as in March 2008, initial indications emerged of a somewhat more speedy slowdown in the housing sector was about to develop. The RICS housing market survey of that month specified that surveyor attitude with regard to house prices had weakened to the lowest point since the survey began in 1978 and the ratio of completed sales in the previous three months to the stock of unsold property on the market fell to 0.224, the lowest since September 1996 (RICS UK Economic Brief, 2008). With mortgage approvals falling by 44 per cent in the same year (2008), this resulted in a significant fall in housing demand which led to banks being unwilling to offer new loans on houses. Although there is no surprise that the housing market has took a downturn and because this has happened before, there are no unexpected events occurring, Pryce and Sprigings tend to suggest that the speed and severity of the decline has been unusual. They go on to express that this leads us to naturally question whether our policies, our regulatory frameworks, our collective approach to housing and cultural obsession with house prices, have in some way exacerbated this particular manifestation of that cycle by sustaining the upswing well beyond mean trend and perhaps resulting an unnecessarily sever and rapid downturn (Pryce and Sprigings, 2008). These questions however are not wholly of interest to housing professionals as links between residential property and the broader market as well recognised. An example of this is stated by Goodhart and Hofmann (2008, p.180), where they find; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“a significant multidirectional link between house prices, monetary variables, and the macroeconomy with the effects of money and credit amplified when house prices are boomingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. It is agreed by Maclennan and Pryce that housing impacts on the real economy via the construction, financial, estate agency and legal sector and through housing equity financed consumption, all of which are sensitive to housing market fluctuations, and all have become increasingly inter-linked across nations as a result of the globalisation of capital and labour (Maclennan and Pryce, 1996). It is also in agreement with numerous authors, Malpass in particular, that housing also impacts on welfare; not only through homelessness caused by repossessions (i.e. owner occupiers and renters affected by landlord default) at a time of crisis, but increasingly through equity release funding of education support (including accommodation) at the start of life and elderly care at the end. (Malpass, 2005). Another article which backs Malpassà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ suggestion is the announcement of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) which has confirmed the closing of Local Authority New Build (LANB) as a national programme. This is a result of the Treasury announcing that it was cutting  £220 million from HCAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s budget, this follows on from the cut to the May budget of  £230 million. The new builds where seen as a solution to ease the housing crisis of the UK since the recession and to add to Malpassà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ argument, Baroness Hanham stated in the House of Lords; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There will be casualties; I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have any doubt that there will be casualtiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Furthermore to this statement, Labours Lord McKenzie warned à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“It will force many to move or end up homeless and create ghettos of the poorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Unfortunately, the literature and policy debates on the nature and consequences of housing markets have evolved rather dichotomously. As Maclennan (2008, p. 424) observed; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Many nations are now involved in two housing discussions, namely à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“homelessness and affordabilityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"house price booms, bubbles and bustsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. The first theme has largely been the domain of social policy ministries, lobbies and researchers (Carter and Polevychok, 2004).The second has absorbed the macroeconomic policy community, including central banks, finance ministries, financial institutions and some academic economists, who are concerned about à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“stabilityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Affordability and stability are often discussed as if they are unrelated, not just in the press, but also within policymaking circles.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Researchers can now endeavour to bridge this gap in housing discussions. By using the analogy of sowing and reaping, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reapà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Galations 6:7, King James Version). It can be highlighted how scrupulous aspects of the existing recession should require policy makers and researchers to reflect on the failures of policy that have arisen as a result of the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“fragmented nature of housing thinking within modern governmentsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Maclennan, 2008). Pryce and Sprigings propose that the great correction that is currently underway is a consequence, not only of transcendent global forces, but also significantly of UK policy decisions on financial liberalisation and housing. And if we are reaping what we have sown in domestic policy, who are the winners and losers, and what are the implications for how we evaluate UK post-war policy? It has been made clear that such issues are underpinned by major policy, theoretical, and empirical questions that will most probably be debated at length in the future. What Pryce and Sprigings have done, is highlighted the issues and hope that highlighting these issues will offer some key pointers as to how the future debate should be structured and what might be done to ensure a more integrated approach to modernising UK housing policies. It is argued that successive governments i.e. Conservative Party and Labour Party have promoted homeownership since the end of the Second World War and its benefits it brings financially to the lease holder if they are the occupier as one of the White Papers show from 1953, which states; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“One object of future housing policy will be to continue to promote, by all possible means, the building of new houses for owner occupation. Of all forms of saving this is one of the best. Of all forms of ownership this is one of the most satisfying to the individual and the most beneficial to the nationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (1953White Paper, Houses: The Next Step). Gradually homeownership became deeply embedded in the UK psyche as the tenure of aspiration (Ronald, 2008). However, people then become aware that homeownership may not be best suited for everyone and this is a point that is raised by Sprigings (2008) where he identified that by encouraging low-income households into homeownership, we are subjecting them to the worst of its costs and risks while the market may restrict for them the potential of its benefits. This idea was also backed up by Pickard (2005) where he stated that housing is believed to be a great long-term investment on average, but for the deprived areas, and for the poorest households, homeownership may simply not produce the promised benefits. Housing developments and the global recession can be seen as interlinked with certain groups of society and those in less secure jobs as people on low income will bear the biggest brunt of the recession as low income workers and people in less secure jobs are more than likely to face financial difficulties when it comes to mortgage repayments as they are likely to lose their jobs or see rising inflation and rising interest rates and therefore low income households are likely to leave homeownership at the worst point because they are facing the biggest impact of the recession and also when the market begins to resume to normality again, low-income households may find it harder to re-enter the housing market when house prices are low because there is a proven correlation between credit being made available and housing prices and low-income households may not be able to obtain credit when house prices are still low therefore not enabling them to enter the housing market when it seems mo st beneficial. The CML also back up this idea as figures for October 2008 show that, the value of loans has decreased to 83 per cent of the value of the property therefore, as it has been established that long term dividends on housing can be superior, low-income households will find it difficult to witness these dividends as they will be exiting the housing market when it begins to deteriorate and trying to enter the housing market when it is difficult to obtain credit. Pryce (2008) seems to perceive that the promotion of homeownership by successive UK governments and therefore the rapid increase of owner occupation may have inadvertently produced a money pump working in the opposite direction. Another theory which Pryce (2008) identifies is the fact that low-income and particularly ethnic groups are less likely to enjoy the benefits of inter-generational housing welfare transfer. Keister (2003) also backs up the second theory of Pryce (2008) by identifying that children from larger families accumulate less wealth than do those from smaller families and that siblings dilute parentsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ finite financial resources and non material resources. Sibship size also reduced that likelihood of receiving a trust account or an inheritance and decreases home and stock ownership. Buy-to-Let Mortgages Buy-to-Let mortgages where developed in 1995 and where designed as a new financial product in the UK which enabled individuals to purchase a mortgage on a property for the purpose of letting the property out to future tenants. The benefits from these mortgages can include a stable income from rental receipts, as well as an accumulation of wealth if house prices go up. However one of the main factors of risk with taking out a buy-to-let mortgage is leverage speculation where the landlord purchases a property expecting to sell the house at a later date for a higher price or that rental income will exceed the repayment amounts of the initial loan. Buy-to-Let mortgages have became extremely popular with apprentice investors as this type of mortgage attracts middle income people to start to develop into small-scale landlords as a means of investing for their retirement. The volume of these loans grew rapidly in value as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 BTL loan Pryce (2008) expresses concern at the fact that 90 per cent of total BTL advances since 1999 have been taken out during periods of above-trend house prices, and  £74 billion of BTL mortgages, which is more than half of the total BTL advances since 1999, were issues at the very peak of the housing boom. This can be seen in Figure 3. Fig 3 It is therefore in agreement that, a significant proportion of BTL loans are at risk because there is consensus that the value of securities will fall below the outstanding mortgage debts. This consensus is backed-up by the fact that repossessions on BTL properties as a per cent of all BTL mortgages almost doubled in the space of 18 months from the second half of 2005 to the first half of 2007 before the first round of gloomy house price results were released in late 2007. Latest CML data also reinforces this claim as they show a large increase in BTL accounts over three months in arrears at the third quarter of 2008 having trebled in number in 12 months to around 18,000. (Pryce and Sprigings 2008). If home owners begin to default on their loans then the impact could be significant not only for lenders, but for particular sectors of the housing market as 80 per cent of BTL properties are terraced of flats and these account for almost a third of the entire UK private rented stock (Sprigings, 2008). One of the key features of the BTL which there is much agreement on is the impact it seems to have had on new housing supply with flats coming to dominate supply, particularly in city markets. (Taylor 2008, Sprigings 2008). Fig 4