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Human and Environmental Risk Assessment: State of the Art and Future Challenges

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Public Health Statistics and Risk Assessment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 8982

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Agnieszka Gruszecka-Kosowska

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Guest Editor

1. Department of Environmental Protection, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
2. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Univeristy of Granada, 18011 Granada, Spain
3. Centre of Biomedical Research (INYTA-CIBM), Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology “José Mataix", 18071 Granada, Spain
Interests: health risk; environmental risk; risk management; risk communication; potentially harmful elements; contaminants of emerging concern; microbiological risk; biogeochemistry; bioremediation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, risk assessment (RA) has become a very popular research topic, as well as a powerful tool for enforcement of legal actions regarding environmental remediation and health improvements. In the context of environmental protection, the pioneer in risk assessment analysis was the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), whose first RA analysis, performed in the 1980s, was related to risk assessment of carcinogens and whose results were to be involved in the regulatory process. Since then, the risk assessment methodology has spread out and is currently being commonly used in various fields of environmental research.

Moreover, risk characterization is not the final step of the procedure. Risk management and risk communication are two important following steps, and their aim is to introduce risk assessment results into economical and socio-demographical realities, respectively. In particular, since living organisms exist in already polluted environments, knowledge of what is the risk level regarding their exposure and adverse health effects is especially needed.
On the other hand, as there is no universal approach for all risk assessment scenarios, lack of knowledge regarding usage of the methodology may lead to incorrect conclusions. This is particularly important as risk assessment results might be the base of legal decisions and court hearings.

To sum up, as the risk assessment methodology and its applications have evolved throughout recent decades, the aim of this Special Issue is to gather all the respective knowledge on history, foundations, methodology, case studies, lacks and gaps in experience, forecasted difficulties, future directions, etc., from any of the scientific, economical, sociological, managerial, and environmental perspectives.

Prof. Dr. Agnieszka Gruszecka-Kosowska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

human health risk assessment
animal health risk assessment
plant health risk assessment
food risk assessment
ecological risk assessment
climate change and risk assessment
economy in risk assessment
socio-demographic factors in risk assessment
risk management
risk communication
new-generation risk assessment

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

6 pages, 754 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Integration of Omics Approaches Enhances the Impact of Scientific Research in Environmental Applications

by Agnieszka Gruszecka-Kosowska, Antonis Ampatzoglou and Margarita Aguilera

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(14), 8758; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148758 - 19 Jul 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2137

Abstract

In the original article [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human and Environmental Risk Assessment: State of the Art and Future Challenges)

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Research

Jump to: Editorial

9 pages, 2749 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Survey of Domestic Refrigerator Storage Temperatures in Poland for Use as a QMRA Tool for Exposure Assessment

by Constantine-Richard Stefanou, Anna Szosland-Fałtyn and Beata Bartodziejska

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 2924; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042924 - 08 Feb 2023

Viewed by 1393

Abstract

In the framework of Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment, the estimation of the ingested dose of a hazard by the consumer is of paramount importance. This may be calculated by means of predictive modeling of growth/inactivation of the pathogen studied. For products that spend the majority of their shelf life in the domestic refrigerator, storage temperature will significantly impact the microbial population dynamics. To describe the variability of domestic storage temperatures in Poland, a survey including 77 participants, was carried out in Lodz, Poland. Participants were provided with temperature data loggers, which measured their refrigerator temperature for 24 h in 5-min intervals. The temperature-time profiles were used to calculate the mean working temperature, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values, and the data were statistically analyzed to find the best fitting probability distribution using R programming language. Out of the tested refrigerators, 49.35% had a mean working temperature of over 5 °C and 3.9% exceeded 10 °C. Distribution fitting scenarios were tested for goodness of fit, and the final selected distribution was a truncated normal distribution. This study can prove useful in Monte Carlo simulation analysis for stochastic quantitative food risk assessment in Poland. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human and Environmental Risk Assessment: State of the Art and Future Challenges)

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12 pages, 1189 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Radiation Risk Perception and Interest in Tritiated Water among Returnees to and Evacuees from Tomioka Town within 20 km of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

by Xu Xiao, Hitomi Matsunaga, Makiko Orita, Yuya Kashiwazaki, Yasuyuki Taira, Thu Zar Win, Jacques Lochard, Thierry Schneider and Noboru Takamura

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 2690; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032690 - 02 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1783

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to investigate radiation risk perception, mental health, and interest in tritiated water among evacuees from and returnees to Tomioka town, Japan, as well as to evaluate the intention to return (ITR) among evacuees living inside and outside Fukushima Prefecture. Of the 1728 respondents, 318 (18.4%) and 1203 (69.6%) participants reported living outside and inside Fukushima Prefecture, and 207 (12.0%) reported living in Tomioka. The ITR was not significantly different between those who lived inside and outside the prefecture among the evacuees. Similarly, there were no significant differences in radiation risk perception, mental health, and interest in tritiated water. However, the evacuees were independently associated with a motivation to learn about tritiated water (OR = 1.242, 95%Cl: 1.041–1.438, p = 0.016), reluctance to consume food from Tomioka (OR = 1.635, 95%Cl: 1.372–1.948, p < 0.001), and concern that adverse health effects would occur because of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident (OR = 1.279, 95%Cl: 1.055–1.550, p = 0.012) compared to returnees, according to logistic regression analysis. Interestingly, the returnees were found to have better mental health but lower life satisfaction than the evacuees. These findings suggest the importance of ongoing risk communication about radiation exposure and tritiated water among residents regardless of their place of residency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human and Environmental Risk Assessment: State of the Art and Future Challenges)

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20 pages, 7526 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Accelerating the Improvement of Human Well-Being in China through Economic Growth and Policy Adjustment

by Luhua Wu, Shijie Wang, Xiaoyong Bai, Guangjie Luo, Jinfeng Wang, Fei Chen, Chaojun Li, Chen Ran and Sirui Zhang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12566; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912566 - 01 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1438

Abstract

Human well-being in many countries lags behind the gross domestic product (GDP) due to the rapid changes in the socio-economic environment that have occurred for decades. However, the mechanisms behind this complex phenomenon are still unclear. This study revealed the changes in human well-being in China from 1995 to 2017 by revising the genuine progress indicator (GPI) at the national level and further quantified the contribution of interfering factors that have driven the increase in the GPI. The results indicated that: (1) The per capita GPI of China showed an increasing trend with an annual growth rate of 12.43%. The changes in the GPI followed the same pattern as economic development, rather than presenting the phenomenon of economic growth combined with a decline in welfare that has been recorded in some countries and regions. (2) The increase in human well-being was mainly driven by economic growth, but it was most sensitive to social factors. (3) Increasing income inequality and the cost of lost leisure time contributed obvious negative impacts (24.69% and 23.35%, respectively) to the per capita GPI. However, the increase in personal consumption expenditures, the value of domestic labor, ecosystem service value, and net capital growth accelerated the rise in the GPI, with positive contribution rates of 30.69%, 23%, 20.54%, and 20.02%, respectively. (4) The continuous increase in economic investment and the strengthening of social management due to policy adjustments completely counteracted the negative impacts on human well-being, thus leading to a great increase in the per capita GPI. Such insights could provide theoretical support for decision making and policy implementation to improve global human well-being. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human and Environmental Risk Assessment: State of the Art and Future Challenges)

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8 pages, 447 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Particulate Matter Exposure after a Cancer Diagnosis and All-Cause Mortality in a Regional Cancer Registry-Based Cohort in South Korea

by Sang-Yong Eom, Yong-Dae Kim and Heon Kim

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 9875; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169875 - 10 Aug 2022

Viewed by 1140

Abstract

Although particulate matter (PM) is a Group 1 carcinogen, few studies have evaluated the effect of PM exposure after a cancer diagnosis on survival. Herein, we evaluated the effect of exposure to ambient PM₁₀ after a cancer diagnosis on survival using data from the Regional Cancer Registry cohort in Chungbuk Province, Korea. A total of 44,432 patients with cancer who survived for >1 year after being diagnosed between 2005 and 2018 were followed until 31 December 2019; there were 32,734 survivors (73.7%) and 11,698 deceased (26.3%). The average follow-up period was 67.7 months, and the cumulative average concentration of PM₁₀ exposure of patients with cancer after a diagnosis was 49.0 µg/m³. When PM₁₀ concentration increased by 1 standard deviation (5.2 µg/m³), the all-cause mortality risk increased 2.06-fold (95% CI: 2.02–2.11). This trend was most pronounced in the younger patient group and in patients with local-stage cancer. This study demonstrates that exposure to PM₁₀ after cancer diagnosis might influence the survival of patients with cancer, requiring environmental preventive measures such as lower pollutant exposure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human and Environmental Risk Assessment: State of the Art and Future Challenges)

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