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Fazzo L, Manno V, Iavarone I, Minelli G, De Santis M, Beccaloni E, Scaini F, Miotto E, Airoma D, Comba P. The health impact of hazardous waste landfills and illegal dumps contaminated sites: An epidemiological study at ecological level in Italian Region. Front Public Health 2023; 11:996960. [PMID: 36923045 PMCID: PMC10010672 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.996960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Background and aim The implementation of idoneous management of hazardous waste, in contrast to illegal practices, is one of the environment and health priorities of the WHO. The aim of the present study, based on a collaborative agreement between the Italian National Health Institute and a Prosecution Office located in Naples North, was to evaluate the health effects of illegal landfills and burning of urban and hazardous waste in the territory of the Prosecution Office. Methods The municipalities included in the study territory were investigated with respect to the regional population. Regression analyses were performed in the study area between four classes of an environmental municipal indicator of waste risk (MRI) previously defined, computing the relative risks (RRs) in 2-4 MRI classes, with respect to the first MRI class (the least impacted). The prevalence of reproductive outcomes and cause-specific mortality and hospitalization were analyzed in the general population and in the 0-19-year-old population using SAS software. Results An increase of mortality and hospitalization risk in both the genders of the whole area, with respect to regional population, were found for overall all cancer cases, cancer of the stomach, the liver, the lung and the kidney, and ischemic heart diseases. An increase of mortality for leukemias in the 0-19-year-old population and in hospitalization risk for certain conditions originating in the perinatal period were observed. Correlation between MRI and the risk of mortality from breast tumors in women (MRI class 2: RR = 1.06; MRI class 3: RR = 1.15; MRI class 4: RR = 1.11) and between MRI and the risk of hospitalization from testis tumors (MRI class 2: RR = 1.25; MRI class 3: RR = 1.31; MRI class 4: RR = 1.32) were found. The hospitalization risk from breast tumors and asthma exceeded significantly in both genders of three and four MRI classes. Among the 0-19-year-old population, correlation between MRI and hospitalization from leukemias (MRI class 2: RR = 1.48; MRI class 3: RR = 1.60; MRI class 4: RR = 1.41) and between MRI and the prevalence of preterm birth (MRI class 2: RR = 1.17; MRI class 3: RR = 1.08; MRI class 4: RR = 1.25) were found. Conclusion A correlation between health outcomes and the environmental pressure by uncontrolled waste sites was found. Notwithstanding the limitation of the study, the results promote implementing the actions of environmental remediation and the prosecution of illegal practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Fazzo
- Department of Environment and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.,World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Contaminated Sites, Rome, Italy
| | - Valerio Manno
- Statistical Service, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Ivano Iavarone
- Department of Environment and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.,World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Contaminated Sites, Rome, Italy
| | - Giada Minelli
- Statistical Service, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Marco De Santis
- Department of Environment and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.,World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Contaminated Sites, Rome, Italy
| | - Eleonora Beccaloni
- Department of Environment and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Federica Scaini
- Department of Environment and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
| | - Edoardo Miotto
- Department of Medicine, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Domenico Airoma
- Avellino Prosecution Office, Former North Naples Prosecution Office, Avellino, Italy
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Agovino M, Cerciello M, Musella G. Campania and cancer mortality: An inseparable pair? The role of environmental quality and socio-economic deprivation. Soc Sci Med 2021; 287:114328. [PMID: 34482276 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2020] [Revised: 06/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
The region of Campania in Southern Italy features high levels of socio-economic deprivation and low levels of environmental quality. A vast strand of the scientific literature has tried to verify whether poor environmental quality and widespread socio-economic deprivation might explain the high cancer mortality rates (CMRs) observed, especially in the municipalities - infamously labelled as the 'Land of Fires' - that were hit most severely by the crisis. While some studies managed to identify links between these two confounding factors and cancer mortality, the evidence is overall mixed. Interesting information may be drawn from the observation of municipal data: in spite of previous claims, some municipalities featuring high environmental quality and low socio-economic deprivation also display high CMRs, while other Campanian municipalities facing disastrous environmental and socio-economic conditions are characterised by low CMRs. These figures, in contrast to common sentiment and previous studies, need to be investigated thoroughly in order to assess the exact role of the confounding factors. In this work, we aim to identify the municipalities where confounding factors act as driving forces in the determination of high CMRs through an original multi-step analysis based on frequentist and Bayesian analysis. Pinpointing these municipalities could allow policymakers to design targeted and effective policy measures aimed at reducing cancer mortality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Massimiliano Agovino
- Department of Economic and Legal Studies, University of Naples "Parthenope", Naples, Italy.
| | - Massimiliano Cerciello
- Department of Economic and Legal Studies, University of Naples "Parthenope", Naples, Italy.
| | - Gaetano Musella
- Department of Management and Quantitative Studies, University of Naples "Parthenope", Naples, Italy.
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Du L, Xu H, Zuo J. Status quo of illegal dumping research: Way forward. J Environ Manage 2021; 290:112601. [PMID: 33895451 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Revised: 03/18/2021] [Accepted: 04/10/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Due to the rapid social and economic development, the past decades have witnessed the improvement of human being's quality of life and the speedy development of the construction industry. Meanwhile, the illegal dumping of solid waste has presented a significant issue. By using the method of systematic review, this study critically examined the literature related to illegal dumping that were published since 1990, and analyzed the current status and future trends of related research. Results show that the current studies on illegal dumping mainly focus on four perspectives: environmental science and toxicology, economics, management, and the use of emerging technologies. This critical review revealed that although the issue of illegal dumping has been widely recognized in recent years, some questions remain unanswered. Therefore, a future research agenda is proposed. These include: (1) Identifying the migration of pollutants in the food chain during the illegal dumping; (2) Implementing targeted treatment of illegal dumping pollutants; (3) Improving the stakeholder decision analysis model; (4) Expanding the scope of research on stakeholders of illegal dumping; (5) Formulating an unified evaluation standard for the related costs of illegal dumping; (6) Strengthening the evaluation of the interaction effects of influencing factors; (7) Comparing the effects of different types of factors; (8) the exploration of other influencing factors; (9) Analyzing illegal dumping by combining big data with the amount of solid waste; (10) Combining with monitoring to analyze the illegal dumping of household waste.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linwei Du
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, People's Republic of China
| | - He Xu
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, People's Republic of China.
| | - Jian Zuo
- School of Architecture and Built Environment, The University of Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia.
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Fazzo L, Minichilli F, Santoro M, Ceccarini A, Della Seta M, Bianchi F, Comba P, Martuzzi M. Hazardous waste and health impact: a systematic review of the scientific literature. Environ Health 2017; 16:107. [PMID: 29020961 PMCID: PMC5637250 DOI: 10.1186/s12940-017-0311-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2017] [Accepted: 09/26/2017] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Waste is part of the agenda of the European Environment and Health Process and included among the topics of the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health. Disposal and management of hazardous waste are worldwide challenges. We performed a systematic review to evaluate the evidence of the health impact of hazardous waste exposure, applying transparent and a priori defined methods. The following five steps, based on pre-defined systematic criteria, were applied. 1. Specify the research question, in terms of "Population-Exposure-Comparators-Outcomes" (PECO). POPULATION people living near hazardous waste sites; Exposure: exposure to hazardous waste; Comparators: all comparators; Outcomes: all diseases/health disorders. 2. Carry out the literature search, in Medline and EMBASE. 3. Select studies for inclusion: original epidemiological studies, published between 1999 and 2015, on populations residentially exposed to hazardous waste. 4. Assess the quality of selected studies, taking into account study design, exposure and outcome assessment, confounding control. 5. Rate the confidence in the body of evidence for each outcome taking into account the reliability of each study, the strength of the association and concordance of results.Fifty-seven papers of epidemiological investigations on the health status of populations living near hazardous waste sites were selected for the evidence evaluation. The association between 95 health outcomes (diseases and disorders) and residential exposure to hazardous waste sites was evaluated. Health effects of residential hazardous waste exposure, previously partially unrecognized, were highlighted. Sufficient evidence was found of association between exposure to oil industry waste that releases high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide and acute symptoms. The evidence of causal relationship with hazardous waste was defined as limited for: liver, bladder, breast and testis cancers, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, asthma, congenital anomalies overall and anomalies of the neural tube, urogenital, connective and musculoskeletal systems, low birth weight and pre-term birth; evidence was defined as inadequate for the other health outcomes. The results, although not conclusive, provide indications that more effective public health policies on hazardous waste management are urgently needed. International, national and local authorities should oppose and eliminate poor, outdated and illegal practices of waste disposal, including illegal transboundary trade, and increase support regulation and its enforcement.
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Affiliation(s)
- L. Fazzo
- Department of Environment and Health, Unit of Environmental and Social Epidemiology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - F. Minichilli
- Institute of Clinical Physiology, Unit of Environmental epidemiology and disease registries, National Research Council, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - M. Santoro
- Institute of Clinical Physiology, Unit of Environmental epidemiology and disease registries, National Research Council, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - A. Ceccarini
- Documentation Service, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - M. Della Seta
- Documentation Service, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - F. Bianchi
- Institute of Clinical Physiology, Unit of Environmental epidemiology and disease registries, National Research Council, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - P. Comba
- Department of Environment and Health, Unit of Environmental and Social Epidemiology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - M. Martuzzi
- Centre for Environment and Health, World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe, Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1, D-53113 Bonn, Germany
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Navarro J, Grémillet D, Afán I, Ramírez F, Bouten W, Forero MG. Feathered Detectives: Real-Time GPS Tracking of Scavenging Gulls Pinpoints Illegal Waste Dumping. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0159974. [PMID: 27448048 PMCID: PMC4957755 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2016] [Accepted: 07/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Urban waste impacts human and environmental health, and waste management has become one of the major challenges of humanity. Concurrently with new directives due to manage this human by-product, illegal dumping has become one of the most lucrative activities of organized crime. Beyond economic fraud, illegal waste disposal strongly enhances uncontrolled dissemination of human pathogens, pollutants and invasive species. Here, we demonstrate the potential of novel real-time GPS tracking of scavenging species to detect environmental crime. Specifically, we were able to detect illegal activities at an officially closed dump, which was visited recurrently by 5 of 19 GPS-tracked yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis). In comparison with conventional land-based surveys, GPS tracking allows a much wider and cost-efficient spatiotemporal coverage, even of the most hazardous sites, while GPS data accessibility through the internet enables rapid intervention. Our results suggest that multi-species guilds of feathered detectives equipped with GPS and cameras could help fight illegal dumping at continental scales. We encourage further experimental studies, to infer waste detection thresholds in gulls and other scavenging species exploiting human waste dumps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joan Navarro
- Estación Biológica de Doñana CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio s/n, Sevilla, 41092, Spain
- Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, Montpellier, France
- * E-mail:
| | - David Grémillet
- Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, Montpellier, France
- Percy Fitz Patrick Institute, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Isabel Afán
- Estación Biológica de Doñana CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio s/n, Sevilla, 41092, Spain
| | - Francisco Ramírez
- Estación Biológica de Doñana CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio s/n, Sevilla, 41092, Spain
| | - Willem Bouten
- Computational Geo-Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Manuela G. Forero
- Estación Biológica de Doñana CSIC, Avda. Américo Vespucio s/n, Sevilla, 41092, Spain
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Triassi M, Alfano R, Illario M, Nardone A, Caporale O, Montuori P. Environmental pollution from illegal waste disposal and health effects: a review on the "triangle of death". Int J Environ Res Public Health 2015; 12:1216-36. [PMID: 25622140 PMCID: PMC4344663 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph120201216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2014] [Accepted: 01/15/2015] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
The term “triangle of death” was used for the first time by Senior and Mazza in the journal The Lancet Oncology referring to the eastern area of the Campania Region (Southern Italy) which has one of the worst records of illegal waste dumping practices. In the past decades, many studies have focused on the potential of illegal waste disposal to cause adverse effects on human health in this area. The great heterogeneity in the findings, and the bias in media communication has generated great healthcare doubts, anxieties and alarm. This paper addresses a review of the up-to-date literature on the “triangle of death”, bringing together the available information on the occurrence and severity of health effects related to illegal waste disposal. The Scopus database was searched using the search terms “waste”, “Campania”, “Naples”, “triangle of death” and “human biomonitoring”. Despite the methodological and sampling heterogeneity between the studies, this review examines the evidence from published data concerning cancer incidence, childhood mortality and birth defects, so that the current situation, knowledge gaps and research priorities can be established. The review aims to provide a contribution to the scientific community, and to respond to the concerns of the general population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Triassi
- Department of Public Health, "Federico II" University, Naples 80131, Italy.
| | - Rossella Alfano
- Department of Public Health, "Federico II" University, Naples 80131, Italy.
| | - Maddalena Illario
- Department of Traslational Medical Science, "Federico II" University, Naples 80131, Italy.
| | - Antonio Nardone
- Department of Public Health, "Federico II" University, Naples 80131, Italy.
| | - Oreste Caporale
- Department of Public Health, "Federico II" University, Naples 80131, Italy.
| | - Paolo Montuori
- Department of Public Health, "Federico II" University, Naples 80131, Italy.
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