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Environment and Health
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The EU Environmental Noise Directive
(END), relating to the assessment
and management of environmental
noise, aims to provide a common
framework to avoid, prevent or
reduce, on a prioritised basis, the
harmful effects of exposure to
environmental noise. The Directive
was transposed in Ireland as the
Environmental Noise Regulations
2006 (S.I. No. 140 of 2006). A range
of organisations have responsibilities
under the Regulations including the
EPA, the National Roads Authority,
local authorities, the airport
authorities, Irish Rail and the Railway
Procurement Agency.
The Directive sets out a two-stage
process for addressing environmental
noise.
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It requires Member States to
establish the extent of the
noise problem by preparing
‘strategic noise maps’ for major
roads, railways, airports and
agglomerations
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Based on the results of these
maps, the competent authorities
in each Member State are
required to develop action plans
to reduce the level of noise
where necessary and to maintain
environmental noise quality
where it is good.
The process was completed for noise
issued from sources over a specified
major threshold. The second phase
is currently under way for noise from
sources at a lower threshold, and will
be completed in 2013. The general
public will be given an opportunity
to participate in the preparation of
action plans. Industrial and waste
activities licensed by the EPA have
noise restrictions, where relevant,
to prevent local noise pollution.
Licensees may be required to carry
out a noise survey of operations at
their respective industrial or waste
site and where necessary produce
a programme to reduce noise
emissions.
Chemicals and Other
Threats to Health in
the Environment
Chemicals, both naturally occurring
and manufactured, form the basis
of our existence from the oxygen,
carbon and nitrogen building blocks
that make up our own bodies to
exotic man-made materials used in
personal care and medical products.
While our lives and society derive
great benefits from chemicals, it is
well recognised that when particular
chemicals reach the wrong place,
in the wrong amounts, and at the
wrong time, these powerful agents
can damage both the environment
and our health.
Environmental exposure to chemicals
can occur through a number of
routes including inhalation, ingestion
through food/drink and by physical
contact. The health effects of
exposure to hazardous chemicals
range from skin irritations and
chemical burns to cancer and genetic
damage. The nature of exposure to
chemicals is generally categorised as
either ‘chronic’, referring to ongoing
exposure over an extended period
(possibly over a lifetime), or ‘acute’,
referring to a brief (or even single)
exposure to a harmful substance.
The effects of chronic exposure
may not become evident for many
years and the cause is often hard
to identify. Perhaps the greatest
concern regarding chemicals in the
environment is whether they persist
and accumulate, as this gives rise to
concerns that humans are carrying
a gradually increasing body burden
of potentially toxic chemicals.
Some of the key regulatory
instruments in controlling the use of
chemicals are REACH (Registration,
Evaluation, Authorisation and
Restriction of Chemicals) and CLP
(Regulation on classification, labelling
and packaging of substances and
mixtures). These EU-level regulations
are implemented in Ireland by the
Health and Safety Authority, EPA
and other bodies.
Persistent Organic Pollutants
(POPs)
Toxic chemicals that do not degrade
easily and persist in the environment
for long periods are classified as
POPs. They are of particular concern
because they can be concentrated
through the food chain to levels that
are dangerous to human health. They
include pesticides, for example DDT;
industrial chemicals, for example
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs);
and unintentional by-products, for
example dioxins. Ireland is a party
to the Stockholm Convention, a
global treaty that aims to protect
human health and the environment
from 22 POPs by prohibiting or
restricting their production and use
and includes measures to reduce
or eliminate releases. The EPA as
competent authority is preparing a
draft National Implementation Plan
for POPs for Ireland in conjunction
with other public bodies. Once
finalised, the plan will be sent to
the Secretariat of the Stockholm
Convention.
Dioxins arise mainly as unintentional
by-products of incomplete combustion
and from certain chemical processes.
A number of these dioxins are
dangerous chemicals with very high
toxicity including dermal effects,
immunotoxicity and carcinogenicity,
as well as reproductive and
developmental toxicity. Similar effects
are caused by some of the dioxin-like
PCBs. The most recent EPA report
on dioxin and PCB levels in the Irish
environment shows that the levels
in all of the samples tested were
well below the relevant EU limits.
The report is based on dioxin levels
measured in cow’s milk in a survey
carried out in 2010. The report also
shows that dioxin levels measured
in this survey compare favourably
with those taken from similar surveys
in the EU and other countries. A
2010 study of dioxins in breastmilk