E Risk Sciences, LLP, Lafayette, CO, USA.
NEK Associates LTD, Allston, MA, USA.
Risk Anal. 2021 Nov;41(11):1971-1986. doi: 10.1111/risa.13699. Epub 2021 Feb 10.
Risk analysis offers a useful framework for evaluating and managing environmental health risks across different settings. In this Perspective, we question whether the principles and practice of risk analysis could be beneficial in the context of land-based pollution in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to better support risk-based decision making. Specifically, potential health and economic impacts from land-based pollution in LMICs has become an increasing issue of concern due to widespread environmental contamination from active and legacy operations, particularly informal activities that are becoming increasingly dispersed throughout communities, such as used lead acid battery recycling, artisanal and small-scale gold mining, and small-scale tanneries. However, the overall magnitude and scale of the public health problem arising from these sources remains highly uncertain and poorly characterized and cannot be compared to land-based pollution in high-income countries due to unique factors. This lack of knowledge has negatively affected the political priority and level of funding for risk mitigation actions targeting land-based pollution in these countries. Our primary objective is to raise further awareness of this emerging issue among risk analysts and decisionmakers and to advocate for more robust and focused research. Here, we highlight the types of industries and activities contributing to land-based pollution in LMICs and describe key findings and knowledge and data gaps that have hindered a fuller understanding of this issue. We also discuss how several risk assessment and risk management approaches might be useful in this resource-constrained context. We conclude that a combination of risk analysis approaches may be worthwhile, but more work is needed to determine which methods or tools will be most informative, technically feasible, and cost-effective for identifying, prioritizing, and mitigating land-based pollution in LMICs. Affected researchers, funding agencies, and local or national governments will need to work together to develop improved study designs and risk mitigation strategies.
风险分析为评估和管理不同环境下的环境健康风险提供了一个有用的框架。在本观点中，我们质疑风险分析的原则和实践是否可以有益于陆地污染背景下的中低收入国家（LMICs），以更好地支持基于风险的决策。具体而言，由于活跃和遗留作业以及越来越分散在社区中的非正式活动（如使用过的铅酸电池回收、手工和小规模金矿开采以及小型制革厂）造成的广泛环境污染，陆地污染对 LMICs 的潜在健康和经济影响已成为日益令人关注的问题。然而，这些来源产生的公共卫生问题的总体规模和程度仍然高度不确定且特征描述不足，并且由于独特的因素，无法与高收入国家的陆地污染进行比较。这种知识的缺乏对这些国家针对陆地污染的风险缓解行动的政治优先事项和资金水平产生了负面影响。我们的主要目标是在风险分析师和决策者中进一步提高对这一新兴问题的认识，并倡导进行更有力和有针对性的研究。在这里，我们强调了导致 LMICs 陆地污染的各种行业和活动，并描述了关键发现以及知识和数据差距，这些差距阻碍了对这一问题的更全面理解。我们还讨论了在资源有限的情况下，几种风险评估和风险管理方法可能如何有用。我们的结论是，风险分析方法的组合可能是值得的，但需要做更多的工作来确定哪些方法或工具对于确定、优先考虑和减轻 LMICs 中的陆地污染最具信息性、技术上可行且具有成本效益。受影响的研究人员、资助机构以及地方或国家政府将需要共同努力，以制定改进的研究设计和风险缓解策略。
