ERA-ENVHEALTH newsflash-Sept2015 Vfinal · The COP21 (21th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) of which France is going to hold the Presidency, will take place

The COP21 (21th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) of which France is going to hold the Presidency, will take place in Paris in December 2015. The main objective of the COP is to reach a common agreement to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases based on voluntary commitments by countries embodying the broader goal of keeping global warming below 2°C compared to the beginning of 20th century. This agreement also will mobilise the finances needed for mitigation, adaptation and compensation for losses and damage already recorded and will engage non-

governmental actors to this transition.

Climate change is one of the major environmental challenges that our societies must face. Anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are largely responsible for this change and are steadily increasing since the beginning of the industrial period. Moreover, this change has accelerated sharply since the second half of the 20th

century.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in 2014 its 5th report attesting once again the ongoing change and confirming the important contribution of mankind in this rapid and irreversible unprecedented change at the human scale.

It has or will have many impacts on biodiversity, production environments, the living environment, livelihood and on human health. It will be necessary to adapt. The health troubles which may evolve or emerge with climate change are manifold: thermal stress due to heavy heat waves or cold spells, respiratory problems, allergies, bacterial or viral infections, and cancer. These conditions may result from the combination of violent or repeated phenomena with other factors that put the body in a transitory or permanent situation of vulnerability. Health threats may also be due to environmental changes, degradation of air quality, air pollution, pollens, ultraviolet radiations, modification and evolution of the habitats of pathogenic species or of vectors likely to transmit infectious or parasitic diseases. Such issues have been broached during Our Common Future under Climate Change: a major international scientific conference in the COP21 perspective, held in Paris in July 2015.

E D I T O R I A L N E W S : 2 N D S E M E S T E R 2 0 1 5

M A N A G I N G T H E R I S K S O F

C L I M A T E C H A N G E O N H U M A N

H E A L T H

HIA G U I D E L I N E S A N D

I M P L E M E N T A T I O N I N I T A L Y ,

A N E B O O K

G I O C O N D A . Y O U T H ’ S

V O I C E S C O U N T I N D E C I S I O N S

O N E N V I R O N M E N T A N D

H E A L T H

R I S C R I P R O : S U R V E I L L A N C E

O F A D V E R S E R E P R O D U C T I V E

O U T C O M E S

I M P A C T O F A C U T E E X P O S U R E

O F A I R P O L L U T I O N I N

W A L L O N I A - C O M P A R A T I V E

A N A L Y S I S F O R M A I N

W A L L O O N C I T I E S U S I N G

A D M I N I S T R A T I V E D A T A

U P C O M I N G M E E T I N G S

T H E E R A - E N V H E A L T H

N E T W O R K

L O N G - R A N G E P O L L U T I O N :

I M P A C T S O N E C O S Y S T E M S

A N D H E A L T H , A N D A N

E C O N O M I C C H A L L E N G E

E R A - E N V H E A L T H 2 0 1 5 O P E N

C O N F E R E N C E

N E W S F L A S H

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This publication reflects only the author’s views and the member organisations are not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

R E M I N D E R :

S A V E T H E D A T E

• 21-22 October 2015: ERA-ENVHEALTH annual network meeting, Brussels,

Belgium

• 23 October 2015: ACCEPTED project final conference, Brussels, Belgium

• 18-19 February 2016: ERA-ENVHEALTH foresight colloquium, Paris,

France

W W W . E R A - E N V H E A L T H . E U

health. Therefore the restoration of former natural

surfaces and the enhancement of green and blue

infrastructure are recommended. When it comes to an

extreme heat event it is important to inform the population

in time.

Since 2005/2006 all federal states in Germany have

implemented the heat health warning system of the

German Meteorological Service (DWD). This alert system

releases heat warnings once a critical air temperature has

been reached over time. To accelerate the spreading of

those official heat warnings, some federal states publish

them on dedicated local websites alongside behavioural

recommendations. As an example, North Rhine-Westphalia

launched a special website (http://www.hitze.nrw.de) with

all heat-related content for the public as well as for

physicians and care takers. On local level, the city of

Stuttgart implemented the heat health warning system

H I T W I S : h t t p : / / w w w . s t a d t k l i m a -

stuttgart.de/index.php?id=1014,1124,0,0,1,0) that is in

line with the official heat health warning system but with a

strong focus on specific local needs. Within HITWIS it has

been recommended to provide the public with an easily

accessible mapping of drinking water dispensers and

cooling zones in the city. One major concern when it comes

to heat warnings is the reachability of vulnerable people,

especially the elderly. In this regard digital media does not

seem to work well and some federal states plan to have a

more appropriate communication strategy in place.

However, not only elderly people are vulnerable to heat

stress but also younger children. In 2010, the city of

Karlsruhe launched the project “drinking water in the

school”. Since then, several schools have been equipped

with free drinking water supply to protect children from

dehydration (more information: http://www.stadtwerke-

k a r l s r u h e . d e / s w k a -

de/ inha l te/aktuel les/akt ionen/tr inkwasser -der -

schule.php).

Those introduced examples are just a selection of several

planned or already implemented strategies to combat the

negative effects of extreme urban heat events on human

health.

Although the heat events represent a major concern, there

are other impacts the climate change poses on human

health, too. The survey showed that further adaptation

measures are being taken in the fields of UV-radiation and

pollen allergies, especially towards ragweed.

A nationwide survey on adaptation activities

in Germany

The impacts of climate change on human

health are expected to become a serious

problem in many parts of the world. Extreme

weather events such as heat waves,

extreme precipitation and heavy storms can

cause direct health impacts, and even

death. Besides, an increasing mean air temperature may

as well lead to an indirect impact such as the prolongation

of the pollen season, including a rising number of pollen-

associated respiratory allergies. When it comes to public

health protection, managing the risk of climate change is

crucial and requires both, mitigation and adaptation

strategies. This article refers to a nationwide survey of

adaptation activities in Germany.

When the ‘Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change’ in

Germany (DAS, 2008) was adopted as a governmental

approach, human health was identified as main important

sector with special needs for adaptation measures. To get

an overview of already implemented, ongoing and/or

planned adaptation activities across the country, the

Federal Environment Agency (UBA) conducted a

nationwide survey in 2013/14. In line with the

‘Environment and Health Action Programme’ (APUG) this

baseline study creates a central service point for

information on activities in the field of climate change and

health. The publicly accessible database with more than

330 collected activities allows knowledge transfer and

enables relevant stakeholders and decision makers to get

in touch with each other easily. In addition to the survey

results a comprehensive analysis of 26 climate change -

related adaptation strategies of the federal states has

been conducted and documented. The internet link to the

full version of the data collection and additional

information on climate change-related health issues can

be found at the end of the article. A brief overview of the

survey and a selection of adaptation measures are

presented as follows.

According to the institutions interviewed, heat waves

represent one of the major concerns when it comes to the

impact of climate change on human health. Of 335

adaptation activities reported 60 are dealing with the

question, how people can be best protected from extreme

heat events. 13 in 16 federal states indicated that a

healthy urban microclimate is crucial to protect people’s

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for comprehensive educational activities to raise

awareness for this topic, especially among outdoor

workers who are exposed to the sun frequently.

Overall, the results of the survey show, that responding to

climate change is crucial and can be done in several ways.

To get more information on the survey and its results

(available in German only), please v isit:

www.apug.de/umwelteinfluesse/klimawandel/)

Authors: Birgit Zielo, Hans-Guido Mücke1

Contact for information: hans-guido.muecke(at)uba.de

A national ragweed-strategy is not in place so far. However,

29 of the activities stated, intend to combat the further

expansion of ragweed. Quite a few federal states monitor,

map and publish the appearance and distribution of

ragweed hot spots while some states additionally organise

events to remove the invasive plant on-site.

Due to the survey’s result, UV-radiation seems to be less

important so far, compared to the health implications of

heat and allergenic pollen. Of 335 adaptation measures

21 address the risk excessive UV-radiation may have on

human health. Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt issue the need

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impacts of equipment and technologies, as well as on the

measures of prevention and protection.

HIA is carried out in five stages: screening, scoping,

appraisal and assessment, report and recommendations,

monitoring of effects. The new National Prevention Plan

2015-2018 of the Italian Ministry of Health devotes a

chapter to environment and health and propose HIA as a

method to contribute to reduce the exposure to major

pollutants and to apply WHO strategy Health in all policies.

The ebook’s abstracts, with the first and the last article are

translated in English.

The ebook is available at:

www.arpa.emr.it/ebook

“Health Impact Assessment in Italy: evaluation and

participation in decisions on environment and health” is

the new ebook published by Ecoscienza, the magazine of

the Emilia-Romagna Regional Environmental Agency. It

provides an overview of the implementation of HIA in Italy,

illustrating projects, experiences and methodologies,

including qualitative and quantitative methods, gender

issues and tools for participation.

One of the current relevant experiences is the project Tools

for HIA (t4HIA), funded by the National Centre for

Prevention and Disease Control (CCM) of the Ministry of

Health, coordinated by the Region of Emilia-Romagna,

which is working to draft guidelines on HIA for evaluators

and to strengthen the competence of public health

officers.

The book highlights the urgent need for operational

synergy between environmental and health institutions on

a matter as delicate as the evaluation of past and future

H I A G U I D E L I N E S A N D I M P L E M E N T A T I O N I N I T A L Y , A N E B O O K

1 Umweltbundesamt

F i g u r e 1 : A c t i o n f i e l d s t h a t b u i l t t h e s u r v e y ’ s s t r u c t u r a l f r a m e w o r k , b a s e d o n a U B A / R K I d o c u m e n t , p u b l i s h e d i n 2 0 1 3

( h t t p : / / n b n - r e s o l v i n g . d e / u r n : n b n : d e : 0 2 5 7 - 1 0 0 3 3 9 0 3 )

actors can communicate and interact. A network of

institutions interested and available to involve young

individuals in the decision making process will foster the

project. All the pilot work to prepare Gioconda was

developed in primary schools in Naples, to explore the

ability of children to understand risk information and under

which conditions children are able to understand

environmental health risk information. Research observed

that, using specific questionnaires, between 8 and 9 years

there is a clear increase of health risk understanding,

confirming other results from international literature.

The age of youngster involved in Gioconda is 11-17, pre-

adolescents and adolescents attending secondary schools.

They live in four area in Italy that are very different in terms

of population, production and environment: Napoli,

Ravenna, Taranto and Valdarno. This variety will offer a

test of the application in different socio-economic and

political contexts.

Gioconda implies a close collaboration among different

experts like epidemiologist, monitoring technicians,

knowledge transfer experts, health economists,

pedagogists, psychologists and experts in information and

communication technology.

Website: www.gioconda.ifc.cnr.it Contact for information: [email protected]

GIOCONDA (i GIOovani CONtano nelle Decisioni su

Ambiente e salute), Youth’s voices count in decisions on

environment and health, is a project funded by the LIFE

Programme of the European Commission, Environment

General Directorate. The main objective of Gioconda is to

provide European Local Authorities with an innovative

methodology to support policies on Environment and

Health involving the youth. Students in schools are

involved in producing recommendations for actions in the

field of environment and health. The coordinator is the

Environmental epidemiology research unit of the Institute

of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council (Italy),

with Regional Environmental Agencies and Municipalities

as associated partners.

During the project two monitoring systems are

implemented: on the one side environmental measures for

air and noise, indoor and outside the schools, on the other

questionnaires to measure student’s risk perception and

their willingness-to-pay (WTP) in relation to environmental

health. Training and education at school are based on

current environmental data and those two monitoring

systems, with the objective to produce recommendations

about local policies related to environment and health.

The tool to support the dialogue between students and

institutions is a web based platform, where the different

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G I O C O N D A . Y O U T H ’ S V O I C E S C O U N T I N D E C I S I O N S O N

E N V I R O N M E N T A N D H E A L T H

than 2,000,000 in the 18 areas were studied during the

period 1992-2011. About 7,800 cases of babies with CAs

were observed in the NPCSs. Meta-analytical risk

estimates showed some interesting results for selected

anomalies and other reproductive outcomes in the

investigated NPCSs.

The project's results outline the important role of CA

Registries together with other Health information data to

carry out environmental epidemiology studies in

contaminated sites. The results of the RISCRIPRO project

can be useful to support public health policies in the

contaminated sites areas and to identify priority areas for

environmental health research in Italy and in Europe. The

Eurocat network for the surveillance of congenital

anomalies in Europe, coordinated by EC Joint Research

Centre at Ispra (Italy) is developing a protocol to implement

a study like RISCRIPRO at the European level.

Contact for information: [email protected]

A project for the study and the surveillance of adverse

reproductive outcomes in Italian contaminated sites has

recently been completed. The project, named RISCRIPRO,

was funded by the Centre for Diseases Control of the

Italian Ministry of Health, in the framework of the studies

for characterising the health status in the Italian National

Priority Contaminated Sites (NPCS), identified by

Ministerial Decrees.

RISCRIPRO studied 18 NPCSs where the data on adverse

reproductive outcomes are collected by Regional

Registries of Congenital Anomalies (CA), using registry data

and health informative sources, like hospital discharge

records and pregnancy certificates. Risks for groups of CA,

as defined by the Eurocat surveillance systems, have been

assessed. Low birth weight, preterm birth, small for

gestational age and sex ratio were also analysed. All the

risks were calculated using regional areas as the

reference. About 300,000 births in the NPCSs and more

R I S C R I P R O : S U R V E I L L A N C E O F A D V E R S E R E P R O D U C T I V E

O U T C O M E S

to health like poorer nutrition or higher smoking

prevalence. These negative behaviours make people with

low socioeconomic status more susceptible to the adverse

effects of air pollution than those in higher socioeconomic

groups.

In conclusion, the results of this study reinforce the

evidence of the short-term effects of air pollution on AMI.

Both methods (time series analysis and case cross-

crossover design), with their advantages and

disadvantages, are useful to assess the short term effects

of pollution on health. This study also suggests the

possibility of using administrative data for epidemiological

purposes, at least for AMI analysis. This avoids planning

costly data collection. And finally, from a public health

point of view, it’s seem important to identify the health

effects of air pollutants from local data in setting air

pollution control policy.

References:

1. Mustafic H, Jabre P, Caussin C, Murad MH, Escolano S, Tafflet M, et al. Main air pollutants and myocardial infarction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA

2012; 307:713-21.

2. Bhaskaran K, Gasparrini A, Hajat S, Smeeth L, Armstrong B. Time series regression studies in environmental epidemiology. Int J Epidemiol. 2013;

42:1187-95.

3. Maclure M. The case-crossover design: a method for studying transient effects on the risk of acute events. Am J

Epidemiol. 1991; 133:144-53.

Authors: A. Leveque (a) & Ph. Collart (b)

(a) Centre de Recherche en épidémiologie, biostatistiques et recherche

clinique, Ecole de Santé Publique, Université Libre de Bruxelles.

(b) Cellule permanente environnement-santé, Direction générale

opérationnelle des pouvoirs locaux de l'action sociale et de la santé

(DGO5), Région wallonne.

Summary of the research

Many epidemiological studies have proved that short-term

variations in ambient air pollution are associated with poor

health outcomes, e.g. cardiovascular disease morbidity

and mortality. Exposure to fine particles (particulate matter

with aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 µm)

and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) may trigger the onset of acute

coronary syndrome [1]. Moreover, epidemiological studies

that investigated the association between air quality and a

variety of adverse health outcomes have been extensively

studied in Europe and the US. No such studies have been

performed in Wallonia, the southern region of Belgium. The

people of this region have different demographic and

socio-economic characteristics. In this region, the air

quality is also contrasted with different industrial, urban

and rural area.

For this reason, the Walloon Region and the School of

Public Health of “Université Libre de Bruxelles” initiated an

analysis of the impact of air pollution on hospital

admissions for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The

environmental data (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, O3 and SO2

concentrations and temperature) are obtained from an air

quality network recording ambient air pollution mainly due

to industry and road traffic. This network is supervised by

ISSeP (Institut Scientifique de Service Public) and AWAC

(Agence Wallonne de l'Air et du Climat). The data

concerning admission for AMI are from hospital

administrative data.

Two common epidemiological methods have frequently

been used to assess the short term effects of pollution on

health. Time series analysis, a method based on a Poisson

regression using natural spline to control for seasonality

and long term trends, has been used for many years [2].

More recently, Maclure [3] introduced a case-crossover

design. This method compares the exposure in the case

period when events occurred with exposures in close

control periods.

A total of 3978 AMIs were analysed during the period of

2008-2010. A strong positive association is found

between NO2 and hospital admissions for AMI. NO2 is

mainly an indicator of air pollution from traffic. Overall, in

Wallonia, the magnitude of effects seems higher than

observed in previous studies in North America and Europe

[1]. A possible explanation is that people of lower

socioeconomic status have behaviours the may be harmful

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I M P A C T O F A C U T E E X P O S U R E O F A I R P O L L U T I O N I N W A L L O N I A - C O M P A R A T I V E A N A L Y S I S F O R M A I N W A L L O O N C I T I E S U S I N G

A D M I N I S T R A T I V E D A T A

Ph. Collart

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L O N G - R A N G E P O L L U T I O N : I M P A C T S O N E C O S Y S T E M S A N D H E A L T H , A N D A N E C O N O M I C C H A L L E N G E

Sphagnum moss bogs: natural pollution archives

Another, more isolated and less widespread ecosystem

than forests was also studied – in this case, sphagnum

moss bogs. These wetlands are generally found in

highland areas, and provide an accurate record of past

pollution levels, as well as the effect of pollutants on

microbial communities. Measurements taken in central

and eastern France show that metal pollutant deposits

(copper, lead, etc.) have been on the decline for the last

20 years or so. The data collected have also been used to

create an atmospheric contaminant deposition model,

which may subsequently be used to produce long-range

pollution maps at national level. Finally, this work provides

new avenues for post-implementation assessment of the

effect of public atmospheric pollution reduction policies on

the quality of isolated ecosystems such as sphagnum

moss bogs.

Improving monitoring through Observation

The last 10 years and more have seen an explosion in

atmospheric pollution mitigation policies. Yet how do we

know whether these policies are effective? In order to

answer this question, a unique database has been

created, containing atmospheric data measurements

observed in France over the last 20 years or so, and a

statistical analysis has been conducted. The drastic

reduction in sulphur dioxide pollutant emissions has led to

a significant fall in the acidity of atmospheric deposits,

although these deposits are still responsible for soil

acidification in certain regions (Landes forest, southern

Massif Central). Despite this marked reduction in

emissions, however, nitrogen compounds remain a major

atmospheric pollution problem. This further demonstrates

the need to step up efforts to reduce these emissions, and

to pursue monitoring strategies.

4 Projects conducted under the Primequal programme (www.primequal.fr) Risk of biodiversity depletion

One of the first innovative projects designed to gain a

better understanding of the effects of long-range pollution

of ecosystems involved the development of a combined

biogeochemical-ecological critical nitrogen load model for

French forest ecosystems.

A series of maps showing changes in ecological diversity in

France was then produced, based on the results of this

model. Those areas with the lowest biodiversity, and that

are therefore sensitive to atmospheric nitrogen deposition,

include Brittany, some areas of the Massif Central, the

Mediterranean coastline and the Vosges. In terms of

relative biodiversity depletion, those regions most likely to

be affected are south-eastern France and, to a greater or

lesser extent, certain mountain areas. More generally

speaking, based on the applied nitrogen deposition

assumptions, total biodiversity is likely to be depleted by

up to 10% by 2100.

FIGURE 2: Biodiversity trend map based on the results of com-bined modelling

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U P C O M I N G M E E T I N G S

2 4 - 2 5 N O V E M B E R S 2 0 1 5 : S F S E C O N F E R E N C E O N C L I M A T E C H A N G E A N D H E A L T H ( P A R I S , F R A N C E ) http://www.sfse.org/FR/congres/congres_2015.asp

2 1 - 2 2 J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6 : 2 N D I N T E R N A T I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E O N E N D O C R I N E D I S R U P T O R S ( P A R I S , F R A N C E ) http://www.pnrpe.fr/

1 - 4 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6 : 2 8 T H C O N F E R E N C E O F T H E I N T E R N A T I O N A L S O C I E T Y F O R E N V I R O N M E N T A L E P I D E M I O L O G Y ( R O M E , I T A L Y ) http://www.iseepi.org/Conferences/future.htm

management costs and the indirect reduction of pollutant

emissions. Furthermore, the health benefits of climate

change mitigation policies compensate almost entirely for

the associated implementation costs. It would therefore

appear that tackling climate change has a substantial

positive impact on air quality.

62 billion € is the amount of money that could be saved on

health spending through the implementation of climate

change mitigation strategies. These strategies also help to

reduce air quality management costs by limiting the need

for expensive exhaust purification technologies.

Tackling climate change: positive impact on air quality

All too often, local authorities still view climate change

policies as a pure cost. In reality, the benefits of these

policies outweigh their cost. This is demonstrated by the

exhaustive air quality and regional climate modelling

system used in a cost benefit analysis. This system was

used to produce two forward-looking scenarios for Europe,

identical in terms of air quality management policies, with

one scenario disregarding any climate change measures,

and the other scenario seeking to limit global warming to

2°C by the end of the century.

The results show that the climate change mitigation

scenario also has a major positive impact in terms of air

quality, reflected in both the reduction of air quality

P L E A S E I N F O R M U S O F I M P O R T A N T E & H M E E T I N G S , P R O J E C T S O R R E P O R T S

FIGURE 3: Fine particle pollution today and in 2050, according to the scenario including climate change reduction (mitigation) policies and current air quality regulations.

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E R A - E N V H E A L T H 2 0 1 5 O P E N C O N F E R E N C E : B R U S S E L S ( B E L G I U M ) , 2 2 O C T O B E R 2 1 5

It will be preceded on 21 October by the ERA-ENVHEALTH

annual GA meeting, open only to members.

On 23 October, the final meeting of the ACCEPTED project:

Assessment of changing conditions, environmental

policies, time-activities, exposure and disease (funded by

the ERA-ENVHEALTH 2nd call) will also take place in

Brussels, during which the project’s final results will be

presented. More information on the programme and

registration is available at: www.acceptedera.eu

ERA-ENVHEALTH annual meeting and open conference

This year, ERA-ENVHEALTH’s open conference will take

place in Brussels (Belgium) on the 22 October 2015. The

theme is: National Environment and Health Action plans:

national implementation and evaluation processes.

Please see the flyer below.

More information and registration can be found at:

www.nehap.be or contact [email protected].

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www.era-envhealth.eu

C O N T A C T S

www.era-envhealth.eu

Do not hesitate to get in touch with the network either through your national

contact point and member of the network or by contacting:

Adrienne Pittman

European and International Affairs Department ANSES - Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l'envi-ronnement , et du travail 14 rue Pierre et Marie Curie 94701 Maisons-Alfort FRANCE [email protected]

T H E E R A - E N V H E A L T H N E T W O R K

C O L L A B O R A T I O N I N R E S E A R C H T O H E L P T A C K L E T H E C H A L L E N G E S I N

E & H A N D T H E I R P O L I C Y I M P L I C A T I O N S

The European Environment and Health Action Plan

for 2004-10 pointed to a need to strengthen

networks between researchers, policy-makers and

stakeholders. The FP7 ERA-ENVHEALTH* project

was set up to bring together European

organisations planning research in the

Environment and Health (E&H) arena with the

objective of providing policy support. ERA-

ENVHEALTH's task was to mobilise scientific

research in support of European and national

policies on E&H issues.

Goals and activities

ERA-ENVHEALTH facilitates better communication

and deeper understanding of the drivers and

priorities in E&H for both scientists and policy-

makers. ERA-ENVHEALTH is a unique active

transnational network in the E&H field. ERA-

ENVHEALTH has shown that transnational

collaboration in E&H fills an important niche and

the network is an innovative forum to discuss

challenges, visions and emerging issues. In this

respect

- access to, sharing and communicating

information is a crucial success factor, and

- joint activities are essential to promote exchange

and collaboration and foster new ideas to

enhance the uptake of environment and health

issues and co-benefits in different sectors and

provide valuable support in tackling the future

challenges for better health and well-being.

Join us!

- Become a member: signature of the MoU,

contribution on a voluntary basis

- Register for the ERA-ENVHEALTH newsflash: with

regular up-to-date information on E&H activities

- Participate in its annual conferences and help

build up this innovative discussion forum

The structure of the network is based on

“contributing and sharing” and involves no

centralised budget; each organisation participates

on a voluntary basis.

* ERA-ENVHEALTH: European Research Area network in the Environment &

Health field