2-FUN – Full-chain and UNcertainty approaches for assessing health risks in FUture eNvironmental scenarios
2-FUN is a 4-year Integrated Project (2007-2011) funded within the European 6th Framework Programme and involving 12 partners from 9 European countries.
2-FUN aimed at providing decision-makers with innovative tools to analyse the current and future trends in environmental conditions and pressures that may lead to health problems. Specific scientific actions were set up to develop methodologies, databases and models on the following topics:
- Building future realistic socio-economic, environmental and health scenarios;
- Integrated exposure and effect assessment of multi-stressors via multiple routes;
- Integration of children’s issues in health risk assessments;
- Development of uncertainty models for improved health management;
- Demonstrations of a full-chain approach for health risk assessment.
2-FUN engaged in a structured dialogue with all interested parties (stakeholders, policy-makers and researchers) to monitor large environment- and health-focused scientific initiatives and to incorporate their needs in the development of tools for health risk assessment. The developed tools were tested on 3 European case studies covering a wide range of temporal, spatial, environmental, and societal contexts:
- evolution of air pollution and thermal stress in Portugal;
- assessment of the health impact of chemical contamination of a river watershed in France;
- health risk assessment of contaminated soils for children living in the industrial area of Upper Silesia region in Poland.
Our research group was involved as coordinator of WP1 – Construction of realistic scenarios, accounting for future environmental and societal changes.
A “Risk-based Tool for the Regional Ranking of Environmental Chemical Stressors” has been developed by the research group within WP1 activities, with the main aim of supporting decision-makers in the evaluation of the existing information on environmental contamination and population health status in the region of interest to identify priority chemical stressors to be investigated more urgently. Moreover, the tool allows the identification of priority areas within the considered region, where further assessment should be focused.
Link: http://www.2-fun.org