Human Biomonitoring as an Instrument of the European Chemicals Policy

This involves the investigation of population groups for their exposure to pollutants from the environment and other sources. The results indicate whether measures should be taken to reduce this pollution or what effect existing measures have had. Schulze and Messner called virtually in front of representatives from research, industry, administration and civil society for the establishment of human biomonitoring as an instrument of European chemicals policy. This is because there are hardly any reliable EU-wide data on the exposure of the population to chemicals.

Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze: "We need to know which pollutants actually reach humans. This is the only way we can create a progressive chemicals policy that is geared to sustainability goals and protects people and the environment. In Germany, human biomonitoring has proven its worth. I am committed to ensuring that it also acquires the necessary importance at EU level. The EU Commission's new chemicals strategy will be an important element of the Green Deal. We need progressive content that improves the protection of humans and the environment".

UBA President Dirk Messner: "Human biomonitoring should be promoted as part of the EU sustainability strategy for chemicals. In order to effectively regulate problematic chemicals, we need EU-wide comparable data, also to understand regional differences in exposure. Only then can we check whether EU chemicals regulation is working".

Several tens of thousands of chemicals are on the market in the EU, many of which are also found in the blood or urine of many EU citizens. Human Biomonitoring (HBM) is investigating the extent to which and why these chemicals end up in humans at all. The European HBM4EU initiative led by the UBA is currently testing how such monitoring could work throughout Europe. The HBM4EU project has now networked 194 laboratories that meet the highest quality standards. They provide reliable and comparable data throughout Europe for priority substances that are or may be associated with health risks to the population. HBM4EU interprets these data and formulates recommendations for policy makers. In contrast to existing reporting obligations in the field of environmental monitoring, there are currently no binding requirements for the collection of HBM data at European level or in the EU Member States. HBM4EU has shown that HBM data contribute to an improved risk assessment of chemicals. Against this background, the HBM4EU Management Board has advocated the systematic collection and use of HBM data in an open letter to the EU Commission. The European "Green Deal" and the associated new EU sustainability strategy for chemicals offer the opportunity for this.

An HBM4EU study on the exposure of workers to chromium VI in various industrial sectors is currently underway. The results of the study will soon show that these groups are still significantly more exposed to carcinogenic chromium VI than the general population - despite already strict EU regulatory measures. The study makes it clear that further precautions are particularly useful to prevent the absorption of chromium VI through the skin.

A further group of substances investigated are the so-called phthalates. This group of plasticizers includes substances that damage fertility and are used in many plastic products, including food packaging. Although initial HBM4EU results show that human exposure to phthalates decreases after individual substances in this group have been regulated, the substances are still detectable in almost every person examined. The EU regulation is therefore working, but the population still comes into contact with too many phthalates. In addition, the effects of critical phthalates in particular can add up, both among themselves and in combination with some pesticides, so that a reliable all-clear can only be given after the substance mixtures have been assessed.

HBM4EU also makes an important contribution to the assessment of the risks of per- and polyflurated alkyl substances (PFAS). This is a group of chemicals that is currently the subject of intense debate in Europe and which, among other things, can impair the effects of vaccinations. In the "German Environmental Health Study", conducted by the Federal Environment Agency, it was shown that many German children have more PFAS in their blood than would be toxicologically safe.

Source: BMU - Schulze: "Human biomonitoring is to become an instrument of European chemicals policy".

Image source: © Steven Depolo - flickr