Environmental Health in Israel | 2014

Research on Ambient Air Pollution in Israel: Exposure Assessment and Health Effects Between 2010 and 2014 Israeli research groups published more than 25 articles on air pollution and health outcomes, including studies on childhood asthma, risk of ischemic stroke, post- myocardial infarction mortality, respiratory effects, congenital heart defects, cancer incidence, and reduced functional capacity. Many studies have focused on populations in northern Israel, including those in Hadera and Haifa. In addition, Israeli researchers published articles on remote sensing and air pollution, evaluating multi-pollutant exposure in urban settings, and a new bacterial bioassay for toxicity of particulate air pollution. Ongoing studies  Researchers from theTechnion Center of Excellence in Exposure Science and Environmental Health (TCEEH) are studying exposure to ambient air pollution in heterogeneous urban areas and exposure to pesticide drift at agricultural-residential interfaces. TCEEH researchers are building a ready-to-use air pollution database, available to the research community.  Researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Technion are studying relationships between exposure to air pollutants and traffic-related ambient pollutants in particular and recurrent cardiovascular events, ischemic heart disease, stroke, and frailty.  Researchers from the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering are developing cytotoxicity assays of inhaled toxic ultrafine particles on alveolar epithelial cells.  Researchers from the University of Haifa and the Ministry of Health are studying the impact of air pollution on birth outcomes including low birth weight.  Researchers at the Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy, Weizmann Institute of Science, and Tel Aviv University are studying the impact of air pollution on reproductive outcomes following in vitro fertilization and spontaneous pregnancies.  Researchers from Ben-Gurion University are studying the relationship between emissions from industrial sources and child health, including mental and motor development in the first years of life.  Researchers from Ben-Gurion University are studying the impact of chronic and acute exposure to soil-derived airborne particles on pulmonary and ischemic heart disease in the northern Negev.  Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem are studying the association between exposure to traffic-related air pollution in adolescence and health status at age 17, as well as with cancer incidence and cause-specific mortality in adulthood.  Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem are using telemedicine to assess associations between acute cardiovascular events and ambient PM air pollution in the Tel Aviv and Haifa metropolitan areas. - 15 - Ambient Air Quality