Általános iskolák beltéri levegőminősége Közép-Európában - Az InAirQ projekt = Indoor ir Air Quality in Central European Primary School Buildings – The InAirQ Project

A Nemzeti Népegészségügyi Központ konzorciumvezetőként részt vett az InAirQ elnevezésű nemzetközi projektben, melynek célja, többek között, a beltéri levegőminőség vizsgálata általános iskolákban, illetve olyan akciótervek kidolgozása, melyekkel a beltéri levegő minősége javítható. Egy kampány keretében összesen hatvannégy általános iskola egy-egy osztálytermét vizsgáltuk a Cseh Köztársaságban (n = 12), Magyarországon (n = 16), Olaszországban (n = 12), Lengyelországban (n = 12) és Szlovéniában (n = 12). A bel- és kültéri levegőminőség vizsgálatára irányuló mintavételeket a 2017/2018-as fűtési időszakban végeztük a kiválasztott iskolaépületeknél. A légszennyezők közül meghatároztuk számos aldehid és illékony szerves vegyület, a kisméretű aeroszol részecskék (PM2.5), a szén-dioxid és a radon koncentrációját. A felmérés ideje alatt néhány fizikai paraméter (hőmérséklet, relatív páratartalom) alakulását is nyomon követtük. Jelentős eltéréseket tapasztaltunk számos légszennyező anyag esetén a felmérésben résztvevő országok között. A benzol koncentrációja a vizsgált iskolák 37%-ában meghaladta az Európai Bizottság által, a kültéri környezetre meghatározott éves határértéket (5 μg/m3). Azonban a beltéri benzol koncentráció minden esetben a kültéri értékkel közel azonos volt, így kijelenthető, hogy a benzolnak nincs jelentős beltéri forrása. A formaldehid koncentrációja beltéren minden esetben meghaladta a kültéri értéket, azonban egyik esetben sem érte el az Egészségügyi Világszervezet (WHO) által javasolt irányértéket (100 μg/m3). A PM2.5 tömegkoncentráció az iskolák 56%-ában meghaladta a WHO által megállapított 24 órás irányértéket (25 μg/m3), illetve az iskolák 85%-ában az éves (10 μg/m3) irányértéket meghaladó értékeket mértünk. A vizsgált osztálytermekben a szén-dioxid koncentrációja több esetben is magas volt (az átlag meghaladta a 1000 ppm értéket), jelezve az elégtelen szellőztetést. A komfortérzetet befolyásoló paraméterek közül a relatív páratartalom sok esetben nagyon alacsony volt. A radon koncentrációja 100 Bq/m3 körül mozgott, kivéve néhány osztálytermet Magyarországon, Lengyelországban és Szlovéniában. The National Public Health Center participated as a consortium leader in the international project called InAirQ, aiming to investigate the indoor air quality (IAQ) and to take actions to improve the indoor environment in primary school buildings. In total, sixty-four primary school buildings were investigated in the Czech Republic (n = 12), Hungary (n = 16), Italy (n = 12), Poland (n = 12), and Slovenia (n = 12). The air quality was investigated during the heating period of 2017/2018. The concentration of volatile organic compounds, aldehydes, PM2.5 mass, carbon dioxide, radon were investigated. Physical parameters (e.g. temperature, relative humidity) were also monitored. Significant differences were identified for the majority of the investigated IAQ parameters across the countries. The concentration of benzene was higher than 5 μg m-3, the annual limit value set for the ambient air by the European Commission, in 37% of the investigated school buildings. It must be noted that the concentration of benzene indoors was similar to that obtained for outdoors in all cases which indicates the lack of indoor sources. The concentration of formaldehyde was always higher indoors than outdoors, although the concentration of formaldehyde never reached the WHO guideline (100 μg m-3). The PM2.5 mass concentration values exceeded the 24-h and annual guideline values set by the World Health Organization in 56 and 85% of the cases, respectively. The carbon-dioxide concentration was high in the majority of the classrooms (the average value exceeded 1000 ppm), indicating the inappropriate ventilation. Among the parameters affecting the comfort of the students, the relative humidity was very low in many cases. The radon level was around or below 100 Bq m-3, except for some locations in Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia

Current exposure to phthalates and DINCH in European children and adolescents - Results from the HBM4EU Aligned Studies 2014 to 2021.

Phthalates are mainly used as plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Exposure to several phthalates is associated with different adverse effects most prominently on the development of reproductive functions. The HBM4EU Aligned Studies (2014-2021) have investigated current European exposure to ten phthalates (DEP, BBzP, DiBP, DnBP, DCHP, DnPeP, DEHP, DiNP, DiDP, DnOP) and the substitute DINCH to answer the open policy relevant questions which were defined by HBM4EU partner countries and EU institutions as the starting point of the programme. The exposure dataset includes ∼5,600 children (6-11 years) and adolescents (12-18 years) from up to 12 countries per age group and covering the North, East, South and West European regions. Study data from participating studies were harmonised with respect to sample size and selection of participants, selection of biomarkers, and quality and comparability of analytical results to provide a comparable perspective of European exposure. Phthalate and DINCH exposure were deduced from urinary excretions of metabolites, where concentrations were expressed as their key descriptor geometric mean (GM) and 95th percentile (P95). This study aims at reporting current exposure levels and differences in these between European studies and regions, as well as comparisons to human biomonitoring guidance values (HBM-GVs). GMs for children were highest for ∑DEHP metabolites (33.6 μg/L), MiBP (26.6 μg/L), and MEP (24.4 μg/L) and lowest for∑DiDP metabolites (1.91 μg/L) and ∑DINCH metabolites (3.57 μg/L). In adolescents highest GMs were found for MEP (43.3 μg/L), ∑DEHP metabolites (28.8 μg/L), and MiBP (25.6 μg/L) and lowest for ∑DiDP metabolites (= 2.02 μg/L) and ∑DINCH metabolites (2.51 μg/L). In addition, GMs and P95 stratified by European region, sex, household education level, and degree of urbanization are presented. Differences in average biomarker concentrations between sampling sites (data collections) ranged from factor 2 to 9. Compared to the European average, children in the sampling sites OCC (Denmark), InAirQ (Hungary), and SPECIMEn (The Netherlands) had the lowest concentrations across all metabolites and ESTEBAN (France), NAC II (Italy), and CROME (Greece) the highest. For adolescents, comparably higher metabolite concentrations were found in NEB II (Norway), PCB cohort (Slovakia), and ESTEBAN (France), and lower concentrations in POLAES (Poland), FLEHS IV (Belgium), and GerES V-sub (Germany). Multivariate analyses (Survey Generalized Linear Models) indicate compound-specific differences in average metabolite concentrations between the four European regions. Comparison of individual levels with HBM-GVs revealed highest rates of exceedances for DnBP and DiBP, with up to 3 and 5%, respectively, in children and adolescents. No exceedances were observed for DEP and DINCH. With our results we provide current, detailed, and comparable data on exposure to phthalates in children and - for the first time - in adolescents, and - for the first time - on DINCH in children and adolescents of all four regions of Europe which are particularly suited to inform exposure and risk assessment and answer open policy relevant questions.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 733032 HBM4EU. PCB cohort was supported by the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, project no. 2012/47-SZU-11 and the Slovak Research and Development Agency, project no. APVV-0571-12. PCB cohort follow-up received additional funding from the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, program 07B0103. Regarding GerES V-sub (unweighted) the funding of the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection is gratefully acknowledged. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has contributed to funding of the Norwegian Environmental Biobank (NEB). The laboratory measurements have partly been funded by the Research Council of Norway through research projects (275903 and 268465). The Slovenian SLO-CRP study was co-financed by the Jozef Stefan Institute program P1- 0143, and a national project “Exposure of children and adolescents to selected chemicals through their habitat environment” (grant agree ment No. C2715-16-634802). Riksmaten Adolescents 2016-17 was performed by the Swedish Food Agency with financial support from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. The BEA study was co-funded by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Insituto de Salud Carlos III (SEG 1321/15). The CROME study is co-funded by the European Commission research funds of Horizon 2020). The 3xG study is financed by NIRAS/ONDRAF (Belgian National Agency for Radioactive Waste and enriched Fissile Material), STORA (Study and Consultation Radioactive Waste Dessel) and MONA (Mols Overleg Nucleair Afval). FLEHS IV is commissioned and co-financed by the Government of Flanders, Department of Environment & Spatial Development. POLAES study was financially supported by the Ministry of Education and Science (project no. 3764/H2020/2017/2). The CELSPAC studies are supported by the MEYS (LM2018121, CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_043/0009632 and CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000469) and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement (857560).S