Chief’s Remarks 

Towards Healthy Life and Highly Secure Environment

Based on Science and Technology

 

    Our living and occupational environments have drastically changed over the time of history, inevitably causing a substantial impact on mental and physical well-being. In Japan, since the Meiji Restoration (1868), a variety of incidents of environmental pollution and their subsequent health impairments have occurred repeatedly in the occupational and general environments through the national policy to enhance the wealth and military strength of the nation, and economic development. In addition, food poisoning by chemicals and health disorders due to inappropriate use of medicines have also occurred. Needless to say about the loss of life, it is extremely difficult to restore health once it has been devastated, and often it takes a long time to reach agreement for compensation. Thus, there is a need to set up fundamental measures to prevent recurrences.
 
     Taking the above-mentioned incidents as lessons, perpetual efforts have been taken by the state and municipal governments and private sectors in response to the demand of the general public for the protection of health and the conservation of the environment. For example, legislation and bylaws have been enacted to perform environmental monitoring, exposure survey, health effects studies and risk analysis when needed. In addition, the legislation provides safety and risk assessment for contaminants in food and for health-oriented food including supplements be performed to set up safety standard. Such history suggests that ‘health and the environment’ are a part of the criteria that are essential for the fulfillment of life.
 
     HESTIC, as a consulting organization having experts in safety and risk assessment on environmental health, strives to fulfill its responsibility by providing the best-available service to our clients. Furthermore, HESTIC strives to disseminate the information in a precise and simple manner to the general public.

     Finally, HESTIC will step forward to the future to pass on a better environment to the next generation, and to ensure a healthy life both in mind and body.  

Chiharu Tohyama, Ph.D., D. Med. Sci.

Chief, HESTIC