Industrially Contaminated Sites and Health NetworkSecond Plenary Conference - COST Action IS1408

Budapest, 3-4 March 2016Ivano Iavarone

WHO Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Contaminated Sites

• The Action’s environmental health challenges

• The Action meets the Roadmap of the European Environment Health Process

• Action networking tools and inclusiveness

• Meeting of the Action Working Groups

PROGRAMMESecond Plenary Conference COST Action IS1408

Industrially Contaminated Sites and Health NetworkNational Directorate of Environmental Health

National Public Health CentreBudapest, 3-4 March 2016

Action Primary goals Establish and consolidate a European network of experts and

institutions, and develop a common framework for research and response on environmental health issues related to industrial contamination

Clarify knowledge gaps and research priorities; support collection of relevant data and information; stimulate development of harmonised methodology; promote collaborative research initiatives, and develop guidance and resources on risk assessment, management and communication

Main Tasks of the Action

Task 1. Identification of needs and priorities to guide collection, validation and organization of environmental, health and population data concerning ICSTask 2. Development of guidance documents on how to assess exposures to environmental contaminants in populations residing in ICSTask 3. Identification and evaluation of approaches and tools to guide health risk and health impact assessment in ICSTask 4. Promote shared initiatives and develop guidance on risk management and communication in ICS across Europe, including the transfer of scientific evidence into the policy making process

WG2

WG4

WG3

WG1

AlbaniaBelgiumBulgariaCroatiaCzech RepublicDenmarkEstoniaFinlandFrancefYR MacedoniaGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandIsraelItalyLithuaniaNetherlandsPolandPortugalRomaniaSerbiaSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwitzerlandTurkeyUnited Kingdom

• > 100 Participants• 30 Countries• WHO• EC DG JRC• EC DG Environ

http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/isch/IS1408

The Action Network

The Action Networking tools

Early Career Investigators (ECIs) and training schoolsA training school for ECIs on Environmental health issues in ICS, one of the milestones of the Action, has to be structured to strengthen in-country capacity building to train young generations to face the emerging challenges posed by ICS

Short Term Scientific MissionsTwo main underlying principles inspire this tool a) contribution to the scientific objectives of the Action and b) contribution to capacity building in Low Intensity Research Countries (LIRC), by favouring access of scientists to research institutions operating in more favourable contexts.

Dissemination Activities A publicly accessible Action website, and other social networking tools, have been created to improve communication both among Action Participants and interested actors and communities to ensure interaction with stakeholders; structured information material like technical reports, guidance documents, consensus statements and reports, and learning and teaching resources addressing different audiences will be made available through the Action’s open-access resources

COST Actions are active through a wide range of networking tools, such as meetings, workshops, conferences, training schools, short-term scientific missions (STSMs) and dissemination activities

Previous experiences with WHO on CS highlight the need of a working definition of CS with the operational relevant advantage of better identifying targets and limits for collaborative work

• An operational definition of ICS helps us to better focus the Action target, due to the very large expected number ICS in Europe.

• About 250000 sites estimated by EEA to be contaminated (only in soils) in Europe and require clean-up.

• Our Action deals with soil, air, water and food chain contaminations. EEA estimated that industrial activities, including industrial waste disposal and treatment, cause two thirds of overall contamination in EU.

It is therefore meaningful to limit the Action target to an approachable number of ICS

Development of a working operational definition of ICS

Action Goals, Outputs, networking tools: 1st Grant Period

Short questionnaire sent out to all Action Members at the beginning of February to start exploring the availability of information in each participating country on ICS, and to better address the ad hoc Action Questionnaire to be prepared at the end of the 1st year of the Action

Operational definition of ICS proposed for the Action

“Areas hosting or having hosted industrial human activities which have produced or might produce, directly or indirectly (waste disposals), chemical

contamination of soil, surface or ground-water, air, food-chain, resulting or being able to result in

human health impacts”.

CHARACTERIZATION OF ICS

PRESENCE OF REGISTERS/INVENTORIES OF ICS

PRESENCE OF HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENTS OF ICS

RANKING OF ICS BASED ON THEIR POTENTIAL RISK OR DEGREE OF HAZARD

DEFINITION OF ICSQUALITATIVE INFORMATION ON:

22 Countries contributed to this first Action survey (Albania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, fYR Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom).

Summary of preliminary results• A broad definition of ICS available only in very few Countries• High Heterogeneity of CS including a wide range of contamination types • Registries/inventories of CS, including also ICS, available in some

countries/regions• Information on the geographical location of CS and on type of polluting

activities available in several countries• Health impact assessment of ICS available in some countries/regions• Ranking of ICS based on potential risk or degree of hazard often not

available

Needs and Priorities

The short list of ICS in each participating country should be able to:• guarantee compliance with the Action Operational

definition of ICS• Account for the most critical situations experienced

by participating countries• Comply with agreed criteria related to high public

health concern:….harmful effects on human health or the environment, cause damage to material property, restrict or prevent the possibilities for use of the useful qualities of the environment and other legitimate uses (Bulgaria)

…endanger or cause harm to health or the environment, substantially impair the amenity of the site or cause comparable violation of the public or private good (soil contamination prohibition (Finland).

Industrially Contaminated Sites and Health Network (ICSHNet). Report of the first plenary conference of the COST Action IS1408 – Rome 1-2 October, 2015

Section 1 - The Action’s Framework Section 2 - Industrially contaminated sites in Europe: methodologic issues Section 3 - Industrially contaminated sites in Europe: national case studies (17 National contributions)

Open Access Periodical of the Italian Institute of Health (ISS) available at http://www.iss.it/

• Environmental health and social issues related to industrially contaminated areas must be addressed through an intersectoral approach if we are to protect the environment and the public health and maximise wellbeing and prosperity in such areas at global level

• Assessing the health dimension of ICS has to be seen as part of a social negotiation, where the legitimate needs and aspirations of vulnerable sub-groups, like children, residents, workers, disadvantaged people as well as investors and industry are taken into account, in a non-discriminatory process

• Our international network, currently involving WHO, EU and EC bodies and many public health institution of 30 countries, seems a promising process to identify needs and priorities across Europe both in terms of research and public health response

http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/isch/IS1408

A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVE

The Action meets the Roadmap of the European Environment and Health Process led by WHO

Road Map towards the 6th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health (2017)

http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/283839/65wd18e_EHP_150476.pdf?ua=1

From Rome to Budapest and beyond, across our marvellous countries to protect our environment, our health, our children Thank you!

Some technical notes• We kindly ask participants to wear the badges at all times during the COST Meeting.• Please sign the attendance list, as it is the basis of the reimbursement of the costs

for the meeting. On both days we held registration from about 08:00 at the entrance. If someone cannot sign the list before the meeting, please contact Ms Timea Orban.

• Plenary sessions will be held in this Room. WG1 in this Building in the 4th Floor, WG2 will remain here in Fodor Lecture Hall, WG3 and WG4 will be held in Building A, in the mezzanine floor and in the 3rd floor respectively. Local assistants will show you the way.

• Coffee and lunch breaks will be held only in the lobby in front of the “Fodor” Lecture Hall, at the times indicated in the programme, so we kindly ask the chairs of the WGs to keep the times, and to start and close the WG sessions as indicated in the programme.

• We will have a social dinner starting 20:00, please see information note in your folder.

• Please leave this venue before 20:00, because the institute has a guard dog to protectthe premises and the dog is let out after 20:00.

• Smoking is strictly forbidden in the whole area except for designated places.• To print boarding cards, please send them by email to Ms Timea Orban by tomorrow

morning.• Participants eligible for reimbursement are kindly requested to submit their refund

claims on the e-COST platform asap after the meeting, and before March 20• All presentations will be collected and shared (in pdf) in the Action website. We

assume tacit approval. Please inform us if don’t agree • In case of any queries, please contact the local assistants.