Environment international
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Environment international · Nov 2014
ReviewPsychosocial care to affected citizens and communities in case of CBRN incidents: a systematic review.
Disasters are associated with a substantial psychosocial burden for affected individuals (including first responders) and communities. Knowledge about how to address these risks and problems is valuable for societies worldwide. Decades of research into post-disaster psychosocial care has resulted in various recommendations and general guidelines. ⋯ Relevant recurring topics are uncertainty about contamination and health effects, how people will overwhelm health care systems, and the possibility that professionals are less likely to respond. However, the lack of evidence on effectiveness makes it necessary to be careful with recommendations. More evaluation research is absolutely needed.
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Environment international · Nov 2014
Assessing and improving cross-border chemical incident preparedness and response across Europe.
Good practices in emergency preparedness and response for chemical incidents include practices specific to the different functions of exposure assessment (e.g., within the monitoring function, the use of mobile monitoring equipment; within the modelling function, the use of rapid dispersion models with integrated mapping software) and generic practices to engage incident response stakeholders to maximise exposure assessment capabilities (e.g., sharing protocols and pre-prepared information and multi-agency training and exercising). Such practices can optimise cross-border collaboration. A wide range of practices have been implemented across MSs during chemical incident response, particularly during incidents that have cross-border and trans-boundary impacts. ⋯ A number of recommendations are proposed, including the use of networks of experts which link public health risk assessors with experts in exposure assessment, in order to coordinate and improve chemical incident emergency preparedness. The EU's recent Decision on serious cross-border threats to health aims to facilitate MSs' compliance with the International Health Regulations, which require reporting and communication regarding significant chemical incidents. This provides a potential route to build on in order to improve chemical incident preparedness and response across Europe.
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Environment international · Jul 2014
Serum levels of club cell secretory protein (Clara) and short- and long-term exposure to particulate air pollution in adolescents.
Studies in populations have shown that particulate air pollution is associated with changes in lung function in adolescents. ⋯ Our findings suggest that short-term exposure to particulate air pollution may compromise the integrity of the lung epithelium and lead to increased epithelial barrier permeability in the lungs of adolescents, even at low concentrations.
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Environment international · May 2014
Meta AnalysisLong-term exposure to elemental constituents of particulate matter and cardiovascular mortality in 19 European cohorts: results from the ESCAPE and TRANSPHORM projects.
Associations between long-term exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) and cardiovascular (CVD) mortality have been widely recognized. However, health effects of long-term exposure to constituents of PM on total CVD mortality have been explored in a single study only. ⋯ In a joint analysis of 19 European cohorts, we found no statistically significant association between long-term exposure to 8 elemental constituents of particles and total cardiovascular mortality.
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Environment international · Mar 2014
Global and local cancer risks after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident as seen from Chernobyl: a modeling study for radiocaesium ((134)Cs &(137)Cs).
The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Japan resulted in the release of a large number of fission products that were transported worldwide. We study the effects of two of the most dangerous radionuclides emitted, (137)Cs (half-life: 30.2years) and (134)Cs (half-life: 2.06years), which were transported across the world constituting the global fallout (together with iodine isotopes and noble gasses) after nuclear releases. The main purpose is to provide preliminary cancer risk estimates after the Fukushima NPP accident, in terms of excess lifetime incident and death risks, prior to epidemiology, and compare them with those occurred after the Chernobyl accident. ⋯ Excess lifetime cancer incidents were estimated to be between 360 and 850, whereas 220-520 of them will be fatal. Nevertheless, these numbers are expected to be even smaller, as the response of the Japanese official authorities to the accident was rapid. The projected cancer incidents are much lower than the casualties occurred from the earthquake itself (>20,000) and also smaller than the accident of Chernobyl.