In France and internationally, the health effects of the air pollution is a subject increasingly worrying citizens and authorities. However, the air quality is a result of many factors and polluting activities, e.g.: temperatures and winds, transport, tertiary sector (heating), industries.

The Etang de Berre and the Gulf of Fos sur Mer are located in the South-East of France, in the administrative and geographical area (Département) of the Bouches-du-Rhône. They, together, represent a densely populated industrial basin where a range of oil, chemical and other industries have been cohabiting with an important population for over fifty years. In spite of endeavours by industries' leaders to comply with steadily evolving industrial standards, this particular context is prone to high levels of emission of many atmospheric pollutants, making the area one of the most polluted in France. 

After describing the local geographical and human contexts we assessed the current state of scientific knowledge on the health of the population and on the established links with the atmospheric pollution around the Etang the Berre. The analysis of people's expectations allowed us to subsequently propose a series of epidemiological and environmental studies, in view of increasing existing knowledge. All recommended studies are described in terms of expected benefits, duration and scientific or practical limitations.

Compare with the rest of the Bouches-du-Rhône, the analysis of the health of the local population yield several matters of concern, unevenly distributed over the area. Several epidemiological studies have therefore been conducted in order to determine the attributable risk fraction of the industrial atmospheric pollution in such disorders. Their results show that the health impact of such pollution is real, although difficult to measure.

Around the Etang de Berre, people's main expectation is to better know the effects of industrial atmospheric pollution on populations' health. Nevertheless, the nature and potential benefits of appropriate studies are generally badly understood. Industrial leaders also look for more transparency in that domain and could therefore also favour related epidemiological and environmental studies. They however demand that these studies should apply high scientific standards and should also take all existing sources of atmospheric pollutants into account. 

The range of studies we are proposing in this treatise should help the local and national authorities, the industrial managers and the communities' representatives to choose the most appropriate tools in order to increase their knowledge, with a better understanding of related limitations, duration and constraints. Descriptive studies could, for example, help to better identified health problems and threats in the first place, whereas more in-depth analytic studies would be able to more accurately determine the health effects of specific risk factors on specific populations.