MAIN RESULTS

Medical inspection of people

The Laboratory studies of remote medical-biological consequences of ecotoxicant influences showed that habitation on polluted territories led to a loss of 1 to 1.4 years of healthy life per every 10 years.

Research development on the problem of "Ecotoxicology of environmental resistant organic pollutants by the example of investigation of the consequences of the chemical war of the USA in Vietnam" was generalized in the published in 2006 monograph "Dioxins and human health. Scientific bases for dioxin pathology revelation" ("Nauka"). This monograph reflects the results of more than 18-year period of the study of the new phenomenon, ecosystem threat of superecotoxitants (dioxins), which are undertaken on the basis of the Cooperative Russian and Vietnam Tropical Center of the RAS.

In the process of research in Vietnam the new data of primary importance about toxic effects of dioxins on polluted by them territory were obtained:

• Present in environment dioxin with modified under environmental influence forms makes both direct and mediated by ecosystem damage harmful impact on human health. Owing to this fact the developing toxic effects may drastically differ from experimentally obtained results.
• It was shown that after ecocide military application by USA Army of "Orange agent/dioxin" in Vietnam new threats facilitating the development of dioxin pathology in humans had arisen in environment. At present in Vietnam about 20 mln people are in danger of dioxin exposition, because in post-war years the re-distribution of these poisons between different objects of environment and their migration from the loci of primary pollution for hundred of kilometers took place. At that, the registered levels of dioxins in human organism are quite sufficient for successful binding to dioxin receptors and trans-activation of specific genes in animal and human cells as well as for introduced into these cells viruses.
• Uncertainly prolonged period of appearance and development of signs of Dioxin Pathology (DP) in several generations was determined, which were impossible to reveal and characterize only basing on current levels of dioxins in human organism.
• Independent pathogenic meaning for origination of DP has specific character and dynamics of dioxin transition into more bio-available but poorly studied forms of these superecotoxicants, the levels of ecosystem damage, ecological consequences of industrialization, climatic and nature conditions, social, demographic and ethnographic peculiarities of polluted region, genotypic and phenotypic peculiarities of individuals and population.
• Validation of the concept of ecosystem threat of dioxins for humans allowed introduction a new etiological notion - "ecosystem dioxin-containing ecotoxicological factor".
• Characteristics of remote medical consequences of dioxin influence in war and post-war generations of Vietnam population were obtained, which suffered from application of "Orange agent"; algorithms of revelation and system identification of population and individual manifestations of the new nosologic form of ecologically stipulated diseases - "dioxin pathology" - were developed.
• Appraisal of such algorithms among people population, living on polluted with dioxin-containing superecotoxicants territories allowed to determine that even low-doze effects of dioxin led to gradual formation of various impairments of heath and homeostasis, abnormalities in reproductive function, increase of human sensitivity to other risk factors. The life of people on polluted with dioxins territory is accompanied with modifications of metabolic processes and advantages the earlier development of diseases and premature aging.
• For the first time it is shown that the presence of trace quantities of dioxin-containing ecotoxicants (DCE) in environment helps along the processes of human embryonic development disturbances, expression of ecological and genetic effects. The dependence of level of manifestation of developmental minor abnormalities from genetic peculiarities under exposure to dioxins was shown. By the example of congenital morphogenetic variations analysis in infants the description of their connection with polymorphism of the system of metabolic activation and detoxication of foreign compounds, with unbalance of the process of cell proliferation and elimination, with accumulation of cytogenetically modified cells was given. Such abnormalities can lead to hyperplasia and oncogenesis.
• The influence of ecocide chemical catastrophes on origination and spread of feral nidal infections on polluted with dioxins territories was proved.

Generated scientific and methodological bases for the study of dioxin pathology have opened the prospect for effective solution of the questions on ecological and chemical safety under dioxin action on the basis of anthropocentric development of the basic regulations of the "general and tropical ecotoxicology" and development of target preventive and treatment-and-rehabilitation measures accounting the human variability to DCE. In particular, the original scientific and methodological recommendations for prevention and minimization of the health loss after exposure to dioxins, for estimation of medical and social importance of dioxin pathology, for rehabilitation of war veterans and their therapy were formulated. The materials obtained are necessary also for development of the studies in the field of biological safety, medical biotechnology and physiology of war labor.

Practical realization of these directions of research is determined by recognition of importance of such investigations at the joint session of the RAS and RAMS (2003), at the meetings of Presidium of the RAMS (2004 and 2005) and collaborative usage of the results of scientific research in Russia and Vietnam, including research, methodical and organization developments of the Tropical Center, Committee "33", and Association of Veterans suffered from "Orange agent".