Publications
The programme’s main activities and results are reported in the following publications. Consult them on-line or download a pdf version here or send a request for printed copies
An environment for Better Health (78 pages - 271 KB - June 1999) - Integrated report of the ESF Environment and Health Programme.
ESF news release issued 16 June 1999
The London IGC Ministerial Document on Research Priorities is available on-line at the WHO’s London Conference web site go to website
Environment and Health Research for Europe 3 (12 pages - 68,5 KB - September 1998) - Scientists’ recommendations.
ENHE workshop reports
Environment and Health Introductory Brochure (8 pages - June 1997)
Activities
ENHE workshops
- Particulate Air Pollution (Bilthoven, the Netherlands, 4-5 November 1996)
- Children and Accidents (Munich, Germany, 25-27 November 1996)
- Water Quality and Drinking Water (Baveno, Italy, 11-14 May 1997
- Cognitive Functions as Mediators of Environmental Effects on Health (Ottrott, Fance, 15-17 September 1997)
- Indoor Air Quality and Health (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 16 September 1997)
- Social Variations in Health Expectancy in Europe (Düsseldorf, Germany, 17-18 October 1997)
- Environmental Effects on Cognitive Functions (Strasbourg, France, 25-27 February 1998)
- Priorities in Environmental Health Research in Countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Newly Independent States (Bilthoven, The Netherlands, 19-20 January 1998)
- Climate Change and Stratospheric Ozone Depletion. Research Needs and Priorities for Studying the Potential Human Health Impact within Europe (February 1998)
- Advancement of Epidemiological Studies in Assessing the Human Health Effects of Immunotoxic Agents in the Environment and the Workplace (May 1998)
ESF Update Meeting 7-9 June 1998
EC/ESF/WHO Consensus Conference 11-14 October 1998
Programme management
Steering Committee chaired by Dr. Jussi Huttunen (National Public Health Institute of Finland). Scientific Coordinator Professor Robert Kroes (Bilthoven, the Netherlands)
19 contributing ESF Member Organisations.
More about the programme
The ultimate objective of current research into the link between environmental degradation and health is to develop a coordinated and well informed global approach to risk management that balances all the factors involved. This requires cooperation both between different countries and regions of the world, and between scientists in a variety of fields.
With these aims in mind, the ESF has launched a multidisciplinary scientific programme to foster collaboration between relevant researchers, and also to liaise with related European and worldwide projects. Clearly it is desirable both to avoid duplication of effort and to determine what aspects of the problem have not been covered so far. In fact, the WHO Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) held in Helsinki in 1994 recommended that the WHO, EC and ESF should work together to develop a coordinated pan-European R&TD plan for presentation to the next IGC in London in 1999. Detailed research progammes would commence after that.
The ESF programme is focused particularly on increasing our understanding of risk assessment across the whole environmental spectrum, in the hope of striking a suitable balance between hazards and benefits of particular human activities. Fields of research that will help formulate future environmental policies and that help governments assess levels of risk will be identified. The Foundation is bringing together scientists in all the relevant fields, including the life and environmental sciences, physical sciences and social sciences in order to identify the key research priorities and improve understanding of environmental risk assessment in five principal areas of research. These areas are: ambient air particulates and human health; indoor air pollution; effect of the environment on cognitive functions; water quality and drinking water; children and accidents.
The first area was chosen because there is mounting evidence that suspended particulate matter (PM) affects human health at lower levels than previously thought. However greater knowledge is needed on the mechanisms involved and on which types of particle cause most damage.
The second field of study, indoor air pollution, has been chosen for similar reasons. The requirement here is to quantify the human health risks of different categories of indoor pollutant, including biological, physical, and chemical.
The third area, environment and cognitive functions, turns the focus away from the agents of risk to some of the consequences for humans. A variety of conditions involving progressive impairment of cognitive functions have been linked to environmental factors, a well known example being the role of aluminium in Alzheimer’s disease.
The fourth chosen area, water quality, is a huge subject on its own. Although microbial contamination of drinking water is clearly a bigger issue in poorer parts of the world, it is a potential problem in all countries, and more knowledge is needed about the various transmission routes to humans.
The fifth research area, children and accidents, really stands apart from the other four, but has been chosen because it is now clear that rates of childhood injury and mortality can be reduced significantly by focusing on a variety of environmental hazards, especially within the home.
The five issues will be explored through a series of workshops during the next two years, culminating in a joint ESF/WHO/EC consensus conference in 1998.
The aim is to identify priorities for future environmental research that will help both in formulating policy and in improving the range of tools available for managing environmental health. This is being done through a series of workshops beginning in late 1996 that explore the five chosen issues (ambient air particulates and human health; indoor air pollution; environmental and cognitive functions; water quality and drinking water; children and accidents). The results of these workshops will be discussed in late 1998 at a joint ESF/WHO/EC consensus conference that will define agreed research needs. This should lead to a common global R&TD plan that will be presented to the 1999 London IGC on Environment and Health.
A more immediate aim of the ESF Environment and Health programme is to increase understanding of the total risk appraisal process, from hazard identification, through assessment of the exposure and characterisation of the risk type, to informed risk management. This goal will be met by bringing together researchers across Europe drawn from the relevant disciplines, such as the life and environmental sciences, the physical sciences, and the social sciences. One point here is that there is considerable disparity between different European countries over knowledge levels in some areas of environmental concern. It seems reasonable to assume therefore that by fostering interchange of information it should be possible to bring all countries up to the best current practice.
Several key themes cut across the whole range of the programme’s activities including: development of appropriate geographical information systems (GIS) to establish methods for mapping the distribution of causes and effects of various environmental hazards; development of methods for weighting the respective contribution and significance of different factors impacting on health and well-being.
