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We need to accept the seemingly obvious fact that a toxic environment can make people sick and that no amount of medical intervention can protect us. The health care community must become a powerful political lobby for environmental policy and legislation.

I'm a latecomer to the environmental issue, which for years seemed to me like an excuse for more government regulation. But I can see that in rich societies, voters are paying less attention to economic issues and more to issues of the spirit, including the environment.

Regulation is necessary to protect our natural environment, keep our food and medicine safe, and ensure fair competition and fair treatment of our workers.

We have very strong environmental laws in the United States and elsewhere around the world. The problem is that they're seldom enforced.

There is a growing recognition of the importance of really bringing pollution under control.

Why has it seemed that the only way to protect the environment is with heavy-handed government regulation?

During my nearly five years as director-general of WHO, high-level policymakers have increasingly recognized that health is central to sustainable development.

There should be more attention paid to scientific research in the ecology area, and I think that such attention to proper environmental concerns would make the public feel much better about it.

We all recognize that in recent decades, many important achievements have helped create a cleaner, healthier environment, yet our national needs in environmental health are not being fully met.