Pilot study testing a European human biomonitoring framework for biomarkers of chemical exposure in children and their mothers: experiences in the UK

Abstract

Exposure to a number of environmental chemicals in UK mothers and children has been assessed as part of the European biomonitoring pilot study, Demonstration of a Study to Coordinate and Perform Human Biomonitoring on a European Scale (DEMOCOPHES). For the Europeanfunded project, 17 countries tested the biomonitoring guidelines and protocols developed by COPHES. The results from the pilot study in the UK are presented; 21 school children aged 6-11 years old and their mothers provided hair samples to measure mercury and urine samples, to measure cadmium, cotinine and several phthalate metabolites: mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl)phthalate (5OH-MEHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxoh e x y l ) p h t h a l a t e ( 5 o x o -M E H P ) a n d m o n o ( 2 -ethylhexyl)phthalate (MEHP), mono-ethyl phthalate (MEP), mono-iso-butyl phthalate (MiBP), mono-benzyl phthalate (MBzP) and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP). Questionnaire data was collected on environment, health and lifestyle. Mercury in hair was higher in children who reported frequent consumption of fish (geometric mean 0.35 μg/g) compared to those that ate fish less frequently (0.13 μg/g, p=0.002).Cadmium accumulates with age as demonstrated by higher levels of urinary cadmium in the mothers (geometric mean 0.24 μg/L) than in the children(0.14 μg/L). None of the mothers reported being regular smokers, and this was evident with extremely low levels of cotinine measured (maximum value 3.6 μg/L in mothers, 2.4 μg/L in children). Very low levels of the phthalate metabolites were also measured in both mothers and children (geometric means in mothers: 5OH-Responsible editor:

A cross-sectional study of urinary cadmium concentrations in relation to dietary intakes in Uruguayan school children

“…The median specific-gravity-adjusted urinary cadmium concentration was 0.06 μg/L (5%, 95%: 0.02, 0.17 μg/L). This is similar to levels reported for U.S. school children participating in the 1999-2004 NHANES (median 0.078 for 6-7 y-olds (Ciesielski et al, 2012), higher than in Danish children (median 0.021 μg/L), but lower than in children from several European countries (median ranges 0.14 -0.38 μg/L) (Aguilera et al, 2010;Exley et al, 2015;Fucic et al, 2015;Molina-Villalba et al, 2015;Protano et al, 2016;Roca et al, 2016) or Mexico (median 0.14 μg/L) (Moynihan et al, 2017) and especially lower than in children with rice-based diets, for example, 0.30 μg/L in 5 year-old rural Bangladeshi children (Kippler et al, 2010). We found no difference in urinary cadmium between girls and boys.…”

Urinary Phthalate Concentrations in Mothers and Their Children in Ireland: Results of the DEMOCOPHES Human Biomonitoring Study

“…Younger children in Ireland (aged 5–8 years) were at higher risk than older children (aged 9–11 years) for all compounds, apart from MEP (and MEHP which was the same concentration in both age groups). Higher concentrations of phthalate compounds were also found in younger children in Germany when compared to older children [ 18 ], and in the UK [ 19 ]. A similar pattern was also noted in the DEMOCOPHES cohort, where younger children again had higher concentrations of all compounds apart from MEP [ 13 ].…”

“…There is a lack of a consistent pattern for concentrations of MiBP and MEP in other studies. Studies of children in the UK [ 19 ], Germany [ 15 ], Austria [ 20 ], and the overall DEMOCOPHES cohort found higher concentrations for MiBP in children than MEP [ 13 ]. In contrast, other studies from Austria [ 21 ] and the USA [ 17 ] found higher concentrations of MEP.…”

Statistical Approaches for Assessing Health Effects of Environmental Chemical Mixtures in Epidemiology: Lessons from an Innovative Workshop

“…As shown in biomonitoring studies, children and adults are exposed to a large number of environmental chemicals across the life span (Aylward et al 2013; CDC 2012; Exley et al 2015; Frederiksen et al 2014). Many are potentially toxic, but little is known about health effects from exposure to complex mixtures (Carlin et al 2013; Claus Henn et al 2014; Goodson et al 2015; Grandjean and Landrigan 2014; Johns et al 2012).…”