Introduction: Environmental Management and Health Risks

The focus of World Environment Day in 2025 is on ending plastic pollution. Micro-plastics are one of many hazards that affect the environment and health, but are difficult to measure or mitigate. India, facing rapid economic growth, contributes to nearly 25% of the global environmental disease burden, necessitating new paradigms for environmental management based on integrated health risk assessments.

Current Challenges and Need for New Approaches

• The traditional methods are insufficient for addressing complex environmental exposures and their health impacts.
• New scientific developments in exposomics are essential for a comprehensive understanding of disease etiologies.
• Strategic long-term investments in environmental health surveillance, integrated with digital health and data science, are crucial.

Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study and Findings

• Environmental and occupational (OEH) risk factors account for 18.9% of global deaths and 14.4% of all DALYs.
• In India, OEH risks result in nearly three million deaths and significantly contribute to non-communicable diseases.
• The GBD currently only includes around 11 categories of risk factors, missing out on significant contributors such as chemical exposures and micro-plastics.

Complex Interactions and Underestimated Risks

Environmental risk factors often interact with metabolic, behavioral, genetic, and social factors, complicating the task of assessing health impacts comprehensively. Climate change exacerbates these risks, leading to compounding and synergistic effects.

The Role of Exposomics

Exposomics seeks to bridge the gap by examining how external and internal exposures interact over a lifetime to influence health or disease. It requires interdisciplinary approaches involving technologies like real-time monitoring, organ-on-a-chip testing, and AI for data analysis.

The Exposome and Its Potential

• The exposome concept complements the human genome project by focusing on all life exposures and their health impacts.
• Synchronizing technologies for exposomics can create more accurate predictive models for chronic diseases and enable precision medicine.

Implications for India

• Adopting exposomics in India could mainstream environmental risks in public health programs.
• There is potential for cost-effective solutions through capacity building and integration of current infrastructure.
• India's environmental health community should engage with the global momentum on exposomics.

Conclusion

The exposome project holds promise for holistic prevention efforts that ensure health equity. Future World Environment Days may highlight the importance of this approach as a key strategy for addressing the complex and interrelated challenges of environmental health.