Setting up a collaborative European human biological monitoring study on occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium

The EU human biomonitoring initiative, HBM4EU, aims to coordinate and advance human biomonitoring (HBM) across Europe. Within its remit, the project is gathering new, policy-relevant, EU-wide data on occupational exposure to relevant priority chemicals and developing new approaches for occupational biomonitoring. In this manuscript, the hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) study design is presented as the first example of this HBM4EU approach. This study involves eight European countries and plans to recruit 400 workers performing Cr(VI) surface treatment e.g. electroplating or stainless steel welding activities. The aim is to collect new data on current occupational exposure to Cr(VI) in Europe and to test new methods for Cr biomonitoring, specifically the analysis of Cr(VI) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) and Cr in red blood cells (RBC) in addition to traditional urinary total Cr analyses. Furthermore, exposure data will be complemented with early biological effects data, including genetic and epigenetic effects. Personal air samples and wipe samples are collected in parallel to help to inform the biomonitoring results. We present standard operational procedures (SOPs) to support the harmonized methodologies for the collection of occupational hygiene and HBM samples in different countries.

Description

Horizon 2020 - Grant agreement no. 733032

Keywords

Hexavalent chromium Biomonitoring Occupational exposure Exhaled breath condensate Welding Electroplating Effect markers Multicenter study

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/10306

Citation

Santonen T, Alimonti A, Bocca B, Duca RC, Galea KS, Viegas S, et al. Setting up a collaborative European human biological monitoring study on occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium. Environ Res. 2019;177:108583.