Scottish Centre for Indoor Air Inaugural Meeting 2nd September 2009
Members of the new Scottish Centre for Indoor Air who attended the inaugural scientific meeting in Aberdeen on the 2nd September 2009.
The inaugural scientific meeting of the new Scottish Centre for Indoor Air (SCIA) was held at the University of Aberdeen on Wednesday 2nd September 2009. SCIA is a collaboration between scientists at the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) in Edinburgh and researchers from the University of Aberdeen involved in work to examine the effects of indoor air pollution on health. The team of over 20 scientists have previously worked together on many joint projects including those looking at the effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) on health, evaluating the impact of smoke-free legislation on workers’ exposure to ETS in Scotland, England and Wales, and also work looking at exposure to fine particulate matter generated from the burning of biomass fuel in homes in both developing and developed countries. Building on previous work carried out by these two groups, this new virtual centre will bring together a wide range of experience and skills on measurement, exposure assessment, respiratory medicine and epidemiology.
The launch day was held at the Medico-Chirugical Society Hall on the Foresterhill campus in Aberdeen and was attended by over 20 members of the SCIA. Presentations relating to SCIA work were arranged around three central themes of ETS, Biomass fuel smoke and Health Impact Assessment with extensive discussion about how best to combine the findings from these study areas and ways of developing the research agenda for future funding proposals. Dr Sean Semple of the University of Aberdeen and Director of the SCIA, provided an overview of work carried out by the two collaborating organisations on the assessment of biomass fuel smoke exposure in India, Malawi and Nepal, discussing evidence that biomass smoke is responsible for over 1.2 million premature deaths per year and a health burden similar to that presented by malaria. This talk also included a strategic examination of how this work is likely to develop via a growing network of international partners.
Dr Karen Galea from IOM and Associate Director of the Centre, highlighted the extensive portfolio of research that the team were involved in relating to ETS exposures in the workplace, home and car settings. Karen’s presentation showed the dramatic changes in workplace exposures to ETS in the last 3 years with reductions of over 80-90% for most workers in the hospitality sector but also demonstrated evidence of continuing levels of exposure in exempt settings including care homes and domestic premises.
Fintan Hurley, Director of Science at IOM, provided a comprehensive examination of the role of Health Impact Assessment in many of the previous and planned projects carried out by the collaborating research team of the SCIA.
The day was also attended by Professor Anthony Seaton, previously head of both the Department of Environmental & Occupational Medicine (DEOM) in Aberdeen and the IOM. Other attendees included Professor Jon Ayres, previously of DEOM and now head of the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Medicine in Birmingham, Professor Cairns Smith, head of Population Health Sciences section at the University of Aberdeen and Professor George Morris from NHS Health Scotland.
The SCIA is strongly supported by both the University of Aberdeen and the IOM. Further details of the work of the group are available at the SCIA website http://www.indoorair.org.uk/