International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health
The European COPHES/DEMOCOPHES project: Towards transnational comparability and reliability of human biomonitoring results
Introduction
Human biomonitoring (HBM) surveys have been established in many European countries, such as e.g. Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Czech Republic, France, Germany, Slovenia and Spain (Castano et al., 2012, Cerná et al., 2012, Fréry, 2010, Hohenblum et al., 2012, Kolossa-Gehring et al., 2012, Perharic and Vracko, 2012, Schoeters et al., 2012). However, all these activities have been focused on a certain country or region, and on different sets of analytical parameters. They have been or are carried out for various purposes and are based on different populations, different protocols and recruitment strategies and analysis is performed in many different analytical labs. This non-uniformity makes it difficult to compare HBM data among countries and across Europe.
HBM, as a tool for exposure assessment of hazardous substances in the general population, has increasingly gained recognition by both politicians and the general public over the last two decades (Angerer et al., 2006, Angerer et al., 2007). The demand for HBM data, comparable between study populations and across national (European) borders, constantly increased over the years.
Action three of the “European Environment and Health Action Plan 2004–2010” (Directorate-General for Health & Consumers, 2012) of the European Commission envisaged the development of a coherent approach to HBM in Europe in close cooperation with the member states of the European Union (EU). Consequently, a twin project was launched in 2009: the Consortium to Perform Human Biomonitoring on a European Scale (COPHES), funded by the European Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), and DEMOCOPHES, the pilot study to test the feasibility, funded by the Directorate-General for the Environment (DG ENV) of the European Commission with co-founding from the participating countries (Joas et al., 2012).
The three most important aims of COPHES/DEMOCOPHES were (a) to generate comparable HBM data across Europe, (b) to establish a European HBM network with a sufficient number of laboratories in the EU member states, able to perform HBM (capacity building) and (c) to develop biomarkers and analytical methods for new or emerging environmental pollutants (phthalates and bisphenol A).
Achieving comparable HBM data is a prerequisite for European-wide political activities in the field of environmental medicine. Capacity building for laboratories was necessary because the development of a “coherent approach on HBM in Europe” cannot be based on only a few highly specialized laboratories, which were known in Europe at the beginning of this project. The development of biomarkers for newly emerging pollutants is an on-going necessity in HBM, which should be considered in new HBM projects.
The desired comparability of HBM results and capacity building of qualified laboratories within the EU can only be achieved by harmonization and standardization of both, the pre-analytical (sampling, storage, etc.) and the analytical phase. Furthermore an extensive internal and external quality assurance programme within the analytical phase was necessary to guarantee the reliability and comparability of analytical data. To achieve all these aims we could rely on 30 years of experience with the German External Quality Assessment Scheme (G-EQUAS) and with the elaboration of analytical procedures for HBM (Angerer et al., 1993, Schaller et al., 1987, Schaller et al., 2001, Taylor et al., 2007). This publication is focused on quality assurance measures and on the results for all urinary compounds. A further paper will deal with mercury in hair, because this biological matrix has distinct requirements.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
24 EU member states and three additional European countries (Croatia, Norway and Switzerland) were part of the COPHES project, which established a common protocol for HBM in Europe (Becker et al., 2013, Joas et al., 2012). The protocol included, amongst others, the strategy of sample collection, questionnaires, sample storage and shipment, analysis, quality assurance, evaluation, etc. 17 European countries (16 EU member states plus Switzerland) participated in the DEMOCOPHES pilot study where
Results and discussion
The COPHES/DEMOCOPHES twin-projects were the first scheme in which HBM was performed on a European scale using the same protocol, starting with the selection of the study population and concluding with the evaluation of both the analytical and the population based results. This common protocol functioned as the means to standardize the whole procedure in all member states and therefore to minimize detrimental factors influencing the coherency of the results.
This way the European
Conclusions
The COPHES/DEMOCOPHES project was the first try of the EU “to establish a coherent approach of Human Biomonitoring in Europe”. Six environmentally very important substances/groups of substances, two of which were newly emerging ones, had been selected in this approach and were determined in urine/hair samples of altogether 1844 mother child pairs from 17 member states. Two aims which have been of crucial importance for this project could be achieved:
- (a)
for the first time, HBM results could be
Acknowledgements
Full information on the project can be found at eu-hbm.info/cophes. COPHES is funded under the 7th framework program of the EU (DG Research – No. 244237). DEMOCOPHES is funded 50% by Life+ 2009 (DG Environment – Life09 ENV/BE000410) and the corresponding authorities in the participating countries (see http://www.eu-hbm.info/cophes/project-partners and http://www.eu-hbm.info/democophes/project-partners).
The authors thank all DEMOCOPHES laboratories for the good collaboration and for the trust
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