Identifying National Research Priorities for the Environmental Influences on Health

Context and Options

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Executive Summary

This paper outlines the context and some options for identifying national research priorities for the environmental influences on health. It summarizes where we stand today, challenges and opportunities, and possible key research themes and priorities for the future. This paper focuses on academic research and will guide the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in laying a solid foundation for the development of a national research agenda on the relationship between health and the environment.

Where We Stand Today

Over the past 25 years, a global view of the relationship between health and the environment has emerged. This perspective has resulted from, and contributed to, the increasing number of multi-lateral environmental agreements, international organizations, conferences, and global monitoring and surveillance systems. A preliminary review of international organizations and developed countries indicates a research focus on: water quality; chemical risk assessment and management; air quality, climate change and health; monitoring and surveillance, children's environmental health; and toxicological mechanisms and epidemiology.

In Canada, research conducted by academic scientists is funded mostly by the research granting councils, including CIHR, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. About 27 of the 93 universities in Canada are conducting research on the environmental influences on health, and the environment is one of the major priority areas identified by 53 of the 59 universities participating in the Canada Research Chairs program. Of these 53, only 3 stated that the relationship between health and the environment is a major priority. Furthermore, only 14 of the 627 Canada Research Chairs are related to environmental influences on health and there are only 3 Networks of Centres of Excellence related to research on the environmental influences on health.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number and size of research partnerships between academic and government scientists, including the Toxic Substances Research Initiative, the Northern Contaminants Program, the emerging Canadian Environmental Science Network, as well as programs at the International Research Development Centre, the Canadian International Development Agency, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.

Research conducted for this paper suggests that current key research themes and priorities in Canada include: outdoor and workplace environments; water and air quality; toxic substances, metals, and endocrine disrupting substances; respiratory health and cancer. These issues are very similar to the priorities of international organizations and other countries. The research also indicates that Canada has capacity in: population health and biomedical research; provincial and university-based research networks; community-based approaches to research; and health databases.

CIHR is committed to supporting research on the environmental influences on health. Evidence of this commitment can be seen in its existing funding mechanisms and plans, including: the open competition; the training programs competition; requests for applications; Institute strategic plans; and the strategic cross-cutting initiatives.

Challenges and Opportunities

There are many challenges to be considered when national research priorities for the environmental influences on health are identified, including needs to: advance research, build the capacity of the research community, strengthen partnerships and collaboration, and enhance knowledge translation. At the same time, the high level of public concern, and the interest and commitment of CIHR and its partner organizations will galvanize a call to action.

A Call to Action: Proposed Research Themes and Priorities

The consultation findings suggest that there is a need for a coherent framework within which research priorities can be developed. This proposed framework contains the following research themes and priorities:

• Consistent with a population health approach, an overarching theme of key populations, identified on the basis of age, gender and genetic factors, socio-economic status and culture, and geographic location;
• A theme on hazards in the environment, with possible priorities on toxic chemicals, microbiological agents, radiation, climate change, and injuries;
• A theme on the built environment, with possible priorities on urban environments, homes, workplaces, educational environments, public places, transportation and environments that promote health; and
• A theme on cumulative exposures and effects, with possible priorities on exposures from different types of built environments, different types of hazard, different routes of exposure, chemical mixtures, lifetime exposures, and environmental hypersensitivity and allergies.

Over the winter of 2002, a Request for Applications and a document called "Towards a National Research Agenda for the Environmental Influences on Health" will be released. In the years ahead, CIHR and its partners will work to strengthen research on health and the environment, and to build the capacity of the research community.