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
02/07/2009 3Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
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
02/07/2009 4Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
EHIA in a complex world
Stressors/contamin the
environment
Possibleadverse
health effects
Measuring/Modellinguptake through different
compartments
Estimatebioaccumulation,
excretion, metabolism
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
02/07/2009 5Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
Stressors/contamin the
environment
Possibleadverse
health effects
Measuring/Modellinguptake through different
compartments
Estimatebioaccumulation,
excretion, metabolism
HumanBiomonitoring
02/07/2009 6Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
» 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.
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
02/07/2009 7Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
» Advantages» Integrative measurement of pollutants (dose) through
complex pathways/behavior
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
02/07/2009 8Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
Noren and Meironyte (2000) Chemosphere 40:1111–23.
02/07/2009 9Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
» Advantages» Integrative measurement of pollutants (dose) through
complex pathways/behavior» Incorporates toxicokinetic information
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
02/07/2009 10Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
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
02/07/2009 11Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
» Advantages» Integrative measurement of pollutants (dose) through
complex pathways/behavior» Incorporates toxicokinetic information» Integrates cultural, life-style, socio-economic aspects
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
02/07/2009 12Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
Wakefield et al (2000)American Journal of Preventive Medicine 19: 188-92
Ake Bjornberg et al (2003)Environmental Health Perspectives 111: 637-41
02/07/2009 13Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
» Advantages» Integrative measurement of pollutants (dose) through
complex pathways/behavior» Incorporates toxicokinetic information» Integrates cultural, life-style, socio-economic aspects» Philosophical aspects
“Pollution gets personal”
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
02/07/2009 14Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Human biomonitoring and EHIADefault population Individual
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» 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
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
02/07/2009 16Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
» 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)
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
02/07/2009 17Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
» 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)
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
02/07/2009 18Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
» 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
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
02/07/2009 19Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
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
02/07/2009 20Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
Human biomonitoring and EHIA
02/07/2009 21Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
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
02/07/2009 22Confidential – © 2009, VITO NV – All rights reserved
HBM and the INSPIRE Directive