Health risk assessment problems in the setting of chemical pollution of the environment

Abstract

Existing approaches to health risk assessment focus, primarily, on the comparative priority of pollutants and their sources in the environment. But these approaches cannot be used to predict real changes in the mortality or morbidity rates of the population living in a given territory, and therefore cannot be used to develop health-prevention measures aimed at preserving or restoring human health. In this regard, in this study it is (the author ?) proposed to use the concept of mitigation (in this context, actions aimed at reducing environmental pollution) and the concept of adaptation (actions aimed at reducing the vulnerability of populations to environmental pollution). The existing risk assessments can be used to develop mitigation measures, but are not much instrumental in development of adaptation measures, which need to concentrate on early diagnosis and prevention of diseases caused by environmental pollution, as well as on the development of rehabilitation measures. It has been noted that hygiene and epidemiological research has not paid enough attention to the differences between these areas of public chemical and radiation safety. Yet, better targeting when assessing the risk will help to more effectively design interventions to manage these risks.