Dr. Boris A. Revich, M.D.
Centre of Demography and Human Ecology
Institute of Forecasting
Russian Academy of Sciences,
Moscow, 117418, ul.Krasikova 32
RUSSIA
TEL: (095) 332-43-14
FAX: (095) 310-70-71
Many industrial centers in Russia have badly contaminated air, drinking water, and soil; environmental epidemiology studies are carried out in most of them. These results are rarely available abroad because they were previously considered to be state secrets. Only brief summaries are published in Russian. Most investigations are descriptive and focus on adverse effects on children's health. We have analyzed the results of over 100 studies, comparing different health indicators for children residing in polluted and in relatively uncontaminated areas of the same city or region. For example, the prevalence of respiratory system diseases (the risk of bronchitis or bronchial asthma is 1.5 times higher for children living close to large machinery plants and 1.5-2.5 times higher for those residing near chemical, petrochemical, or metallurgy plants).
The bronchial asthma study revealed that the main risk factor for children in Moscow is nitrogen oxide from transportation exhaust systems. There is also an elevated risk of birth defects in the most contaminated areas of Moscow. Analysis of environmental monitoring studies reveals that most of this have focused on the accumulation of heavy metals in children's hair and PCBs in maternal milk.
Translated by Barbara Welling Hall
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