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- Alkan Olsson, Johanna, et al.
(författare)
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Riskkommunikation om långvarig exponering för hälsoskadliga kemiska ämnen : Utmaningar vid riskkommunikation och förslag på råd för en bättre kommunikation
- 2018
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Personers riskuppfattning påverkas av flera faktorer, som närheten till tidigare händelser, egna erfarenheter (utbildning och social kontext) och vad som kommuniceras. Detta innebär att både budskapsgivaren och mottagaren har stor betydelse för hur en kommunikationssituation utvecklas.Syftet med detta delprojekt, som är en del av projektet ”Nätverk vid upptäckt av befolkningsexponering för farliga kemiska ämnen” som MSB (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap) finansierar, har varit att undersöka och samla befintlig erfarenhet av att kommunicera risker. Detta görs för att öka förståelsen samt ta fram råd kring hur kommunikationen som berör dessa ämnen kan förbättras och stärkas. Speciellt fokus har lagts på kommunikation gällande långvarig exponering för hälsoskadliga kemiska ämnen som finns i vår omgivning under längre tid, vilket kräver en långvarig strategi för riskkommunikationen.För att öka förståelsen och ta fram råd har tre mindre studier genomförts: ”Oro, riskuppfattning och kommunikation vid förorenade glasbruksområden”, ”Riskkommunikation vid arbets- och miljömedicinska enheter” och ”Kommunal riskkommunikation om PFAS”. Från de tre studierna kan några olika slutsatser dras. Det finns goda strukturer för riskkommunikation i Sverige och många inblandade aktörer vet hur och vad de behöver göra för att kommunicera risker på ett bra sätt. Olika kemiska föroreningar kräver olika kommunikationsåtgärder. I studien i Glasriket ville många ha mer information (medborgarperspektiv) medan efterfrågan på mer information har tystnat i kommuner där per- och polyfluorerade ämnen (PFAS) upptäckts i dricksvatten. Kommuner efterfrågar mer interaktion och stöd från övriga myndigheter.Med dessa studier som grund skapades ett utkast till en checklista för god riskkommunikation som ”testades” på en workshop som genomfördes 13 mars 2018 i Kalmar med personer från kommuner, länsstyrelser och arbets- och miljömedicinska kliniker. Anteckningarna från mötet användes för att utveckla listan till en lista med råd.Utöver kommentarer på rapporten och listan med råd lyfte flera av deltagarna också fram frågor kring hur en liknande dialog kan föras vidare. Även mer konkreta förslag lyftes fram: Skapa nätverk och mötesplatser för mer kommunikation mellan ansvariga bortom ”stuprörsmentaliteten”. Skapa ett officiellt och tydligt nätverk med experter dit man kan vända sig med specifika frågor. Skapa en databas på nationell nivå för ärenden. Skapa nätverk som är sanktionerade av arbetsgivaren. Utnyttja befintliga nätverk bättre. Genomföra övningar över administrativa gränser; genom övningar blir vi bättre och lär oss hur vi ska agera.I diskussionerna under workshopen flera deltagare att “i vardagen är man själv” och att en svårighet är ekonomiska resurser och att man ofta fokuserar på det akuta. Flera av deltagarna menade att nationella myndigheter har ett ansvar att tydligare stötta ”vardagsarbetet” med att kommunicera risker med hälsoskadliga kemiska ämnen. Detta skulle ha potential att spara resurser i ett längre perspektiv.Tanken är att de åtta råden som togs fram skall kunna användas och lyftas fram när grupper av aktörer skall bygga strukturer och nätverk för riskkommunikation som berör långvarig exponering för hälsoskadliga kemiska ämnen. Vi har delat upp listan på råd i sådana som handlar om förberedelser (innan det händer) och sådana som kan tillämpas vid kommunikationstillfället (när det händer). Även om listan inte riktar sig till en specifik aktör ser vi att den framförallt kan vara användbar för kommuner. Andra myndigheter kan använda listan för att reflektera över hur de kan planera och organisera både form och innehåll av sin riskkommunikation för att på bästa sätt stötta den lokala nivån.
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| 3. |
- Alriksson, Stina, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Risk perception and worry in environmental decision-making - a case study within the Swedish steel industry
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Risk Research. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1366-9877 .- 1466-4461. ; 20:9, s. 1173-1194
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainable development is an important issue for the industry in order to fulfil legislation requirements and to be able to use green marketing as a competitive advantage. The Swedish steel industry has implemented a large number of environmental improvements, for example, within energy efficiency, raw materials and recyclability. Technical improvements can help the industry decrease its environmental impact; however, in order to reach sustainable development, more factors need to be considered: an effective environmental decision-making process, for example. This process may be influenced by personal factors such as risk perception and worry, which are factors that will not contribute to an effective decision-making process. The aim of this study was to investigate if personal worry and risk perception influenced environmental decision-making within the Swedish steel industry. Thirty-eight interviews were performed at 10 Swedish steelworks using the Q-methodology. The major perceived environmental risks with the facility and personal worry were assessed, compared to the day-to-day work. It was concluded that the major perceived risks were emissions of carbon dioxide, use of non-renewable energy and emissions of particulate matter. The decision-makers were mainly worried about emissions of carbon dioxide, emissions of dioxin and use of non-renewable energy. The environmental issues that were prioritised in practice (day-to-day work) were emissions of carbon dioxide, emissions of particulate matter and emissions of metals. Even though emissions of carbon dioxide were given the highest priority in the Q-sorts, there was in general no clear relationship between risk perception and personal worry with the prioritised environmental issues at the steelworks. The quantitative analysis of the Q-sorts and the qualitative interviews both showed that the day-to-day work was unaffected by personal worry and risk.
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| 5. |
- Augustsson, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Challenges in assessing the health risks of consuming vegetables in metal-contaminated environments
- 2018
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 113, s. 269-280
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A great deal of research has been devoted to the characterization of metal exposure due to the consumption of vegetables from urban or industrialized areas. It may seem comforting that concentrations in crops, as well as estimated exposure levels, are often found to be below permissible limits. However, we show that even a moderate increase in metal accumulation in crops may result in a significant increase in exposure. We also highlight the importance of assessing exposure levels in relation to a regional baseline. We have analyzed metal (Pb, Cd, As) concentrations in nearly 700 samples from 23 different vegetables, fruits, berries and mushrooms, collected near 21 highly contaminated industrial sites and from reference sites. Metal concentrations generally complied with permissible levels in commercial food and only Pb showed overall higher concentrations around the contaminated sites. Nevertheless, probabilistic exposure assessments revealed that the exposure to all three metals was significantly higher in the population residing around the contaminated sites, for both low-, medianand high consumers. The exposure was about twice as high for Pb and Cd, and four to six times as high for As. Since vegetable consumption alone did not result in exposure above tolerable intakes, it would have been easy to conclude that there is no risk associated with consuming vegetables grown near the contaminated sites. However, when the increase in exposure is quantified, its potential significance is harder to dismiss - especially when considering that exposure via other routes may be elevated in a similar way.
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| 6. |
- Augustsson, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Climate change - an uncertainty factor in risk analysis of contaminated land
- 2011
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 409:22, s. 4693-4700
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Metals frequently occur at contaminated sites, where their potential toxicity and persistence require risk assessments that consider possible long-term changes. Changes in climate are likely to affect the speciation, mobility, and risks associated with metals. This paper provides an example of how the climate effect can be inserted in a commonly used exposure model, and how the exposure then changes compared to present conditions. The comparison was made for cadmium (Cd) exposure to 4-year-old children at a highly contaminated iron and steel works site in southeastern Sweden. Both deterministic and probabilistic approaches (through probability bounds analysis, PBA) were used in the exposure assessment. Potential climate-sensitive variables were determined by a literature review. Although only six of the total 39 model variables were assumed to be sensitive to a change in climate (groundwater infiltration, hydraulic conductivity, soil moisture, soil:water distribution, and two bioconcentration factors), the total exposure was clearly affected. For example, by altering the climate-sensitive variables in the order of 15% to 20%, the deterministic estimate of exposure increased by 27%. Similarly, the PBA estimate of the reasonable maximum exposure (RME, defined as the upper bound of the 95th percentile) increased by almost 20%. This means that sites where the exposure in present conditions is determined to be slightly below guideline values may in the future exceed these guidelines, and risk management decisions could thus be affected. The PBA, however, showed that there is also a possibility of lower exposure levels, which means that the changes assumed for the climate-sensitive variables increase the total uncertainty in the probabilistic calculations. This highlights the importance of considering climate as a factor in the characterization of input data to exposure assessments at contaminated sites. The variable with the strongest influence on the result was the soil:water distribution coefficient (Kd).
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| 7. |
- Augustsson, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Metal uptake by homegrown vegetables : the relative importance in human health risk assessments at contaminated sites
- 2015
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Ingår i: Environmental Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0013-9351 .- 1096-0953. ; 138, s. 181-190
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Risk assessments of contaminated land often involve the use of generic bioconcentration factors (BCFs),which express contaminant concentrations in edible plant parts as a function of the concentration in soil,in order to assess the risks associated with consumption of homegrown vegetables. This study aimed toquantify variability in BCFs and evaluate the implications of this variability for human exposure as-sessments, focusing on cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in lettuce and potatoes sampled around 22 con-taminated glassworks sites. In addition, risks associated with measured Cd and Pb concentrations in soiland vegetable samples were characterized and a probabilistic exposure assessment was conducted toestimate the likelihood of local residents exceeding tolerable daily intakes. The results show that con-centrations in vegetables were only moderately elevated despite high concentrations in soil, and mostsamples complied with applicable foodstuff legislation. Still, the daily intake of Cd (but not Pb) wasassessed to exceed toxicological thresholds for about afifth of the study population. Bioconcentrationfactors were found to vary more than indicated by previous studies, but decreasing BCFs with increasingmetal concentrations in the soil can explain why the calculated exposure is only moderately affected bythe choice of BCF value when generic soil guideline values are exceeded and the risk may be un-acceptable.
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| 10. |
- Filipsson, Monika, et al.
(författare)
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Consumption of vegetables and risk perception at contaminated glass works sites in Sweden
- 2013
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Ingår i: Abstracts of the 2013 Conference of the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE), the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES), and the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ).. ; , s. Abstract Number: 3980-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Glass has been produced since the 18th century in Kalmar and Kronoberg counties in an area called the Kingdom of Crystal. The production of glass has been associated with high levels of heavy metals in the soil. The most critical exposure pathways for metals are oral intake of soil, consumption of water and home-produced vegetables. The consumption of home-produced vegetables in particular is a highly site-specific exposure pathway and is therefore of interest to investigate in this geographic area.Aims The study aims to investigate to what extent home-produced vegetables are consumed by people living near glass work industries as well as their perception of environmental and health risks and the authorities’ risk communication.Methods A questionnaire including questions about personal factors, consumption of vegetables and fruit as well as the perception of risks and risk communication was sent to 300 randomly selected individuals living in areas close to glass works. Results A majority of those questioned, 87%, consume vegetables or fruit from their own garden sometime during the year and more than half of the respondents eat these food items on a regular basis or several times a year. Just over 40% are concerned about that the fruit or vegetables from their own garden may be contaminated with pollutants from the glass works, but an even greater number are concerned that pollution from glass works will affect their health or the environment in general. More than half of the respondents would like to have more information about environmental and health risks.ConclusionsHome-produced vegetables are frequently consumed in areas around glass work industries. Many residents are at the same time concerned and request more information about possible risks. Site-specific studies including quantities and types of vegetables ingested as well as contamination levels are needed to investigate if the exposure is actually of concern.
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