Biomonitoring of the adult population living near the waste incinerator of Turin: Serum concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs after three years from the plant start-up

In September 2013 a waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerator located in the Turin area (Piedmont, Northern Italy) started to produce energy by the incineration of municipal solid wastes. The plant, one of the largest WTE incinerator in Europe, burns up to 490,000 tons of waste per year. A health surveillance program was implemented in order to evaluate the potential health effects on the population living near the plant. This program included a biomonitoring study aimed at assessing levels of several environmental contaminants including, among others, PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs. Before the WTE incinerator start-up (T-0), a group of 85 subjects (41 exposed and 44 not exposed subjects) was randomly selected for enrollment by the local health units among individuals aged 36-50 years who had been living in the same area for at least five years prior to the study. Subjects were balanced by exposure area, sex and fiveyear age classes. As from the study design, the same cohort was re-evaluated after three years of incinerator activity (T-2). A parallel study was conducted on a group of 12 farmers living and/or working in farms located in an area in the range of 5 km around the incinerator. Results of this study did not evidence any impact of the WTE plant on human exposure to PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs. In fact, no significant differences were found in the concentrations of PCDDs thorn PCDFs, DL-PCBs, and NDL-PCBs measured in the population group residing near the plant after three years of activity (T-2) with respect to the control group. A significant decrease of serum concentrations of all the analytes was observed at T-2 in both groups compared to T-0. Serum concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs in the group of farmers were higher than those observed in the adult population under study. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A waste-to-energy incinerator in Turin, Italy was studied for its potential health effects on the nearby population, with results showing no impact on human exposure to environmental contaminants. After three years, both groups of subjects showed a significant decrease in serum concentrations of analytes compared to baseline, with farmers exhibiting higher levels of contaminants than the general adult population.