The 6th International Symposium on the Ethics of Environmental Health was held on the campus of the University of South Bohemia from Sunday 8 to Wednesday 11 September. This edition of the event, which has been a tradition since 2011, brought together experts from 13 countries. They discussed moral principles and values that play a role in assessing the effects of environmental factors on human health. The main organiser was Prof. Dr.rer.nat. Friedo Zölzer, DSc., Professor of Environmental Sciences at the Institute of Radiology, Toxicology and Population Protection, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, JU.
This year the symposium was held in conjunction with a workshop on the ethics of environmental health in war situations. The Faculty is one of 13 partners in the European consortium RRADEW („Resilience for radiological events in wartime“), which is funded by the European project PIANOFORTE ("European Partnership for Radiation Protection Research"). The University of South Bohemia is the work package leader for ethical issues, but will also participate in so-called "case studies" in which the preparedness for emergencies involving radiological and nuclear facilities is examined among the people, the Intergrated Rescue Services and the authorities in different countries. The principal investigator of the project on the part of ZSF is Štěpán Kavan, PhD, who works simultaneously at the Fire Brigade of the South Bohemian Region and at the ZSF.
The last event of this kind took place in 2022, also in České Budějovice. The 25 participants this year, during their meeting in the premises of the Academic Library, looked at important topics related to current events from a different angle than usual. "There was not so much discussion about exactly how high the health risks are, but rather how these risks are to be assessed when people are confronted to them in an already difficult situation, namely in an armed conflict," said Prof. Zölzer. For example, participants addressed questions such as: how can the different risks - radiation, toxic, war related - be compared? How can they be communicated to people in a way that is understandable, open and yet does not cause panic? What are the special challenges when dealing with an emergency, for example, at a nuclear power plant when it happens in a war zone?
Experts from Canada, the USA, Japan, Ireland, Norway, Spain, and other European countries, not least Ukraine, came to the České Budějovice symposium. The language of the meeting was English. Details of the event can be found at www.iseeh.org.
