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At the CHUQ Research Center, two teams specialize in the interactions between the environment and health. One team focuses on basic research in cellular mechanisms: hormonal, immune, and genetic processes and the development of early biomarkers are its main fields of research. The second team, which relies more heavily on epidemiological, toxicological, analytical, and risk-management approaches, makes extensive use of the social sciences to examine issues from a population standpoint. Research projects seek to pinpoint the main contaminants harmful to human health-notably organochlorines and heavy metals-found in water, food, soil, and the air. Several of the projects have led to community or clinical interventions. An average of $5 million in research funding is usually available on an annual basis, most of it provided by federal government agencies in Canada and the United States and by the Quebec government. Noteworthy programs the Center is currently involved in include the Children's Health Initiative, the Northern Contaminants Program, St. Lawrence Vision 2000, the Toxic Substances Research Initiative, the Canadian Climate Action Fund, ACADRE center for Nordic research from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the ArcticNet network, and the Atlantis mobile laboratories. In addition,
researchers are assessing the social impacts of development and broad-based
change and assessing the effects of information campaigns on environmental
risks. They are also developing integrated research projects in the realm
of risk management to put into perspective the risks inherent in exposure
to contaminants versus the nutritional benefits of consuming traditional
regional foods-particularly as pertaining to the prevention of cancer,
cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. |
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