HBM4EU project published article contributed to by FCT

On May 17, the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) published an article in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, available online, entitled Application of human biomonitoring data to support policy development, raise awareness and environmental public health protection among countries within the HBM4EU project, which was written in collaboration with FCT and other partner institutions of this European Joint Program under Horizon 2020.

The HBM4EU Program, 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 resulting impact on health, harmonize procedures, and explore 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, the FCT acted as the National Contact Point for this structure (NHCP – National Hub Contact Point).

Of the 30 countries participating in HBM4EU, 27 countries, including Portugal, contributed to the article by collecting national/regional/local human biomonitoring data, which is important for raising public awareness and supporting policy decisions that 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 has managed to increase its level of participation, with the FCT having a seat on the Governing Board.