A Screening Method for Assessing Cumulative Impacts
A Screening Method for Assessing Cumulative Impacts
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DOI：
10.3390/ijerph9020648
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发表时间：
2012-02-01
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Denton, Joan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alexeeff, George V.;Faust, John B.;Denton, Joan
加州环境保护局（Cal/EPA）的环境正义行动计划要求制定评估“累积影响”的指导方针。“作为制定这些准则的第一步，制定了一种评估社区累积影响的筛选方法。这里介绍的方法是基于Cal/EPA采用的累积影响的工作定义[1]：“累积影响是指在一个地理区域内，来自综合排放和排放的暴露、公共健康或环境影响，包括来自所有来源的环境污染，无论是单一或多媒体，常规，意外或以其他方式释放。影响将酌情在有数据的情况下考虑到敏感人群和社会经济因素。“筛选方法是建立在这一定义以及目前对环境污染及其对健康的不利影响的科学认识的基础上，包括内在的生物因素和非内在的社会经济因素在介导污染物暴露的影响方面的影响。它解决了污染和健康结果分布不均的问题。该方法提供了一个科学工具，用于筛选相对累积影响的地方，其中既包括社区的污染负担-包括接触污染物、其公共健康和环境影响-也包括社区特征，特别是敏感性和社会经济因素。筛选方法提供了相对排名，以区分受影响程度较高的社区和受影响程度较低的社区。它还可以帮助确定哪些因素对社区的累积影响贡献最大。其目的不是提供社区一级健康影响的量化估计。一个试点筛选分析在这里，以说明这种方法的应用。一旦准则被采纳，该方法可以作为一种筛选工具，帮助Cal/EPA计划优先考虑他们的活动，并针对那些累积影响最大的社区。
The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) Environmental Justice Action Plan calls for guidelines for evaluating "cumulative impacts." As a first step toward such guidelines, a screening methodology for assessing cumulative impacts in communities was developed. The method, presented here, is based on the working definition of cumulative impacts adopted by Cal/EPA [1]: "Cumulative impacts means exposures, public health or environmental effects from the combined emissions and discharges in a geographic area, including environmental pollution from all sources, whether single or multi-media, routinely, accidentally, or otherwise released. Impacts will take into account sensitive populations and socio-economic factors, where applicable and to the extent data are available." The screening methodology is built on this definition as well as current scientific understanding of environmental pollution and its adverse impacts on health, including the influence of both intrinsic, biological factors and non-intrinsic socioeconomic factors in mediating the effects of pollutant exposures. It addresses disparities in the distribution of pollution and health outcomes. The methodology provides a science-based tool to screen places for relative cumulative impacts, incorporating both the pollution burden on a community- including exposures to pollutants, their public health and environmental effects- and community characteristics, specifically sensitivity and socioeconomic factors. The screening methodology provides relative rankings to distinguish more highly impacted communities from less impacted ones. It may also help identify which factors are the greatest contributors to a community's cumulative impact. It is not designed to provide quantitative estimates of community-level health impacts. A pilot screening analysis is presented here to illustrate the application of this methodology. Once guidelines are adopted, the methodology can serve as a screening tool to help Cal/EPA programs prioritize their activities and target those communities with the greatest cumulative impacts.