To the Reader
by Pál Kovács
Minister of Welfare
Hungary
It is both an honour and responsibility
to launch the Central European Journal of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, a journal edited jointly by eight countries of Europe: Austria,
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Rumania and Slovakia.
The state of health of the population
is determined by life style, changes in the natural and man-made environment,
the standard of health care, and the economic and social conditions. The
influences and interactions differ in degree.
It is a known fact that the environment
is responsible for one fifth of all diseases. Cancer ceases that can be
attributed to occupational and workplace environment influences represent
4-10 per cent of all malignant tumors. In Hungary
they are responsible for the death of 1100-1200 persons a year.
Air pollution - including lead
pollution, high concentration of nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, carbon
monoxide, and dust particles - is also a serious problem in Hungary. In
the cities air pollution caused by traffic influences the levels of lead
and cadmium in the blood, unfavourably affecting the health and physical
development of children in particular. Close to 4 per cent of the territory
of Hungary where 28.6 per cent of the population lives is subjected to
atmospheric pollution. Moreover, though to a somewhat lower extent, pollution
over a further 9 per cent of the territory exposes an additional 24 per
cent of the population to this hazard. The incidence of allergic and asthmatic
disorders keep is increasing.
The problem of increased noise
levels, contamination of the soil, rivers and water, and growing quantities
of dangerous wastes are all features of our civilised world. Moderate,
reduce, eliminate: these are the key words used in defining the tasks.
The solution must be sought through international cooperation.
It was in recognition of the fact
that the Human Environment Conference was convened in Stockholm in 1972,
this being the first important UN International conference on the protection
of the environment. In 1989 the WHO-EURO held the First European Environmental
and Health Conference in Frankfurt. The participating countries - guided
by a committed responsibility for health and environmental protection -
adopted the Frankfurt Charter, which formulated the areas of further co-operation
and the bases of environmental health policy. At the recommendation of
the conference, the European Environmental and Health Centre was also set
up in the same year.
The Second European Environment
and Health Conference, held in Helsinki (1994), was an outstanding event
in this co-operation. It was at this venue that the European Environmental
Health Action Plan and Helsinki Declaration were adopted; these formulated
the environmental health strategy which comprises the protection of human
health and well-being, biological complexity, and the physical environment.
The European Environment and Health Committee (of which Hungary is also
a member) was set up to co-ordinate the tasks under the direction of the
WHO. At the recommendation and with the support of the WHO, Hungary was
among the first to elaborate a National Action Programme which can also
serve as a model for other countries. The journal now being launched is
an admirable vehicle for helping the countries of the region to get to
know each other's environmental health problems and research achievements,
and it will also help towards finding a common solution for the creation
of healthier environment, a goal we all desire.
| Vol.1 No.1 |