This deliverable was produced under Task 6.3 of Work Package 6 on “Longer-term needs and
expectations of stakeholders (2021-2030)”.
The aim of this task was to gather information on the needs and expectations of both the National
Hubs (NH) and a broad range of stakeholders regarding a long-term Human Biomonitoring (HBM)
programme for Europe, to be establish in follow up to the current project, HBM4EU.
Firstly and with a focus on options for financing a future initiative, information was collected on a
range of available funding mechanisms at national, regional and international level.
In terms of national funding, the results presented rely on responses to a survey with the NH.
Unfortunately, the response from NHs was very limited, and as such the report only captures
funding mechanisms from a limited number of countries, including Portugal, Spain, France,
Germany and Cyprus.
In order to gain insight into the status of the National Hubs and their capacities for HBM, a survey
was conducted. The results provide an overview of the current situation across the NHs with
regards to a range of aspects, including the level of activity of the NH, status of political support,
availability of funding, ongoing HBM studies and willingness to align studies with HBM4EU. The
results suggest that HBM4EU has raised the political profile of HBM in partner countries.
Regarding ongoing HBM studies, only six countries have national HBM programmes, with most
countries having only hot spot studies. Despite this, there was support for the alignment of studies
to achieve European geographical coverage. Regarding funding, access to European funding is
seen as important to leverage funds at national level.
A second survey was targeted at a wide range of stakeholders, aiming to better understand their
expectations for a long-term sustainable HBM initiative. The survey was followed by a workshop,
where a more limited number of stakeholders had the opportunity to discuss the survey results and
address such aspects as the scope of a future initiative, how to achieve financial sustainability,
how to involve and how a future initiative might contribute to chemical policies.
Concerning the needs and expectations of stakeholders, there is a strong interest in and support
for a future HBM initiative at European level. The involvement of a European Union (EU) institution
as part of a future steering committee was seen as crucial.
According to this stakeholders’ consultation, the initiative should focus on protecting human health
and the environment in Europe from hazardous chemical exposures by producing harmonised,
high quality, transparent and inclusive data for effective risk assessment and management.HBM4EU - Grant agreement 733032 HORIZON 2020 Programmeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio