Children, particularly those in utero and during early childhood, are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of chemical exposures.
Growing evidence underscores the critical need to understand how environmental contaminants affect health during these sensitive developmental windows. To address this, we assess how environmental contaminants and chemical exposures impact the development and health of children and adults (i.e., characterize exposure–health outcome associations for single exposures and mixtures of exposures). In collaboration with the Chemistry for Environment & Health (CE&H) section, we evaluate levels of contaminants (pesticides, phthalates, PFAS, microplastics, flame retardants, etc.) in household and biological samples, including house dust, urine, cord blood, and placenta, and identify sources of exposures. Our department is at the forefront of human biomonitoring and the characterizing the chemical exposome. To advance this field, we explore innovative, non-invasive methods of exposure assessment, including wearable wristbands, house dust analysis, and hand wipes to capture an individual's immediate environment. Additionally, we evaluate the knowledge and risk perception of study participants and stakeholders regarding chemical contaminants and co-create and evaluate the effectiveness of exposure reduction interventions and health promotion strategies.
Our research provides essential insights for regulatory bodies and public health strategies aimed at mitigating adverse health effects of environmental contaminants and protecting vulnerable populations.
Projects
INQUIRE (Eva Sugeng, Sicco Brandsma, Ike van der Veen, Pim Leonards)
Identification of chemical and biological determinants, their sources, and strategies to promote healthier homes in Europe
FLES (Virissa Lenters)
Fed with a side of microplastics: interventions to reduce plastic exposure via infant formula and human milk
AURORA (Virissa Lenters, Majorie van Duursen)
Actionable European Roadmap for early-life health risk assessment of micro-an nanoplastics
FREIA (Virissa Lenters, Eva Sugeng, Majorie van Duursen)
Female Reproductive toxicity of endocrine disrupting chemicals: a human evidence-based screening and Identification Approach.