EX ILVA EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY UPDATE, CLARIFICATION
“As has already been widely communicated, the update of the epidemiological study on Taranto is underway and the planning of activities is supported exclusively by technical assessments, linked to the pandemic period that has just ended. The study is part of a complex national program of interventions on contaminated sites, which sees the Puglia Region as leader of a consortium in which 14 regions participate, and which provides for the consolidation of epidemiological and environmental surveillance tools, the updating of the cohort study aimed at extending the observation period in more recent years, but also the launch of a new prospective study which will have a specific focus on child health, together with health surveillance and health promotion activities.
The political direction given by the regional government regarding the commitment to constantly update studies and surveillance activities has never changed: in fact, both environmental and health monitoring activities by regional institutions have never stopped, and it is the one that highlighted the growing trend in benzene values that a member of parliament talks about in a note, with the reporting of the related health risks by the ASL of Taranto, which is also engaged in the continuous updating of the cancer and mortality register data , who support and guide the Region’s firm action in protecting the health of Taranto citizens.
The research continues and has never stopped and the studies underway will contribute to the construction of further scientific knowledge: however, it is necessary to reiterate, particularly in this phase, that the multiple study activities conducted so far by the Region have already highlighted, unequivocally and without the need to refer to further evidence, the existence of a causal link between exposure to emissions from the steel plant and the effects on the health of the population, in particular in terms of mortality from lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases”. It specifies it
Director of the epidemiology and care intelligence area of Aress Puglia in response to the statements of a deputy.
