PARC Projects

Shift away from animal testing
Enhancing the risk assessment of chemical mixtures
Health effects
Human biomonitoring
Human health
Mixtures
NGRA
Risk assessment
Time span
-
Potential impacts
  • Enabling the implementation of methods for assessing the risks of chemical mixtures in regulatory frameworks.
  • Addressing critical scientific gaps by advancing the use of human biomonitoring data in mixture risk assessment.
Partners involved
ANSES (FR)
AU (DK)
AUTH (GR)
BPI (GR)
DTU (DK)
EASP (ES)
EHESP (FR)
FINBA (ES)
FMUL (PT)
GeoZS (SI)
ICPS (IT)
CSIC (ES)
INERIS (FR)
IISPV (ES)
INRAE (FR)
INSERM (FR)
IRFMN (IT)
ISCIII (ES)
IVL (SE)
JSI (SI)
KWR (NL)
LNS (LU)
MU (CZ)
NIJZ (SI)
NIPH (NO)
RIVM (NL)
SLU (SE)
STAMI (NO)
SECO (CH)
TTL (FI)
UBA (DE)
UG-PL (PL)
UGR (ES)
UNIPD (IT)
UNIVIE (AT)
UU-IRAS (NL)
VITO (BE)
WR (NL)
Contacts
Jacob Van Klaveren (RIVM)
jacob.van.klaveren [at] rivm.nl
Amélie Crépet (ANSES)
amelie.crepet [at] anses.fr
Overview

Risk assessment traditionally focuses on single chemicals to identify potential adverse effects on human health. However, humans are exposed daily to many multiple chemicals. Evaluating the health risks of these chemical mixtures has become a priority.

The exposome approach adds value by studying the total external exposures over a lifetime and their links to health outcomes, providing insights into exposure-effect relationships.

The project builds on international scientific advancements in assessing the risks of chemical mixtures developed by leading international organisations such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA ↗), the European Environment Agency (EEA ↗), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA ↗), the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC ↗), and OECD ↗ assessment methods, which analyse the potential harm of chemicals, with epidemiological studies that investigate patterns and causes of health effects in populations. This combination addresses needs identified by various organisations, including EU Member States, the European Commission’s health and environment departments (DG SANTE ↗ and DG Environment ↗), and aligns with goals outlined in the EU Chemical Strategy for Sustainability ↗.

The main goals of the project are to:

  • Develop a unified strategy for assessing human health risks from chemical mixtures.
  • Combine exposome data (lifetime exposure) with traditional risk assessment methods.
  • Identify and prioritise real-life chemical mixtures using data from human biomonitoring.
  • Generate detailed hazard and kinetic information for prioritised chemical mixtures.
  • Investigate how chemical traces in the body relate to health effects.
  • Conduct risk assessments for the prioritised mixtures to better understand their impact on human health.

Related Publications

Exposure to benzotriazoles and benzothiazoles in Czech male population and its associations with biomarkers of liver function, serum lipids and oxidative stress
Exposure to benzotriazoles and benzothiazoles in Czech male population and its associations with biomarkers of liver function, serum lipids and oxidative stress copied to clipboard
Authors
Pálešová Nina, Bláhová Lucie, Janoš Tomáš, Řiháčková Katarína, Pindur Aleš, Šebejová Ludmila, Čupr Pavel
Journal
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health
Vol. 97
523–536
Keywords
Benzotriazole, Human biomonitoring, Liver Function, Serum lipids, Oxidative stress
Date of publication
copied to clipboard
1/4

Benzotriazoles and benzothiazoles are widely used, high-production chemicals detected in humans and are emerging pollutants with possible health risks.

2/4

A new, optimised method now enables effective extraction and measurement of benzotriazoles from human urine samples.

3/4

Levels of benzotriazoles in human urine varied, with some samples showing up to 46.8 ng/mL, indicating widespread exposure.

4/4

1-methyl-benzotriazole was detected in human samples for the first time, found in 77% of cases with a median level of 1.75 ng/mL​.

1/1

This study is the first to assess benzotriazole exposure in Central Europe, revealing high levels in the study population and among firefighters​.

Introduction: Benzotriazoles and benzothiazoles (BTs) are high-production volume chemicals as well as widely distributed
emerging pollutants with potential health risk. However, information about human exposure to BTs and associated health
outcomes is limited.
Objective: We aimed to characterise exposure to BTs among Czech men, including possible occupational exposure among
firefighters, its predictors, and its associations with liver function, serum lipids and oxidative stress.
Methods: 165 participants (including 110 firefighters) provided urine and blood samples that were used to quantify the urinary
levels of 8 BTs (high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry), and 4 liver enzymes, cholesterol,
low-density lipoprotein, and 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine. Linear regression was used to assess associations with population
characteristics and biomarkers of liver function, serum lipids and oxidative stress. Regression models were adjusted for
potential confounding variables and false discovery rate procedure was applied to account for multiplicity.
Results: The BTs ranged from undetected up to 46.8 ng/mL. 2-hydroxy-benzothiazole was the most predominant compound
(detection frequency 83%; median 1.95 ng/mL). 1-methyl-benzotriazole (1M-BTR) was measured in human samples for
the first time, with a detection frequency 77% and median 1.75 ng/mL. Professional firefighters had lower urinary 1M-BTR
compared to non-firefighters. Urinary 1M-BTR was associated with levels of γ-glutamyl transferase (β = − 17.54%; 95%
CI: − 26.127, − 7.962).
Conclusion: This is the first study to investigate BT exposure in Central Europe, including potentially exposed firefighters.
The findings showed a high prevalence of BTs in the study population, the relevance of 1M-BTR as a new biomarker of
exposure, and an urgent need for further research into associated adverse health outcomes.

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Environment
Health effects
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Mixtures
Human biomonitoring
Workers
Streamlining data processing methods for suspect and non-target screening
Streamlining data processing methods for suspect and non-target screening

Enhancing the risk assessment of chemical mixtures

Time span
-
Potential impacts
  • Enabling the implementation of methods for assessing the risks of chemical mixtures in regulatory frameworks.
  • Addressing critical scientific gaps by advancing the use of human biomonitoring data in mixture risk assessment.
ANSES (FR)
AU (DK)
AUTH (GR)
BPI (GR)
DTU (DK)
EASP (ES)
EHESP (FR)
FINBA (ES)
FMUL (PT)
GeoZS (SI)
ICPS (IT)
CSIC (ES)
INERIS (FR)
IISPV (ES)
INRAE (FR)
INSERM (FR)
IRFMN (IT)
ISCIII (ES)
IVL (SE)
JSI (SI)
KWR (NL)
LNS (LU)
MU (CZ)
NIJZ (SI)
NIPH (NO)
RIVM (NL)
SLU (SE)
STAMI (NO)
SECO (CH)
TTL (FI)
UBA (DE)
UG-PL (PL)
UGR (ES)
UNIPD (IT)
UNIVIE (AT)
UU-IRAS (NL)
VITO (BE)
WR (NL)
Overview

Risk assessment traditionally focuses on single chemicals to identify potential adverse effects on human health. However, humans are exposed daily to many multiple chemicals. Evaluating the health risks of these chemical mixtures has become a priority.

The exposome approach adds value by studying the total external exposures over a lifetime and their links to health outcomes, providing insights into exposure-effect relationships.

The project builds on international scientific advancements in assessing the risks of chemical mixtures developed by leading international organisations such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA ↗), the European Environment Agency (EEA ↗), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA ↗), the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC ↗), and OECD ↗ assessment methods, which analyse the potential harm of chemicals, with epidemiological studies that investigate patterns and causes of health effects in populations. This combination addresses needs identified by various organisations, including EU Member States, the European Commission’s health and environment departments (DG SANTE ↗ and DG Environment ↗), and aligns with goals outlined in the EU Chemical Strategy for Sustainability ↗.

The main goals of the project are to:

  • Develop a unified strategy for assessing human health risks from chemical mixtures.
  • Combine exposome data (lifetime exposure) with traditional risk assessment methods.
  • Identify and prioritise real-life chemical mixtures using data from human biomonitoring.
  • Generate detailed hazard and kinetic information for prioritised chemical mixtures.
  • Investigate how chemical traces in the body relate to health effects.
  • Conduct risk assessments for the prioritised mixtures to better understand their impact on human health.
Contacts
Jacob Van Klaveren (RIVM)
jacob.van.klaveren [at] rivm.nl
Amélie Crépet (ANSES)
amelie.crepet [at] anses.fr
Topics
Shift away from animal testing
Keywords
Health effects
Human biomonitoring
Human health
Mixtures
NGRA
Risk assessment

Related Projects

Human biomonitoring studies on the general population
Using general population human biomonitoring data to trace occupational exposure
Implementing human biomonitoring as sentinel surveillance system