Evaluación del impacto en la salud de la contaminación del suelo

The soil reflects every activity taking place on it, such as polluting industrial activities and waste disposal. Contaminated soils also may be the source of pollution of air (volatilization and suspension of particles), of surface and groundwater (leaching and running-off), and of vegetables grown there ( root and leaf absorption). The likelihood and extent of human exposure to soil contaminants depends on its accessibility to populations and, consequently, it can be altered dramatically when land use is changed at urban renewals.During the 90s health risk assessment was broadly used to evaluate the risk of contaminated soils and to set up maximum acceptable levels of pollutants in soil.El suelo integra y refleja todas las actividades que han tenido lugar en el curso de su existencia, entre ellas las actividades industriales contaminantes y el vertido de residuos. A su vez, puede ser el origen de la contaminación del aire (por volatilización o suspensión de partículas), del agua subterránea y superficial (por lixiviación y arrastre), y de los vegetales que se cultiven en el lugar (por absorción radicular o foliar). La probabilidad y la magnitud de la exposición de las poblaciones humanas a los contaminantes del suelo dependen de la accesibilidad y del uso del mismo, y pueden variar drásticamente en las remodelaciones urbanísticas.En los años 90 se generalizó el uso de la evaluación de riesgos tanto para valorar zonas contaminadas como para fijar límites máximos admisibles de contaminantes en suelo

Prostate cancer and industrial pollution Risk around putative focus in a multi-source scenario

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer among men but its aetiology is still largely unknown. Different studies have proposed several risk factors such as ethnic origin, age, genetic factors, hormonal factors, diet and insulin-like growth factor, but the spatial distribution of the disease suggests that other environmental factors are involved. This paper studies the spatial distribution of prostate cancer mortality in an industrialized area using distances from each of a number of industrial facilities as indirect measures of exposure to industrial pollution. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied the Gran Bilbao area (Spain) with a population of 791,519 inhabitants distributed in 657 census tracts. There were 20 industrial facilities within the area, 8 of them in the central axis of the region. We analysed prostate cancer mortality during the period 1996-2003. There were 883 deaths giving a crude rate of 14 per 100,000 inhabitants. We extended the standard Poisson regression model by the inclusion of a multiplicative non-linear function to model the effect of distance from an industrial facility. The function's shape combined an elevated risk close to the source with a neutral effect at large distance. We also included socio-demographic covariates in the model to control potential confounding. RESULTS: We aggregated the industrial facilities by sector: metal, mineral, chemical and other activities. Results relating to metal industries showed a significantly elevated risk by a factor of approximately 1.4 in the immediate vicinity, decaying with distance to a value of 1.08 at 12km. The remaining sectors did not show a statistically significant excess of risk at the source. DISCUSSION: Notwithstanding the limitations of this kind of study, we found evidence of association between the spatial distribution of prostate cancer mortality aggregated by census tracts and proximity to metal industrial facilities located within the area, after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics at municipality level.We thank the Basque Government for providing census tract mortality and geographical data needed to carry out this study. This study was funded by Grant No. FIS: PI040041 from the Carlos III Institute of Health

Efectos a corto plazo de la contaminación atmosférica sobre la mortalidad: resultados del proyecto EMECAM en el gran Bilbao

FUNDAMENTO: Los objetivos de este estudio han sido evaluar los efectos a corto plazo de la contaminación atmosférica por dióxido de azufre (SO2), partículas, dióxido de nitrógeno (NO2) y humos negros en la mortalidad diaria en el Gran Bilbao. MÉTODOS: Se ha seguido la metodología del proyecto EMECAM. RESULTADOS: Los incrementos de PST, tanto en valores máximos horarios como medios diarios, se asocian significativamente con la mortalidad por todas las causas, por causa circulatoria y en mayores de 70 años. No se han observado diferencias por semestres. Los aumentos en los niveles medios de NO2 se asocian a aumentos de mortalidad por causa respiratoria en todo el período y en período cálido y en mayores de 70 años en el semestre frío. CONCLUSIONES: Los niveles actuales de partículas en suspensión en el Gran Bilbao están asociados con aumentos significativos en la mortalidad. Las asociaciones encontradas entre NO2 y las muertes por causa respiratoria, muy altas principalmente en el período cálido, requieren investigaciones adicionales que valoren su independencia