Santé Publique France’s strong involvement in the PARC project, particularly in WP4

What are the objectives of WP4?

In line with the Agency’s strategy regarding the assessment of population exposure to chemicals, the public health objective is to prevent, to the greatest extent possible, the exposure of the population and the environment to chemicals in support of European public policies—the Green Deal as well as the European Union’s strategy for the sustainability of chemicals—or national policies such as the National Health and Environment Plan or the National Strategy on Endocrine Disruptors.

What is the long-term strategy?

By combining data from human biomonitoring, environmental monitoring, and ecosystem health, the goal of this WP is to develop a long-term strategy based on a “One Health” approach to better understand and protect human health and the environment from exposure to chemicals at the European Union level. The work carried out through this work package will rely on the development of innovative approaches and technologies:

• first, the establishment of a European network bringing together multidisciplinary communities focused on human exposure, ecosystem health, and environmental quality;

• second, the development of indicators to better link exposure to effects on human health or ecosystems;

• finally, the development of innovative analytical methods to better identify mixtures of substances or emerging substances.

Based on its work on the interactions between the environment and human health, Santé publique France has thus positioned itself as co-leader of the WP in collaboration with the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA). As the lead agency for the national biomonitoring strategy for the past 15 years, Santé publique France will be able to leverage its expertise in biomonitoring to coordinate and implement the work planned under this partnership. In doing so, Santé publique France will also align the national biomonitoring strategy with the European partnership project.

Participation in the governance of the PARC project

Santé publique France participates in the overall governance of the PARC project as:

• Signatory to the consortium agreement

• Member of the Board of Directors

• Co-leader of Work Package 4 on the monitoring of chemical exposures…

• National contact point responsible for coordinating the stakeholder exchange hub

Scientific lead for the research project on the links between chemical exposure and health

On the scientific front, Santé publique France—and specifically the Health, Environment, and Work Directorate—will contribute to Task 4.1 by leveraging its expertise in managing the national biomonitoring program. In particular, it will lead a research project on the links between exposure to chemicals prioritized in PARC and health issues.

This research project follows up on feasibility studies initiated under HBM4EU, which aim to incorporate biomonitoring studies into surveys involving health examinations. Its objective is to assess, based on the recommendations issued in HBM4EU, the possibility of integrating health measurements into the biomonitoring studies to be conducted in PARC in order to develop a roadmap for evaluating the links between chemical exposures and human health.

This project will be carried out in two phases:

1. The first phase will consist of integrating standardized measures and questionnaires on effect biomarkers and health into the biomonitoring surveys conducted under Task 4.1.

2. The second phase will consist of a feasibility study, using samples from biobanks, to assess exposure levels to priority chemicals and associations with health effects (effect biomarkers and health events). Following a critical evaluation of these two phases, a roadmap will be drafted, identifying concrete actions to be taken to link biomonitoring studies with health examination studies.

Furthermore, the EU-wide HBM4EU biomonitoring studies have shown that measuring effect biomarkers in biomonitoring studies has provided valuable insights into the mechanisms of action of chemicals. This study will thus complement these approaches on the use of effect biomarkers as indicators of adverse effects from exposure to chemicals and their mixtures, thereby enabling the implementation of effective preventive interventions.

At the French Hub level, Santé publique France has been designated as the primary contact

The partnership benefits from the establishment of a national hub (NH) in each participating country, with designated national contact points (NHCPs) that coordinate exchanges with ministries, national partners, and other relevant national stakeholders, and contribute to the development of synergies with national initiatives.