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Apel, Petra

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  • Veröffentlichung
    Substitutes mimic the exposure behaviour of REACH regulated phthalates
    (2021) Apel, Petra; Kolossa-Gehring, Marike; Lange, Rosa; Lemke, Nora; Debiak, Malgorzata; Murawski, Aline; Weber, Till
    The population is constantly exposed to potentially harmful substances present in the environment, including inter alia food and drinking water, consumer products, and indoor air. Human biomonitoring (HBM) is a valuable tool to determine the integral, internal exposure of the general population, including vulnerable subgroups, to provide the basis for risk assessment and policy advice. The German HBM system comprises of five pillars: (1) the development of suitable analytical methods for new substances of concern, (2) cross-sectional population-representative German Environmental Surveys (GerES), (3) time trend analyses using archived samples from the Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB), (4) the derivation of health-based guidance values as a risk assessment tool, and (5) transfer of data into the European cooperation network HBM4EU. The goal of this paper is to present the complementary elements of the German HBM system and to show its strengths and limitations on the example of plasticizers. Plasticizers have been identified by EU services and HBM4EU partners as priority substances for chemical policy at EU level. Using the complementary elements of the German HBM system, the internal exposure to classical phthalates and novel alternative plasticizers can be reliably monitored. It is shown that market changes, due to regulation of certain phthalates and the rise of substitutes, are rapidly reflected in the internal exposure of the population. It was shown that exposure to DEHP, DiBP, DnBP, and BBzP decreased considerably, whereas exposure to the novel substitutes such as DPHP, DEHTP, and Hexamoll®DINCH has increased significantly. While health-based guidance values for several phthalates (esp. DnBP, DiBP, DEHP) were exceeded quite often at the turn of the millennium, exceedances today have become rarer. Still, also the latest GerES reveals the ubiquitous and concurrent exposures to many plasticizers. Of concern is that the youngest children showed the highest exposures to most of the investigated plasticizers and in some cases their levels of DiBP and DnBP still exceeded health-based guidance values. Over the last years, mixture exposures are increasingly recognized as relevant, especially if the toxicological modes of action are similar. This is supported by a cumulative risk assessment for four endocrine active phthalates which confirms the still concerning cumulative exposure in many young children. Given the adverse health effects of some phthalates and the limited toxicological knowledge of substitutes, exposure reduction and surveillance are needed on German and EU-level. Substitutes need to be monitored, to intervene if exposures are threatening to exceed acceptable levels, or if new toxicological data question their appropriateness. It is strongly recommended to reconsider the use of plastics and plasticizers. © 2021 Published by Elsevier GmbH.
  • Veröffentlichung
    The exposure of German children and young adults to chemicals of concern
    (2013) Apel, Petra; Conrad, André; Fiddicke, Ulrike; Schröter-Kermani, Christa; Schulz, Christine; Seiwert, Margarete
  • Veröffentlichung
    Concept for the evaluation of carcinogenic substances in population-based human biomonitoring
    (2022) Wollin, Klaus-Michael; Apel, Petra; Chovolou, Yvonni; Kolossa-Gehring, Marike; Deutschland. Umweltbundesamt. Kommission Human-Biomonitoring
    The Human Biomonitoring (HBM) Commission at the German Environment Agency holds the opinion that for environmental carcinogens for which no exposure levels can be assumed and are harmless to health, health-based guidance values corresponding to the classical definition of the HBM-I or HBM-II value cannot be established. Therefore, only reference values have been derived so far for genotoxic carcinogens from exposure data of the general population or subpopulations. The concept presented here opens up the possibility of performing health risk assessments of carcinogenic substances in human biomonitoring, and thus goes decisively beyond the purely descriptive statistical reference value concept. Using the presented method, quantitative dose descriptors of internal exposure can be derived from those of external exposure, provided that sufficient toxicokinetic information is available. Dose descriptors of internal exposure then allow the simple estimate of additional lifetime cancer risks for measured biomarker concentrations or, conversely, of equivalent concentrations for selected risks, such as those considered as tolerable for the general population. HBM data of chronic exposures to genotoxic carcinogens can thus be used to assess the additional lifetime cancer risk referring to the general population and to justify and prioritize risk management measures. © 2022 by the authors
  • Veröffentlichung
    Human-Biomonitoring für Europa (HBM4EU) - erste Einblicke in die Ergebnisse der Initiative
    (2022) Apel, Petra; Kolossa-Gehring, Marike; Weise, Philipp
    Beim Human-Biomonitoring wird die innere Schadstoffbelastung des Menschen aus verschiedenen Quellen wie Nahrung, Alltagsgegenständen oder Atemluft erfasst, indem z.B. Blut und Urin analysiert werden. Um das Human-Biomonitoring in Europa zu fördern und zu koordinieren, wurde 2017 das Projekt "Human-Biomonitoring für Europa" (HBM4EU) begonnen, an dem sich 30 Länder, die Europäische Umweltagentur und die Europäische Kommission beteiligt haben. Im Juni 2022 wurde das Projekt abgeschlossen. Vergleichbare und zuverlässige Belastungsdaten konnten für eine breite Palette von Umweltchemikalien erfasst und einheitlich bewertet werden. Weitere wichtige Erfolge der Initiative waren die Etablierung eines Kontrollprogramms zur Qualitätssicherung, ein Konzept zur Vereinheitlichung zukünftiger HBM-Studien, eine gemeinsame Strategie zur Ableitung von gesundheitsbezogenen Beurteilungswerten (HBM Guidance Values - HBM-GVs) und die Einrichtung nationaler Gremien. Die gewonnenen Belastungsdaten sind über die Informationsplattform für die Überwachung von Chemikalien (IPCHEM) und das EU HBM-Dashboard zugänglich. Publikationen sind über die HBM4EU-Onlinebibliothek frei verfügbar. Insgesamt zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass die Belastungen der EU-Bevölkerung für viele Chemikalien wie etwa Phthalate und perfluorierte Alkylsubstanzen (PFAS) zu hoch sind und weiterhin Handlungsbedarf seitens der Politik besteht. Das im Projekt HBM4EU generierte Wissen kann die politischen Entscheidungsträger:innen bei der Verbesserung der Chemikalienââą Ì, Umwelt- und Gesundheitspolitik unterstützen. © Der/die Autor(en) 2022
  • Veröffentlichung
    Häufig gestellte Fragen und Antworten zu Hexabromcyclododecan (HBCD)
    (2016) Apel, Petra; Beer, Inga; Bolland, Til; Debiak, Malgorzata; Dettling, Folke; Koch-Jugl, Juliane; Rauert, Caren; Stolzenberg, Hans-Christian; Wuttke, Joachim; Tietjen, Lars; Walther, Mareike; Wurbs, Johanna; Deutschland. Umweltbundesamt
    Für das Flammschutzmittel Hexabromcyclododecan (HBCD) gilt seit Frühjahr 2016 in der EU ein weitgehendes Handels- und Verwendungsverbot. HBCD war lange das wirtschaftlich wichtigste Flammschutzmittel für Polystyrol-Dämmstoffe Ń entsprechend gibt es für Dämmstoffe aus expandiertem Polystyrol (EPS) noch Übergangsregeln. Das weltweite Aus war 2013 eingeleitet worden, als HBCD unter der internationalen Stockholm-Konvention als in der Umwelt schwer abbaubarer organischer Schadstoff (POP) identifiziert wurde. Das Verbot wird zurzeit von allen an der Konvention beteiligten Staaten stufenweise eingeführt. In unserem aktualisierten Hintergrundpapier haben wir für Sie zusammengestellt, warum der Stoff nicht mehr verwendet werden soll, welche Verbote in der Europäischen Union (EU) bereits ab März 2016 gelten und wo es noch Übergangsfristen gibt. Wir erläutern, welche Alternativen vorliegen und wie HBCD-haltige Dämmstoffe zu entsorgen sind. Quelle: Umweltbundesamt
  • Veröffentlichung
    Phthalate metabolites in 24-h urine samples of the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB) from 1988 to 2015 and a comparison with US NHANES data from 1999 to 2012
    (2017) Koch, Holger M.; Apel, Petra; Schütze, Andre; Conrad, André; Pälmke, Claudia; Kolossa-Gehring, Marike; Brüning, Thomas; Rüther, Maria
    The German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB) continuously collects 24-h urine samples since theearly 1980s in Germany. In this study we analyzed 300 urine samples from the years 2007 to 2015 for 21phthalate metabolites (representing exposure to 11 parent phthalates) and combined the data with twoprevious retrospective measurement campaigns (1988 to 2003 and 2002 to 2008). The combined datasetcomprised 1162 24-h urine samples spanning the years 1988 to 2015. With this detailed set of humanbiomonitoring data we describe the time course of phthalate exposure in Germany over a time frame of27 years. For the metabolites of the endocrine disrupting phthalates di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP),di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) and butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP) we observed a roughly ten-fold decline inmedian metabolite levels from their peak levels in the late 1980s/early 1990s compared to most recentlevels from 2015. Probably, bans (first enacted in 1999) and classifications/labelings (enacted in 2001 and2004) in the European Union lead to this drop. A decline in di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP) metabolite levelsset in only quite recently, possibly due to its later classification as a reproductive toxicant in the EU in 2009.In a considerable number of samples collected before 2002 health based guidance values (BE, HBM I) havebeen exceeded for DnBP (27.2%) and DEHP (2.3%) but also in recent samples some individual exceedancescan still be observed (DEHP 1.0%). A decrease in concentration for all low molecular weight phthalates,labelled or not, was seen in the most recent years of sampling. For the high molecular weight phthalates,DEHP seems to have been substituted in part by di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP), but DiNP metabolite levelshave also been declining in the last years. Probably, non-phthalate alternatives increasingly take overfor the phthalates in Germany. A comparison with NHANES (National Health and Nutrition ExaminationSurvey) data from the United States covering the years 1999 to 2012 revealed both similarities anddifferences in phthalate exposure between Germany and the US. Exposure to critical phthalates hasdecreased in both countries with metabolite levels more and more aligning with each other, but highmolecular weight phthalates substituting DEHP (such as DiNP) seem to become more important in theUS than in Germany.
    © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved
  • Veröffentlichung
    Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU): Human Biomonitoring Guidance Values Ddived for dmethylformamide
    (2022) Lamkarkach, Farida; Apel, Petra; Meslin, Matthieu; Kolossa-Gehring, Marike
    Within the European Joint Program on Human Biomonitoring HBM4EU, human biomonitoring guidance values (HBM-GVs) for the general population (HBM-GVGenPop) or for occupationally exposed adults (HBM-GVWorker) are derived for prioritized substances including dimethylformamide (DMF). The methodology to derive these values that was agreed upon within the HBM4EU project was applied. A large database on DMF exposure from studies conducted at workplaces provided dose-response relationships between biomarker concentrations and health effects. The hepatotoxicity of DMF has been identified as having the most sensitive effect, with increased liver enzyme concentrations serving as biomarkers of the effect. Out of the available biomarkers of DMF exposure studied in this paper, the following were selected to derive HBM-GVWorker: total N-methylformamide (tNMF) (sum of N-hydroxymethyl-N-methylformamide and NMF) and N-acetyl-S-(N-methylcarbamoyl)cysteine (AMCC) in urine. The proposed HBM-GVWorker is 10 mgL-1 or 10 mgg-1 creatinine for both biomarkers. Due to their different half-lives, tNMF (representative of the exposure of the day) and AMCC (representative of the preceding days' exposure) are complementary for the biological monitoring of workers exposed to DMF. The levels of confidence for these HBM-GVWorker are set to "high" for tNMF and "medium-low" for AMCC. Therefore, further investigations are required for the consolidation of the health-based HBM-GV for AMCC in urine. © 2022 by the authors
  • Veröffentlichung
    Human Biomonitoring Guidance Values (HBM-GVs) for bisphenol S and assessment of the risk due to the exposure to bisphenols A and S, in Europe
    (2022) Meslin, Matthieu; Apel, Petra; Beausoleil, Claire; Zeman, Florence Anna; Kolossa-Gehring, Marike
    Within the European Joint Programme HBM4EU, Human Biomonitoring Guidance Values (HBM-GVs) were derived for several prioritised substances. In this paper, the derivation of HBM-GVs for the general population (HBM-GVGenPop) and workers (HBM-GVworker) referring to bisphenol S (BPS) is presented. For the general population, this resulted in an estimation of the total urinary concentration of BPS of 1.0 Ìg/L assuming a 24 h continuous exposure to BPS. For workers, the modelling was refined in order to reflect continuous exposure during the working day, leading to a total urinary concentration of BPS of 3.0 Ìg/L. The usefulness for risk assessment of the HBM-GVs derived for BPS and bisphenol A (BPA) is illustrated. Risk Characterisation Ratios (RCRs) were calculated leading to a clear difference between risk assessments performed for both bisphenols, with a very low RCR regarding exposure to BPA., contrary to that obtained for BPS. This may be due to the endocrine mediated endpoints selected to derive the HBM-GVs for BPS, whereas the values calculated for BPA are based on the temporary Tolerable Daily Intake (t-TDI) from EFSA set in 2015. A comparison with the revised TDI recently opened for comments by EFSA is also discussed. Regarding the occupational field, results indicate that the risk from occupational exposure to both bisphenols cannot be disregarded. © 2022 by the authors
  • Veröffentlichung
    Häufig gestellte Fragen und Antworten zu Hexabromcyclododecan (HBCD)
    (2015) Apel, Petra; Beer, Inga; Bolland, Til; Debiak, Malgorzata; Dettling, Folke; Koch-Jugl, Juliane; Rauert, Caren; Stolzenberg, Hans-Christian; Wuttke, Joachim; Tietjen, Lars; Walther, Mareike; Wurbs, Johanna
    Für das Flammschutzmittel Hexabromcyclododecan (HBCD) gilt seit Frühjahr 2016 in der EU ein weitgehendes Handels- und Verwendungsverbot. HBCD war lange das wirtschaftlich wichtigste Flammschutzmittel für Polystyrol-Dämmstoffe – entsprechend gibt es für Dämmstoffe aus expandiertem Polystyrol (EPS) noch Übergangsregeln. Das weltweite Aus war 2013 eingeleitet worden, als HBCD unter der internationalen Stockholm-Konvention als in der Umwelt schwer abbaubarer organischer Schadstoff (⁠POP⁠) identifiziert wurde. Das Verbot wird zurzeit von allen an der Konvention beteiligten Staaten stufenweise eingeführt. In unserem aktualisierten Hintergrundpapier haben wir für Sie zusammengestellt, warum der ⁠Stoff⁠ nicht mehr verwendet werden soll, welche Verbote in der Europäischen Union (EU) bereits ab März 2016 gelten und wo es noch Übergangsfristen gibt. Wir erläutern, welche Alternativen vorliegen und wie HBCD-haltige Dämmstoffe zu entsorgen sind.