Partnership between scientists and populations resident in contaminated sites. The case study of Biancavilla, Italy.
Main Article Content
Keywords
Fluoro-edenite, Mesothelioma, Lung fibrosis, Research-community partnership, Environmental health literacy, Biancavilla.
Abstract
Partnership, from the Latin pars-partis, meaning part, has to do with the notion of two persons - two entities sharing a common goal, where the success of one of the two also corresponds to a benefit for the other. The beneficial effects of partnership can be observed in many domains of life.
The purpose of the present contribution concerns the case study of the partnership between scientists and the population resident in the city of Biancavilla, Eastern Sicily, a town of about 20,000 inhabitants, where an excess of mortality from malignant mesothelioma had been observed in the frame of a periodic survey in the over 8,000 Italian municipalities aimed at providing estimates of the health impact of asbestos in Italy.
The mesothelioma cases in Biancavilla were characterized by a low mean age at diagnosis, an even number of men and women and by the total absence of occupational asbestos exposure.
The Mayor and his coworkers suggested to examine a large area within the city centre where a major stone quarry was operating since several decades. There the investigators found an amphybolic fibre that contaminated the rocks extracted and used in the local building industry, that was shown to be a new mineral specie named fluoro-edenite.
There started a strong participatory project engaging local, regional, and national institutions. Major milestones where demonstration of carcinogenicity of fluoro-edenite fibres in rats and mice by Istituto Ramazzini, and evaluation by IARC of fluoro-edenite fibres as carcinogenic to humans with sufficient evidence.
Biancavilla was recognized by the Italian Government as National Priority Contaminated Site. In two decades, major environmental cleanup interventions were realized, always in the frame of precautionary and prevention approaches and a synergy between scientists, public administrators, institutional and social actors.
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Pietro Comba, Collegium Ramazzini, Bologna, Italy
Fellow
Caterina Bruno, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
Retired