DEMOCOPHES is the acronym for a European project to test the feasibility of a human biomonitoring study in 17 European countries by means of common guidelines and using same methods. These guidelines were drawn up in the context of the COPHES project, of which DEMOCOPHES is an integral part. It has now been completed and the first European results delivered.
European environment and health policy attaches great importance to the human biomonitoring (HBM) tool for the determination of the environmental burden on the population. However previous or ongoing HBM studies in several European countries deal with different issues.
Human biomonitoring (HBM) is a tool of health-related environmental monitoring with which populations are examined for their exposure to pollutants from the environment. The results are also intended to provide information as to whether (further) pollutant reduction measures are needed and on the effects of existing measures.
The Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB) serves to investigate, document and archive environmental and human exposure to pollutants in Germany at a specific point in time.
