Bisphenol data from Europe – results and policy implications – 27 April – 2 pm CEST

Bisphenol A, the most widely used bisphenol, is ubiquitous in the environment, with the vast majority of population across Europe likely to be exposed at least low levels. There is a concern that exposure to BPA and to other bisphenol compounds (like BPS and BPF) used as replacements, could be linked to a variety of health outcomes in humans and in the environment. BPA has been classified as endocrine disruptor.

In this presentation, we will walk you through the scientific outcomes of HBM4EU to answer the main policy questions on bisphenols, relevant to risk assessment and regulatory decision-making. It will cover main results on the harmonized Human Biomonitoring data across Europe that have been produced and the development of new effect markers linking BPA to health effects. We will also present Human Biomonitoring Guidance Values (HBM-GVs) derived using PBPK modelling for BPA and BPS, as well as Adverse Outcome Pathways studies on BPS and BPF linking to health effects.

From exposure to health – 28 April – 2:45 pm CET

When citizens are told that they have a contaminant in their body, the first question they usually ask is: should I be concerned? Is it a problem for my health? At HBM4EU, we believe that exposure sciences and health sciences should be integrated, simply because this is the best approach to address the questions of citizens and policy makers. We have developed protocols to integrate exposure and health surveys which have been separate for a long time. We have also used the data coming from cohorts and experimental studies addressing health effects of chemicals to build frameworks that can help us interpret the biomonitoring data. Thus, innovative tools linking chemicals and the Adverse Outcome Pathways events have been developed. These tools have also allowed us to propose and test new effect markers that can be used in survey studies. In cooperation with other programmes we have contributed to the assessment of mixtures both from the exposure end and from the health impacts end. Obviously the computational platform that was developed is critical to achieve the links between exposure and health effects. Finally, all these efforts will help us accelerate our capacities to answer new exposure and health questions that are elicited by emerging chemicals that we can identify using innovative analytical tools.

Robert Barouki, MD, PhD, is Professor of Biochemistry at University of Paris and head of the Inserm unit T3S: “Toxicology, Therapeutic Targets, cellular Signaling and Biomarkers”. He also heads the clinical metabolomics and proteomic biochemistry laboratory at the Necker Enfants malades hospital. His research is focused on the impact of environmental contaminants on human health, in particular POPs and EDCs. He is involved in several EU projects: HBM4EU (linking exposure to health), Heals and Neurosome (exposome), HERA (setting the research agenda in environment and health) and Oberon (EDC testing). He has also been involved in the networking of French and European research in the field of environment and health as well as in communicating scientific data to citizens.