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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
environmental science
Diagnostic health risk assessment of electronic waste on the general population in developing countries' scenarios
Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Volume 30, No. 6, Year 2010
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Description
E-waste is the generic name for technological waste. Even though aspects related to e-waste environmental pollution and human exposure are known, scientific assessments are missing so far on the actual risks for health sustainability of the general population exposed to e-waste scenarios, such as illicit dumping, crude recycling and improper treatment and disposal. In fact, further to occupational and direct local exposure, e-waste scenarios may impact on the environment-to-food chain, thus eliciting a widespread and repeated exposure of the general population to mixtures of toxicants, mainly toxic chemical elements, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and persistent organic pollutants. In the absence of any clear policy on e-waste flow management, the situation in the e-waste receiver countries may become quite scary; accordingly, here we address a diagnostic risk assessment of health issues potentially elicited by e-waste related mixtures of toxicants.Scientific evidence available so far (mainly from China) is discussed with special attention to the concept of health sustainability, i.e. the poor health burden heritage perpetuated through the mother-to-child dyad. Endocrine disruption and neurotoxicity are specifically considered as examples of main health burden issues relevant to perpetuation through life cycle and across generations; toxicological information are considered along with available data on environmental and food contamination and human internal exposure. The risk from exposure to e-waste related mixtures of toxicants of vulnerable subpopulation like breast-fed infants is given special attention. The diagnostic risk assessment demonstrates how e-waste exposure poses an actual public health emergency, as it may entrain significant health risks also for generations to come. Exposure scenarios as well as specific chemicals of major concern may vary in different contexts; for instance, only limited information is available on e-waste related exposures in a major site of e-waste dumping such as West Africa. Therefore, considerations are also given on data gaps possibly fitting a systematic risk assessment of the e-waste health impacts in different subscenarios as well as possible protective factors for exposed subpopulations. © 2009 Elsevier Inc.
Authors & Co-Authors
Frazzoli, Chiara
Italy, Rome
Istituto Superiore Di Sanita
Orisakwe, Orish E.
Nigeria, Awka
Nnamdi Azikiwe University
Dragone, Roberto
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Mantovani, Alberto
Italy, Rome
Istituto Superiore Di Sanita
Statistics
Citations: 227
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.eiar.2009.12.004
ISSN:
01959255
Research Areas
Environmental
Food Security
Health System And Policy
Maternal And Child Health
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Locations
Multi-countries