During the workshop on “Health and safety in the workplace and life, the role and interactions between emerging risk factors in environmental matrices: the contribution of medical geology”, several hypotheses regarding the risks from environmental and occupational exposition to certain natural substances were discussed.
Since the environment is a natural system in “dynamic equilibrium” by factors that change in intensity over time, it is important to contaminate knowledge, boosting research and technological development. For this reason, through a comparison between different disciplines (Geology, Biology, Medicine, etc.), we can identify the main factors that influence the onset and / or the progress of the incidence of human pathologies.
To deal with this is Medical Geology, an emerging scientific discipline that studies the relationship between human health and various aspects of geology.
According to the survey reports, human beings are conditioned by a geological imprint, due to the interaction with the soil, atmospheric particulate matter and with the water itself. This mark could determine the prevalence of diseases well known in the past in various areas of Italy and as well as worldwide.
The parameters taken into consideration are the elemental content in the various matrices, the temporal and spatial variation of the elements (mobility, dispersion), pH, TOC, solar radiation and ionizing radiation from natural elements.
The diseases treated so far range from autoimmune diseases of the dermis, from suicides to infertility.
The research activities, being still in progress on several fronts, can be defined as hypothesis generators on iterative and multifaceted processes. These studies, in fact, are aimed at involving new factors to be addressed to further our understanding.
