["Veille sanitaire": tools, functions, process of healthcare monitoring in France].

In France, the term "veille sanitaire" is widely used to designate healthcare monitoring. It contains, however, a set of concepts that are not shared equally by the entire scientific community. The same is true for activities that are part of it, even if some (surveillance for example) are already well defined.

[Human biomonitoring, biomarkers, environmental biomonitoring].

Human biomonitoring is a form of environmental public health surveillance. It is not to be confused with environmental biomonitoring (or ecomonitoring), which is the observation of living organisms implemented with the objective of monitoring quality of environments. Human biomonitoring enables us to monitor the presence of chemical pollutants in the body.

[Is environmental health the future of public health?].

In France, the field of public health and public health training have developed over recent decades in parallel to the emergence of environmental health; however, these two fields are grounded in conceptual and methodological underpinnings that often differ. The authors of this article try to analyse the differences between these two approaches which both have prevention as their main purpose. Both approaches use epidemiology as a tool, but they are distinguished by their uniquely different definitions of environment.

Rationales, design and recruitment for the Elfe longitudinal study.

Background: Many factors act simultaneously in childhood to influence health status, life chances and well being, including pre-birth influences, the environmental pollutants of early life, health status but also the social influences of family and school. A cohort study is needed to disentangle these influences and explore attribution.

Methods: Elfe will be a nationally representative cohort of 20 000 children followed from birth to adulthood using a multidisciplinary approach.

The environmental health of children: priorities in Europe.

Objectives: To evaluate existing research on the environmental health of children and provide a prioritised list of risk factors and policy recommendations for action, the Policy Interpretation Network on Children's Health and Environment (PINCHE) was set up within EU FP5 (QLK4-2002-02395). The project focused on air pollutants, carcinogens, neurotoxicants and noise. PINCHE was a multidisciplinary and multinational network of representatives from science, industry, NGOs, and consumer and patient organisations in Europe.

Exposure to multiple environmental agents and their effect.

Introduction: All children are exposed to multiple physical, chemical and biological challenges that can result in adverse health effects before and after birth. In this context, the danger of multiple exposures cannot be assessed from a single-chemical approach as used in classical toxicology.

Aim: To open up a 'negotiation space' for the problem of multiple exposure to environmental stressors, defined as any physical, chemical or biological entity that can induce an adverse response.

Today's epidemics in children: possible relations to environmental pollution and suggested preventive measures.

Background: Facts and hypotheses on the relationship between some children's diseases or disorders and external stressors during the developmental stage of a child, both prenatally and postnatally are described in literature. In this paper the following changes in patterns and causes of the main childhood illnesses are summarized and recommendations for actions are made. Prematurity.

[The practitioner's role in surveillance and information on environmental risks].

Health scares have entailed an increasing concern about environmental risks for populations. Authorities' response was to set up a system for the analysis, surveillance and management of environmental risks. Practitioners have an important role to play in this system, as primary actors of surveillance and as a close source of information about the environmental risks for the population.

[The heat wave of August 2003: what happened?].

A heat wave of exceptional intensity occurred in France in August 2003, 2003 was the warmest of the last 53 years in terms of minimal, maximal and average temperatures, and in terms of duration. In addition, high temperatures and sunshine, causing the emission of pollutants, significantly increased the atmospheric ozone level. Some epidemiological studies were rapidly implemented during the month of August in order to asses the health impact of this heat wave.

[Consumption of tobacco, alcohol, psychotropic drugs and illegal drugs in high school students of the department in the Upper Pyrenees].

A study was conducted on a representative sample of high school students in Hautes-Pyrénées, to measure their consumption of toxics (tobacco, alcohol, psychotropic and illicit drugs) and to explore the role of selected explanatory factors. Consumption levels were high, particularly for tobacco: 45% were smoker and 4% smoked more than 15 cigarettes each day. Less than 5% were alcohol daily consumers.