Vijayan Gurumurthy Iyer
Tamil Nadu, India
Abstract Title:
Importance of Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) Process for the Nursing and Health Care Including Mental Health Projects towards Sustainable Development
Biography:
Vijayan Gurumurthy Iyer studied Environmental Science and Engineering with Specialization in Environmental
Biomedical Science and Engineering (EBMSE) at the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India and post graduated as
Master of Technology, M.Tech., in 1998. He received his Ph.D. degree in Environmental Science and Engineering
in 2003 at the same institution. He has served in Indian Council of Agricultural Research (I.C.A.R.) with effect from
22.05.1985 (FN) to 10.02.1998 (FN). After ten years of postdoctoral research, he obtained the position of Professor at
the Institute of Technology, Haramaya University, Harar , Ethiopia , East Africa . He has more than 45 years’ experience
in Research, Academics, Industry, Field Work, Consultancy Services, Training and Extension, Government, Educational
and Private Organizations. He has published more than 450 research articles in Science Citation Index Expanded
SCI(E) journals and conference proceedings. His h.index 62 . Total number of having more than 5000 citations in his
credit. He is a participant for the 6 th World Nursing and Healthcare Congress Ibis Styles Barcelona Sant Joan Despi,
Carrer de la TV3, 2, 08970 Sant Joan Despì, Barcelona, Spain during June 23-24, 2025
Research Interests:
Importance of Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA)
Process for the Nursing and Health Care Including Mental Health
Projects towards Sustainable Development
Sustainable nursing and health care development can be defined as the development which meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability and efficiency of future generations to meet their
own needs. Iimportance of Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) Process has been presented
for the Nursing and Health Care Including Mental Health Projects towards Sustainable Development. Certain
projects should be conducted for EHIA Process. EHIA included ppsychological health impact assessment
(PHIA) process as it has been conducted for a double roller cotton ginning plants in India. Nursing new
technological project planning and decision-making process should include the integrated considerations
of technical or nursing, economic, environmental, social and other factors. The most important of these
considerations can be referred to as “ the three Es”(engineering or scientific or technical or nursing,
economics, and environment) in planning and decision-making process. Technical or nursing and
economic factors dominated the decision- making of economic policy act. Technical or nursing, economic
and environmental factors dominated the psychological decision- making process of environmental
policy act. Three of the most significant terms of environmental policy act are “environmental inventory”,
“environmental impact assessment” and “environmental impact statement” or “description of the affected
environment”, or “description of the environmental setting without the project”. The environmental policy
act is to encourage the consideration of environment in planning and decision-making process and to arrive
at actions which are more environmentally compatible.
In this Environmental Biomedical Science and
Engineering (EBMSE) research note, environmental health impact assessment (EHIA) process is proposed
for the Indian chromium leather tanneries towards sustainable development as Indian cotton double roller
(DR) ginning industries are using chrome composite leather clad (CCLC) rollers to address psychological
impacts. “Environmental Health Impact Assessment Process “(EHIA process) can be defined as the
systematic identification and evaluation of the potential environmental health impacts (health effects)
of proposed nursing projects, plans, programs, or legislative actions relative to the physical-chemical,
biological, cultural, and socioeconomic components of the total environmental health including EBMSE.
The objective is to conduct Environmental health impact assessment (EHIA) process and nursing science
that is to systematically identify and evaluate potential environmental health impacts of CCLC rollers used in
Indian CCLC double roller (DR) ginning industries with relative to the physical -chemical and biological can
be referred as entitled “natural or biophysical environment” and the cultural and socioeconomic environment
represents entitled “man-made environmental components” of the total environment. Most of the cotton
ginning operations are performed by using DR ginning machines which serve an important role in the Indian
cotton ginning industries. The rollers used are made of CCLC covering fixed to a shaft. The CCLC contains
about 18,000 to 36,000 mg/kg (ppm) (1.8 %-3.6%) of chromium particles. The chromium stabilizes the CCLC
by cross linking the collagen fibres in chromium leather tanning industries. Chromium salts, especially
chrome alum and chromium (III) sulfate are used in chromium-tanning of leather. The EBMSE research is
conducted to investigate specifically on chromium (III) and Chromium (VI) and health effects of the workers.
Chromium tanned leather contains between 3 to 5% of chromium, which is tightly bound to the proteins.
For certain types of projects, such as nuclear power plants, it may be necessary to address psychological
impacts on nearby residents as per reference entitled “Can Change Damage Your Mental Health?” Nature,
Volume 295, January 21, 1982, pp.177-179 for the necessity to address psychological impacts on nearby
residents and reference entitled “An Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) process” published by
World Health Organization (WHO) titled ‘Health and Safety component of Environmental Impact Assessment
‘from WHO publication, Copenhagen in 1987”. The form of chromium used for tanning is toxic hexavalent
variety, the management of chromium in the tanning industry such as recovery and reuses, direct / indirect
recycling, use of less chromium or ‘chrome-less tanning is need to be practiced to better manage chromium
in tanning with respect to nursing sector. Chromium salts or chromates in contact with skin, lungs and
stomach result in dermatitis and lung and esophagus cancer and brain tumor among Indian gin and textile
mill workers and the working condition of Indian chromium leather tanning industries and leather related
facilities. The chemicals that are employed chemicals in leather industries are hazardous and need to be
free from hazardous nature that is green chemistry. Based environmental health impact assessment (EHIA)
results and realizing the importance of green chemistry and working condition in Indian tannery and chrome
leather related facilities should be sustainable for the environmental development of our country. Brief or
occasional contact may not pose a problem. Potassium dichromate is a chromium salt or chromate and
is a common metal making up a significant part of the earth’s crust. The most common home exposure of
chromate is leather. As per the EBMSE research, the majority of leather goods, including shoes and gloves,
are tanned with chromates. It is necessary to avoid chromate tanned leather gloves, and leather shoes.
Vegetable tanned leather and eco-friendly gloves and shoes or plastic shoes and Oak Bark -Tanning in the
traditional manner is recommended compare to chromate tanned leather. The main EBMSE investigation
is adverse health conditions of the workers and local environment that being polluted by toxic hexavalent
and trivalent chromium and still being employed in Indian leather industries. For those with shoe dermatitis
from chromate and leather, wearing heavy socks or reducing perspiration and moisture may help to reduce
dermatitis. The amount of chromium found in all skin layers due to chromium permeation through human
skins in diffusion cells. In ginning factories, when the seed-cotton is processed in DR ginning machine, the
lint cotton is contaminated with hexavalent and trivalent chromium dust of about 140 to 1990 mg/kg (ppm)
, Cr (VI) and Cr(III) which is carcinogenic substance against the safe limits of 0.1 ppm (Vijayan Gurumurthy
Iyer, 2018).
Ion chromatographic method and atomic absorption spectrometry method are employed for determining
chromium content in all samples and Chromium (VI) found more with increased total chromium concentration
in samples due to increasing level of application of potassium dichromate and is found cancer among
all skin dermatitis workers. The percentage of chromium found during the cotton ginning process due to
persistent rubbing of CCLC over stationary knife the chromium particles are adsorbed into lint cotton such
that the spun yarns and woven fabrics get contaminated about 100 to 200 ppm which according to eco
standards should not be more than 0.1 ppm. The CCLC rollers used in cotton roller ginning machines get
powdered during the ginning process. As chromium is a specific dust, gin and mill workers and residents
are directly exposed to this carcinogenic substance and are vulnerable to environmental health hazards.
To offset this problem, pollution-free eco-friendly washers/rollers both for laboratory and commercial
studies have been fabricated and experimented. Biomedical research attempts are made to alternate dust
producing grinding CCLC ginneries (Vijayan Gurumurthy Iyer, 2018). Environmental health inventory (EHI)
serves as the basis for evaluating the potential environmental health impacts both beneficial and adverse
of a proposed action. Environmental health impact statement (EHIS) describes the affected environmental
health or environmental health setting without the project. Green Design and development of the EHI is
an initial step in the EHIA process. It is concluded that EHIA process as nursing science is conducted for
certain projects, plans, programs, legislative actions, policies in the project planning and decision-making
process. As the EBMSE research has over looked in to the chemicals that leather tanneries use in the past
and present specifically in chromium and public health and occupational health hazards , sustainable
policy measures should be needed to control environmental pollution and contamination in source specific,
generic and industrial specific Indian leather tannery environment(Vijayan Gurumurthy Iyer, 2018).