Volume 3 Issue 2 (September 2004)
Harold Harvey and Paul Fleming
In previous editorials we have expressed concerns about two issues of fundamental importance to the creation of an environmental health research evidence-base – funding and reporting.
The reporting of environmental health research is an obvious necessity to the development the evidence-base – we are pleased to recount that the flow of papers to the JEHR has increased substantially over the past year.
The world of research has become an increasingly complex environment where a number of research paradigms strive for recognition, credibility and resources. In this competitive environment it is encouraging to see that all of the papers in this issue of the Journal are based on funded research.
The substantive research papers in this issue cover the range of core environmental topics – food safety, environmental protection, housing and occupational health. Fairman and Yapp, reporting on research funded by the Food Standards Agency, examine enforcement as an external motivator to small and micro food businesses in complying with the food safety legislation. Their findings suggest challenges to the strategy for food businesses to adopt a more self-regulatory approach through hazard analysis.
Calin et al were funded by the US Geological Survey, NATO and the Romanian Ministry of Health to compare the organic and inorganic geochemistry of drinking water samples collected in Romania from Balkan endemic nephropathy-affected locations. Balkan endemic nephropathy is a slowly evolving kidney disease affecting several areas of the Balkan Peninsula the etiology of which is unknown. This paper contributes to our understanding of this disease.
The London Borough of Southwark commissioned Stewart et al to seek the views of homeowners in the Bellenden Renewal Area on alternatives to maintenance and repair grants. This research suggests that the government driven options of more closely targeted grants, equity release and loans are not necessarily what homeowners would find most acceptable. Jordan et al, in research partly funded by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, presents occupational motorcyclists – such as couriers, paramedics and police motorcyclists - as an important occupational population at risk of developing noise induced hearing loss from the very high levels of aeroacoustic noise generated around their helmets. All occupational motorcyclists in this investigation had LEP,d's above the second action level of the Noise at Work Regulations, presenting a challenge to their employers.
Each of these papers has been subject to "double-blind" peer-review, a procedure designed to assure the independence and objectivity of the reviews and to ensure that published papers meet the discipline's expected standards of expertise. We hope they will make a further contribution to the development of the dynamic, credible evidence-base which is increasingly recognised as important to the effective practice of environmental health and the enhanced recognition of the profession as a partner in delivering the new public health.