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Man’s
present environment is polluted by natural chemical elements and
compounds, possibly concentrated by man himself or as a result of
human activity. Alongside these pollutants, there are many
disease-causing physical agents. Once the damage caused by
environmental pollutants appears, and the clinical horizon is
passed for the person exposed to them, then we can speak of
patient and environmental disease. Moving from the clinical aspect
to the more strictly scientific one, we can state that the
awareness of environmental risks is one of the best tools for the
primary prevention of this kind of disease – which is by its very
nature surreptitious and generally not very well understood. The
international scientific literature available in the biomedical
field is able to provide the most updated and complete
information for anyone who has to make a correct aetiological
diagnosis, the only one which allows an effective primary
prevention of this kind of disease. Unfortunately not always those
whose task it is to practise prevention or teach it, have this
awareness. In some cases the lack of awareness, which is by nature
passive, can take on an active aspect, when those who should know
prefer “not to know” for a variety of reasons: laziness or the
wish to live a quiet life – the blissful fool – or for other
reasons, including personal gain. Furthermore it might be said
that laziness and living a quiet life may be indulged until that
individual who is about to become a patient does not suffer the
pains of the symptoms of environmental disease, or until when the
patient has not yet crossed the so-called “point of no return”. In
any case those members of the medical profession who have assisted
patients during environmental disease have certainly exacted
their due fees. The same may be said of all those who work
downstream of the medical assistance at all levels, also in those
stages of human life which, having overcome suffering and anguish,
are involved in the recollection of the deceased. Finally let us
not forget that there is also the conspiracy of silence, indulged
in by scientists who, while holding prestigious positions, trample
upon the suffering of others, or public administrators who finance
scientific research as long as the authors provide comforting
findings.
However, it is indisputable that primary prevention, based on
awareness of the risks, can and must allow a larger proportion of
the population to enjoy good health longer and to reach the
official life expectancy levels as late as possible. True
prevention implies greater production costs of what we enjoy today
as consumer goods which make our lives more convenient. At first
sight such conveniences would seem to be progress, but “isn’t
health worth anything?”
In
the field of prevention, anything that can be done and that
depends on the awareness of risks is not in contrast with all
those initiatives of modern society aimed at corroborating in any
case what has been done - especially through the raising and use
of funds for scientific research and assistance to those who are
already affected by disease, including environmental disease and
who can only use “day-after” prevention. Far better would be the
dissemination of present scientific knowledge which alone can lead
to that awareness which allows the medical practitioner to perform
primary prevention, individuals to avoid so much suffering and
society to save so many resources.
At a university level, there has been the recent founding of
GRIPPA – research group for the prevention of environmental
disease – a self-financing non-profit association – which acts
through: bibliographical research, dissemination to the public of
scientific knowledge, courses, conferences, seminars and
laboratory training courses. Such activities could provide society
with a small but concrete contribution to learning about how
disease caused by environmental pollution can be prevented.
The dichotomy between these two lines of thought – which are not
conflicting but should complement each other with as much synergy
as possible – is illustrated graphically and by the critical
treatise given here. |
