Research Activities

Toxicological risk assessment
Starting from real cases of contamination the unit aims to develop methods for the exposure assessment also employing probabilistic approaches, and more refined statistical models.
The activities focus on risk assessment related to specific environmental conditions or human activities which pose a risk for human health. These studies include risk assessments related to the emissions of pollutants from incinerators and landfills, including transfer of  these compounds into the food chain. During the 2009 a health impact assessment due to concentrations of  particulate matter, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide, in an highly industrialized area, in northern Italy, and another study on the toxicological risk for consumers, due to the release of heavy metals from the professional coffee machines have been completed.

Exposure to environmental pollutants
Research activities also include measurement of contaminants in environmental samples, and assessment of  human exposure. Specific research projects focuses on the analysis of polychlorinated and polybrominated dioxins and furans (PCDD, PBDD, PCDF and PBDF), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS), in aquatic organisms at different levels of the food chain, and farmed fish coming from different areas of the Mediterranean sea. The purpose is to estimate, for the general Italian population , the exposure to these pollutants trough fish consumption. 

Evaluation of toxicological data
Toxicological data resulting from in vivo sub-chronic studies in rats exposed to individual dioxin-like and non dioxin-like PCBs are evaluated in detail, in order to investigate the dose-response relationship and the applicability of the "benchmark dose" approach.