Risk Perception in Four Areas of Italy Affected by Arsenic Pollution Derived from Natural or Anthropic Sources

Abstract A Human Biomonitoring HBM Survey in four areas affected by arsenic (As) pollution (SEpiAs) was conducted in Italy. Source of As is natural in Viterbo and Amiata (soil and water), anthropogenic in Taranto and Gela (steel plant, refinery). A HBM questionnaire including exploration of risk perception (RP) about environmental hazards, health RP and access to information, was administered to 282 subjects. The present study is aimed at 1) characterizing RP in the areas 2) evaluating the relation among RP, access to information and different exposures to As pollution 3) collect useful insights for risk communication. Random forest (RF) method is used on 130 variables related to RP. Different variables of exposures were selected between those showing a statistically significant association with urinary inorganic As. Associations with areas or exposure are tested using chi-squared or Fisher exact test (p<0.01). Responses from areas with As anthropogenic sources show significant differences in RP. E.g. 80% of sample of Amiata consider acceptable the environmental situation, in contrast with Gela and Taranto. As for the access to environmental information, in three areas respondents declare it to be insufficient; citizens and environment NGOs appear to facilitate the access to it. The second objective of the study is achieved using a combined approach of RF and logistic regression, leading to several observations. E.g. the analysis of exposure to 'tap water' results to be affected by access to environmental information (high awareness leads to less use of tap water, OR 0.07, p=0.01). Combined approach with RF and logistic regression is useful to characterize the areas in terms of RP and access to environmental information. Citizens living in industrial areas appear to be aware of environmental risks and more worried about health condition. They declare an insufficient circulation of information. Recommendations based on results are released, also referred to results communication.