Workshop on “Environment and Health”

On May 20th, 2016, the Mariolopoulos-Kanaginis Foundation for the Environmental Sciences in collaboration with Hippocratic Flame (La flamme d’Hippocrate) and Hippocratic Foundation of Kos coorganized a Workshop on “Environment and Health”.

This workshop aimed at raising awareness through an interdisciplinary look at the serious issue of the environmental impact on health.

Humans, who are an integral part of the environment, are exposed to the air they breathe, to the water they drink which is necessary for their homeostasis, and also to the aggregate of their everyday activities at their house, their workplace and at other public areas such as health and recovery infrastructures. Furthermore, human health is exposed to Climate Change, and also to chemical substances through their diet, such as in the case of pesticides, and to toxic substances in the built environment. All these external stimuli are particularly dangerous during certain periods of life such as foetal period, childhood and adolescence.

Professor Christos Zerefos, Academician and President of the Mariolopoulos-Kanaginis Foundation for the Environmental Sciences, made the introduction to the theme of the Workshop with his speech entitled “From the old climate until the end of 21st century”. Then, Mrs. Garifallia Oikonomou-Antonaka, Associate Professor at the Agricultural University of Athens, took the floor and gave a presentation entitled “Health and current agricultural practice. Past, present and future”. Afterwards, Mrs. Elpida Fanouriou, PhD candidate at Agricultural University of Athens, gave a speech entitled “Medicinal plants of Hippocrates in Kos Island. Spatial distribution, production capacity and bioactivity”. Mr. Stelios Zerefos, Architect, Associate Professor at School of Applied Arts of Hellenic Open University, made a speech on “Energy behavior of health and recovery areas”. The next speaker, Mrs. Chrysa Bakoula-Tzoumaka, Professor at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, made a presentation entitled “Environmental Pollution: Our mind on the child”. Finally, Mrs. Polyxeni Nicolopoulou-Stamati, Professor at the Medical School of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and Secretary of the BoD of the Mariolopoulos-Kanaginis Foundation for the Environmental Sciences, made a presentation entitled “Environmental impacts on health, especially on critical ages”. A discussion followed the presentations.

The discussion was coordinated by Professor Mrs. Polyxeni Nicolopoulou-Stamati who, after the closure of the Workshop by the Presidents Mr. Christos Zerefos, Mr. Fanis Dimopoulos and Mr. Aristotelis Pavlidis, closed this meeting with a reference to her student Doctor Stelios Nikolaos Zerefos who as she said prematurely left us and will always remain in our hearts.