[Public health work in connection with a new international airport]

During the six years between the parliament decision in 1992 to build a new international airport and the opening of this airport at Gardermoen, public health authorities experienced strong challenges when exercising their authority, when planning and implementing the airport health services, and when trying to describe possible health hazards to the population living in the area. Environmental and population health considerations led in some instances to opposite conclusions. The opinions of local health authorities were overruled by national authorities as regards noise limits. The food control authorities were not included in the first stage of planning. Efforts to cooperate emergency health services, ambulance services, and services for the prevention of contagious diseases did not succeed initially. Population studies before and during the airport construction period showed that persons being forced to move because of the new airport reported increased illness, developed a lower self-assessed health quality, more often generalized pain, and more often moderate mental problems.