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Kuehne LM, Habtour E, Echenagucia TM, Orfield SJ. Technology-forcing to reduce environmental noise pollution: a prospectus. JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY 2024:10.1038/s41370-024-00679-6. [PMID: 38858533 DOI: 10.1038/s41370-024-00679-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Revised: 04/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/12/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Environmental movements of the late 20th century resulted in sweeping legislation and regulatory actions to reduce the prevalence of diverse pollutants. Although the consequences of noise pollution to public health, environment, and the economy have been recognized over the same time period, noise has received far less policy attention. Correspondingly, even while evidence of the diverse and detrimental effects of noise pollution on human health has grown, solutions and actual reductions in environmental noise remain seemingly out of reach. OBJECTIVE To address this shortcoming, we developed a prospectus for environmental noise reduction through technology-forcing policies. Technology-forcing describes intent to encourage technological solutions for pollution control through policy and regulations, and has been a critical component of national and global progress in reducing environmental pollutants. METHODS We take advantage of the unique policy history for noise in the United States - which initially enacted, but then abandoned federal noise regulation. We compare this history against outcomes from contemporaneous environmental legislation for air, water, and occupational pollution control, to demonstrate the potential for technology-forcing to reduce noise pollution. Our review then identifies promising solutions, in the form of existing technologies suitable for innovation and diffusion through technology-forcing regulations and incentives. RESULTS Based on this review, we outline a program for noise policy development to support efforts to reduce environmental noise pollution worldwide. The proposed program consists of three steps, which are to (i) identify dominant sources of noise pollution, (ii) combine legislative or regulatory provisions with suitable systems of enforcement and incentives, and (iii) anticipate and prepare for stages of technological change. IMPACT STATEMENT Analysis of noise policy often focuses on justifying the need to reduce noise pollution. In this article, we demonstrate how technology-forcing regulations could also promote much-needed innovation and diffusion of technologies to reduce environmental noise pollution. We first establish the potential for technology-forcing by comparing technology outcomes from environmental legislation passed contemporaneously to the inactive US Noise Control Act. We next review promising innovations available for diffusion in multiple sectors to reduce environmental noise. Lastly, we recommend a program to support development of technology-forcing noise policies, to help ensure that the benefits of reduced noise pollution are distributed equitably.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ed Habtour
- Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA.
| | | | - Steven J Orfield
- Orfield Laboratories Inc., 2709 East 25th St., Minneapolis, MN, 55406, USA
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Sørensen M, Pershagen G, Thacher JD, Lanki T, Wicki B, Röösli M, Vienneau D, Cantuaria ML, Schmidt JH, Aasvang GM, Al-Kindi S, Osborne MT, Wenzel P, Sastre J, Fleming I, Schulz R, Hahad O, Kuntic M, Zielonka J, Sies H, Grune T, Frenis K, Münzel T, Daiber A. Health position paper and redox perspectives - Disease burden by transportation noise. Redox Biol 2024; 69:102995. [PMID: 38142584 PMCID: PMC10788624 DOI: 10.1016/j.redox.2023.102995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2023] [Revised: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Transportation noise is a ubiquitous urban exposure. In 2018, the World Health Organization concluded that chronic exposure to road traffic noise is a risk factor for ischemic heart disease. In contrast, they concluded that the quality of evidence for a link to other diseases was very low to moderate. Since then, several studies on the impact of noise on various diseases have been published. Also, studies investigating the mechanistic pathways underlying noise-induced health effects are emerging. We review the current evidence regarding effects of noise on health and the related disease-mechanisms. Several high-quality cohort studies consistently found road traffic noise to be associated with a higher risk of ischemic heart disease, heart failure, diabetes, and all-cause mortality. Furthermore, recent studies have indicated that road traffic and railway noise may increase the risk of diseases not commonly investigated in an environmental noise context, including breast cancer, dementia, and tinnitus. The harmful effects of noise are related to activation of a physiological stress response and nighttime sleep disturbance. Oxidative stress and inflammation downstream of stress hormone signaling and dysregulated circadian rhythms are identified as major disease-relevant pathomechanistic drivers. We discuss the role of reactive oxygen species and present results from antioxidant interventions. Lastly, we provide an overview of oxidative stress markers and adverse redox processes reported for noise-exposed animals and humans. This position paper summarizes all available epidemiological, clinical, and preclinical evidence of transportation noise as an important environmental risk factor for public health and discusses its implications on the population level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mette Sørensen
- Work, Environment and Cancer, Danish Cancer Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Natural Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Denmark.
| | - Göran Pershagen
- Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jesse Daniel Thacher
- Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Timo Lanki
- Department of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland; School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Benedikt Wicki
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Martin Röösli
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Danielle Vienneau
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Manuella Lech Cantuaria
- Work, Environment and Cancer, Danish Cancer Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark; Research Unit for ORL - Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Odense University Hospital & University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Jesper Hvass Schmidt
- Research Unit for ORL - Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Odense University Hospital & University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Gunn Marit Aasvang
- Department of Air Quality and Noise, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Sadeer Al-Kindi
- Department of Medicine, University Hospitals, Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, Case Western Reserve University, 11100 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA
| | - Michael T Osborne
- Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Philip Wenzel
- Department of Cardiology, Cardiology I, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany; German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site Rhine-Main, Mainz, Germany; Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Juan Sastre
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Valencia, Spain
| | - Ingrid Fleming
- Institute for Vascular Signalling, Centre for Molecular Medicine, Goethe University, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany; German Center of Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site RheinMain, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Rainer Schulz
- Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Justus-Liebig University, Gießen, 35392, Gießen, Germany
| | - Omar Hahad
- Department of Cardiology, Cardiology I, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany; German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site Rhine-Main, Mainz, Germany
| | - Marin Kuntic
- Department of Cardiology, Cardiology I, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany; German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site Rhine-Main, Mainz, Germany
| | - Jacek Zielonka
- Department of Biophysics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Helmut Sies
- Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I, Faculty of Medicine, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Tilman Grune
- Department of Molecular Toxicology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Nuthetal, Germany; DZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Berlin, Berlin, Germany; German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), München-Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Katie Frenis
- Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Stem Cell Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Thomas Münzel
- Department of Cardiology, Cardiology I, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany; German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site Rhine-Main, Mainz, Germany; Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Andreas Daiber
- Department of Cardiology, Cardiology I, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany; German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site Rhine-Main, Mainz, Germany; Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
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