The book release was celebrated on 24 May at the Swedish Consulate in Shanghai, attended by Ambassador Anna Lindstedt as well as political and business leaders.
The research team has embraced an interdisciplinary approach in assessing the environment, wildlife and water/food supply, creating best practices, uncovering the risks and effects of chemicals, and providing risk assessments based on hard evidence.
Yangzte River Delta environmental challenges
“The Yangzte River Delta has major environmental challenges. A lot of chemical manufacturing in China is based here and it has impacts throughout the society. Chemicals leak into the environment and become a big problem. A range of chemicals can be found in everything from drinking water to breast milk, putting the health of both people and animals at risk,” says Åke Bergman, Professor Emeritus at Stockholm University and Head of Swetox, the Academic Research Center for Chemicals, Health and Environment.
Åke Bergman, the lead investigator in China, is one of the world’s leading researchers in environmental chemistry, specialising in hormone-disrupting chemicals. At the book’s launch in Shanghai, he spoke about the possibility of a toxin-free environment.
The Yangtze River Delta Region in China has a population nearly twice that of France in an area only 1/6th as large.
The Chemstrres project
The Chemstrres project, as it is called, is funded by the Swedish Research Council. The project has also been funded by Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, as well as Chinese research foundations. The goal of the project, which involves more than 40 scientists primarily from Stockholm University and Tongji University in Shanghai, is to improve the dialogue among scientists and policy makers and to bring about better human health and environmental prosperity.