scholarly journals How can the integrity of occupational and environmental health research be maintained in the presence of conflicting interests?

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xaver Baur ◽  
Colin L. Soskolne ◽  
Lisa A. Bero
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Research Integrity ◽  
Occupational Exposures ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Scientific Integrity ◽  
Environmental Health Research

Abstract Background The sciences, and especially the research subspecialties of occupational and environmental health, are being misused. The misuse serves to interfere with the advancement of policies that depend on rational evidence needed for policies to protect public health. Methods We selectively surveyed the independent scientific literature. In addition, the efforts of respected international professional organizations of scientists whose focus is on maintaining and improving public health have been considered. This commentary is unique in assembling not only the factual basis for sounding alarms about significant bias in occupational and environmental health research, but also about the manipulative mechanisms used, and, in turn, the methods needed to keep science honest. Results Scientific integrity is based on the principle that research is conducted as objectively as possible; it cannot be compromised by special interests whose primary goals are neither to seek truth nor to protect human health. Evidence demonstrates a significant risk of bias in research reports sponsored by financial interests. Practices of corporate malfeasance include the orchestrated contamination of editorial boards of peer-reviewed scientific journals with industry apologists; interference with activities of national regulatory bodies and international review panels engaged in safeguarding occupational and public health; constructing roadblocks by capitalizing on uncertainty to undermine scientific consensus for much-needed government regulation of carcinogenic, endocrine-disrupting and/or immunotoxic agents; promoting “causation” criteria that lack foundation and effectively block workers’ access to legal remedies for harms from occupational exposures resulting in morbidity and premature mortality; and, violating standards of professional conduct by seducing reputable scientists with financial incentives that make them beholden to corporate agendas. Conclusions Well-orchestrated assaults on science continue unabated and must now be met head-on. Success could be achieved by promoting and protecting the integrity of research. Furthermore, avoiding influence by conflicted corporate affiliates in occupational and public health regulations is needed. Identifying, managing and, ideally, eliminating corporate influence on science and science policy are needed to protect research integrity. Protecting the public’s health, preventing disease, and promoting well-being must be the unambiguous goals of research in occupational and environmental health.

Environmental Health Research: Identifying the Context and the Needs, and Choosing Priorities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Morris ◽  
Marco Martuzzi ◽  
Lora Fleming ◽  
Francesca Racioppi ◽  
Srdan Matic
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Adequate Funding ◽  
Environmental Health Research

Adequate funding, careful planning, and good governance are central to delivering quality research in any field. Yet, the strategic directions for research, the mechanisms through which topics emerge, and the priorities assigned are equally deserving of attention. The need to understand the role played by the environment and to manage the physical environment and the human activities which bear upon it in pursuit of health, well-being, and equity are long established. These imperatives drive environmental health research as a key branch of scientific inquiry. Targeted research over many years, applying established methods, has informed society’s understanding of the toxic, infectious, allergenic, and physical threats to health from our physical surroundings and how these may be managed. Essentially hazard-focused research continues to deliver policy-relevant findings while simultaneously posing questions to be addressed through further research. Environmental health in the 21st century is, however, confronted by additional challenges of a rather different character. These include the need to understand, in a better and more policy-relevant way, the contributions of the environment to health and equity in complex interaction with other societal and individual-level influences (a so-called socioecological model). Also important are the potential of especially green and blue natural environments to improve health and well-being and promote equity, and the health implications of new approaches to production and consumption, such as the circular economy. Such challenges add breadth, depth, and richness to the environmental health research agenda, but when combined with the existential and public health threat of humanity’s detrimental impact on the Earth’s systems, they entail a need for new and better strategies for scientific inquiry. As we confront the challenges and uncertainties of the Anthropocene, the complexity expands, the stakes become sky-high, and diverse interests and values clash. Thus, the pressure on environmental health researchers to evolve and engage with stakeholders and reach out to the widest constituency of policy and practice has never been greater, nor has the need to organize to deliver. A disparate range of contextual factors have become pertinent when scoping the now significantly extended, territory for environmental health research. Moreover, the challenges of prioritizing among the candidate topics for investigation have scarcely been greater.

scholarly journals What is useful research? The good, the bad, and the stable

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Ozonoff ◽  
Philippe Grandjean
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Scientific Journal ◽  
Potential Usefulness ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Environmental Health Research

AbstractA scientific journal like Environmental Health strives to publish research that is useful within the field covered by the journal’s scope, in this case, public health. Useful research is more likely to make a difference. However, in many, if not most cases, the usefulness of an article can be difficult to ascertain until after its publication. Although replication is often thought of as a requirement for research to be considered valid, this criterion is retrospective and has resulted in a tendency toward inertia in environmental health research. An alternative viewpoint is that useful work is “stable”, i.e., not likely to be soon contradicted. We present this alternative view, which still relies on science being consensual, although pointing out that it is not the same as replicability, while not in contradiction. We believe that viewing potential usefulness of research reports through the lens of stability is a valuable perspective.

scholarly journals Omics for Nurse Scientists Conducting Environmental Health Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-52
Author(s):  
Lacey W. Heinsberg ◽  
Yvette P. Conley
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Community Practice ◽  
Exposure Science ◽  
Environmental Health Research ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
Funding Opportunities

Nurse scientists are ideally positioned to perform environmental health research and it is critical that the role of omics in the complex relationships between environmental exposures and an individual's unique physiology in human health outcomes be appreciated. Importantly, omics can offer nurse scientists a tool to measure exposure, demonstrate molecular phenotypic changes associated with exposure, and potentially uncover mechanisms of exposure-related disease or negative health outcomes. The purpose of this summary is to serve as an overview of omics methodologies for nurse scientists conducting environmental health research and provides future directions of this work as well as exemplar funding opportunities that demonstrate the growing need and interest in this area. The intersection of nursing and exposure science will accelerate the work in environmental health and bring forth translation of research findings into clinical and community practice. Importantly, this information can better help us understand the variation in response to the environment and support environmental health policy change at the local, state, and federal level to improve community health and well-being.

scholarly journals Scientific integrity: critical issues in environmental health research

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. S9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenico Merlo ◽  
Kirsi Vahakangas ◽  
Lisbeth E Knudsen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Scientific Integrity ◽  
Environmental Health Research ◽  
Critical Issues

scholarly journals Exploring Mexican adolescents' perceptions of environmental health risks: a photographic approach to risk analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1617-1627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Börner ◽  
Juan Carlos Torrico Albino ◽  
Luz María Nieto Caraveo ◽  
Ana Cristina Cubillas Tejeda
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Environmental Health Risks ◽  
Environmental Health Research ◽  
Waste Air ◽  
Mexican Adolescents

The objective of this study was to explore Mexican adolescents' perceptions of environmental health risks in contaminated urban areas, and to test the environmental photography technique as a research tool for engaging adolescents in community-based health research. The study was conducted with 74 adolescents from two communities in the city of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Participants were provided with disposable cameras and asked to take photographs of elements and situations which they believed affected their personal health both at home and outside their homes. They were also asked to describe each photograph in writing. Photographs and written explanations were analyzed by using quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Risk perception plays a crucial role in the development of Risk Communication Programs (RCPs) aimed at the improvement of community health. The photography technique opens up a promising field for environmental health research since it affords a realistic and concise impression of the perceived risks. Adolescents in both communities perceived different environmental health risks as detrimental to their well-being, e.g. waste, air pollution, and lack of hygiene. Yet, some knowledge gaps remain which need to be addressed.

Environmental Health Research and Ethics

2019 ◽  
pp. 753-764
Author(s):  
David B. Resnik
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Environmental Interventions ◽  
Environmental Health Research ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Research Regulations ◽  
Kennedy Krieger Institute ◽  
Privacy And Confidentiality

This chapter discusses some of the key ethical issues that arise in environmental health research involving human subjects, including returning individualized research results, protecting privacy and confidentiality, research on environmental interventions, intentional exposure studies, research regulations, autonomy, beneficence, informed consent, payments to subjects, and protecting vulnerable human subjects. The chapter will discuss issues that are common to all research designs, as well as those unique to certain types of designs, such as intentional exposure studies. It will also address ethical issues that arose in two important cases, the Kennedy Krieger Institute lead abatement study, and the Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study.

scholarly journals Development of a web-platform for dynamic monitoring of population health in Geneva: Specchio project

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
H Baysson ◽  
S Joost ◽  
H Attar Cohen ◽  
I Guessous ◽  
S Stringhini
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Occupational Exposures ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Dynamic Monitoring ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Medical File ◽  
Directorate General ◽  
Web Platform

Abstract Background In order to provide efficient public health decisions making, it is crucial to obtain reliable and recent data on the state of health of the population. For that purpose, a web-platform for the dynamic monitoring of the health status and well-being of the population is being developed in the Geneva canton. Methods Using a dedicated website, recruitment will be carried out over 5 years so as to enroll up to 20 000 volunteers, resident in Geneva and aged ≥ 18 years, followed-up for at least 10 years. Once connected to the website, participants will fill a general self-administered questionnaire on their socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics, anthropometry, health status, physical activity and diet. Environmental, behavioral and occupational exposures will also be evaluated via more specific questionnaires. Current addresses of residence will be geocoded and linked to geographical databases to passively gather information on noise, air pollution, green areas, and other exposures. Surveillance of health events will be implemented via yearly self-administered on line questionnaires and potentially via passive linkage to medical databases (medical file) and health registries with the participants' consent. For a subsample of volunteers, biochemical samples and biomarkers will be collected. Results The pilot study shows that the project is feasible, potentially cost-effective but requires innovative methodologies for ensuring long term follow-up. Different communication strategies used for recruitment and long-term participation need to be implemented ensuring trust from participants, different levels of health literacy and the need of justice. Conclusions Specchio is a new project aimed at setting up a digital longitudinal health study in Geneva. Challenges concerns the determinants of participation, recruitment and attrition, quality of data and ethics. Long-term funding by the Directorate General of Health Geneva is currently under evaluation. Key messages This digital longitudinal health study will enable dynamic monitoring of the health status and well-being of Geneva residents and will enable efficient public health decision making. Specchio is a new project funded by the Directorate General of Health Geneva.

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