HBM4EU project published article supported by FCT

The European initiative in Human Biomonitoring(HBM4EU) published the following article online in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health on May 17 Application of human biomonitoring data to support policy development, raise awareness and environmental public health protection among countries within the HBM4EU projectwith the collaboration of FCT and other partner institutions of this Horizon 2020 Joint European Program.

The HBM4EU Programme, which involved 30 countries and ran from January 2017 to June 2022, was a multinational effort to deepen knowledge about human exposure to chemical agents and the consequent impact on health, harmonize procedures and exploit the results obtained in order to evaluate existing measures and design new policies in this field. The project also enabled the creation or development, in the countries involved, of network structures made up of various stakeholders in this field, known as National Hubs. In Portugal, FCT acted as the National Hub Contact Point (NHCP).

Of the 30 HBM4EU member countries, 27, including Portugal, contributed to the article by collecting national/regional/local human biomonitoring data, which is important for raising public awareness and supporting political decisions to reduce human exposure to chemical agents.

The activities carried out under the HBM4EU project and the National Hubs provided an excellent basis for the development of the new Horizon Europe Partnership PARC (Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals), in which Portugal was able to increase its level of participation, with FCT sitting on the Governing Board.