Internal exposure of Flemish teenagers to environmental pollutants: Results of the Flemish Environment and Health Study 2016–2020 (FLEHS IV)

PFAS levels and determinants of variability in exposure in European teenagers – Results from the HBM4EU aligned studies (2014–2021)

“…Questionnaires were filled out by interviewer or the study participants themselves and/or their parents. 9 out of 11 European studies of teenagers included in the aligned studies determined PFAS concentrations in blood samples: ESTEBAN (Étude de santé sur l'environnement, la biosurveillance, l'activité physique et la nutrition; France; Fillol et al, 2021 ), GerES V-sub (German Environmental Survey, 2014–2017, unweighted subsample; Germany; Schultz et al, 2021 ), Riksmaten Adolescents 2016–17 (Sweden; Moraeus et al, 2018 ), NEBII (Norwegian Environmental Biobank II; Norway; Magnus et al, 2016 ), FLEHS IV (Flemish Environment and Health Study IV; Belgium; Schoeters et al, 2022 ), BEA (Biomonitorización en Adolescentes; Spain; Pérez-Gómez et al, 2013 ), SLO CRP (Exposure of children and adolescents to selected chemicals through their habitat environment; Slovenia; Stajnko et al, 2020 ), PCB cohort follow-up (Endocrine disruptors and health in children and teenagers in Slovakia; Slovakia; Hertz-Picciotto et al, 2003 ) and CROME (Cross-Mediterranean Environment and Health Network; Greece) ( Table 1 ). All studies had obtained ethical approval and all participants or their legal guardians signed an informed consent prior to participation.…”

PFAS levels and exposure determinants in sensitive population groups

“…In the FLEHS 2 cohort, PFHxS and PFNA were not analysed. Details on chemical analyses in each cohort have been described elsewhere (Colles et al, 2020;Dereumeaux et al, 2016;Haug et al, 2009;Manzano-Salgado et al, 2015;Richterová et al, 2018;Schoeters et al, 2022).…”

Cadmium exposure in adults across Europe: Results from the HBM4EU Aligned Studies survey 2014–2020

“…Although in adults, urinary Cd levels decreased from the first (FLEHS I, 2002-06) to the third cycle (FLEHS III, 2012-15) (Schoeters et al, 2017), teenagers showed a decrease in blood Cd concentrations from FLEHS I to FLEHS II (Vrijens et al, 2014), but further comparison with succeeding cycles conducted up to year 2020 (FLEHS III and FLEHS IV) showed stable levels in blood with 40% teenagers exceeding the established health based HBM guidance values (HBM-GVs) for urinary concentrations and the corresponding age in the last sampling period, 2016-2020 (Schoeters et al, 2022). The authors refer to continuous efforts to reduce the sources and limit the exposures in humans (regulations) that were initially reflected in decreasing internal Cd levels (Schoeters et al, 2017(Schoeters et al, , 2022, while stagnation or even increase in recent decade may be ascribed to unchanged nutritional habits and persisting Cd levels in soil, particularly in historically contaminated or industrial sites (Becker et al, 2013;Schoeters et al, 2022). Moreover, the data on phosphate fertilizer consumption per countries available for years from 2000 to 2018 (Eurostat) showed initial marked decrease in consumption from 2000 to 2009 for all countries except Poland, followed by somewhat varying trends from 2009 onwards (Fig.…”

“…Clearly, blood Cd concentrations appear to be more reliable in relation to smoking and/or passive smoking, particularly in cases of limited statistical power or lack of fully harmonized questionnaire data. Smoking has been discussed as a factor that might result in higher Cd exposure in people with lower educational level due to a higher proportion of smokers (Baeyens et al, 2014) and indeed significance of educational level did not persist after adjusting for smoking in the recent Flemish study including adolescents (Schoeters et al, 2022). However, at the same time increased Cd levels can be associated with high education due to increased consumption of vegetables (Vogel et al, 2021).…”