Towards health impact assessment of drinking-water privatization -- the example of waterborne carcinogens in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)
Worldwide there is a tendency towards deregulation in many policy sectors - this, for example, includes liberalization and privatization of drinking-water management. However, concerns about the negative impacts this might have on human health call for prospective health impact assessment (HIA) on t...
| Publicado en: | Bulletin of the World Health Organization Vol. 81; no. 6; pp. 408 - 415 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
World Health Organization
2003
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=106659631&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 106659631 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 00429686 BUW jtl: Bulletin of the World Health Organization issn: 00429686 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2003 vid: 81 iid: 6 pid: 437 pub: World Health Organization artinfo: ui: 106659631 106659631 2004181781 NLM12894324 106659631 ppf: 408 ppct: 7 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Towards health impact assessment of drinking-water privatization -- the example of waterborne carcinogens in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) aug: au: Fehr R Mekel O Lacombe M Wolf U affil: Institute of Public Health (loegd) North Rhine-Westphalia, Westerfeldstr. 35-37, 33611 Bielefeld, Germany; rainer.fehr@loegd.nrw.de sug: subj: Health Impact Assessment Carcinogens Adverse Effects Environmental Health Neoplasms Risk Factors Water Pollution Trends Water Supply Evaluation Descriptive Statistics Dose-Response Relationship Germany Relative Risk Human ab: Worldwide there is a tendency towards deregulation in many policy sectors - this, for example, includes liberalization and privatization of drinking-water management. However, concerns about the negative impacts this might have on human health call for prospective health impact assessment (HIA) on the management of drinking-water. On the basis of an established generic 10-step HIA procedure and on risk assessment methodology, this paper aims to produce quantitative estimates concerning health effects from increased exposure to carcinogens in drinking-water. Using data from North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, probabilistic estimates of excess lifetime cancer risk, as well as estimates of additional cases of cancer from increased carcinogen exposure levels are presented. The results show how exposure to contaminants that are strictly within current limits could increase cancer risks and case-loads substantially. On the basis of the current analysis, we suggest that with uniform increases in pollutant levels, a single chemical (arsenic) is responsible for a large fraction of expected additional risk. The study also illustrates the uncertainty involved in predicting the health impacts of changes in water quality. Future analysis should include additional carcinogens, non-cancer risks including those due to microbial contamination, and the impacts of system failures and of illegal action, which may be increasingly likely to occur under changed management arrangements. If, in spite of concerns, water is privatized, it is particularly important to provide adequate surveillance of water quality. Copyright © 2003 World Health Organization pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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