Federal Environment Agency: People seriously contaminated with pollutants

Dessau-Rosslau, Brussels (epd). According to the Federal Environment Agency, people in Europe are seriously exposed to pollutants. For example, a European study found plasticizers in all the children and young people examined, the Federal Environment Agency said on Wednesday in Dessau-Roßlau. Substances that are used in coated pans, for example, are sometimes present in the blood in excessive amounts.

These findings were the result of the European human biomonitoring initiative “HBM4EU”, coordinated by the Federal Environment Agency, which will be presented on Wednesday and Thursday at the international final conference of the project in Brussels. For the first time ever, the “HBM4EU” project has collected comparative data on the exposure of the EU population to important chemicals. Data collection started in 2017.

According to the study, plasticizers that are harmful to reproduction were found in all the children and adolescents examined. Overall, a decrease in the average exposure to regulated plasticizers could be observed. However, the burden is still too high. Perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), such as those found in coated pans, were also found in the blood of all young people from Europe who were examined. Up to a quarter of young people are exposed to concentrations at which health effects can no longer be ruled out with sufficient certainty.

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