Exposure of the French population to everyday pollutants in 2014–2016, according to the Esteban study

The biomonitoring component of the Esteban study aims to estimate the exposure of the French population aged 6 to 74 to several environmental substances of public health concern. The initial results of this component focus on six families of pollutants found in everyday items: bisphenols A, S, and F, phthalates, perfluorinated compounds, brominated flame retardants, glycol ethers, and parabens. These results showed widespread exposure and generally higher exposure levels among children aged 6 to 17. The factors determining exposure levels for the six families of pollutants identified in this study are consistent with those reported in the literature. In particular, the results show that diet does not appear to be the sole source of exposure to these substances; the use of cosmetics and personal care products increases body burden levels of parabens and glycol ethers, and the frequency of home ventilation reduces body burden levels of perfluorinated compounds and brominated flame retardants. Repeating these studies is necessary to track changes in population exposure over time and help estimate the impact of public policies aimed at reducing exposure. Subsequently, the Esteban study will enable the tracking of temporal trends for biomarkers already analyzed in the National Nutrition and Health Survey (ENNS), such as metals and certain pesticides. Esteban will also enable the establishment of new exposure reference values in the general population for all measured pollutants.

Author(s): Fillol Clémence, Balicco Alexis, Oleko Amivi, Bidondo Marie-Laure, Gane Jessica, Saoudi Abdessattar, Zeghnoun Abdelkrim, Denys Sébastien

Publishing year: 2020

Pages: 361-369

Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin, 2020, n° 18-19, p. 361-369

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