Background: For Europe as a whole, data on internal exposure to environmental chemicals do not yet exist. Characterization of the internal individual chemical environment is expected to enhance understanding of the environmental threats to health.
Objectives: We developed and applied a harmonized protocol to collect comparable human biomonitoring data all over Europe.
Methods: In 17 European countries, we measured mercury in hair and cotinine, phthalate metabolites, and cadmium in urine of 1,844 children (5–11 years of age) and their mothers. Specimens were collected over a 5-month period in 2011–2012. We obtained information on personal characteristics, environment, and lifestyle. We used the resulting database to compare concentrations of exposure biomarkers within Europe, to identify determinants of exposure, and to compare exposure biomarkers with health-based guidelines.
Results: Biomarker concentrations showed a wide variability in the European population. However, levels in children and mothers were highly correlated. Most biomarker concentrations were below the health-based guidance values.
Conclusions: We have taken the first steps to assess personal chemical exposures in Europe as a whole. Key success factors were the harmonized protocol development, intensive training and capacity building for field work, chemical analysis and communication, as well as stringent quality control programs for chemical and data analysis. Our project demonstrates the feasibility of a Europe-wide human biomonitoring framework to support the decision-making process of environmental measures to protect public health.
1Unit Environmental Risk and Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium; 2University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 3Umweltbundesamt (UBA), Berlin, Germany; 4Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda (Madrid), Spain; 5Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany; 6Public Health England, Chilton, United Kingdom; 7Environmental Health Sciences International, Hulst, the Netherlands; 8Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia; 9University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; 10BiPRO GmbH, Munich, Germany; 11Federal Public Service (FPS) Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Brussels, Belgium; 12State General Laboratory, Nicosia, Cyprus; 13Paediatric Clinic, Larnaca General Hospital, Larnaca, Cyprus; 14National Institute of Public Health, Praha, Czech Republic; 15National Institute of Environmental Health, Budapest, Hungary; 16Health Service Executive, Dublin, Ireland; 17Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Belvaux, Luxembourg; 18Laboratoire National de Santé, Dudelange, Luxembourg; 19Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland; 20Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; 21Environmental Health Center, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; 22Urad Verejneho Zdravotnictva Slovenskej Republiky, Bratislava, Slovakia; 23Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; 24Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), Bern, Switzerland; 25University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium; 26University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Recommended Citation:
Elly Den Hond,1 Eva Govarts,1 Hanny Willems,et al. First Steps toward Harmonized Human Biomonitoring in Europe: Demonstration Project to Perform Human Biomonitoring on a European Scale[J]. Environmental Health Perspectives,2015-01-01,Volume 123(Issue 3):255