Browsing by Author "Bessems, J."
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- Assessment of needs for a European strategy on exposure science: summary report of the first European Exposure Science Strategy Workshop (Building a roadmap 2020-2030)Publication . Bruinen de Bruin, Y.; von Goetz, N.; Schlüter, U.; Bessems, J.; Connolly, A.; Dudzina, T.; Ahrens, A.; Bridges, J.; Coggins, M.; Conrad, A.; Crépet, A.; Heinemeyer, G.; Hänninen, O.; Kephalopoulos, S.; McLachlan, M.; Meijster, T.; Poulsen, V.; Rother, D.; Vermeire, T.; Viegas, Susana; Vlaanderen, J.; Zare Jeddi, M.; Fantke, P.The first workshop of the European Chapter of the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES Europe) took place on June 19-20, 2018 in Dortmund, Germany, hosted by the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA). The main objectives of this workshop were: (1) to design the backbone of The European Exposure Science Strategy with a roadmap 2020-2030; (2) to create working groups with their own goals and agenda in alignment with the overall strategy; (3) to identify actions for further research and policy needs in Europe; and (4) to attract ISES Europe members committed to contributing to build the strategy and to increase the visibility of exposure science in Europe. The workshop was structured around six thematic areas that were identified on the basis of a stakeholder survey on needs for exposure science in Europe. These thematic areas were: 1. Data repositories and analytics, 2. Regulatory exposure assessment, 3. Exposure data production and monitoring, 4. Building partnerships and collaboration, 5. Exposure assessment methods and tools, 6. Exposure science education and communication. On the first day, the focus was on assessing the needs, gaps and opportunities for exposure science in Europe, and on the second day, the focus was on identifying building blocks for fulfilling the identified needs. Both days started with keynote lectures and continued with thematic parallel working group sessions along the defined thematic areas. About 120 experts working at nine stakeholder groups participated in the workshop comprising European Commission Services, European Agencies, European Member States’ national authorities, industry, academia, consultants and insurance companies. During the breakout sessions, interactive discussions took place where exposure science practitioners discussed strategic activities and domains relevant for defining a strategy for exposure science to better serving human health and wellbeing, environmental safety needs, inform exposure policy domains, and help product developers and sustainability managers to achieve their goals towards a sustainable development in Europe. The workshop defined building blocks and actions, comprising e.g. the creation of working groups, and initiation of projects responding to the identified needs, concerning exposure science and relevant policies, and the level of coordination needed between the various stakeholders involved in the exposure science-policy interface. It was concluded that the following building blocks and actions are needed as a foundation of a European Exposure Science Strategy being: 1. To establish a common portal on exposure science, 2. To build a European exposure science network and partnerships, 3. To develop a common framework across policies and regulations making use of exposure science by focussing on the alignment of principles and efficiency enhancement, 4. To establish an integrated exposure assessment framework of methods and tools, and 5. To develop an education and training scheme. The present report summarises the workshop’s outcome and represents a first step towards the development of a European Exposure Science Strategy with a roadmap 2020-2030. The report is structured in a way that it first briefly introduces exposure science and its role for the European community (Chapter 1), followed by an overview of the first ISES Europe workshop organization (Chapter 2), the workshop outcome (Chapter 3), and a related brief discussion and some conclusions (Chapter 0). In the appendix, we provide the workshop agenda (Appendix A), a list of participants’ affiliations (Appendix B), names of session chairs, co-chairs, rapporteurs and moderators (Appendix C), the results of the SWOT analyses of the thematic breakout sessions (Appendix D), and a list of posters presented during the workshop (Appendix E).
- Improving risk assessment of chemicals by the use of human biomonitoring: HBM4EU project activitiesPublication . Santonen, T.; Alvito, P.; Bessems, J.; Borges, T.; Brunet, D.; Buekers, J.; Cornelis, C.; van Engelen, J.; Gonzalez Caballero, M. C.; Humar-Juric, T.; Heinälä, M.; Klaus, A.; Kononenko, L.; Krul, L.; Lamkarkach, F.; Louro, H.; Pronk, A.; Ormsby, J. N.; Rousselle, C.; Schaddelee-Scholten, B.; Silva, M. J.; Stierum, R.; Viegas, Susana; Vinggaard, A. M.; Vermeire, T.; Woutersen, M.The default approach in the risk assessment (RA) of chemicals is to assess external exposure by combining different sources and routes of exposure. This kind of approach contains various uncertainties and may overestimate exposure, since conservative estimates are needed due to the limited data on, for example, the absorption of the chemical and interspecies and intraspecies differences. Human biomonitoring (HBM) can help improve RA by providing measured data on combined exposures. In some cases, biomonitoring data can even provide a direct link to health effects. In some cases, biomonitoring allows to link exposure to specific contexts such as occupational settings. Although recent years have seen good examples of the use of biomonitoring in the risk assessment of chemicals, much work is still needed to improve its use in regulatory RA and human impact assessment (HIA). The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) was recently launched for fulfilling the gap between the exposure to hazardous chemical agents and their impact on human health. One of the aims of the HBM4EU project is to enhance the use of HBM data in RA and HIA of chemicals in different regulatory contexts including legislation on chemicals, plant protection products, and biocides, as well as legislation on cosmetics, food safety, and occupational safety. RA models for mixtures are also considered. Firstly, current RA practices are evaluated: is the use of biomonitoring integrated with the available RA guidance, and do give RA schemes have good examples of the advanced use of biomonitoring? A survey is also conducted to gather information from national regulatory risk assessors (in the EU, but also in non-EU countries) on their risk assessment practices, the use of HBM, and the obstacles and challenges related to its use. The challenges of the use of HBM data in RA may include a lack of guidance in the use of biomonitoring, a lack of knowledge regarding the interpretation of biomonitoring results, or the inability to link biomonitoring data to different exposure sources. Using a selected group of priority chemicals as an example, we can determine whether these challenges can be overcome by including the recent HBM data, collected during the HBM4EU project, in the existing RA schemes. Finally, proposals will be made for the better use of HBM in RA and HIA in different policy domains.