EU wide human monitoring study on occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium

The EU human biomonitoring initiative, HBM4EU, aims to co-ordinate and advance human biomonitoring (HBM) across Europe. Within its remit, the project is gathering new, policy relevant, EU-wide data on occupational exposure to relevant priority chemicals and developing new approaches for occupational biomonitoring. Hexavalent chromium, as a carcinogen, is in the focus of EU regulation. According to EU regulation (REACH), all companies using Cr(VI) compounds have to apply for authorisation for their uses. More than 100 authorisations for different uses of chromates have already been requested, some of these covering hundreds of workers, which means that potentially thousands of workers are exposed to Cr(VI) in these activities.

As an example of the HBM4EU initiative, the hexavalent chromium study design has been presented. This study involves eight European countries and plans to recruit 400 workers performing Cr(VI) surface treatment such as electroplating or stainless steel welding. The aim of the study is to collect data on current occupational exposure to Cr(VI) in Europe and to test new methods for Cr biomonitoring beyond traditional urinary total Cr analyses. New methods to be tested for their information value include speciation analysis of Cr(VI) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) and total Cr in red blood cells (RBC) as a proxy for Cr(VI) exposure. Personal air samples and dust wipe samples are also collected to help the interpretation of biomonitoring results.  Furthermore, exposure data will be complemented with early biological effects data, including genetic and epigenetic effects. The publication of the study design also includes standard operation procedures (SOPs)  for the collection of the samples.

The original publication:

Tiina Santonen, Alessandro Alimonti, Beatrice Bocca, Radu Corneliu Duca, Karen S. Galea, Lode Godderis, Thomas Göen, Bruno Gomes, Ogier Hanser, Ivo Iavicoli, Beata Janasik, Kate Jones, Mirja Kiilunen, Holger M. Koch, Elizabeth Leese, Veruscka Leso, Henriqueta Louro, Sophie Ndaw, Simo P. Porras, Alain Robert, Flavia Ruggieri, Paul T.J. Scheepers, Maria J. Silva, Susana Viegas, Wojciech Wasowicz, Argelia Castano, Ovnair Sepai, Setting up a collaborative European human biological monitoring study on occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium, Environ. Res., 177 (2019)  108583. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.108583