Moss Biomonitoring as an Alternative to Assess Exposure to Atmospheric Metals in Environmental Epidemiology: The Example of the Bramm Network and the Constances Cohort

摘要

Background/Aim Very limited data on atmospheric metals are available nationwide with conventional devices for epidemiological research. The moss biomonitoring approach - based on the ability of mosses to proxy levels of atmospheric metals - offers an alternative. Our objective is to assess the feasibility to assign atmospheric metals exposure estimates at home addresses, using moss biomonitoring, in a large general population-based epidemiological cohort. Methods Framed by BRAMM, the French network of moss biomonitoring, mosses were surveyed for their content in 13 metals including Cd, Hg and Pb in 1996, 2000, 2006 and 2011 in 449-559 rural forest sites. After sample preparation and chemical analyses, data were interpolated by kriging to produce 2×2 km maps, from which we extracted levels of atmospheric metals at the residential address of the expected 40,000 Constances's participants living in low and moderate population density areas. Results Based on our experience in another French cohort, we expect to obtain a high spatial and temporal variability of exposure for all metals (e.g. 38 to 139 ng.g-1 for Hg, or 1.8 to 49.8 mg.g-1 for Pb). Exposures to most atmospheric metals followed gradients of population density and showed higher concentrations in industrial regions, such as the Parisian region, the North or the Rhone valley even if such data do not seem suitable for urban areas due to the the characteristics of moss collection. Conclusion Moss biomonitoring is a convincing tool to assess exposure to atmospheric metals, at least in non-urban areas, and can be easily associated to epidemiological data. Two campaings in Paris and Lyon - the main French cities - are planned to collect and use moss biomonitoring in urban areas to complete our dataset.