The threat from nanoparticles and other environmental impacts on health will be the focus of a conference being organised by the University of the West of England and Environment Protection UK on 21 February 2008. This is the tenth annual conference in the series. Environment Protection UK (formerly the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection) has three key policy areas - air quality and climate change, land quality and noise. Dr. David Muir, chair of Environment Protection UK’s South West Division said, “It is important to address issues that can bring about ill health, rather than simply treating the effects of it. We know that air pollution, even at the levels now found in the UK, is the cause of thousands of earlier deaths each year and, on average, reduces life expectancy by between six and eight months for each and every one of us. “Noise is finally being recognised as a factor in ill health rather than just a nuisance, and the potential health impacts of climate change are huge and global.” UWE’s Air Quality Management Resource Centre is widely recognised nationally and internationally as a leading provider of air quality management information, advice, research and consultancy services. Dr Enda Hayes said, “The conference entitled Environment and Health – Prevention before Cure” will take place at the Watershed in Bristol. The high profile list of speakers include representatives of the Health Protection Agency, the UK Public Health Association, Barts and the London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Aberdeen, University of Bristol, South West Public Health Observatory, and UWE, Bristol. The conference is aimed at environmental management practitioners, local authority officers, academics and consultants.”   For more information on UWE’s Air Quality Management Resource Centre visit http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/portal.html   For more information on Environmental Protection UK visit www.environmental-protection.org.uk