18 research outputs found
Biomonitoring of Danish school children and mothers including biomarkers of PBDE and glyphosate
First steps toward harmonized human biomonitoring in Europe : demonstration project to perform human biomonitoring on a European scale
'Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives'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 healthbased
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.The research leading to these results received funding for the COPHES project (COnsortium to Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007–2013] under grant agreement 244237. DEMOCOPHES (DEMOnstration of a study to COordinate and Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) was co-funded (50%:50%) by the European Commission LIFE+ Programme (LIFE09/ENV/BE/000410) and the partners. For information on both projects as well as on the national co-funding institutions, see http://www.eu-hbm.info/. The sponsors had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation or writing of the report
Exposure determinants of cadmium in European mothers and their children
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CCBY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).The metal cadmium (Cd) is a widespread environmental pollutant with documented adverse effects on the kidneys and bones from long-term environmental exposure, but with insufficiently elucidated public health consequences such as risk of cardiovascular disease, hormone-related cancer in adults and developmental effects in children. This study is the first pan-European human biomonitoring project that succeeded in performing harmonized measurements of Cd in urine in a comparable way in mother–child couples from 16 European countries. The aim of the study was to evaluate the overall Cd exposure and significant determinants of Cd exposure.
A study population of 1632 women (24–52 years of age), and 1689 children (5–12 years of age), from 32 rural and urban areas, was examined within a core period of 6 months in 2011–2012. Women were stratified as smokers and non-smokers. As expected, smoking mothers had higher geometric mean (gm) urinary cadmium (UCd; 0.24 µg/g crea; n=360) than non-smoking mothers (gm 0.18 µg/g crea; n=1272; p<0.0001), and children had lower UCd (gm 0.065 µg/g crea; n=1689) than their mothers at the country level. Non-smoking women exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) at home had 14% (95% CI 1–28%) higher UCd than those who were not exposed to ETS at home (p=0.04). No influence of ETS at home or other places on UCd levels was detected in children. Smoking women with primary education as the highest educational level of the household had 48% (95% CI 18–86%) higher UCd than those with tertiary education (p=0.0008). The same observation was seen in non-smoking women and in children; however they were not statistically significant. In children, living in a rural area was associated with 7% (95% CI 1–13%) higher UCd (p=0.03) compared to living in an urban area. Children, 9–12 years had 7% (95% CI 1–13%) higher UCd (p=0.04) than children 5–8 years.
About 1% of the mothers, and 0.06% of the children, exceeded the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) appointed by EFSA, corresponding to 1.0 µg Cd/g crea in urine. Poland had the highest UCd in comparison between the 16 countries, while Denmark had the lowest. Whether the differences between countries are related to differences in the degree of environmental Cd contamination or to differences in lifestyle, socioeconomic status or dietary patterns is not clear.Financially supported by the 7th EU framework
programe(DGResearch – No. 244237-COPHES),LIFE+ 2009(DG Environment – LIFE09ENV/BE000410-DEMOCOPHES),with addi-
tional co-funding from DEMOCOPHES partners
Associations between plasma concentrations of PCB 28 and possible indoor exposure sources in Danish school children and mothers
Micronucleus frequency in Danish schoolchildren and their mothers from the DEMOCOPHES population
Urinary BPA measurements in children and mothers from six European member states:Overall results and determinants of exposure
For the first time in Europe, both European-wide and country-specific levels of urinary Bisphenol A (BPA) were obtained through a harmonized protocol for participant recruitment, sampling and quality controlled biomarker analysis in the frame of the twin projects COPHES and DEMOCOPHES. 674 child-mother pairs were recruited through schools or population registers from six European member states (Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden). Children (5-12y) and mothers donated a urine sample. Information on socio-demographic characteristics, life style, dietary habits, and educational level of the parents was provided by mothers. After exclusion of urine samples with creatinine values below 300mg/L or above 3000mg/L, 653 children and 639 mothers remained for which BPA was measured. The geometric mean (with 95% confidence intervals) and 90th percentile were calculated for BPA separately in children and in mothers and were named "European reference values". After adjustment for confounders (age and creatinine), average exposure values in each country were compared with the mean of the "European reference values" by means of a weighted analysis of variance. Overall geometric means of all countries (95% CI) adjusted for urinary creatinine, age and gender were 2.04 (1.87-2.24) µg/L and 1.88 (1.71-2.07) µg/L for children (n=653) and mothers (n=639), respectively. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify significant environmental, geographical, personal or life style related determinants. Consumption of canned food and social class (represented by the highest educational level of the family) were the most important predictors for the urinary levels of BPA in mothers and children. The individual BPA levels in children were significantly correlated with the levels in their mothers (r=0.265, p<0.001), which may suggest a possible common environmental/dietary factor that influences the biomarker level in each pair. Exposure of the general European population was well below the current health-based guidance values and no participant had BPA values higher than the health-based guidance values
The Danish contribution to the European DEMOCOPHES project: A description of cadmium, cotinine and mercury levels in Danish mother-child pairs and the perspectives of supplementary sampling and measurements
Human biomonitoring (HBM) is an important tool, increasingly used for measuring true levels of the body burdens of environmental chemicals in the general population. In Europe, a harmonized HBM program was needed to open the possibility to compare levels across borders. To explore the prospect of a harmonized European HBM project, DEMOCOPHES (DEMOnstration of a study to COordinate and Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) was completed in 17 European countries. The basic measurements performed in all implemented countries of DEMOCOPHES included cadmium, cotinine and phthalate metabolites in urine and mercury in hair. In the Danish participants, significant correlations between mothers and children for mercury in hair and cotinine in urine were found. Mercury in hair was further significantly associated with intake of fish and area of residence. Cadmium was positively associated with BMI in mothers and an association between cadmium and cotinine was also found. As expected high cotinine levels were found in smoking mothers. For both mercury and cadmium significantly higher concentrations were found in the mothers compared to their children. In Denmark, the DEMOCOPHES project was co-financed by the Danish ministries of health, environment and food safety. The co-financing ministries agreed to finance a number of supplementary measurements of substances of current toxicological, public and regulatory interest. This also included blood sampling from the participants. The collected urine and blood samples were analyzed for a range of other persistent and non-persistent environmental chemicals as well as two biomarkers of effect. The variety of supplementary measurements gives the researchers further information on the exposure status of the participants and creates a basis for valuable knowledge on the pattern of exposure to various chemicals.publisher: Elsevier
articletitle: The Danish contribution to the European DEMOCOPHES project: A description of cadmium, cotinine and mercury levels in Danish mother-child pairs and the perspectives of supplementary sampling and measurements
journaltitle: Environmental Research
articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2014.07.028
content_type: article
copyright: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.status: publishe
The Danish contribution to the European DEMOCOPHES project:A description of cadmium, cotinine and mercury levels in Danish mother-child pairs and the perspectives of supplementary sampling and measurements
Human biomonitoring (HBM) is an important tool, increasingly used for measuring true levels of the body burdens of environmental chemicals in the general population. In Europe, a harmonized HBM program was needed to open the possibility to compare levels across borders. To explore the prospect of a harmonized European HBM project, DEMOCOPHES (DEMOnstration of a study to COordinate and Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) was completed in 17 European countries. The basic measurements performed in all implemented countries of DEMOCOPHES included cadmium, cotinine and phthalate metabolites in urine and mercury in hair. In the Danish participants, significant correlations between mothers and children for mercury in hair and cotinine in urine were found. Mercury in hair was further significantly associated with intake of fish and area of residence. Cadmium was positively associated with BMI in mothers and an association between cadmium and cotinine was also found. As expected high cotinine levels were found in smoking mothers. For both mercury and cadmium significantly higher concentrations were found in the mothers compared to their children. In Denmark, the DEMOCOPHES project was co-financed by the Danish ministries of health, environment and food safety. The co-financing ministries agreed to finance a number of supplementary measurements of substances of current toxicological, public and regulatory interest. This also included blood sampling from the participants. The collected urine and blood samples were analyzed for a range of other persistent and non-persistent environmental chemicals as well as two biomarkers of effect. The variety of supplementary measurements gives the researchers further information on the exposure status of the participants and creates a basis for valuable knowledge on the pattern of exposure to various chemicals.COPHES is coordinated by BiPRO GmbH, Germany, in cooperation with the University of Leuven, Belgium and is funded by DG Research in the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013), Project number 244237. DEMOCOPHES is coordinated by the Federal Public Service, Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Belgium and co-funded under the LIFE+ Programme (LIFE09/ENV/BE/000410).S
First Steps toward Harmonized Human Biomonitoring in Europe: Demonstration Project to Perform Human Biomonitoring on a European Scale
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.status: publishe