The aim of the Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental
Health activity is to tackle issues of environmental impact
assessment, environmental management, and protection of
the environment and of the human health and safety. It's
main research interests are a) integrated environmental
management and pollution prevention and control, and b)
the investigation of pollution issues and the assessment
of their impact on human health and environment, in our
efforts to sustain environment and enhance living quality
standards. It encompasses cross-sectional research on environmental
science and pollution science, chemistry, biology and engineering
in Greece and worldwide, through international research
programs.
The activities of this thematic area, focus on the study
of: a) the impact of human activities, including industrial
activities, on the environment and the integrated pollution
prevention and control, and b) of the physico-chemical characteristics
of pollution in different environmental settings and the
links of pollution with toxicity and human illnesses such
as respiratory (e.g asthma, COPD) and cardiovascular diseases.
The group is composed of research scientists having experience
on environmental science, chemistry, engineering, biology
and applied mathematics/statistics and includes 2 postdoctoral
scientists, 1 graduate student and 1 undergraduate student.
Current research tasks converge on:
- monitoring of urban air pollution;
- indoor air pollution with emphasis in residential and
occupational settings;
- physical and chemical properties of particulate matter;
- personal exposure to PM and chemical carcinogens;
- toxic hazards such as heavy metals and dioxins, present
in the environment and;
- environmental and health impact assessment;
- environmental policy issues and implementation and enforcement
of environmental legislation.
Laboratory research is mostly carried out at Atmospheric
Chemistry Laboratory (ACL), which is a new development of
the Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development.
Although relatively new, the laboratory has already developed
sampling and analytical methods for air pollution monitoring
and health impact assessment following European and/or international
standards. Major facilities include:
- sampling devices include a broad series of samplers for
the collection of:
- TSP, PM10 and PM2.5 (Harvard Impactors, High Volume
samplers);
- VOCs and BTEX;
- ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and;
- organic compounds such as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated
dibenzo dioxins/furans (PCDD/Fs).
- laboratory equipment and instrumentation includes:
- high resolution gas chromatography (Varian® Star3600CX)
coupled with a tandem ion-trap mass spectrometry in
electron ionization mode (Varian® Saturn 2000 MS/MS);
- microbalances with accuracy of 1 (MX-5, Mettler-Toledo)
and 10 (BP-211D, Sartorius) ìg in a controlled
weighing room and;
- aethalometer (M34D, Diffusion Systems).
- on-line instruments include, a continuous particle number
counter (3022A CPC, TSI Inc).
thus, the following indicative parameters are monitored:
- PM mass;
- Ozone, nitrogen dioxide, benzene;
- Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons;
- Polychlorinated dibenzo dioxins/furans.
Current research activities include:
- Investigation of PM10 and PM2.5 mass and elemental carbon
concentrations in Athens and their seasonal and spatial
distribution;
- Investigation of the relationships between urban and indoor
PM10, PM2.5 and particle number concentration and respiratory
health of asthma and COPD patients;
- Gas/particle partitioning of secondary organic aerosol
formed from the photooxidation of terpenes;
- Study of the relationships between air pollution and public
transport in urban areas; and
- Investigation of the chemical interaction between DNA
and chemical carcinogens present in urban air.
The group also provides environmental consulting services
to public and private organisations, on it's own or in collaboration
with other groups of the IERSD, which include:
- Environmental impact assessment studies (EIAs) for public
or private projects;
- Consulting services for the implementation of environmental
management systems and pollution prevention control;
- Support to competent authorities for the design and implementation
of strategies and measures for the protection of the environment
and of mechanisms for inspecting compliance with the environmental
legislation; and
- Indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring.
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