The Department of Epidemiology, Health Authority RM-E, in Rome is a public health and a research institution that has the responsibility for epidemiologic monitoring of the regional population (about five million inhabitants). The Department has access to the regional information system for routine statistics (mortality and hospital discharges). The Department has worked for many years in the field of environmental exposure carrying out several epidemiologic studies on the effects of indoor and outdoor pollution on health.

The institution has participated in several European collaborative studies under the EU 4 Th and 5 th Framework programmes. Under FP4, projects have included: “Lung cancer and radon in the Mediterranean area (co-ordinated by Dr. Francesco Forastiere); Environmental Tobacco Smoke and lung cancer; European Pooling of studies on radon and lung cancer; International Study on Asthma and Allergies in Childhood; Air Pollution and Health: an European Approach- APHEA). Under FP5 projects have included:Health Effects Of Air Pollution On Susceptible Subpopulations – Traditional Air Pollutants, Ultrafine Particles And Myocardial Infarction- HEAPSS (co-ordinated by Dr. F. Forastiere); Air Pollution and inflammatory response in myocardial infarction survivors: gene-environment-interactions in a high-risk group (AIRGENE); A thematic network on air pollution and health (AIRNET); An International Study on air pollution and children’s respiratory health (PATY; Indicators for monitoring COPD and asthma in the EU.

Francesco Forastiere, MD, PhD, received an MSc in Epidemiology (1982) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Epidemiology (1994) at the University of Linköping. He worked at the Department of Epidemiology and was head of the Analytical Epidemiology Unit. In 1996-1997 he was a visiting faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley. He has carried out epidemiologic studies of the health effects of occupational and environmental exposures since the early 1980s and has studied occupational factors related to lung cancer with particular reference to silica exposure and urban air pollution. Various studies on respiratory disorders in childhood have been conducted, also in relation to residency in proximity of point sources of air pollution. Small area studies on cancer of the respiratory tract and air pollution have been conducted in Rome. Time series analyses of the short-term health effects (mortality and morbidity) of air pollutants due to traffic in Rome have been performed.

ASL will be responsible for WP 3.6 on waste. As WP coordinator, a specific contribution will be given using two case studies in Italy. Additional contribution will be given to WP 1.3 (exposure-health effects), to WP 1.5 (Cross-cutting issues), to WP3.1 (transport) and to WP5.2 (Internal training).