human biomonitoring and environmental health impact ... · 02/07/2009 human biomonitoring and...

02/07/2009

Human biomonitoring and environmentalhealth impact assessment: spatial implications

Roel SmoldersEnvironmental Risks and Health Unit, VITO, Belgium

02/07/2009 2Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved

Environmental health impact assessment

Stressors/contamin the

environment

Possibleadverse

health effects

Measuring/Modellinguptake through different

compartments

Estimatebioaccumulation,

excretion, metabolism


Environmental health impact assessment

» Traditional (chemical) risk assessment

Single compound →→ Single health endpoint

» Environmental health impact assessment

Complex world →→ Multi-causality

Urgent need to improve exposure assessment


EHIA in a complex world


environment

Possibleadverse

health effects


compartments



EHIA needs a holistic approach to describe the subtle effects of long-term, chronic and dynamic

exposure to low levels of contaminants, taking intoaccount individual susceptibility, time-activity

patterns and socio-economic disparities in ways that take account of the complexities,

interdependencies and uncertainties of the real world


Human biomonitoring and EHIA


environment

Possibleadverse

health effects


compartments



HumanBiomonitoring


» Human biomonitoring (HBM)» Definition:

A method for assessing human exposure to chemicals (or theireffects) by measuring the chemicals, their metabolites or

reaction products in human tissues or specimens, such as blood, hair or urine

» Measures “biomarkers”

Indicator of changes or events in biological systems. Biologicalmarkers of exposure refer to cellular, biochemical, analytical, or

molecular measures that are obtained from biological media such as tissues, cells, or fluids and are indicative of exposure to

an agent.



» Advantages» Integrative measurement of pollutants (dose) through

complex pathways/behavior




Noren and Meironyte (2000) Chemosphere 40:1111–23.



complex pathways/behavior» Incorporates toxicokinetic information




Needham and Sexton (2000).

Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 10: 611-29

BloodToxicant/Metabolite

DNA AdductAlbumin Adduct

Hemoglobin Adduct

Urinary Metabolite

Urinary Adduct

1 10 100 1000Time (Days)

Con

cent

ratio

nPersistantchemicals



complex pathways/behavior» Incorporates toxicokinetic information» Integrates cultural, life-style, socio-economic aspects




Wakefield et al (2000)American Journal of Preventive Medicine 19: 188-92

Ake Bjornberg et al (2003)Environmental Health Perspectives 111: 637-41



complex pathways/behavior» Incorporates toxicokinetic information» Integrates cultural, life-style, socio-economic aspects» Philosophical aspects

“Pollution gets personal”



Human biomonitoring and EHIADefault population Individual


» Opportunities

HBM offers an integrated and dynamic overview of humanenvironmental exposure, including characterisics such as

susceptibility, utilisation of (micro-)environments, and individual temporal/spatial behavior

Hence, biomarkers are an excellent tool for refining exposureassessment in a complex real-life environment



» Disadvantages» Integrative uptake makes source identification difficult» Invasive methods may hamper routine application» Toxico/Pharmacokinetics not always known» Lack of interpretation capacity

“The ability to generate new biomonitoring data often exceeds the ability to evaluate whether and how a chemical measured in an

individual or population may cause a health risk or to evaluate itssources and pathways of exposure” (NRC 2006)



» Disadvantages» Privacy issues

» No individual data mapping» Some type of aggregation

» Administrative (e.g. city, NUTS,…)» Topic related (e.g. distance from source)» Land-use (urban, semi-urban, rural)» …

» Flexibility needed (≠ spatial scales)



» Solutions» GIS-based integration platform

+ Opportunities for ‘data-rich’ substances+ Inter- and extrapolation+ Spatial and temporal evolution+ Links with research and policy making (INSPIRE

directive) – Incompatibilities among E&H databases require a

degree of generalisation– Privacy issues




LegendEmission_in_Air (EPER)Pb emission (kg/year)

0 - 500

500 - 1000

1000 - 5000

5000 - 10000

10000 - 60000

EMEP modelSpatial distribution (Kg/km²/year)

No data

0 - 0,01

0,01 - 0,05

0,05 - 0,10

0,10 - 0,25

0,25 - 1,00

1,00 - 5,00

5,00 - 40,00


Human biomonitoring: spatial implications» Improving exposure assessment

» Proxies for exposure result in exposure misclassification» HBM: Dose = f(Cenvironment, behavior, kinetics,individual)» HBM provides spatially integrated approach

» However: » Privacy issues require generalisation» Interpretation of HBM data requires integration with

other environment & health data sources» Best options to data linkage is a GIS environment


HBM and the INSPIRE Directive

human biomonitoring and environmental health impact ... · 02/07/2009 human biomonitoring and...

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