Summing up the Summit: Access the presentations and read about the Summit! | | | | | |
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Summing up the SummitUppsala Health Summit 2023 on Chemical Pollution and One Health: from Reactivity to Proactivity took place at Uppsala Castle on October 24-25. For two days, 150 experts from government, academia, civil society and the private sector from 24 countries and four continents engaged in workshop dialogues and sessions on the critical next steps to reduce chemical pollution and its hazardous effects on our health and the environment. Workshops and plenary sessions discussed this issue, ranging from equity perspectives to chemicals and plastic policy issues and the reality of a triple planetary crisis. As the moderator Robert Watt from Stockholm Environment Institute, SEI, mentioned in his concluding summary at the summit: "The triple crisis is a reality and our knowledge of the impacts on human, environmental and animal health is sufficient to make ignorance or indifference inexcusable” A post-conference compendium of briefs summarizing the workshop results, including knowledge and policy recommendations, will be disseminated in February. Meanwhile, we are delighted to share the plenary presentations from the summit. We hope you enjoy this trove of insights into how we can move from reactivity to proactivity and act urgently to reduce the devastating consequences of chemical pollution on our health and the environment! | | | Professor Maria Knutson Wedel, Vice Chancellor, SLU"We know that the effects of harmful chemical exposure are long-term, but the need for action is urgent, so if we are to address the One Health for humans, animals and the environment, we need to talk now. Thank you for being here and for working hard to bring solutions for proactive actions" said Professor Maria Knutson Wedel, Vice Chancellor, SLU, in her opening speech of the summit. | | | |
Dr. Leonardo Trasande, NYU School of Medicine
Dr. Leonardo Trasande, Jim G. Hendrick MD Professor, Director of the Division of Environmental Pediatrics, and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics, NYU School of Medicine, described that except from today's infection challenges of flu happening at the same time as RSV and SARS-CoV-2, we have an even more challenging tripledemic, namely between Climate, Plastics and Biodiversity Loss. Watch the presentation here. | | | | Mr Baskut Tuncak, University of Massachusetts
Mr Baskut Tuncak, JD, Director of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute at University of Massachusetts Lowell, and former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Hazardous Waste presented on the theme “Bridging the Toxic Divide”. Watch the presentation here. | | | | Dr. Sharon McGuinness, European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)From the presentation held by Dr. Sharon McGuinness, Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), we learned how ECHA is working to protect health and address chemical pollution. Watch the presentation here. | | | | Ms Anne-Sofie Bäckar, ChemSecIn this presentation, Ms Anne-Sofie Bäckar, Executive Director at ChemSec, discusses the historical knowledge of PFAS toxicity dating back to 1963, highlighting its link to health issues such as obesity and cancer. Ms. Bäckar urged scientists to repeatedly communicate the facts and addressed challenges in advocating for PFAS restrictions. Watch the presentation here. | | | | Dr. Pete Myers, Carnegie Mellon University
“If the Magna Carta of a Sustainable Society (1215) will be implemented as designed it will be revolutionary, it surpasses all other chemical strategies anywhere. Nothing comes close to its ambition, its breadth, its depth of thinking or its ability to transform the chemical enterprise to something healthier compared to today's"
said Dr. Pete Myers, Chief Scientist of the non-profit Environment Health Sciences and Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Watch the presentation here.
| | | | Mr Per Ängquist, Swedish Chemicals AgencyMr Per Ängquist, Director General of the Swedish Chemicals Agency discusses the importance of the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability (CSS) within the context of the triple planetary crisis. Mr Ängquist also underscored the significance of global agreements to achieve a non-toxic environment. Watch his presentation titled “Cornerstones for an Efficient Chemical Legislation - Enforceability and Clarity” here. | | | | Dr. Sinaia Netanyahu, WHO Regional Office for EuropeDr. Sinaia Netanyahu, Program Manager at the European Center for Environment and Health, WHO Regional Office for Europe, emphasized the importance of adopting a One Health approach and highlighted the challenges in governance, skills, and resources to address the triple crisis of health, environmental, and social issues. Watch the presentation here. | | | | Dr. Maria Cristina Zucca, UNEPDr. Maria Cristina Zucca, Head of Pollution and Health Unit, Chemicals and Health Branch, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Kenya, joined online from Nairobi, delivering her presentation on “Pollution and One Health: strengthening the Nexus." Watch the presentation here where she stresses the need for a holistic approach to tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, and to involve all sectors in the fight against pollution. | | | | Ms Jytte Guteland, Member of the Swedish Riksdag (S) "To manage the triple crisis, we need politicians to act. Engaging with the political process, particularly in the upcoming European Parliament elections, is crucial to make the European Union a force for a sustainable future and of the One Health approach" said Jytte Guteland (S). Watch the presentation titled "Navigating the triple crisis: biodiversity, chemicals and climate" here.
| | | | Mr Desmond Alugnoa, GAIA, GAYOMr Desmond Alugnoa, Africa Climate and Zero Waste Program Manager for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and co-founder of the Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO). In his presentation titled "Fostering Universal Health Equity through a Toxic-free World, a Look at the Work of Youth and Informal Communities in Africa", he stressed that solutions could come anywhere and called for collective action, collaboration and transparency to pursue a common goal of environmental sustainability and health. Watch his presentation here. | | | | Closing plenary discussion
Dr. Laura N. Vandenberg, Professor and Research Scientist, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, US
Dr. Isaac Olufadewa, Founder and Executive Director, Slum and Rural Health Initiative, Nigeria
Ambassador Luis Vayas, Ecuador, Vice President of the INC Bureau of the global legally binding instrument on plastic pollution
Mr John Tumpane, Head of the Department of Environment at Formas
Dr. Kateřina Šebková, Director, RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University Watch the discussion here. | | | |
Uppsala Health Summit 2023: "To act now requires leadership"Moderated by the UHS 2023 Programme Committee Chair, Professor Joëlle Rüegg, Uppsala University, and Robert Watt, SEI, the closing dialogue unravelled key messages driving for a shift from reactivity to proactivity. Dr Laura N. Vandenberg, Dr Isaac Olufadewa, Ambassador Luis Vayas, Mr John Tumpane, and Dr Kateřina Šebková share compelling perspectives on outreach, science-policy interfaces and the vital role of leadership in driving change. Read the full exchange here.
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Professor Johan Schnürer, Vice-Chancellor, Örebro University"I am happy to have heard so much about the need for solutions and also the need for the reverse dialogue policy to science. We speak a lot about science to policy but we as scientists need to learn much more from the policy makers” said Professor Johan Schnürer, Vice-Chancellor, Örebro University and member of the Uppsala Health Summit Steering Committee in his closing remarks.
| | | | Summing up the SummitIn the closing session, our moderator for this year’s summit, Robert Watt, provided a concluding summary of his key takeaways. " ...the planetary triple crisis: climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss is a reality and our knowledge of the impacts on human, environmental and animal health is sufficient to make ignorance or indifference inexcusable.” Read the full article here. | | | |
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Our Partners
Uppsala Health Summit is hosted by Uppsala University in collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; the Swedish Medical Products Agency; Region Uppsala; the National Veterinary Institute; the City of Uppsala; and Örebro University.
| | | | Our Sponsors
Our summit "Chemical Pollution and One Health - from Reactivity to Proactivity is sponsored by Lif and FORMAS. | | | |
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