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Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a policy tool used all around the world to predict, mitigate, and manage the impacts and risks of development proposals. This tool, if well implemented and articulated with licensing procedures, can result in improvements of project design and in the prevention and mitigation of environmental and social harms. But sometimes EIA can fail, as illustrated the collapse of the Brazilian tailings dams Fundão and B1, in 2015 and 2019 respectively. Despite having gone through licensing and EIA procedures, the two dams collapsed, killing almost 300 people. This study set out to understand how the vulnerability of downstream communities to dam breaks were predicted and managed in the dams' EIA processes. This study also tried to understand whether the EIA process of a newly approved tailings dam in Brazil (Maravilhas Dam III) improved the prediction of safety risks to downstream communities. The study was based on literature reviews and a content analysis of eighty-four (84) key documents related to the dams' licensing and EIA procedures. The study found that the risk-related studies of the dams were based on a variety of methods (e.g., Preliminary Hazard Analysis, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, Dam Break simulations, Contingency Plans) that were implemented in different phases of the licensing procedures. It was possible to identify several flaws and limitations in these methods, such as vagueness, late implementation, fragmented reviews of interdependent risks, and low influence on decision-making. Both the Fundão and B1 dams were approved despite the lack of in-depth and up-to-date risk assessments. Public consultations were generally weak and plagued by tokenism. Post-approval procedures, while informed by monitoring, audits and inspections that confirmed problems in the dams, were unable to educate developers and State authorities about the likelihood of failures and the safety risks to communities. Overall, the Fundão and B1 cases show the importance of not only predicting but also managing risks in a timely, transparent and articulated manner. The Maravilhas III Dam, compared to Fundão and B1, was found to have sounder evaluations of safety risks and stronger public participation. The regulatory and voluntary frameworks concerning tailings dams have improved in recent years. The projects of Fundão and B1 could not receive an environmental license had they been subject to the current Brazilian legislation, because they proposed a now-banned technology (upstream dams) and had vulnerable communities located in self-rescue zones, which is now legally unacceptable. Despite these regulatory changes, there is still room to improve regulations, guidelines and Terms of References for risk analysis and its articulation with impact assessment and public participation. The article discusses the academic implications of the cases to international audiences and put forward several practical recommendations. • This study evaluated the integration of risk analysis and EIA. • The prediction and management of risks to downstream communities are explained. • The EIAs of two of the world's most catastrophic tailings dam failures were investigated. • Risks to downstream communities were repeatedly underestimated. • The study provides several entry points to improve risk analysis in the EIAs of dams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Minimizing the risk of poliovirus transmission from the poliovirus facility to an increasingly susceptible community is crucial when global poliovirus transmission and OPV use stops. Community risks of exposure to wild poliovirus as well as Sabin strains are highest from facility personnel who are unknowingly contaminated or infected. Immunization with OPV or IPV prevents poliomyelitis, but neither vaccine fully inhibits silent infection of the gut. Facility environments maintained at low relative humidity (<50%) may reduce poliovirus survival and inhalation risk. Circulating antibodies reduce personnel infection risks from injection or virus entry through breaks in skin or mucous membranes. Community exposure risk through inhalation of contaminated air effluent is likely low in most modern facilities. Community risks through ingestion of liquid effluents are facility-specific and may range from high to low. This assessment of community risks, when combined with assessments of facility-specific hazards and the consequences of wild or Sabin poliovirus transmission, provides the foundation for effective risk management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Transition frameworks are used to envision the important changes that occur during economic development from poor to middle-income or rich countries. We explain the derivation of and use data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) and Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) projects of the World Health Organization (WHO) to explore the classic epidemiologic transition framework, which describes the changes in causes of illness and death during economic development. We provide the first full empirical test of the environmental risk transition framework, which describes the shift in environmental risks during development from household, community, and global risk factors. We find that the simplistic conclusions commonly drawn about the epidemiologic transition, in particular the increase in chronic diseases with development, are not supported by current data; in contrast, the conceptual framework of the environmental risk transition is broadly supported in a cross-sectional analysis. We also describe important kinds of environmental health risks and diseases that are not well estimated using current methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Vasilikos Energy Center (VEC) is a large hydrocarbon industrial hub actively operating in Cyprus. There is strong public interest by the communities surrounding VEC to engage with all stakeholders towards the sustainable development of hydrocarbon in the region. The methodological framework of the exposome concept would allow for the holistic identification of all relevant environmental exposures by engaging the most relevant stakeholders in industrially contaminated sites. The main objectives of this study were to: (i) evaluate the stakeholders' perceptions of the environmental and public health risks and recommended actions associated with the VEC hydrocarbon activities, and (ii) assess the stakeholders' understanding and interest towards exposome-based technologies for use in oil and gas applications. Methods: Six major groups of stakeholders were identified: local authorities, small-medium industries (SMIs) (including multi-national companies), small-medium enterprises (SMEs), academia/professional associations, government, and the general public residing in the communities surrounding the VEC. During 2019-2021, a suite of stakeholder engagement initiatives was deployed, including semi-structured interviews (n = 32 ), a community survey for the general public ( n = 309), technical meetings, and workshops ( n = 4 ). Results from the semi-structured interviews, technical meetings and workshops were analyzed through thematic analysis and results from the community survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Almost all stakeholders expressed the need for the implementation of a systematic health monitoring system for the VEC broader area and its surrounding residential communities, including frequent measurements of air pollutant emissions. Moreover, stricter policies by the government about licensing and monitoring of hydrocarbon activities and proper communication to the public and the mass media emerged as important needs. The exposome concept was not practiced by the SMEs, but SMIs showed willingness to use it in the future as part of their research and development activities. Conclusions: The sustainable development of hydrocarbon exploitation and processing prospects for Cyprus involves the VEC. Continuous and active collaboration and mutual feedback among all stakeholders involved with the VEC is essential, as this may allow future environmental and occupational health initiatives to be formalized.