New global indicator for workers' health: mortality rate from diseases attributable to selected occupational risk factors.

Through sustainable development goals 3 and 8 and other policies, countries have committed to protect and promote workers' health by reducing the work-related burden of disease. To monitor progress on these commitments, indicators that capture the work-related burden of disease should be available for monitoring workers' health and sustainable development. The World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization estimate that only 363 283 (19%) of 1 879 890 work-related deaths globally in 2016 were due to injuries, whereas 1 516 607 (81%) deaths were due to diseases.

Update of the WHO global air quality guidelines: Systematic reviews - An introduction.

This paper aims to serve as an introduction to the Special Issue in Environment International entitled "Update of the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines: Systematic Reviews". The article has two main objectives. One is to provide the context to this Special Issue, related to (a) policy context, overall exposure to air pollution, and burden of disease attributable to air pollution, and the other is to describe (b) the WHO guideline development process, with special emphasis on the systematic reviews.

Priorities for improving chemicals management in the WHO European Region-stakeholders' views.

Background: Prevention of the impact of chemicals on human health and the environment is an increasing focus of public health polices and policy makers. The World Health Organization European Centre for Environment and Health wanted to know what were stakeholders' priorities for improving chemicals management and prevention.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 18 diverse stakeholders to answer this question.

Development of the WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region: An Introduction.

Following the Parma Declaration on Environment and Health adopted at the Fifth Ministerial Conference (2010), the Ministers and representatives of Member States in the WHO European Region requested the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop updated guidelines on environmental noise, and called upon all stakeholders to reduce children's exposure to noise, including that from personal electronic devices. The WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region will provide evidence-based policy guidance to Member States on protecting human health from noise originating from transportation (road traffic, railway and aircraft), wind turbine noise, and leisure noise in settings where people spend the majority of their time. Compared to previous WHO guidelines on noise, the most significant developments include: consideration of new evidence associating environmental noise exposure with health outcomes, such as annoyance, cardiovascular effects, obesity and metabolic effects (such as diabetes), cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance, hearing impairment and tinnitus, adverse birth outcomes, quality of life, mental health, and wellbeing; inclusion of new noise sources to reflect the current noise environment; and the use of a standardized framework (grading of recommendations, assessment, development, and evaluations: GRADE) to assess evidence and develop recommendations.

Diagnosis, monitoring and prevention of exposure-related non-communicable diseases in the living and working environment: DiMoPEx-project is designed to determine the impacts of environmental exposure on human health.

The WHO has ranked environmental hazardous exposures in the living and working environment among the top risk factors for chronic disease mortality. Worldwide, about 40 million people die each year from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) including cancer, diabetes, and chronic cardiovascular, neurological and lung diseases. The exposure to ambient pollution in the living and working environment is exacerbated by individual susceptibilities and lifestyle-driven factors to produce complex and complicated NCD etiologies.

Towards estimating the burden of disease attributable to second-hand smoke exposure in Polish children.

Objectives: To estimate the burden of disease attributable to second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure in Polish children in terms of the number of deaths and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) due to lower respiratory infections (LRI), otitis media (OM), asthma, low birth weight (LBW) and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Materials And Methods: Estimates of SHS exposure in children and in pregnant women as well as information concerning maternal smoking were derived from a national survey, the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, and the Global Adult Tobacco Survey in Poland. Mortality data (LRI, OM, asthma, and SIDS), the number of cases (LBW), and population data were obtained from national statistics (year 2010), and DALYs came from the WHO (year 2004).

Regulatory factors of basal F(2)-isoprostane formation: population, age, gender and smoking habits in humans.

Oxidative stress is assumed to be the key underlying factor in the pathogenesis of many common diseases. This study describes the basal levels of 8-iso-PGF(2alpha ), a major F(2)-isoprostane and an in vivo oxidative stress biomarker in healthy subjects from three countries, namely Italy, Poland and Sweden, in relation to their smoking habits, age and gender. It studied urinary 8-iso-PGF(2alpha ) in 588 subjects from Sweden (n=220), Italy (n=203) and Poland (n=165).

Urinary mercury and biomarkers of early renal dysfunction in environmentally and occupationally exposed adults: a three-country study.

We conducted a cross-sectional study in Sweden, Italy and Poland to assess environmental and occupational exposure to mercury from chloralkali (CA) plants and the potential association with biomarkers of early renal dysfunction. Questionnaire data and first-morning urine samples were collected from 757 eligible subjects. Urine samples were analysed for mercury corrected for creatinine (U-HgC), alpha-1-microglobulin (A1M), N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase (NAG) and albumin.

Environmental lead exposure in Polish children: blood lead levels, major sources and principles of the lead poisoning prevention.

In Poland, children are exposed to lead from the combustion of leaded gasoline and industrial processes. Since the early 1990s, emission levels have declined, and a ban on leaded petrol is anticipated in 2005. Major industrial sources are located in Silesia Province and the copper mining centre (Legnica region).

Children's environmental health and the precautionary principle.

The concept of precaution has a long history in medicine and public health. The modern precautionary principle (PP), originating from environmental debates in Germany in the 1970s, has been included in many international agreements, such as the Treaty on European Union. PP is a public policy tool that justifies actions, which protect human health and the environment in face of uncertain risks.

Environmental burden of disease due to lead in urban children from Silesia, Poland.

We performed environmental burden of disease (EBD) assessment of the neurotoxic effects of lead in the Polish urban children, in accordance with the WHO guidelines. The EBD assessment was based on the data on blood lead levels (BLL) of more than 8500 children from the lead biomonitoring programme conducted in the urban centre of the Upper Silesia Province, Poland between 1993 and 2000. In order to make the EBD assessment region specific, in the projections to years 2001 and 2005 we used 4% annual decrease in BLL, derived from the earlier analysis of the Silesian BLL data instead of the WHO proposed 7.

Urinary mercury in adults in Poland living near a chloralkali plant.

We conducted a study within the framework of the interdisciplinary European Mercury Emission from Chloralkali Plants (EMECAP) project to assess exposure to mercury (Hg) and the contribution of Hg emissions from a mercury cell chloralkali plant to urinary mercury (U-Hg) in adults living near the plant. We collected data from questionnaires and first morning urine samples from 75 subjects living near the Tarnow plant in Poland and 100 subjects living in a reference area. Median U-Hg was 0.

Assessment of lead exposure and associated risk factors in urban children in Silesia, Poland.

A program of childhood lead poisoning prevention was conducted in six cities of Silesia, the most industrialized region of Poland. We analyzed records of 11,877 children aged 24-84 months, tested between 1993 and 1998, to assess children's exposure to lead and associations of blood lead levels (BLL) with season of sampling, questionnaire data, and environmental levels of lead. Air lead concentrations and lead fallout, as measured in the ambient air monitoring system, were below current Polish air quality standards and gradually decreased.