PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF MEDICAL GEOLOGY IN ARGENTINA

In Argentina and Latin America there is a growing need to address in an integrated way, health-related aspects of the populations under their interaction with the environment. It is expected that the development of the medical geology concept integrate the different views of this complex entity. This is the historical progression of Medical Geology in Argentina:

• 2010: Argentina joined the International Medical Geology Association (IMGA), through the Argentinean Local Chapter.
• 2011: Medical Geology was incorporated as a formal subject in the postgraduate course of Mining Geology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Universidad de Buenos Aires. It represents the first step in the academic field in Argentina.
• 2013: Research Program in Medical Geology, in the context of IGEBA (Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. UBA-CONICET). It is the first research program that integrates professionals from environmental science and health at the same institute. Main research lines: identification and characterization of natural and anthropogenic sources of harmful and beneficial materials into the environment; study of population exposure to natural materials and their impact on health, as well as the analysis of strategies to minimize and / or avoid exposure to potentially harmful materials; mappings from natural sources and geochemical materials, with the goal of designing baselines applicable to the organization of territories, aspects of social and environmental vulnerability and biodiversity (quality of water resources, soil, air, flora, fauna); generation of monitoring and evaluation indicators that enable longitudinal actions in time to monitor and evaluate population-level health changes; study of the environmental impact associated with the extraction and processing of minerals and rocks.
• 2013: Constitution of the Argentinean Medical Geology Association. The scientific society constituted according to the national legislation will disseminate medical geology between professionals and will be a link with the community. It will design a website and develop a scientific publication.

Between 2010 and 2013, the Argentine Chapter has conveyed the concept of medical geology to academia, created a space for research and established a scientific society.