Environmental Researches In The Faculty Of







Introduction:
Environmental and ecological topics continue to be the most important issues in Israel as well as in the Middle East and in many developed and under-developed countries. Industrialization and development are often accompanied by environmental harm and over-exploitation of natural resources. Local and regional changes often result in air and water pollution, which may cause serious diseases of various organs and body systems. Thus, a multidisciplinary and multidimensional approach is called for to identify and prevent the health effects of environmental pollution.


Research:
Research at the Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion brings together scientists, epidemiologists and physicians who collaborate on major issues in environmental health.

The following topics are now being investigated by several research groups:

Air pollution:
  • The distribution of respirable particles in the lung.
  • Spatial and temporal associations of air pollution and the occurrence of cancer.
  • Air pollution and the occurrence of asthma in Haifa.
  • Indoor air pollution.


UV Radiation:
  • Measurements of stratospheric ozone layer depletion.
  • Ultraviolet radiation in the Dead Sea area and the risk of exposure to the sun for therapeutic purposes.
  • Air pollution and the reduction of ultraviolet radiation.
  • The occurrence of skin cancer and melanoma in the period of 1960-1990 in Israel.


Polluted water:
  • The relationship of polluted groundwater and the occurrence of the birth defects.
  • The relationship of kidney cancer and heavy metal ions (cadmium, chromium, nickel and lead) in the drinking water.
  • Hazards of polluted sea water.
  • The occurrence of gastrointestinal diseases due to sewage pollution of the Sea of Gallelee.


Environmental hazards:
  • Smoking and heart diseases.
  • Smoking and lung diseases.
  • Development disabilities related to environmental pollution.
  • Community approach to environmental hazards.
  • Breast cancer and toxic substances in the environment.
  • Occupational and residential exposure to asbestos.
  • Lung cancer and lung diseases after occupational exposure to asbestos.
  • Antioxidants and cancer.


Courses:
Several courses, which are given by researchers of the Unit of Epidemiology, focuses on Environmental Medicine and the methodology to examine environmental hazards, criteria of causality and causal relationships between environmental risk factors and diseases, the control of potential confounding factors to identify the risk of a single environmental factor, and effect modification by demographic variables such as age, gender, education and ethnic origin.


Back to Environmental Studies

Back to Environmental Technologies