IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i24p12987-d698438.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

HBM4EU Occupational Biomonitoring Study on e-Waste—Study Protocol

Author

Listed:
  • Paul T. J. Scheepers

    (Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboudumc, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands)

  • Radu Corneliu Duca

    (Department of Health Protection, Laboratoire National de Santé (LNS), 1 rue Louis Rech, 3555 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
    Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Kapucijnenvoer 35, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

  • Karen S. Galea

    (Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), Edinburgh EH14 4AP, UK)

  • Lode Godderis

    (Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Kapucijnenvoer 35, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
    IDEWE, External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work, Interleuvenlaan 58, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium)

  • Emilie Hardy

    (Department of Health Protection, Laboratoire National de Santé (LNS), 1 rue Louis Rech, 3555 Luxembourg, Luxembourg)

  • Lisbeth E. Knudsen

    (Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 Copenhagen, Denmark)

  • Elizabeth Leese

    (Health & Safety Executive, Buxton SK17 9JN, UK)

  • Henriqueta Louro

    (INSA, National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Department of Human Genetics, Av. Padre Cruz, 1600-609 Lisbon, Portugal
    Centre for Toxicogenomics and Human Health, NOVA Medical School, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campo dos Mártires da Pátria 130, 1169-056 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Selma Mahiout

    (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 b, 00250 Helsinki, Finland)

  • Sophie Ndaw

    (INRS, French National Research and Safety Institute, 54500 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France)

  • Katrien Poels

    (Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Kapucijnenvoer 35, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

  • Simo P. Porras

    (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 b, 00250 Helsinki, Finland)

  • Maria J. Silva

    (INSA, National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Department of Human Genetics, Av. Padre Cruz, 1600-609 Lisbon, Portugal
    Centre for Toxicogenomics and Human Health, NOVA Medical School, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campo dos Mártires da Pátria 130, 1169-056 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Ana Maria Tavares

    (INSA, National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Department of Human Genetics, Av. Padre Cruz, 1600-609 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Jelle Verdonck

    (Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Kapucijnenvoer 35, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

  • Susana Viegas

    (NOVA National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1600–560 Lisbon, Portugal
    Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC), 1600–560 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Tiina Santonen

    (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 b, 00250 Helsinki, Finland)

  • HBM4EU e-Waste Study Team

    (HBM4EU e-waste study members are listed in Acknowledgments.)

Abstract

Workers involved in the processing of electronic waste (e-waste) are potentially exposed to toxic chemicals. If exposure occurs, this may result in uptake and potential adverse health effects. Thus, exposure surveillance is an important requirement for health risk management and prevention of occupational disease. Human biomonitoring by measurement of specific biomarkers in body fluids is considered as an effective method of exposure surveillance. The aim of this study is to investigate the internal exposure of workers processing e-waste using a human biomonitoring approach, which will stimulate improved work practices and contribute to raising awareness of potential hazards. This exploratory study in occupational exposures in e-waste processing is part of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU). Here we present a study protocol using a cross sectional survey design to study worker’s exposures and compare these to the exposure of subjects preferably employed in the same company but with no known exposure to industrial recycling of e-waste. The present study protocol will be applied in six to eight European countries to ensure standardised data collection. The target population size is 300 exposed and 150 controls. Biomarkers of exposure for the following chemicals will be used: chromium, cadmium and lead in blood and urine; brominated flame retardants and polychlorobiphenyls in blood; mercury, organophosphate flame retardants and phthalates in urine, and chromium, cadmium, lead and mercury in hair. In addition, the following effect biomarkers will be studied: micronuclei, epigenetic, oxidative stress, inflammatory markers and telomere length in blood and metabolomics in urine. Occupational hygiene sampling methods (airborne and settled dust, silicon wristbands and handwipes) and contextual information will be collected to facilitate the interpretation of the biomarker results and discuss exposure mitigating interventions to further reduce exposures if needed. This study protocol can be adapted to future European-wide occupational studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul T. J. Scheepers & Radu Corneliu Duca & Karen S. Galea & Lode Godderis & Emilie Hardy & Lisbeth E. Knudsen & Elizabeth Leese & Henriqueta Louro & Selma Mahiout & Sophie Ndaw & Katrien Poels & Simo, 2021. "HBM4EU Occupational Biomonitoring Study on e-Waste—Study Protocol," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:12987-:d:698438
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/12987/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/12987/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aubrey L. Arain & Richard L. Neitzel, 2019. "A Review of Biomarkers Used for Assessing Human Exposure to Metals from E-Waste," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-24, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kate Jones & Karen S. Galea & Bernice Scholten & Marika Loikala & Simo P. Porras & Radia Bousoumah & Sophie Ndaw & Elizabeth Leese & Henriqueta Louro & Maria João Silva & Susana Viegas & Lode Godderis, 2022. "HBM4EU Diisocyanates Study—Research Protocol for a Collaborative European Human Biological Monitoring Study on Occupational Exposure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-11, July.
    2. Paul A. Schulte & George L. Delclos & Sarah A. Felknor & Jessica M. K. Streit & Michelle McDaniel & L. Casey Chosewood & Lee S. Newman & Faiyaz A. Bhojani & Rene Pana-Cryan & Naomi G. Swanson, 2022. "Expanding the Focus of Occupational Safety and Health: Lessons from a Series of Linked Scientific Meetings," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-21, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:12987-:d:698438. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.