Publication details
Human biomonitoring as a tool to support chemicals regulation in the European Union Discussion
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Popularization text |
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| Description | At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 governments agreed “to achieve, by 2020, that chemicals are used and producedin ways that lead to the minimization of significant adverse effects on human health and the environment”. This objective is reiterated in the European Union’s (EU) 7th Environmental Action Programme. Recognising key gaps in the knowledge required to support actions on chemicals, the 7th Environmental Action Programme calls for efforts to address these gaps in order “to accelerate decision making and to enable the further development of the chemicals-related acquis to better target areas of concern”. Human biomonitoring (HBM) is identifed as a tool that can serve the chemicals agenda by providing “authorities with a more comprehensive view of actual exposure of the population to pollutants, especially sensitive groups such as children, and can provide better evidence from guiding appropriate responses”. European citizens are exposed to a wide range of chemicals through their diet and through different environmental pathways, in their homes as well as through their use of consumer products and at the workplace. While not all chemicals pose a health risk, exposure to some can seriously damage human health (European Environment Agency). Yet our current understanding of chemical risks to human health suffers limitations, both on the side of exposure and with regard to the associated health impacts. The effects of long-term and low-dose exposure to mixtures of chemicals still remain poorly understood. In addition, the potential human health impacts of chemicals used in large volumes deserve more attention. These knowledge gaps are particularly acute for a large number of emerging substances that are used in a wide range of products, some of which have been already detected in the environment. |