Documents neighbourhood populations 32 results

"Background: Australia mined asbestos for more than 100 years and manufactured and imported asbestos products. There is a legacy of in situ asbestos throughout the built environment.
Methods: The aim of this study was to identify the possible sources of current and future asbestos exposure from the built environment. Telephone interviews with environmental health officers, asbestos removalists, and asbestos assessors in Australia sought information about common asbestos scenarios encountered.
Results: There is a considerable amount of asbestos remaining in situ in the Australian built environment. Potential current and future sources of asbestos exposure to the public are from asbestos-containing roofs and fences, unsafe asbestos removal practices, do-it-yourself home renovations and illegal dumping.
Conclusion: This research has highlighted a need for consistent approaches in the regulation and enforcement of safe practices for the management and removal of asbestos to ensure that in situ asbestos in the built environment is managed appropriately."

"Health impact assessments (HIAs) across the globe may be used by governments and industries to secure approval for unconventional gas extraction developments. HIA is an umbrella term that covers an array of health review and assessment practices, ranging from the very general to quite specific and technical health studies. Our concern in this paper is principally with the specialist end of the HIA continuum and particularly its application to unconventional gas extraction in the UK. We outline the context within which HIAs in unconventional gas extraction may be conducted. We then explain what HIAs may do. HIAs are often commissioned from consultancy companies to assess unconventional gas extraction project risks and benefits and propose mitigation measures. Communities can rarely afford HIAs in the planning process and may consider them biased when commissioned by vested interests. The oil and gas industry uses these techniques for its own ends. Hiring experts, be they specialist consultants, researchers, lobbyists, ex-government officials, or regulators, to influence planning and regulation is a well-tried tactic and structural advantage exploited by industry in seeking license to operate. Equitable and ethical HIA principles are urgently needed in the UK in relation to unconventional gas to secure the integrity and probity of the emerging regulatory system and address concerns regarding unregulated practitioners."

"Background:Although Belgium was once a major international manufacturer of asbestos products, asbestos-related diseases in the country have remained scarcely researched.Objectives:The aim of this study is to provide a descriptive analysis of Belgian mesothelioma mortality rates in order to improve the understanding of asbestos health hazards from an international perspective.Methods:Temporal and geographical analyses were performed on cause-specific mortality data (1969–2009) using quantitative demographic measures. Results were compared to recent findings on global mesothelioma deaths.Results:Belgium has one of the highest mesothelioma mortality rates in the world, following the UK, Australia, and Italy. With a progressive increase of male mesothelioma deaths in the mid-1980s, large differences in mortality rates between sexes are apparent. Mesothelioma deaths are primarily concentrated in geographic areas with proximity to former asbestos industries.Conclusions:Asbestos mortality in Belgium has been underestimated for decades. Our findings suggest that the location of asbestos industries is correlated with rates of mesothelioma, underlining the need to avert future asbestos exposure by thorough screening of potential contaminated sites and by pursuing a global ban on asbestos."

"Childhood lead exposure and poisoning near primary lead smelters continues in developed and developing countries. In the United States, the problem of lead poisoning in children caused by smelter emissions was first documented in the early 1970s. In 1978, Environmental Protection Agency set National Ambient Air Quality Standards for lead. Attainment of this lead standard in areas near operating lead smelters took twenty to thirty years. Childhood lead exposure and poisoning continued to occur after the lead National Ambient Air Quality Standards were set and before compliance was achieved. This article analyzes and discusses the factors that led to the eventual achievement of the 1978 lead National Ambient Air Quality Standards near primary smelters and the reduction of children's blood lead levels in surrounding communities. Factors such as federal and state regulation, monitoring of emissions, public health activities such as blood lead surveillance and health education, relocation of children, environmental group and community advocacy, and litigation all played a role."

"Asbestos-related cases admitted to Chest Diseases Clinic of Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University Medical Faculty generally came from Buyuktatlar, a town adjacent to the Afsin district of Kahramanmara? city. This led us to screen for lung pathologies due to exposure to environmental asbestos in the town of Buyuktatlar. Six hundred and eighty-five inhabitants older than 30 years living in the town were identified as the study group and 488 persons (71·2%) were accepted for evaluation. Then, chest X-rays of these cases were taken and bilateral pleural plaque, bilateral pleural thickening, reticular lung infiltrations, and costophrenic angle obliteration were evaluated as asbestos-related disorders (ARD). ARD were diagnosed in 56 (11·5%) of the 488 chest X-rays that were assessed and no differences were observed between genders. Twenty-five of the cases were investigated by high-resolution computed tomography. Twenty-four were confirmed as ARD. In addition, chrysotile fiber was found in two of four soil samples taken from the town."

"Suite à l'alerte sanitaire lancée en 1998 par la famille d'un ancien riverain du Comptoir des Minéraux et Matières Premières (Cmmp) d'Aulnay-Sous-Bois décédé d'un mésothéliome, une étude menée par l'Institut de veille sanitaire (Invs) a conclu à l'existence de cas de pathologies liées à l'amiante pour lesquels seule une exposition environnementale (en tant que riverain aux activités du Cmmp) avait été retrouvée (Counil et al. 2007). Les auteurs de l'étude recommandaient notamment de poursuivre la recherche de nouveaux cas de pathologies spécifiques d'une exposition à l'amiante autour de ce site. Saisie par le Ministère de la Santé à ce sujet, l'HAS a rendu un avis en date de janvier 2009 intitulé «Exposition environnementale à l'amiante : état des données et conduite à tenir» qui précise que pour les expositions environnementales fortes à l'amiante, les expérimentations sur le suivi des populations concernées doivent être poursuivies (HAS 2009). Face au constat qu'aucun dispositif de ce genre n'était à ce jour envisagé autour du Cmmp, et sous l'impulsion des associations réclamant depuis près de 10 ans qu'un tel suivi soit mis en place, la municipalité d'Aulnay-sous-Bois a réuni en février 2010 un comité local de pilotage « amiante » composé de médecins, professionnels de santé, élus, représentants associatifs1. Trois objectifs ont été retenus : (1) engager un travail de mémoire, (2) rechercher et aider les victimes à faire valoir leurs droits, (3) mettre en place un suivi médical pour les personnes qui ont été exposées."

"Introduction: Concerns for health and social impacts have arisen as a result of Marcellus Shale unconventional natural gas development. Our goal was to document the self-reported health impacts and mental and physical health stressors perceived to result from Marcellus Shale development.Methods: Two sets of interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of community members living proximal to Marcellus Shale development, session 1 March?September 2010 (n = 33) and session 2 January?April 2012 (n = 20). Symptoms of health impacts and sources of psychological stress were coded. Symptom and stressor counts were quantified for each interview. The counts for each participant were compared longitudinally.Results: Participants attributed 59 unique health impacts and 13 stressors to Marcellus Shale development. Stress was the most frequently-reported symptom. Over time, perceived health impacts increased (P = 0·042), while stressors remained constant (P = 0·855).Discussion: Exposure-based epidemiological studies are needed to address identified health impacts and those that may develop as unconventional natural gas extraction continues. Many of the stressors can be addressed immediately."

"Running from southern West Virginia through eastern Ohio, across central and northeast Pennsylvania, and into New York through the Southern Tier and the Catskills, the Marcellus Shale formation underlies a sparsely populated region that features striking landscapes, critical watersheds, and a struggling economic base. It also contains one of the world's largest supplies of natural gas, a resource that has been dismissed as inaccessible -until recently. Technological developments that combine horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") have removed physical and economic barriers to extracting hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of gas from bedrock deep below the Appalachian basin. Beginning in 2006, the first successful Marcellus gas wells by Range Resources, combined with a spike in the value of natural gas, spurred a modern-day gold rush -a "gas rush"- with profound ramifications for environmental policy, energy markets, political dynamics, and the lives of the people living in the Marcellus region. Under the Surface is the first book-length journalistic overview of shale gas development and the controversies surrounding it.

Control over drilling rights is at stake in the heart of Marcellus country -northeast Pennsylvania and central New York. The decisions by landowners to work with or against the companies -and the resulting environmental and economic consequences- are scrutinized by neighbors faced with similar decisions, by residents of cities whose water supply originates in the exploration area, and by those living across state lines with differing attitudes and policies concerning extraction industries. Wilber's evenhanded treatment gives a voice to all constituencies, including farmers and landowners tempted by the prospects of wealth but wary of the consequences, policymakers struggling with divisive issues, and activists coordinating campaigns based on their respective visions of economic salvation and environmental ruin. Wilber describes a landscape in which the battle over the Marcellus ranges from the very local -yard signs proclaiming landowners' allegiances for or against shale gas development- to often conflicting municipal, state, and federal legislation intended to accelerate, delay, or discourage exploration."

"A 25 anni esatti dalia chiusura dell'Eternit di Casale Monferrato e a due dall'inizio dei processo di Torino contro i proprietari delia muitinazionale svizzera, accusati di "disastro doloso e omissione di misure di soccorso", il libro raccoglie le testimonianze di dieci ex lavoratori delio stabilimento, quasi tutti ammalati di asbestosi, e di dieci abitanti delia città piemontese (tra cui, alternati, i ricordi dei congiunti sopravvissuti), colpiti da infermità ancora più insidiose, soprattutto mesotelioma pleurico e carcinoma polmonare. Ne emerge un quadro sconvolgente. In fàbbrica, soprusi all'ordine dei giorno da parte di una proprietà che, consapevole dei pericolo, non si limitava a far convivere i suoi dipendenti con l'amianto, ma li costringeva a condizioni di lavoro disumane, in ambienti malsani e con in più la continua minaccia di punizioni per chi osava alzare la testa. Fuori dalia fabbrica, un'intera comunità cittadina tenuta per anni all'insaputa dei rischi derivanti dall'esposizione alla fibra avvelenata."

"Since 1971, a series of annual Environmental Surveillance ... reports have served as the official public record of Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL) environmental performance. In northern New Mexico, where past LANL emissions are a public health concern, there is public skepticism over the accuracy of information contained in these reports. To test the hypothesis that LANL Environmental Surveillance ... reports systematically understate past emissions, we compared the data on releases in LANL's own internal Occurrence Reports Collection (ORC) to the data reported to the public in the Environmental Surveillance ... reports. A data set of 89 environmental occurrences recorded in the ORC in the time period from 1971 through 1980 was assembled. We did not find a systematic pattern of quantitative underreporting of source terms. However, 17 of the 89 (19%) environmental occurrences recorded in the ORC were not reported to the public in the Environmental Surveillance ... reports. The observed discrepancies are discussed in terms of their relevance to public health concerns. Methodological caveats dictate restraint in applying these findings beyond the scope of the relative comparison performed here. Possible social origins for the rejected hypothesis are discussed. Areas for further consideration by the Centers for Disease Control's dose reconstruction study of LANL are identified.