Human biomonitoring harmonization - lessons learned from COPHES and DEMOCOPHES

摘要

Introduction: A major objective of the European Environment and Health Action Plan 2004-2010 was the EU wide comparison of the population's exposure to chemicals by human biomonitoring (HBM). This required study harmonization. COPHES (Consortium to Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) systematically developed a harmonized approach to conduct HBM on a European scale, an essential prerequisite to get comparable data. Results: For all main aspects of study design and conduct alternatives were compared and discussed in a transparent decision making process that can also be applied to other studies. To reach acceptance of all involved partners, country specific aspects were always considered. During workshops and by discussing written materials all partners brought up their comments and became familiar with all instruments for fieldwork and methods for quality assurance (e.g., fieldwork manual, questionnaires, and check lists). However, study preconditions such as ethics requirements or acceptance of questionnaire components differred between countries, giving a taste of the limits of harmonization. Finally,17 of the 27 COPHES countries conducted the DEMOCOPHES survey (DEMOnstration of a study to Coordinate and Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) using the harmonized approach. Conclusions: The harmonized fieldwork instruments (basic questionnaire, urine and hair sampling) turned out to be of high value for future HBM studies. Harmonization requires detailed preparation but not necessarily in the same depth in each part of the project. The challenge is to determine which procedures indispensably need perfect harmonization and for which general guidelines are acceptable. Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the European Commission that funded COPHES (7th Framework Program No. 244237) and co-funded DEMOCOPHES (LIFE09 ENV/BE/000410) in addition to the Federal Environment Ministry (BMUB). We also thank all project partners.