Lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world and accounts for 12.3% of allnew cancer in Europe. About 375,000 new cases of lung cancer were estimated forEurope in 2000; 303,000 in men and 72,000 in women. The number of deaths wasabout 347,000 (280,000 in men and 67,000 in women). However, there are substantialdifferences in incidence of lung cancer in the different regions and populations withinEurope (Tyczynxki, 2003).
COPD is a chronic respiratory disorder responsible for a major burden to the societyworldwide. Although the majority of COPD occurs in current or former smokers, anot negligible proportion of the disease also occurs in persons who have neversmoked. Available data in the literature indicate that indoor pollution exposure largelyaffects respiratory health worldwide. Conservative estimates show that between 1.5million and 2 million deaths per year could be attributed to indoor air pollution, with asignificant proportion of deaths due to COPD.
The key indoor air exposures leading to cancer and severe cardiovascularconsequences are radon, certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and incompletecombustion generated particulate matter (PM and PAHs) and carbon monoxide. Ofthese radon [1] and carbon monoxide [2] are dealt with in focused presentations, PMand VOCs are covered in the current presentation.Complete oxidation of a hydrocarbon fuel would result in only water and carbondioxide as combustion products.
European citizens want to live longer, healthier, in an environment of low involuntaryrisks, and at an affordable cost. Urban environmental policies should, therefore,manage the determinants of health as far upstream as possible and improve thecitizens quality of life. People are exposed to a multitude of chemical, physical andbiological stressors in their environment, some of which are apparently harmless,others of low health significance and some incur significant risks to health, at least forvulnerable individuals.
In the European Union lung cancer death is the most common cause (circa 20%) oftotal cancer deaths. For 2006 it is estimated that 236,000 lung cancer deaths occurredin the EU 25 with the majority of these being due to active cigarette smoking. Fromthe pooling of 13 residential radon epidemiological studies in 9 EU countries it hasbeen estimated that about 9% of lung cancer deaths may be due to radon exposure inthe home. In this paper an account is given of the lung cancer risk estimates derivedfrom these and other residential radon epidemiological studies.
The working group of the Global Update of WHO Guidelines for Air Qualityrecommended development of guidelines specific to indoor air, accounting for theglobal burden of disease associated especially with unvented indoor combustion ofsolid fuels and other factors that are not covered sufficiently by the general air qualityguidelines. First phase to follow up consisted of a planning meeting convened inBonn, Germany, in October 2006 that outlined a structure for the IAQ guidelines andidentified exposure factors to be included into the IAQ guidelines.
In the Sixth Environment Action Programme the European Commission'scommitment to provide "an environment where the level of pollution does not giverise to harmful effects on human health and the environment", is clearly stated.The European Commission, with strong support from the Member States and theEuropean Parliament, has put forward the European Environment and HealthStrategy (the Strategy) in June 2003 (1).
DefinitionsHealth is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merelythe absence of decease or infirmity (WHO 1948). The effects of interest indoorstherefore include both adverse effects and changes of well-being. Building-RelatedIllness (BRI) is a group of known causalities between symptoms and indoor exposuresto air pollutants. Generally, the causalities have a uniform clinical picture and aspecific cause of the complaints. Many BRIs are low exposure levels manifestationsof adverse effects known from high exposures e.g. occupational exposures.
The focus of the JRC strategy for the E&H area is on how to optimally integrateenvironment and health information on a common platform (the EuropeanEnvironment and Health Information System) and to develop methodologies toanalyse and unveil causal relationships between environmental risk factors and humanhealth outcomes. This includes the development and validation of methods andmethodologies for monitoring, for exposure assessment and for evaluation andquantification of health effects due to environmental stressors.
Pathogens, or in this case better to say, infectious agents are ubiquitous. Some of themare obligatory pathogens, cause of severe diseases and therefore are well-known.Some of them are well-known but they are considered to be either less risky or it isbelieved that they are under control. Some of them are facultative pathogens, causingfewer infections and therefore mostly are unknown. All of them should cause healthproblems indoors as the indoor environment is very special:?? People spent indoors most of their life, ill people with higher probability??
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