MONTREAL — A website recently launched by researchers at the University of Quebec in Montreal aims to shed new light on the impact of pollution on the brain, in particular by allowing users to ask the questions they want to have some answers.
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“It’s a science popularization project,” explained the person in charge of “Faire à sa tête”, Professor Dave Saint-Amour of the psychology department at UQAM.
“It pursues a goal of knowledge transfer, but not a unidirectional transfer, of academics who decide what is important, what should be known by the general public. It really is a two-way web platform for dialogue.
On the platform, you will find popular articles on various issues relating to environmental pollutants, current issues, expert reports, information capsules, reading suggestions as well as resources to better understand the scientific process and the research, lists a description of the project posted online by the university.
There is also a frequently asked questions section on which the public can express their questions and concerns, which will then influence the content posted on the platform.
Finally, the site will aim to counter the misinformation circulating, including on social networks, about the impact of pollution on human health, and it will suggest ways to protect yourself.
“We offer basic content that comes from us and we think it will interest the general public, said Mr. Saint-Amour. But we will wait to receive questions, concerns, to enrich the content according to the general public.
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With a website, he added, “it’s easier to reach more people at the same time and we try as much as possible to be interactive, so with information that already exists, but with new information and especially with questions and answers”.
At first glance, the site voluntarily focuses on a single, very specific aspect, the impact of pollution on the brain, because this is largely in line with Mr. Saint-Amour’s expertise, but also because we want avoid casting too wide a net, he said. It could very well be that the platform will be extended to other health problems in the future.
The site also comes at a time when the population is increasingly aware and increasingly interested in the impact of pollution on human health.
Even if we are doing quite well in Canada, said Mr. Saint-Amour, even if the air in our big cities is in no way comparable to the “unbreathable” air of big Asian cities like Delhi or Beijing , there are still some sources of concern.
“The levels (of pollutants) that we measure in the environment, in organisms and in human tissues in the Arctic are much higher than the levels in the general population, he recalled. And that is a reality.”
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Jean-Benoit Legault, The Canadian Press