[A data bank of international studies on pollution. Possibilities for its use by Switzerland]

GRID (Global Resource Information Data Base) is part of GEMS (Global Environment Monitoring System), which is controlled by the United Nations in its programme on the protection of the environment. Recently, GRID-processor premices have been provided by the University of Geneva. The main preoccupation of GRID is to capture, analyse and distribute data concerning environment: soil types, water resources, vegetation, animal population, human settlements, socio-economical data and, what is more important to us, data on air pollution. GRID facilities are at the disposal of international organisations which are concerned by the environment, as well as all research workers involved in this field of research. In our article, the organisational as well as modelling possibilities of GRID are presented and illustrated. A proposal is made to use GRID's facilities for Swiss epidemiological studies, on the effects of air pollution on human health.