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Environmental Impact &
Health Assessment


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.

 

Research Tasks

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.

Facilities

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.

Research Activities

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.

Services

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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