Experts discussed how to assess health risks from the perspective of ethics

An international symposium on the ethics of environmental health was held on the University of South Bohemia campus from Sunday 11 to Tuesday 13 September. The fifth edition of this event, which has become a tradition since 2011, brought together experts from 15 countries. They discussed moral principles and values that play a role in addressing environmental factors affecting human health. The main organizer was Prof. Dr.rer.nat. Friedo Zölzer, DSc., professor of environmental sciences at the Department of Radiology, Toxicology and Population Protection of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of JU and vice-dean for international relations of this faculty.

The last such event was held in 2018, also in České Budějovice. Now, it brought together 25 participants who, during their meeting in the premises of the Academic Library, looked at important topics related to the development of civilization from a different angle than usual. "There was not much discussion about exactly how high the health risks are, but rather about how to assess these risks from the point of view of the population exposed to them," said Prof. Zölzer. For example, the participants addressed questions such as: how can the different risks - radiation, toxic and others - be compared? How can they be communicated to people in a way that is understandable, transparent, and yet does not cause panic? What do people need to decide for themselves whether they want to work or live in a given environment, and how to organise participatory decision-making processes?

Experts from Canada, the USA, Japan, Ireland, Norway, Spain and other European countries came to the symposium in České Budějovice. The language of the meeting was English. Details of the event are available at www.iseeh.org.