Towards an assessment of the health impact of industrially contaminated sites: waste landfills in Europe

Shaddick, G ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4117-4264, Ranzi, A, Thomas, M, Aguirre-Perez, R, Bekker-Nielsen Dunbar, M, Parmagnani, F and Martuzzi, M 2019. Towards an assessment of the health impact of industrially contaminated sites: waste landfills in Europe. Presented at: The 2019 Annual Conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, Utrecht, 25-28 August 2019. Environmental Epidemiology. , vol.3 (1) International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE), p. 324. 10.1097/01.ee9.0000609556.41642.f6

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Abstract

Background/aims: Industrially Contaminated Sites (ICSs) represent a relevant public health issue. Within the COST Action ICSHNet, a method for assessing the health impact of pollution from contaminated sites using available large European open access datasets has been developed, with an application to the case of landfills. Methods: Standard methods for health impact assessment and burden of disease were applied using the available evidence on the health effects of living near a landfill. Geo-referenced data on landfills from the European Pollutant and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) were combined with population density data (European Environment Agency dataset) and disease frequency data from European health for all database (HfA). Uncertainty was assessed via simulation methods. Countries covered by the European Environment Agency’s E-PRTR registry on contaminated sites were considered for the period 2007-2014. Four outcomes, for which suggestive evidence is available, were included: low birth weight (LBW); congenital anomalies; respiratory diseases; annoyance from odour. Firstly, they were analysed separately, in terms of excess number of cases, and then combined into Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). Results: 1,544 landfill sites were considered. 29.3 millionpeople (6% of the total population) live within 4 km from one or more of these sites. The number of yearly attributable cases associated with low birth weight, congenital anomalies, respiratory diseases, and annoyance from odour were estimated, respectively, at 1,239, 70, 33,039, and 1,582,624. Associated total DALYs were 61,325. Conclusions: Estimates indicate a sizable health impact, largest for annoyance from odour, given the high frequency of the outcome and in spite of its lesser severity compared to the other ones. Application of the methodology is relatively straightforward, once the main assumption of causality is made. The present work offers a first approximation of the impact on health of waste landfills in Europe and can be further applied to other ICSs.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	?? VCO ??
Publisher:	International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE)
ISSN:	2474-7882
Last Modified:	06 Aug 2024 10:01
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/170773

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