title: The Danish contribution to the European DEMOCOPHES project: A description of cadmium, cotinine and mercury levels in Danish mother-child pairs and the perspectives of supplementary sampling and measurements.
abstract: Human biomonitoring (HBM) is an important tool, increasingly used for measuring true levels of the body burdens of environmental chemicals in the general population. In Europe, a harmonized HBM program was needed to open the possibility to compare levels across borders. To explore the prospect of a harmonized European HBM project, DEMOCOPHES (DEMOnstration of a study to COordinate and Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) was completed in 17 European countries. The basic measurements performed in all implemented countries of DEMOCOPHES included cadmium, cotinine and phthalate metabolites in urine and mercury in hair. In the Danish participants, significant correlations between mothers and children for mercury in hair and cotinine in urine were found. Mercury in hair was further significantly associated with intake of fish and area of residence. Cadmium was positively associated with BMI in mothers and an association between cadmium and cotinine was also found. As expected high cotinine levels were found in smoking mothers. For both mercury and cadmium significantly higher concentrations were found in the mothers compared to their children. In Denmark, the DEMOCOPHES project was co-financed by the Danish ministries of health, environment and food safety. The co-financing ministries agreed to finance a number of supplementary measurements of substances of current toxicological, public and regulatory interest. This also included blood sampling from the participants. The collected urine and blood samples were analyzed for a range of other persistent and non-persistent environmental chemicals as well as two biomarkers of effect. The variety of supplementary measurements gives the researchers further information on the exposure status of the participants and creates a basis for valuable knowledge on the pattern of exposure to various chemicals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Thit A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Mørck
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Flemming
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jeanette K S
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Janne F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Pernille W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anne K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lea N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Christoffersen
authors.affiliation: The Research Unit for General Practice and Section of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Volkert D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Siersma
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ida H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Linette K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Hohlmann
authors.affiliation: Danish Environmental Protection Agency, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mette T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Skaanild
authors.affiliation: Department of Growth and Reproduction, University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Frederiksen
authors.affiliation: Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Biot
authors.affiliation: University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ludwine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Casteleyn
authors.affiliation: Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Marike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kolossa-Gehring
authors.affiliation: Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schwedler
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Argelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Castaño
authors.affiliation: Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Angerer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Holger M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Esteban
authors.affiliation: Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Environmental Risk and Health unit, Mol, Belgium.
authors.forename: Greet
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schoeters
authors.affiliation: Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Environmental Risk and Health unit, Mol, Belgium.
authors.forename: Elly
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Den Hond
authors.affiliation: Public Health England, Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Chilton, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Exley
authors.affiliation: Public Health England, Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Chilton, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ovnair
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sepai
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Science International, Hulst, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bloemen
authors.affiliation: BiPRO GmbH, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Joas
authors.affiliation: BiPRO GmbH, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Joas
authors.affiliation: Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Fiddicke
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cañas
authors.affiliation: Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aerts
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: liek@sund.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Lisbeth E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Knudsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D002104:Cadmium / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D002648:Child; D003367:Cotinine / Q000652:urine*; D003718:Denmark; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D012494:Sampling Studies; D017747:Seafood / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012907:Smoking / Q000652:urine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D002104:Cadmium; D008628:Mercury; D003367:Cotinine
keywords: Biomarkers of effect; DEMOCOPHES; Human biomonitoring; Mother-child pairs