Health, society and environment

by Eleonora Anello

The sensitivity of the citizens towards the environment and the health is increasing but not always the media are able to meet this new need for information. Created to respond to this new demand Ecograffi, online journal that will be presented Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 12 a.m., at the King Kong Microplex, Via Po 21, Turin (Italy). For the speakers at the event Giorgio Diaferia, editor of the journal, physician and journalist, Nicola de Ruggiero, assessor of Environment of the Piedmont Region. Will moderate the journalist Antonella Frontani.

Ecograffi is proposed to discuss with together three themes often kept separate, although welfare is directly linked to the environment which in turn is influenced by the way in which the individual deals with the everyday.
The editorial office of the periodical is composed by a team of professionals working together for ten years, during which it produced the TV show Antropos, broadcast on Quarta Rete and Sky channels, edited a blog and organized numerous events of public confrontation and scientific.

Dr. Diaferia, we speak of scientific information, disclosure naturalistic, environmental education, even of social communication. How would you define environmental communication from the medical point of view?

«The environmental communication from the medical point of view is very weak. There isn’t a set that really know to the policy makers and the people, who today talk about environmental protection of life and work also means, in a non-episodic way, speaking of environmental protection of life and work in which we find ourselves. Leaving the work environment, normed by specific laws, I remember like today where lack of clear operational tools in our environment at home, in which Italians tend to spend at least 80 to 90% of their time, to be exceeded for certain substances. Environment means Policies of Primary Prevention, it means how and what we eat. For example, too many pesticides still present in fruits and vegetables, although within the limits of the law, are capable of inducing genetic mutation or endocrine abnormalities. As another example, the environment where we live influences our health as it may or may not promote healthier lifestyles, to keep away problems as obesity, diabetes and chronic degenerative diseases and others. I am not versed in the health damage from substances produced by the industrial activity but it is certain that, for example, the asbestos problem is far from resolved and that the same applies to the hexavalent chromium or the radon».

So you think that communicate the environment is primarily prevention. But, what is the mission of Ecograffi?

«Ecograffi comes groped for a very different approach from existence when talking to the environment and health. My experience as a family physician and environmentalist records the need to follow a certain pattern of social communication, to explain to people not engaged in a simple way, the complexity of protecting our health, thanks to more global attention to the environment in which we live. Our mission is therefore to document the most significant events in this area, thanks to reportages. Our new challenge is represented by this online periodic, open to contributions from all who are interested in these issues, so crucial to the quality of our future. We want to inform an increasingly wide public opinion on what effect pollution can have on health, but also provide a livable social scenarios different, thanks to environmental protection, thus stimulating a debate on the relationship between environmental degradation and loss of health with the clear signs of social costs».