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Health and Environmental Hygiene

Health-related environmental monitoring

Last changed: 31/05/2007

A health-related environmental monitoring programme tracks human exposure to hazardous substances which is characterised and then related to possible impacts on health.

Health-related environmental monitoring serves to

collect data about exposure to pollutants, noise, and about other environmental influences on the population,
identify and quantify sources of exposure,
illustrate temporal and spatial trends for purposes of forecasting exposure,
identify “new“ problematic substances (emerging substances) with high prevalence in the human body,
investigate the socio demographically disproportionate distribution of environmental pollution,
carry out a toxicological and health assessment,
analyse the influence of environmental factors on public health and particularly susceptible subpopulations,
draft and review the success of preventative and risk reduction measures within health and environmental policyprogrammes ,
develop new analytical methods for human biomonitoring, if necessary.

German Environmental Survey (GerES)

The Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA) currently collects health-related environmental monitoring data by two instruments. The nationwide representative German Environmental Surveys (GerESs) determine the exposure of Germany's general population to environmental contaminants. In GerES IV for children (2003 - 2006), the Federal Environment Agency analysed data of 1,790 children with regard to their exposure to environmental factors. Data for the 3-to-14-year-olds are being evaluated, and first results (in German) were published on 25 September 2006 at the KiGGS Symposium. The GerES for children is the first study providing representative data on children which may serve as a basis for deriving and substantiating environmental standards. Environmental exposure of children is of special concern because they are supposed to be more susceptible and vulnerable to the impacts of environmental pollution.

Environmental Specimen Bank for Human Organ Specimens

The Bank for Human Specimen, which is part of the German Environmental Specimen Bank, archives human organ specimens which have been tested for pollutant content. The specimens stem from student living in four German cities. The archive provides an outline of environmental influences reaching back considerably in time. This allows scientists to detect substance exposure in the sample pool which occurred well in the past. The German Environmental Specimen Bank is a permanent federal responsibility which is borne under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of the Environment and coordinated administratively by the Federal Environment Agency.

Human Biomonitoring

Human biomonitoring (HBM) (in German) is an important tool in environmental toxicology and medicine to assess and evaluate the level of exposure of the population to hazardous substances. This tool serves to assess individual exposure to pollutants. Methods include testing of body fluids such as blood and urine, which are then analyzed for the presence of lead, either in individuals or in population groups.

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