Redefining the role of laboratory and field data in interdisciplinary programs to reduce environmental health risks in Argentine

MARCELO WOLANSKY; ELSA MEINARDI; DELFINA ROMERO; MARIANO JÄGUER

Guadalajara

Congreso; 2nd World Congress of the Society for Risk Analysis; 2008

People were, are and will be exposed to multiple environmental pollutants that mayproduce biological responses by using dissimilar toxicological pathways in mammals.More than one century after the industrial revolution, the Food Quality Protection Act(USA, 1996) mandated to re-examine chemicals with similar mechanisms of toxicityfor cumulative toxicity potentiality. During last decade, cumulative risk assessments onsome pesticide classes (e.g. OPs, carbamates, pyrethroids) have offered opportunitiesto refine statistical models and test the default assumption of additivity inenvironmentally relevant mixtures of chemicals with a common primary mode ofaction. This recent scientific experience indicates that functional alterations may beobserved in animal models after joint exposure to sub-effective levels of individualneurotoxicants (i.e. summation of X no-effect doses = measurable effect). While thesescientific efforts lead to a better toxicological understanding of chemical mixtures anda development of new methodological tools for estimating risks posed to humansthrough exposure to simple or complex mixtures, the current 'lab knowledge base' isonly a part of the framework that is needed to reduce environmental health risks ingeneral and susceptible populations. There is a consensus that well-informeddecisions in the context of reducing the adverse impact of pollutants also requireconsideration of "field" (as opposed to laboratory) information, e.g. the influence ofsocioeconomic, cultural, geographical, political, and individual factors. Since thesuccess of a program to reduce risk is highly dependent on these "field" factors,prolonged efforts to refine scientific models used to estimate a particular risk per semay or may not assure that a goal in risk reduction is reached earlier, easier or at alower cost. In environmental health or chemical safety programs of Argentine, there islittle experience in giving the people a chance for having a more active role in reducingthe environmental risks that threaten their communities. We propose that it may bebeneficial to re-define both the role of the "target people" and the reasoning for theallocation of efforts and resources to reach environmental health goals moreeffectively in Latin America. Argentine is one of the principal crop exporter andpesticide consumer countries in the American continent. We will present and discussthe complexity of the different factors in play in the context of reducing the risks ofneurotoxicity posed to humans after exposure to pesticide mixtures in Argentine.