ECOFOODFERTILITY Project: From the Crisis to the Model

This research, supported by several environmental groups of the territory and involving different public research institutions, represents an example of active citizenship and scientific innovation. It was born as a response to an environmental and health crisis in the ¿Land of Fires¿, an area of Southern Italy ill-famed for the multiple sources of pollution. "EcoFoodFertility¿ responds to the need of clarity in the face of contradicting findings and media reports which generated a great deal of distrust in the healthcare system as well as anxiety within the population. It¿s a biomonitoring study, expanding to other risk areas of Italy and Europe; it studies the alterations of human semen, "environmental and health marker", as a key to understand both the level of environmental quality and its long term modifications, to set out early health risks for populations in relation with their living environment, diet and lifestyle. Currently the project is in progress but this ¿research model¿ has already contributed to the development of other studies and initiatives by regional institutions and also built a nationwide network of action in other environmentally-challenged areas.