HBM4EU - European Initiative in Human Biomonitoring

The HBM4EU initiative was a European Joint Programme (EJP) aiming to coordinate and promote the advancement of human biomonitoring in Europe (2017-2022). The consortium was formed by the European Environment Agency, 42 beneficiary institutions from 30 European countries (of which 24 are Member States) and more than 70 associated entities called Linked Third Parties (LTP). The program has received co-financing from the European Commission of up to 70% of the total eligible costs.

FCT developed its activities in HBM4EU as the Contact Point for the Portuguese National Hub in Human Biomonitoring, established in the framework of the HBM4EU program. As National Hub Contact Point (NHCP), FCT coordinated the responses to the requests of the HBM4EU work package leaders, contributing to the respective activities. Together with the other national institutions of the National Hub, FCT has co-organized the workshops on Human Biomonitoring in Portugal.

Program objectives

The overall goals of the program consisted of:

• assessing human exposure to chemical agents in Europe, with a view to better understanding their health impact and improving chemical risk assessment;
• develop expertise to establish a European Platform for Human Biomonitoring, which will aim to harmonize human biomonitoring activities in the countries involved in order to obtain comparable data at the European level on human exposure to chemical agents;
• establishing a dialogue with policy makers to ensure that the results can be used to support policy development, evaluate the effectiveness of existing policies, and develop measures to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals.

Portuguese participation in HBM4EU

Portugal's participation in this program was assured by the following entities:

• Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT, I.P.), Programme Owner/Manager, signatory;
• Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge, I.P. (INSA), Programme Manager, signatory;
• Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente, I.P. (APA), Programme Owner, non-signatory;
• Direção-Geral da Saúde (DGS), Programme Owner, non-signatory, Linked Third Party;
• Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon (FMUL), Linked Third Party;
• Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa (ESTeSL), Linked Third Party;

NATIONAL HUB - PORTUGAL

Each country involved had to create the conditions for the development of a National Hub on Human Biomonitoring, which responded to the requests of the HBM4EU initiative work package leaders. In Portugal, in the scope of HBM4EU, the National Hub was constituted by the above mentioned entities, with the purpose of monitoring and managing the Portuguese participation in the HBM4EU initiative, and leading to the creation and development of the bases of a national platform on human biomonitoring.

National Hub Contact Point - Portugal (on HBM4EU):
Rita Cavaleiro (FCT).